Call for papers
The world in 1989
New sources and interpretations of trans-national and regional interdependency across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas
Organisers
Transregional Center for Democratic Studies, New School for Social Research -
www.newschool. edu/tcds/
World History Network - www.worldhistorynet work.org/
Research Network 1989 - www.cee-socialscien ce.net/1989/
The fall of the Berlin Wall, the conflict at Tiananmen and the break up of the Soviet empire were events of global significance in 1989. Yet, 1989 may equally well be remembered as the year that signalled the end of apartheid and the flowering of pro-democracy movements in Europe, Asia, Africa and America.
In anticipation of the twentieth anniversary in 2009, we invite contributions examining trans-national interdependencies as well as interconnections within and among regions in the period centred on 1989. We are interested in the full variety of world regions: Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Western Europe, Eastern Asia, Southern Asia, Southern Africa, the Middle East, Western and Central Africa, Latin America, Australia and North America.
We ask the following pointed questions to garner interested responses but also
divergent opinions:
A) How were the pro-democracy movements of 1989 connected? Can we show a networked interdependence or was their appearance coincidental, driven by global change? Did the movements learn from each other and, if so, by what technological, social and cultural means?
B) The Soviet empire vanished. Looking not just at the USSR, but also the outer empire and the global political network of clients, supporters and (alienated) allies: Can we show that movements significantly contributed to the break up of
the empire or did it collapse, possibly driven by external political, economic or technological change, particularly in the Anglo-Saxon world?
C) The CCP state survived. What were the implications of the confrontation at Tiananmen for other events in 1989? What will be the lasting regional and global impact of the divergent trajectories of China, Russia and central and eastern Europe? What was the mix of global and local factors in the movements of Africa and Latin America?
D) Struggles of class, gender and ethnicity. If we look at 1989 through this lens: What can we say about the meaning of democracy for the actors, particularly in relation to notions of communism and socialism? How were pro-democracy movements based in gender, class and ethnicity? What was the outcome of 1989 in terms of the global realignment of inequalities and difference?
Proposed format
• Anticipated number of authors: 10-15, plus discussants
• Deadline for expressions of interest: 30 November 2007
• Draft version of 6-7,000 words ready for circulation among workshop participants: 30 April 2008
• Workshop (East Coast, USA): May/June 2008
• Revisions to be completed by 30 August 2008
• Book Publication: 2009
Organising Committee (in reverse alphabetical order)
Elzbieta Matynia is Professor of Liberal Studies and Sociology at the New School, New York. She is also Director of the Transregional Center for Democratic Studies - http://www.newschoo l.edu/tcds/ , which studies democracy and diversity in CEE, South Africa and Latin America. Elzbieta is the author of Furnishing Democracy at the end of the Century: Negotiating Transition at the Polish Roundtable & Others’ (2001). Her current research is on nationalism and ethnic conflict; new democracies in East and Central Europe; and women and democratic transition.
Patrick Manning is Andrew W. Mellon Professor of World History at the University
of Pittsburgh. Patrick is the author of a comparison of 1789 and 1989, with work in progress on democratization movements, 1989-1992, particularly in western and central Africa. He was trained as a specialist in the economic history of Africa. Patrick is President of the World History Network, a nonprofit corporation fostering research in world history - http://www.worldhis torynetwork. org
Padraic Kenney is Professor of History at Indiana University and President of the Polish Studies Association in the United States. He is the author of A Carnival of Revolution: Central Europe 1989 (2002) and The Burdens of Freedom : Eastern Europe Since 1989 (2006). Currently, he is in the process of preparing an edited collection of sources and documents on 1989 around the world.
Chris Armbruster is the Executive Director of the Research Network 1989 - http://www.cee- socialscience. net/1989/ . Chris was born in the American Sector of Berlin and while researching the fall of the Soviet empire and the revolutions of 1989 he spent much time in Poland, Hungary and Siberia. He is an alumnus of the Civic Education Project and the European University Institute. His sociological work is dedicated to exploring explanations and interpretations of 1989: http://ssrn. com/author= 434782
Contact
For more information about this event, please contact Elzbieta Matynia, Director, Transregional Center for Democratic Studies - tcds@newschool. edu; Patrick Manning, President, World History Network - pmanning@pitt. edu; or, Chris Armbruster, Executive Director, Research Network 1989 - chris.armbruster@ eui.eu
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