---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Beth Moore, DEFA Film Library <[log in to unmask]>

EAST GERMAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION CALL FOR PAPERS

7th Triennial Congress of the
EASTERN GERMAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION
(formerly GDR Studies Association)
12-15 September 2002
Montreal, Quebec

The Eastern German Studies Association -- an international and
interdisciplinary network of scholars with a research interest in the
former German Democratic Republic and the new, eastern _Laender_ of the
Federal Republic of Germany -- will hold its seventh (and perhaps final?)
triennial conference in Montreal, Quebec, in September 2002 with the
collaboration of the _Centre canadien d'etudes allemandes et europeennes_
at Universite de Montreal.  The EGSA invites younger and established
scholars from any field of the social sciences and humanities to submit
proposals for original papers to be presented with reference to the theme:
"East(ern) Germany between 'Tradition,' 'Modernity' and 'Postmodernity'."

This broad thematic title seeks to evoke, if not provoke, debates on the
empirical, theoretical, and normative relevance of the terms 'tradition'
and '(post) modernity' for understanding the GDR and the new _Laender_.
It also points to the unexpected renaissance of modernization theory that
followed the collapse of communism.  Particularly in the German context,
scholars and pundits alike attributed the failure of the GDR to its
inability to keep pace with modernity and depicted the post-communist
transition as one of _nachholende Modernisierung._ Since unification in
1990, eastern Germany has indeed experienced a radical transformation of
its political, social, and economic structures as well as of its
culture(s) and identity(ies).  Eastern Germans have had to draw on
historical resources and repertoires as well as to innovate in order to
face the challenges of unified Germany within the context of European
integration and 'globalization.' Their experience, however, has not
necessarily been only one of 'catching up' to western-style modernity: in
some instances they have reverted to older social and cultural patterns;
in others they have leap-frogged into postmodern, high-tech consumer
society.  The hybrid social, economic, political and cultural forms that
characterize contemporary eastern German society in some ways recall the
'hybridity' of the old GDR with its Prussian traditions, with its
alternative forms of modernity, and -- in its final years -- with its
traces of individualist, postmodern culture and society.

Paper presenters may wish to address, among others, topics such as :

--Cultural 'hybridity' in past and present eastern German identities
--State socialism: an alternative modernity?
--Right-wing radicalism: legacies of the past or a new New Right?
--PDS: _alte Seilschaften_, new social capital, new possibilities for the
  party system
--Institutional transfer revisited
--The new _Laender_: a motor or brake for change in Germany and the EU?
--Eastern German regionalism between 'Heimat' and 'Euro-region'
--Unemployment and entrepreneurship; social mobility and social
  reproduction
--The new Germany as a global actor: eastern contributions and
  perspectives
--Generational change: 'plus ca change' or a widening gap?
--Reworking the past, analyzing the present: did/does East(ern) Germany
  matter?
--East(ern) Germany: _sui generis_ or a typical (post) communist society?
--New cinema in the new _Laender_ (parallel screenings at the Montreal
  Goethe Institut)
--Conway, NH, and the GDRSA revisited: North American contributions to
  the study of the GDR and the new _Laender_

Paper presenters should submit their proposed title, a 250-word abstract
in English, and a 5-line c.v. in a PC-compatible electronic format to:
[log in to unmask] by March 15, 2002.  Paper presentations may
be made in English, French or German. The international selection
committee will inform presenters of the acceptance of their proposals by
April 15.  A limited number of travel stipends will be available on the
basis of need and outstanding merit with priority given to doctoral
students.

--d-e-f-a- -f-i-l-m- -l-i-b-r-a-r-y--
Beth Moore
Research Consultant
Herter 521, German Dept.
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst, MA 01003, USA
tel: +1-(413) 545-6685
fax: +1-(413) 577-3808
[log in to unmask]