Conference
Studying Conflict and Violence in Central Asia: Academic Traditions and Interdisciplinary Challenges
April 30, 2011
Bishkek, American University of Central Asia
Studying violence and conflict increasingly transgresses disciplinary borders and theoretical boundaries: the complexity of issues requires a dynamic combination of theoretical approaches, interpretative skills, and ways of collecting materials and sources. Analytical and historical interests in studying conflicts and violence, however, are quite different from traditional historical inquires in human behavior: by and large, studies of conflicts are motivated by a pragmatic desire not only to reconstruct the course of tragic events and their consequences but also to understand the causes of such conflicts in order to map out ways of their prevention in the future. It is hard to overestimate the role of the intellectual community in studying conflicts. Yet, predominantly, research on conflicts has been focused on documenting and reporting violent cases.
We would like to draw attention to a different -more self-reflexive - aspect of conflict studies: What are the forms, ways, and methods of problematizing the position of a scholar in studying a conflict? What kind of ethical dilemmas are involved in such a research? How do scholars mediate contradictions between the subjective involvement in studying a particular case, on one hand, and the requirements of objective detachment, impartiality, and objectivity, on the other? How the researcher's ethical position influences the study of a conflict? Is a systematic field-based study of conflicts possible?
We invite experts and scholars working on conflicts share their views, experience, and problems with studying violence.
Please submit your abstract (no more than 300 words) before February 15, 2011.
All proposals would be reviewed; the finalists will be asked to submit their essays by April 1, 2011. Selected articles will be published in Akademicheskii vestnik (Academic Review of AUCA).
Contact information:
Ruslan Rahimov, Assistant Professor, Anthropology Department
ruslanlyon@gmail. com
Elena Kosterina, Assistant Professor, Psychology Department
elena.kosterina@ gmail.com
Azamat Temirkulov, Assistant Professor, International and Comparative Politics Department
temirkulov_a@ mail.auca. kg
Please quote 10 Academic Resources Daily in your application to this opportunity!
