From: Larissa Douglass <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2001 23:40:29 +0100 (GMT)CALL FOR PAPERS
"THE CONTOURS OF LEGITIMACY IN CENTRAL EUROPE:
NEW APPROACHES IN GRADUATE STUDIES"
International Graduate Conference in the Humanities and Social Sciences
European Studies Centre, St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford
24-26 May 2002
Opening Keynote Panel (tentative):
Mr. Timothy Garton Ash (St. Antony’s College, Oxford)
Dr. Martyn Rady (SSEES, London)
Professor George Schoepflin (SSEES, London)
Website: http://ce-conf.5er.com/
PROPOSALS DUE: 1 FEBRUARY 2002
The idea of Central Europe rests, paradoxically, upon ambiguous boundaries
and
essential definitions. This heartland remains a contested area in terms of
overlapping and competing conceptions of territorial frontiers, political
authority, economic trading blocs, ethno-linguistic communities and cultural
development. Nonetheless, the region retains a genuine and unique character
whose expression extends far beyond the terms of nationalist myth-making.
In
an effort to identify the workings of this paradox, and consequently the
nature
of the region itself, the Conference Committee of Postgraduates in Central
European Studies at the University of Oxford is calling for papers in the
field
which focus on the concept of legitimacy.
The notion of legitimacy embraces Central Europe’s uncertainties and
certainties: it is a model both of justification and vindication, based on a
mixed historical legacy. On the one hand, Central Europe shares the same
instances of great socio-political change as Western Europe, from the
Reformation to the European Union. On the other hand, the dynamics of these
changes were and are different in Central Europe. From the Early Modern
period
varied relationships between the spiritual and secular spheres combined with
alternative forms of social-economic hierarchy, absolutism and imperialism
to
produce different founding principles for future state development. From
these
processes and principles we can trace varying subsequent patterns of ethnic
diversity and national identification. This legacy ironically pushes the
region
to the periphery of Europe, even as its relations arguably provide the key
to
the continent’s affairs.
We are calling for interpretations of legitimacy that address this essential
contradiction. Our starting point is Max Weber’s definition of legitimacy as
any one of three different ways of exercising power: by tradition, charisma
or
rational legal authority. We aim to draw from these three concepts of
authority as we debate legitimacy in language, culture, history, geography,
economics and politics in Central Europe. We hope that the ensuing
discussion
will bridge the methodological gaps between the academic disciplines, whose
respective approaches have come to reflect cleavages in the subject matter
itself. Panel sessions will follow a chronological framework, from the
*Early
Modern period to the present*.
The boundaries of 'Central Europe' for these purposes remain broad and can
include the region as it has been, and is defined, in relation to either
Western Europe or Eastern Europe. In addition, we particularly welcome
papers
on minority (e.g Jewish and Roma) communities within the region.
* * *
The Committee suggests the following possible topics for papers from the
Reformation to the present. However, proposals need not be limited to these
suggestions, nor to the placement of particular themes within this loose
chronology:
*The Integrity of Community Life and Domestic Continuities
*Religious Conflict and Authority -- The Process of Secularization
*Nobility, Aristocracy, Intelligentsia – The Maintenance of Hierarchy and
Sources of Reform within Empire
*Folklore in Relation to Definitions of High Culture
*Hegemony and Language – Dominant Linguistic Traditions
*Historical Construction as the Foundation of Ideology
*Regionalism Versus Cosmopolitianism – The Pressures of Modernization
*Great Power Interest and Ideological Influences – Changing Imperatives for
Nationalism
*National Self-Determination, Civil Society and the Determinants of
Citizenship
*Journalism – Representation of Social and Political Change, the Public
Voice
and Literary Licence
*The Problem of Common Critical Consensus – The Establishment of
'Legitimate'
Forms of Art and Culture
*Party politics and the Co-opting of Culture
*Borderlands and the Persistence of Pluralism
*World War II and the Holocaust – The Failure and Destruction of Civil
Society
*Broadcasting and the Media – Locating Independent Viewpoints
*Central Europe During the Cold War – Contested Bloc of European Security
Architecture
*Cinema and the Projection of Self-Conscious Identity
*From Revolutionaries to Politicians – A Troubled Path?
*Redefining Left-Right Cleavages in Transition Politics
*Devolution in Central Europe – Balancing the Centre-Periphery Relationship
*Patterns of Economic Interdependence
*The Emergence of National Business Elites
*Doctrines and Values of Development – The Mixed Results of Growth
*Political and Economic Infrastructures – Continuity or Change?
*Constitutionalism, Legal Transformation and the Problem of Institutional
Reconstruction
*Post-Marxist Ideology and the Social Question in Twenty-first Century
Central
Europe
*Redefining Central Europe on the Eve of EU enlargement and Globalization
* * *
The Committee invites Post-Doctoral, Graduate and final-year Undergraduate
students in the Humanities and Social Sciences to submit original research
papers for discussion. A one-page abstract of the paper (including title),
along with a curriculum vitae and contact information (E-mail, Telephone,
Postal Address) should be submitted no later than
** 1 FEBRUARY 2002 **. Read papers in their final form should not exceed
twenty minutes in length and must be in English. The conference fee is yet
to
be confirmed and announced.
* * *
Submissions may be sent by post or by E-mail (preferably in a Word
attachment)
to the Conference Coordinator:
Larissa Douglass, St. Antony’s College, Oxford, OX2 6JF United Kingdom
[log in to unmask]
(D.Phil. European History, St. Antony’s)
Senior Academic Advisor to the Conference Committee:
Timothy Garton Ash
Kurt A. Koerber Senior Research Fellow in Contemporary European History
European Studies Centre, St. Antony’s College.
The conference is held under the auspices of the European Studies Centre,
St. Antony’s College, Oxford (http://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/esc.htm).
Conference Committee:
Monika Baar (D.Phil. European History, Brasenose)
Martin Benedek (D.Phil. Politics, St. Antony’s)
Adam Fergus (M.St. European Literature, New)
Michael Fleming (D.Phil. Geography, Pembroke)
Katya A. M. Kocourek (M.Phil. Russian and East European Studies, St. Antony’
s;
M.Phil./Ph.D. SSEES, London)
Stefan Szwed (M.Phil. European Politics and Society, St. Antony’s)
Wanda Wyporska (D.Phil. European History, Hertford)
Assisting Panel to the Conference Committee:
Deborah Holmes (Junior Research Fellow in Medieval and Modern Languages, The
Queen's College)
Tim Noetzel (M.Phil. European Politics and Society, St. Antony's)
Vanda Pickett (D. Phil. Czech Literature, Faculty of Medieval and Modern
Languages, St. Hugh's)
Robert Pyrah (D. Phil. Austrian Cultural History, Faculty of Medieval and
Modern Languages, Magdalen)
Marius Turda (Ph.D. History, Central European University)
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