Mapping Bulgaria North West Bulgaria 2009

A cultural intervention with young people and history teachers focused on arts, social trauma and historical memory in Bulgaria.

2009 marked the 20th anniversary of the end of communism across much of Europe including Bulgaria. Demonstrations in 1989/90 throughout Bulgaria led to the leader of the Bulgarian People's Republic, Petar Mladenov, announcing that the Communist Party would cede its monopoly over the political system. And on 15 January 1990, the Bulgarian National Assembly formally amended the legal code to abolish the Communist Party's "leading role”.

Twenty years later, in 2009, this project examined how remembering 1989 was being approached by the Bulgarian history curriculum and by teachers of history in secondary schools. How did students respond to the events of 1989/90 and the stories associated with the times? The project aimed to contribute to the subject of memory studies and history teaching methodologies by inviting young people, their teachers, parents and grandparents from the northwest of Bulgaria to debate their own history. And soon the debate evolved into a reflection upon truth, identity and memory.

Download the bilingual book, written by Chris Baldwin and Mariana Assenova (English and Bulgarian).

The notes marking the working process can be found here.