The East in the West: Bulgarian Culture in the United States of America during the Global 1970s

Abstract

This article explores the ambitious Bulgarian cultural program in the United States of America to interrogate the importance of culture in the Cold War dynamics of the 1970s. The case study is examined at two levels; first, in the framework of the expanding contacts between East and West, exploring the importance of cultural diplomacy in the context of détente, and second, at the level of the actual cultural interactions, analyzing the meaning of cultural contacts across national borders and ideological divides. This analysis integrates insights from diverse literatures: international history, transnational history, postcolonial studies, and anthropology. The goal is to showcase the role of a small state on the periphery during the Cold War, to engage the softer side of East–West interactions in a global context, and to emphasize how local communities and individuals creatively shaped the Cold War realities through their own actions. The article also engages contemporary debates about the meaning of these cultural encounters in the context of recent memory wars about the legacy of communism in Bulgaria. The end result is to depict the complex, multidirectional flow of ideas, people, and cultural products between East and West during the long 1970s and to trace their changing interpretations today.