Call for Applications CBEES Annual Conference 2022: 

Where are we now? Perspectives on East European Area Studies today
1-2 December 2022, Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden 

Deadline for application: 15 June 2022 

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine 24 February, and the ensuing war, is devastating for the country and its population and has far-reaching consequences for the entire region. Today, the subject of East European area studies is undergoing a process of violent transformation. For the past 30 years, as an area, Eastern Europe and post-soviet states have been defined as post-communist, and the sphere belonging to the former Soviet Union as post-soviet. “Post” has marked a transition, through a process of continuation and negation. The war may result in an end to this condition of “post”, since it implies the collapse of the post-soviet geopolitical consensus, which has implications for the entire region and beyond. 

The conference invites critical discussion about the potentials, limitations and (mis)uses of methodologies (e.g., decolonial) that challenge hegemonic approaches in East European Studies/area studies. What is happening to area studies? Where are we now, as a consequence of the war? What new theoretical and methodological instruments do we need in a new situation? 

The transformation of the region also poses serious challenges to scholars. Continual redefinition of the “areas” (post-Soviet, Eastern Europe, Eurasia, New East, etc.) of study reproduces the hierarchies of geopolitical entities, languages and cultures reflected in the distribution of resources, academic interests and practices. Knowledge production always risks being ensnared in hegemonic structures (imperial, patriarchal, authoritarian) and non-academic interests and discourses (e.g., policy and profit-making). This conference seeks to critically examine the current conditions for knowledge production within the area. How is knowledge produced, and by whom? How can we work in and with the area today? 

Keynote Speaker: Professor Vitaly Chernetsky, University of Kansas 

For more information, including this year’s topics and application, please visit the conference webpage:  www.sh.se/cbeesannual2022 

The CBEES Annual Conference is free of charge and CBEES is also covering the accommodation costs for the authors of the accepted papers. 

The conference is planned as an on-site event with reservation for possible changes.