LAUSR

element of racism, even if it is a non-explicit, ‘non-racist cultural racism’ (272). Reifová, Gillárova and Hladik examine the mnemonic function of television. They argue that popular retrospective TV serials can support the critical work of memory by providing a better understanding of both cultural nostalgia and trauma. Their research, conducted among focus groups, investigates the affective investments of viewers in visual elements, characters, ritualized practices and historical events presented in episodes of the retrospective serial Tell Me How It Was (2009–2010). They propose that these investments define the memories of socialism. Based on these responses, the authors describe nostalgia as a personal attempt to regain a past which institutional and official forms of memory wish to denounce and repress. Furthermore, they trace collective trauma back to the lack of narratives capable of foregrounding the continuities between past and present. However, the authors propose that popular culture can provide therapeutic moments of coming to terms with the heritage of state socialism. Popular Television in Eastern Europe During and Since Socialism offers undeniable evidence that popular television is a rich archive of audio-visual documents, be that of state socialism, post-1989 westernization, cultural homogenization or contemporary identity strategies. Scholars in the social sciences, media and television studies, and fields such as Slavic and East European studies will benefit the most from this volume. Significantly, the book also reveals to emerging research initiatives in Eastern Europe that expertise in Western television and media studies is put to best use when critically extended into native contexts and brought into dialogue with local voices of cultural relevance.