Havighurst Center for Russian & Post-Soviet Studies
Annual International Young Researchers Conference
CULTURE, PRACTICES AND THE MEMORY OF THE COLD WAR

Organizers: Gulnaz Sharafutdinova, Lynn Stevens
Miami University
Oxford, OH

October 25-27, 2007

Almost twenty years have passed after the end of the Cold War. This geopolitical cleavage defining the second half of the 20th century was not only a period of fierce competition between two military superpowers, but it also engendered specific ways of thinking, feeling and acting for millions of people on both sides of the Iron Curtain. On the one hand, the military rivalry had promoted the vision that casts the world into competing binaries of good and evil. On the other hand, it generated popular resistance and subversion of the official propaganda, creating anti-war movements, counter-cultural trends in music, theater and art, thereby creating a space for alternative thinking.

The conference will consider these cultural reflections of the Cold War era as well as the remnants of the Cold War culture and thinking today. We encourage papers to consider such topics as popular resistance and maintaining personal autonomy under repressive political regimes, responses to political rituals and propaganda, everyday life under the Cold War, the reinvention of history and building memories of the Cold War, the reflections of the Cold War thinking and practices in today’s world.

We encourage proposals from young researchers who have already completed their dissertation research or have defended their dissertation within the last three years. This will be an intensive 2-1/2 day working conference that will involve a discussion of each of the selected papers by other participants including the authors, the keynote speaker, organizers, and a team of discussants made up of Miami faculty. The final version of selected papers will be considered for a publication in an edited volume. The Havighurst Center will provide accommodation in Oxford, ground transportation from the airport, and partial travel funding (up to $250 for domestic travel and up to $500 for international travel).

To be considered for the conference, submit an abstract of approximately 250 words and a short CV to HavighurstCenter@muohio.edu by April 20, 2007. Please type “2007 Young Researchers Conference” as the subject of the email. We plan to get back to you by mid-May.

Questions can be directed to:
The Havighurst Center for Russian & Post-Soviet Studies
Miami University
Harrison Hall, Room 116
Oxford, OH 45056
(513) 529-3303
HavighurstCenter@muohio.edu