TEACHING TRANSITION IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN-EUROPE THROUGH FIELDWORK

Since 1989 the former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europ e have been in a state of 'transition' to a market economy and plurali st democracy. However, despite the increasing academic interest in the region, teaching about transition to undergraduates is a subject whic h has received little attention. This paper identifies some of the par ticular challenges and problems of teaching about transition in post-c ommunist countries, particularly the lack of awareness of the region's communist past among many students, It also reports the development o f a module designed to teach about transition in Romania primarily thr ough fieldwork. The content of the module and examples of teaching act ivities are presented.