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<http://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.
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