CONF./CFP- University of Pittsburgh, REES & GOSECA Graduate Student Conference

Distrib. by: Central-Eurasia-L - Announcement List for Central Eurasian Studies

Posted by: GOSECA University of Pittsburgh <gosecaconference@yahoo.com>

CONF./CFP- University of Pittsburgh, REES & GOSECA Graduate Student Conference

University of Pittsburgh, REES, and GOSECA
Fifth Annual Graduate Student Conference

February 22nd - 24th, 2008

Generation Removed? Assessing Nostalgia, Memory, and Legacy in Russia,
Eastern Europe, and Central Asia

The collapse of communist regimes in the former Soviet Union, Eastern
Europe, and Central Asia led to radical shifts in social, economic,
political, and cultural realities. Subsequently, the transition to
postcommunism dramatically affected the worlds of both the living and
the dead, transforming epistemologies, as well as lifestyles. The
changes also prompted the revisiting of the past and its relationship
to the present. As the first generation removed from the communist era
comes of age and examines its heritage, it seeks to negotiate its
identity with a world audience. Nostalgia, memory and legacy have
lasting impacts on such efforts and provide useful frameworks for this
endeavor.

Examples of presentation topics include:
- Postcommunist religious vestiges: revival and opposition
- The impact of the collective memory of super power status on
contemporary Russian foreign policy
- The impact of clan structures on Central Asian society
- Nostalgic contemporary views of the Czechoslovakia's Golden Era of
the 1920s and 1930s
- The effects of the Soviet legacy on cultural institutions
- Monuments and memories: communist legacies and the appropriation of the past

REES and GOSECA invite papers that assess the current and past roles
of nostalgia, memory and legacy in the Russia, Eastern Europe, and
Central Asia. The conference is deliberately interdisciplinary and
aims to deepen our understanding of the region as a whole using a
broad range of approaches to examine an intricately woven matrix of
issues. Participation is open to graduate students in the social
sciences, the humanities, and the professional schools.

Abstracts should be no more than 250 words long. Please submit
abstracts by December 1st, 2007 to the following email address:
gosecaconference@yahoo.com

GOSECA Conference Organizing Committee
Russian and East European Studies Graduate Student Conference
University of Pittsburgh

GOSECA is the Graduate Organization for the Study of Europe and
Central Asia (GOSECA) at the University of Pittsburgh

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