Actually Existing Nerves with Lukas Bartl

Noise, agitation, acceleration — the modern world overwhelms the senses. Many have denounced everyday stress and nervousness as a dark side of progress. In this episode, we revisit this topic, looking at a social context rarely associated with modern frenzy: the German Democratic Republic. Using health magazines and similar sources from behind the Iron Curtain, Lukas Bartl analyses how people (and the government) handled the nerves of actually existing socialism.

The Mumbling Round is a podcast of the International Graduate School (IGS) “Resonant Self–World Relations in Ancient and Modern Socio-Religious Practices,” a collaboration between the University of Erfurt and the University of Graz.