ACTIVITIES

Call for Papers – Hybrid Conference

Nourishing the Socialist Bloc: Food, Health, and Environment after 1945

26–27 November 2026

‘George Barițiu’ Institute of History & Romanian Academy of Sciences, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

In the second half of the twentieth century, socialist states launched some of the most ambitious projects to reshape the relationship between society and nature. Food, health, and the environment became key arenas where the promises and contradictions of state‑led modernization were most visible. Postwar agricultural expansion—through collectivization, mechanization, irrigation, chemical inputs, and the institutionalization of scientific expertise—sought to secure food supplies, improve nutrition, reduce disease, and produce healthier, more productive citizens. Yet these same interventions generated new vulnerabilities. Intensified agriculture increased exposure to pesticides, fertilizers, industrial pollutants, and food contaminants. From the 1960s onward, environmental scientists highlighted the ecological and health impacts of chemical-intensive farming, including soil erosion, water pollution, toxic residues, and occupational hazards. At the same time, rapid industrialization and urbanization transformed everyday life and dietary practices, often leading to rising rates of chronic non‑communicable diseases. Emerging epidemiological research linked new consumption patterns to cardiovascular illness, obesity, diabetes, and other long‑term health risks.

These developments forced socialist policymakers to reconsider what constituted a “healthy lifestyle,” to reassess earlier narratives of nutritional progress, and to confront the tension between individual well‑being and the productivity imperatives of planned economies. While shaped by the institutions and growth views of state socialism, these transformations were part of broader postwar developments that transcended political and ideological boundaries. Starting with the 1960s, East-Central European experts and policymakers engaged with international debates on nutrition, public health, agricultural productivity, environmental protection, and demographic change through a range of transnational scientific and institutional networks, including the ILO, WHO, FAO, the World Bank, and COMECON. Debates over protein consumption, food quality, preventive medicine, pesticides, environmental contamination, and population growth linked East-Central Europe to global discussions on food security and human health.

The conference aims to contextualize East-Central Europe within broader global and Cold War narratives related to development, nutrition science, environmental management, and agricultural modernization by exploring how socialist societies addressed the intertwined issues of food, health, and environmental sustainability.

Possible themes include, but are not limited to:

Food, nutrition science, and public health policies in socialist Eastern Europe
Agricultural modernization and the sites of food production under socialism
Landscape transformation, industrial pollution, and food safety
Consumption, scarcity, and everyday experiences of food during socialism
Food, environment, and new nosological entities
Expertise, science, and the governance of food systems under socialism
Food, health, and environmental reforms in late socialism
Socialist engagements with FAO, WHO, ILO, the World Bank, and the Rockefeller/Ford Foundations: transnational expert networks and global knowledge exchanges on food, health, and environmental sustainability
Socialist legacies and post-socialist transformations in food systems, health, and environmental governance

We welcome papers focusing on East Central Europe broadly conceived, including but not limited to Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, the GDR, and the Soviet Union, as well as comparative and transnational perspectives involving other socialist or postcolonial contexts.

The conference language is English. Contributors should submit an abstract of 300 words outlining their proposal, along with a 200-word bio (in a single document) by 15 July 2026. All proposals should be submitted as email attachments to mara.marginean@gmail.com . Extended abstracts (approximately 1500 words) will be circulated in advance among participants to facilitate discussion. Plans are underway to develop a collective publication following the conference.

The conference is a hybrid event, organized by the 'George Barițiu' Institute of History in cooperation with the Romanian Academy, Cluj-Napoca branch, within the research project NUTRIPOL: Medical Knowledge, Nutrition, and Social Change: An Inquiry into the Politics of Life in Late Socialist Romania (1960–1989) (PN-IV-P2-2.1-TE-2023-0738), https://sites.google.com/view/nutripol-statesocialism/home.

The organizers can offer accommodation for eligible participants (subject to available funding).

The deadline for abstract & bio submission: 15 July 2026

Notification of acceptance: 30 July 2026

Conference date: 26-27 November 2026

Venue: George Barițiu Institute of History, 12-14 M. Kogalniceanu street, Cluj-Napoca

Contact: Dr. Mara Marginean, researcher, e-mail: mara.marginean@gmail.com

Conferința Națională a Facultății de Istorie a Universității din București (6-7 noiembrie 2025)

Mara Mărginean, „Sensurile unei societăți sănătoase: Dezbateri (inter)naționale privind alimentația forței de muncă în anii 1970”

Bogdan Varsan, „Reprezentarea alimentației și sănătății în programele TV din România anilor '70-'80”

Food & Agriculture in State Socialism: Knowledge, Policies and Practices

15th of October 2025

„George Baritiu” Institute of History – Romanian Academy, Cluj-Napoca Branch

Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Programme

10:00 – 10:15 | Welcome

Opening remarks and greetings from the organizers.

