The following conference announcement is circulated at the request of the
organisers:
Seventeen years after the onset of revolutionary
changes in 1989,Central and Eastern European societies
are still confronted with their histories. Memories
and recollections of the past are contested and the
past is painstakingly constituted through the
interplay of collective construction, political
bargains, reversals, rationalizing of refusals to come
to terms with it as well as attempts to recognize
the past and cope with it. Central and Eastern Europe
(CEE) have witnessed unprecedented spatial and
population shifts and splits which marked the 20th
century globally. Many minorities which were often
local majorities or equal in number were left in the
aftermath of wars as mere memories that quickly faded
due to the rapid intrusion of communism. The process
of building societies which are not just
ethno-culturally heterogeneous but also open to all
diverse groups has been contingent on coming to terms
with the past. This process became the arena for
opening ways to facing current challenges such as
migration, borders dissolution and violation of local
social and economic balances.
Since 1989 CEE societies have undergone unparalleled
social change,however, the expected reforms in the
spheres of law, public policy, culture, media, economy
and social policies have been substantially delayed
and compromised. The simultaneous emergence of
free-market economies and pluralist politics led to
situations in which the statequickly withdrew or
collapsed, and distinctions between state, collective,
and private domains became unclear. It has been in the
interest of those actors that emerged in this initial
phase of change to prolong a specifically
post-socialist culture between socialism and the free
market. This may have decisively contributed to the
Eurosceptic backlash in the ranks of particular
mainstream political forces and in specific cultural
segments and sections of societies in some CEE
countries. What is in this light the meaning of "the
big European switch" of 2004 and its upcoming
enlargement follow-up? How 'Central and Eastern
European' have the CEE countries stayed and Western
Europe become? What are the reconstituted boundaries?
Held by School of Social Studies, Masaryk University,
Brno, Czech Republic, 28th - 30th June 2007 and
organized in cooperation with the School of Slavonic
and East European Studies, University College London,
the conference presents a major opportunity for
postgraduate students and young academics to discuss
the events in Central and Eastern Europe also
including but not limited to Russia, Eurasia, the
Balkans, and the Baltic States. We invite submissions
and participants from a wide range of disciplinary
perspectives. Proposals should be sent, as email
attachments, to: [log in to unmask] at the latest
January 31, 2007.
further details and particular themes:
http://www.h-net.msu.edu/announce/show.cgi?ID=152432
with kind regards
Marcel Tomasek
School of Social Studies, Sociology Dep.,
Joštova 10,
602 00 Brno, Czech Republic
phone: 00420 549497611
fax: 00420 549 491 920
Email: [log in to unmask]
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