Comparative Perspectives on East Central Europe
Student Conference hosted by
the History Department and Pasts, Inc. Center for Historical Study
of the Central European University, Budapest
(25-26 May 2010, Budapest)
After 1989 there has been a sweeping wave of Europeanization, regionalization and supra-national integration involving the countries in Central and Eastern Europe. This, however, did not lead to the obliteration of conflicting historical myths, prejudices, and negative stereotypes, which survived and in many cases, paradoxically, became reinforced after most of these countries entered the Euro-Atlantic integration structures. It is obvious that much more institutional and intellectual investment is needed to challenge these perceptions and develop more integrative collective identity discourses.
Comparative and trans-national history is one of the most promising venues of building alternative narratives of the past. The last 20 years brought a veritable boom of such scholarly ventures in Western Europe, and many promising endeavours were started also in East Central and South-eastern Europe, from joint textbook projects, through writing the history of multi-ethnic regions to even more ambitious projects of `historical reconciliation."
The Central European University in general, and its History Department and its affiliated research centre, Pasts, Inc,. in particular, have been at the forefront of such ventures. The Department's curriculum is comparative, while the Center has initiated a number of major projects (such as the CEU-HESP Comparative History Project or the project on Hungarian-Romanian entangled histories) which sought to break out of the conventional framework of nation-centered historiography. Likewise, the Futures Continuous Project, organized by CEU students, alumni and faculty, brought together Hungarian and Romanian graduate students in an exchange program.
The aim of the student workshop hosted by CEU in May 2010 is to bring together advanced undergraduate, Masters' and doctoral students from Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine interested in comparative and transnational historical research. Historical studies in this context are understood in a broader sense, also including boarder disciplines as historical sociology, historical anthropology, political thought, etc.
The intention of the organizers is to facilitate a transnational dialogue among the participants and also to form a broader network of students interested in these themes and willing to be involved in further cooperation.
Participants of the conference will also have the possibility to stay another 2 days in Budapest if they wish and attend the conference held at CEU on "comparative Communist studies."
Travel and accommodation expenses will be covered by the organizers.
Applications for participation should include a short CV, a 1-2 page-long abstract of the prospective conference paper (20 minutes) and an estimation of travel expenses.
The working language of the conference is English.
Collective applications for a joint panel are also encouraged.
The deadline of applications is 10 April. The selected participants will be notified by the 19th of April.
Queries and applications should be sent either directly to the Conveners or to the members of the Board representing the country of the applicant.
Conveners:
Constantin Iordachi (Associate Professor, History Department, Central European University Budapest, iordachinc@ceu. hu)
Balázs Trencsényi (Assistant Professor, History Department, Central European University Budapest, trencsenyib@ ceu.hu)
Board:
Damir Agiči&# 263; (Associate Professor, University of Zagreb, Croatia, damir.agicic@ zg.htnet. hr)
Kateryna. Dysa (Assistant Professor, Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Ukraine, hobot77@yandex. ru)
Luciana Ghica (Assistant Professor, University of Bucharest, Romania luciana.ghica@ fspub.ro)
Jaroslav Miller (Associate Professor, Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic, jaroslav.miller@ seznam.cz )
Slávka Otčenášová (Assistant Professor, University of Košice, Slovakia, otcenasova@gmail. com)
Please quote 10 Academic Resources Daily in your application to this opportunity!
