Takes a comparative perspective on family life and childhood in the past half century in Russia and Eastern Europe, highlighting similarities and differences. Focuses on the problematic domains of the institutions and laws devised to cope with family difficulties, and discusses the social strains created by the transition from communist to post-communist national systems. In addition to the substantial historic analysis, actual challenges are also discussed. The essays examine the changing gender roles, alterations in legal systems, the burdens faced by married and unmarried women who are mothers, the contrasts between government rhteoric and the implementation of policies toward marriage, children and parenthood. By addressing the specifics of welfare politics under the Communist rule and the directions of their transformation in 1990–2000s, this book contributes to the understanding of social institutions and family policies in these countries and the problems of dealing with the socialist past that this region face.

In a world where writing by hand is disappearing, Laura Vermeeren studies why calligraphy in China is not just surviving, but evolving in surprising ways.

As handwriting fades in the digital age, calligraphy in China is caught between tradition and reinvention. Ink Studies deconstructs this paradox, determining how calligraphy is not simply an ancient art form, but more so a site of ongoing cultural negotiation. Laura Vermeeren investigates how calligraphy moves through five distinct visual and social fields, shaping and being shaped by its practitioners. While often framed as an act of repetition and tied to centuries of disciplined copying, calligraphy also emerges here as a force of creativity—one that is actively mobilized in contemporary China, whether through state-sponsored initiatives or the aesthetics of modern design.

Uniting contemporary art and media history, Ink Studies provides vital perspectives on how China’s past is continually reimagined in the present, portraying calligraphy’s enduring relevance in an era of rapid technological change.