24 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Europe is as divided as ever. The passengers of the low-budget airlines go east for stag parties, and they go West for work; but the East stays East, and West stays West. Caricatures abound - the Polish plumber in the tabloids, the New Cold War in the broadsheets and the endless search for `the new Berlin` for hipsters. Against the stereotypes, Agata Pyzik peers behind the curtain to take a look at the secret histories of Eastern Europe (and its tortured relations with the `West`). Neoliberalism and mass migration, post-punk and the Bowiephile obsession with the Eastern Bloc, Orientalism and `self-colonisation`, the emancipatory potentials of Socialist Realism, the possibility of a non-Western idea of modernity and futurism, and the place of Eastern Europe in any current revival of `the idea of communism` – all are much more complex and surprising than they appear. Poor But Sexy refuses both a dewy-eyed Ostalgia for the `good old days` and the equally desperate desire to become a `normal part of Europe`, reclaiming instead the idea an Other Europe.

Agata can be heard on BBC Radio 4`s Four Thought reflecting on divisions between Eastern Europe and the West and the prejudice she sees against Eastern European migrants.