10:15 – 13:00 | FIRST PANEL

Chair: Corina-Maria Doboș

Mara Mărginean, George Barițiu Institute of History

Germinating Collaboration: Seed Science and International Exchange in Socialist Romania

Daniel Filip-Afloarei, “Tadeusz Manteuffel” Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences (NAWA POLONISTA)

From Rural Solidarity to Ministerial Cooperation: Contrasting Agricultural Systems in Poland and Romania during the 1980s

11:25 - 11:40 | Coffee Break ■

Anna Sokolova, University of Ostrava

“Gifts of Nature”: Foraging and Wild Crop Edibles in the Food System of the Late USSR

Karan Vora, Chandidas Mahavidyalaya, West Bengal

State on My Plate: The Memories and Impact of Mid Day Meals on Rural Youth of West Bengal

13:00 - 14:30 | Lunch Break ■■

14:30 – 17:00 | SECOND PANEL

Chair: Mara Mărginean

Alexandra Bardan, University of Bucharest

Rice, Flour, Salami and VCRs: Social Remittances in Romania during the 1980s

Luciana Jinga, Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile

Eating In: The Evolving Landscape of Food Consumption and Home Cooking in Communist Romania

15:40 - 16:00 | Coffee Break ■

Corina-Maria Doboș, George Barițiu Institute of History & INST Bucharest

Main Concerns of Public Health in Socialist Romania: Stylistic Effects and Professional Rivalries

Bogdan Vârșan, George Barițiu Institute of History & Archives of the National Television “The Human Being and Their Health.” Media Representation of Nutrition and Public Health during the Communist Regime: The Case of the Romanian Television

17:00 – 17:15 | Conclusions and Follow-Up Discussion

Between 26 and 29 August 2025, Mara Mărginean and Corina Doboș attended the international conference 𝐄𝐀𝐇𝐌𝐇 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 - 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐁𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐞, organized by Humboldt University in Berlin. On this occasion, the following papers were presented:

Mara Mărginean, "𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘙𝘪𝘴𝘬𝘴, 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘕𝘶𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘓𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢"

Corina Doboș, "𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴' 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘳𝘰𝘯 𝘊𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯: 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 1970𝘴”

The full program of the event can be found at: https://eahmh25.org/

On May 29, during the History Marathon event organized by the George Baritiu History Institute in partnership with the Cluj County School Inspectorate, Mara Marginean gave a presentation to students at the Tiberiu Popoviciu Informatics High School on the nutritional policies of the communist regime.

Call for papers

International Conference

Food & Agriculture in State Socialism: Knowledge, Policies and Practices

15th of October 2025

„George Baritiu” Institute of History – Romanian Academy, Cluj-Napoca Branch

Cluj-Napoca, Romania

In the late 1950s, the growing international expertise (World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization, International Labor Office etc.) on nutrition, calorie standards, and dietary regulations emerged as a key area of intellectual interest for the state socialist regimes of East-Central Europe. This attention strategically mediated the goal of the bureaucratic states to develop (Bruckweh 2015; Porter&Ross 2008) by anchoring organizational modernization initiatives in the new realm of the “government of life” (Foucault 2009). At the time, authorities seemed more determined than ever to rethink population welfare policies while advancing industrialization and modernizing agriculture. Food categories would have helped policymakers understand the daily universe of the labor force in more nuanced terms of needs, opportunities, and consumption desires, and formulate effective social intervention programs. While knowledge transfers and professional interactions in various political and institutional settings have recently become essential dimensions of a renewed interest in late socialist attempts to “go global” (Bockman 2011), little is known about how the East Central European states used this emerging (and sometimes contradictory) international expertise to address domestic social and economic changes, and even less in the intertwined areas of nutrition, development, and well-being in this (semi)peripheral region. The conference “Food & Agriculture in State Socialism: Knowledge, Policies and Practices” aims to address food regulations in state socialist regimes, focusing on the reciprocal relationships between the production and dissemination of food knowledge, state development strategies, and social change in the post-WWII decades.

We invite paper proposals that address the following (but are not limited to):

Food & health: nutritional research & regulations, nutrition related diseases, child's nutrition, nutrition & occupational health
Socialist engagements with FAO, WHO, Rockefeller/Ford Foundations etc.: transnational expert networks and global knowledge (often asymmetrical) exchanges on food, nutrition, and medical science.
Statistical institutions and the quantification of food consumption and nutrition standards in socialist governance.
Food consumption and rationalization strategies.
Food, shortages and political crises.
(Un)Official socialist food economies.
State-building strategies through agricultural modernization: irrigation systems, infrastructure projects, technical innovation in food production (tractors, harvesters, refrigeration systems, or processed food technology), state subsidies, or international loans.
Socialist policies of agricultural innovation: research in soil science, plant hybridization, or veterinary medicine.
Industrial espionage, patent races, and state surveillance of innovation.
Industrial histories of key food sectors in the Socialist Bloc: meat, sugar, bread, wine, beer etc.
Making and exporting socialist food know-how into the Global South.

The organizers will cover the accommodation, lunches, and refreshments during the conference. Participants, however, will have to find financial support to cover the traveling expenses with their institutions. On-line participation is also possible.

We encourage submissions from diverse disciplinary perspectives, including history, sociology, political science, economics, and public health. Please submit your abstract (500 words max) and a short bio by 30 May 2025, to dr. Mara Mărginean: mara.marginean@acad-cj.ro

Successful applicants will be notified in early June 2025.

The conference is organized under the project Medical Knowledge, Nutrition, and Social Change: An Inquiry into the Politics of Life in Socialist Romania (grant code: PN-IV-P2-2.1-TE-2023-0738), financed by the Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI).

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