"The Cultures of Post-1989 Central and East Europe," an international conference, will take place in Targu-Mures, Romania, 21-24 August 2003. The conference is hosted by the Gheorghe Sincai Research Institute of the Social Sciences and the Humanities of the Romanian Academy of Sciences (Targu Mures) and Petru Maior University (Targu Mures). Abstracts of 200 words in English, German, or French with a biographical detail of 200 words are invited by 31 March 2003 to the conference conveners Carmen Andras at prognoze@cjmures.orizont.net or carmen_andras@yahoo.com and Steven Totosy at the email address listed or clcweb@purdue.edu.

The theme of the conference is contemporary Central and East European culture after the 1989-90 demise of the Soviet colonial period. A debated notion, Central and East Europe is defined here as a geographical region stretching from Austria and the former East Germany (incl. Mitteldeutschland) to Romania and Bulgaria, the Baltic countries, Serbia and the Ukraine, etc., including the Habsburg lands and German influence and their spheres of interest at various times including now. Since the events of 1989-90 and the demise of the Soviet empire, the cultures of Central and East Europe have engaged in a restructuring of their political, economic, social, and cultural environments and societies. While this reshaping of the region is still on-going, there is a new Central and East Europe in place now, politically, socially, economically, and culturally. The objectives of the conference include explorations into aspects of the cultural situation of the new Central and East Europe by scholars, intellectuals, and artists of the region. Comparative papers are of particular interest. Topics are welcome in culture including:

• literature, the arts, film, music, etc.
• comparative media studies (aspects of television, radio, film, journalism, etc.)
• the politics of culture and cultural policy
• the histories of post-1989 Central and East Europe
• cultural traditions and European integration
• intersections of society and socialization
• globalization, economics, and culture
• aspects of minorities, the marginal, and marginalization