The volume addresses reflections on the social conditions in which anthropological research in Eastern European countries under and after socialism was conducted. Methodological commonalities and differences for anthropologists coming from specific academic traditions and political contexts are revealed through fresh reflections on the everyday fieldwork. Institutional settings of the 70s and 80s, challenges in entering the field or engagement with the needs and desires of the studied subjects come out of this web of reflections. While some authors recall fieldwork based in single countries, others recall journeys though multi-sited ethnographies.

Raluca Mateoc is postdoctoral researcher in Social Anthropology at the University of Fribourg and at the University of Geneva.

François Rüegg is Emeritus Professor of the Institute of Social Anthropology of the University of Fribourg.