Workshop at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey May 18, 2002, New Brunswick, NJ Sponsored by History Department, European Studies Graduate Student Association, Center for Russian, Central and East European Studies

Keynote Speaker: Gerard Noiriel, Ecole Normal Superieure "Political Persecutions and Legalization of Identities: Refugees and National States in Modern Europe"

Call for Papers

In the past two decades our changing world has forced scholars in humanities to focus more on those phenomena in world history that can be described as transnational. For the most part this trend was and is reflected in the studies of diasporas, which have expanded tremendously to encompass practically any dispersed group. And yet, this emerging trend towards a history of transnationality has overlooked an important cultural and political institution in modern Europe that provides significant insights into the emergence of the cosmopolitan European culture that transcends national borders – the institution of political exile and emigration, urging some historians to label political emigrations “a lost subject”. At the same time, exile as a phenomenon of modern history brings to light those processes in modern state and nation formation that are defined by borders and limits: here one finds the first signs of the emerging regime of exclusion and repression. The task of our workshop will be to address the phenomenon of exile in modern Europe from perspectives offered by history, political science, sociology, literary studies, and anthropology. The workshop will be divided into three sections (history, political science/sociology/anthropology, and literary and cultural studies). Papers will be distributed in advance among participants.

Submissions can, but do not have to, focus on one of the following topics:

• Comparative history of political emigrations
• Terminological debate, e.g., refugees, expellees, exiles, émigrés, etc.
• Nansen commission and the management of political exile
• Political asylum as a modern institution
• Regime of modern nation-state and political exile
• Cultures of exile – political emigrations and their impact on host societies
• Cultures of exile – issues of continuity in national traditions
• Political emigrations and Homeland politics
• Nationalism and political exile
• Political exile as a catalyst of transnational cultural exchange
• Political exiles and political movements in host societies
• Social structure and social development of émigré communities

For additional information or to submit your abstract please contact: