CONF./CFP- Oriental Studies under Socialism, Amsterdam or Bonn, 2008

Posted by: Michael Kemper <[log in to unmask]>

The Department for Oriental Studies of Bonn University (Germany) and
the Department of European Studies at Amsterdam University
(Netherlands) are jointly preparing a colloquium on the History of
Oriental Studies in Socialist Europe, which is scheduled to take place
in Amsterdam or Bonn in March or April of 2008. At present, we are
looking for scholars who would be interested in participating.

We are especially interested in the following aspects:

1) How was Islam interpreted under Communism?

2) What restrictions and what opportunities did scholars of Oriental
    and Islamic studies face in Socialist Central/Eastern Europe? (In the
    case of the Soviet Union, this topic is clearly linked to the
    repression of scholars in the 1920s and 1930s.). Did some fields of
    Oriental Studies enjoy more "liberties" than others?

3) How were institutes, journals and associations for Oriental Studies
    established and reformed during the Socialist period, what were their
    aims and tasks in teaching, research, and politics? How were
    departments of Oriental Studies related to other faculties?

4) How does the "Socialist image of the Orient" fit in with Edward
    Said's concept of "Orientalism"?

5) What was the legacy of Socialist Oriental studies after 1989/1991,
    and how is its history interpreted now? Did Orientalists play a role
    in the transformation of their respective societies?

The conference will thus be comparative in perspective, using
biographical, institutional and discursive approaches to the general topic.

Currently we are preparing the list of participants, which shall
include scholars from Russia, Hungary, former Yugoslavia, the Czech
Republic, and Poland, as well colleagues from Germany, the
Netherlands, Switzerland, France, and the USA. The colloquium language
will be English and German; the results of our meeting will be
published in English. The colloquium will be open to the public.

Scholars who are interested in participating at our meeting are
welcome to send us a message containing their topic for their
presentation and article, and are also kindly asked to provide their
CV. The decision whether participation can be funded depends (1) on
the approval of our general application by a German foundation, and
(2) on the quality of the proposed individual contribution.  We also
encourage the participants to apply to their home institutions for support.

In any case we would be very pleased to make the acquaintance of
scholars - especially of the younger generation - who have an interest
in the history of Oriental studies in Central/Eastern Europe.

Thank you for disseminating this information among your colleagues!

Michael Kemper
Stephan Conermann

Prof. Dr. Michael Kemper
Chair of Eastern European Studies
Universiteit van Amsterdam
P.C. Hoofthuis, Spuistraat 134
NL-1012 VB Amsterdam
Tel. 0031-20-525 4370
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http://home.medewerker.uva.nl/m.kemper/

Prof. Dr. Stephan Conermann
Universität Bonn
Institut für Orient- und Asienwissenschaften (IOA
Abt. für Islamwissenschaft
Regina-Pacis-Weg 7
D- 53113 Bonn
Tel. 0049-228-737462
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