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International Graduate Conference in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
European Studies Centre, St. Antony?s College, University of Oxford
24-26 May 2002.
Opening Keynote Panel (tentative):
- Mr. Timothy Garton Ash (St. Antony?s College, Oxford)
- Dr. Martyn Rady (SSEES, London)
- Professor George Schoepflin (SSEES, London)
Website: http://ce-conf.5er.com/
PROPOSALS DUE: 1 FEBRUARY 2002
The idea of Central Europe rests, paradoxically, upon ambiguous
boundaries and essential definitions. This heartland remains a
contested area in terms of overlapping and competing conceptions of
territorial frontiers, political authority, economic trading blocs,
ethno-linguistic communities and cultural development. Nonetheless,
the region retains a genuine and unique character whose expression
extends far beyond the terms of nationalist myth-making. In an effort
to identify the workings of this paradox, and consequently the nature
of the region itself, the Conference Committee of Postgraduates in
Central European Studies at the University of Oxford is calling for
papers in the field which focus on the concept of legitimacy.
The notion of legitimacy embraces Central Europe?s uncertainties and
certainties: it is a model both of justification and vindication,
based on a mixed historical legacy. On the one hand, Central Europe
shares the same instances of great socio-political change as Western
Europe, from the Reformation to the European Union. On the other
hand, the dynamics of these changes were and are different in Central
Europe. From the Early Modern period varied relationships between the
spiritual and secular spheres combined with alternative forms of
social-economic hierarchy, absolutism and imperialism to produce
different founding principles for future state development. From
these processes and principles we can trace varying subsequent
patterns of ethnic diversity and national identification. This legacy
ironically pushes the region to the periphery of Europe, even as its
relations arguably provide the key to the continent?s affairs.
We are calling for interpretations of legitimacy that address this
essential contradiction. Our starting point is Max Weber?s definition
of legitimacy as any one of three different ways of exercising power:
by tradition, charisma or rational legal authority. We aim to draw
from these three concepts of authority as we debate legitimacy in
language, culture, history, geography, economics and politics in
Central Europe. We hope that the ensuing discussion will bridge the
methodological gaps between the academic disciplines, whose respective
approaches have come to reflect cleavages in the subject matter
itself. Panel sessions will follow a chronological framework, from
the *Early Modern period to the present*.
The boundaries of 'Central Europe' for these purposes remain broad and
can include the region as it has been, and is defined, in relation to
either Western Europe or Eastern Europe. In addition, we particularly
welcome papers on minority (e.g Jewish and Roma) communities within
the region.
The Committee suggests the following possible topics for papers from
the Reformation to the present. However, proposals need not be
limited to these suggestions, nor to the placement of particular
themes within this loose chronology:
- The Integrity of Community Life and Domestic Continuities
- Religious Conflict and Authority -- The Process of Secularization
- Nobility, Aristocracy, Intelligentsia ? The Maintenance of Hierarchy
and Sources of Reform within Empire
- Folklore in Relation to Definitions of High Culture
- Hegemony and Language ? Dominant Linguistic Traditions
- Historical Construction as the Foundation of Ideology
- Regionalism Versus Cosmopolitianism ? The Pressures of Modernization
- Great Power Interest and Ideological Influences ? Changing
Imperatives for Nationalism
- National Self-Determination, Civil Society and the Determinants of
Citizenship
- Journalism ? Representation of Social and Political Change, the
Public Voice and Literary Licence
- The Problem of Common Critical Consensus ? The Establishment
of 'Legitimate' Forms of Art and Culture
- Party politics and the Co-opting of Culture
- Borderlands and the Persistence of Pluralism
- World War II and the Holocaust ? The Failure and Destruction of Civil
Society
- Broadcasting and the Media ? Locating Independent Viewpoints
- Central Europe During the Cold War ? Contested Bloc of European
Security Architecture
- Cinema and the Projection of Self-Conscious Identity
- From Revolutionaries to Politicians ? A Troubled Path?
- Redefining Left-Right Cleavages in Transition Politics
- Devolution in Central Europe ? Balancing the Centre-Periphery
Relationship
- Patterns of Economic Interdependence
- The Emergence of National Business Elites
- Doctrines and Values of Development ? The Mixed Results of Growth
- Political and Economic Infrastructures ? Continuity or Change?
- Constitutionalism, Legal Transformation and the Problem of
Institutional Reconstruction
- Post-Marxist Ideology and the Social Question in Twenty-first Century
Central Europe
- Redefining Central Europe on the Eve of EU enlargement and
Globalization
The Committee invites Post-Doctoral, Graduate and final-year
Undergraduate students in the Humanities and Social Sciences to submit
original research papers for discussion. A one-page abstract of the
paper (including title), along with a curriculum vitae and contact
information (E-mail, Telephone, Postal Address) should be submitted no
later than ** 1 FEBRUARY 2002 **. Read papers in their final form
should not exceed twenty minutes in length and must be in English.
The conference fee is yet to be confirmed and announced.
Submissions may be sent by post or by E-mail (preferably in a Word
attachment) to the Conference Coordinator at the address below.
Senior Academic Advisor to the Conference Committee:
- Timothy Garton Ash
- Kurt A. Koerber Senior Research Fellow in Contemporary European
- History, European Studies Centre, St. Antony?s College.
The conference is held under the auspices of the European Studies
Centre, St. Antony?s College, Oxford
(http://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/esc.htm).
Conference Committee:
- Monika Baar (D.Phil. European History, Brasenose)
- Martin Benedek (D.Phil. Politics, St. Antony?s)
- Adam Fergus (M.St. European Literature, New)
- Michael Fleming (D.Phil. Geography, Pembroke)
- Katya A. M. Kocourek (M.Phil. Russian and East European Studies, St.
- Antony?s; M.Phil./Ph.D. SSEES, London)
- Stefan Szwed (M.Phil. European Politics and Society, St. Antony?s)
- Wanda Wyporska (D.Phil. European History, Hertford)
Assisting Panel to the Conference Committee:
- Deborah Holmes (Junior Research Fellow in Medieval and Modern
- Languages, The Queen's College)
- Tim Noetzel (M.Phil. European Politics and Society, St. Antony's)
- Vanda Pickett (D. Phil. Czech Literature, Faculty of Medieval and
Modern Languages, St. Hugh's)
- Robert Pyrah (D. Phil. Austrian Cultural History, Faculty of Medieval
and Modern Languages, Magdalen)
- Marius Turda (Ph.D. History, Central European University)
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