October 28-31, 2010

This conference will explore the history and legacies of what Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn described as “an almost invisible, almost imperceptible country inhabited by zeks.” We will also seek to understand how “the scars and sores of the past are healing over” (Solzhenitsyn again) and how literature and art represented the Gulag system. Finally, we will hope to explore the current state of Gulag remembrance.

We encourage submissions from a range of disciplines and from foreign researchers. In particular, we encourage submissions from researchers who have gained access to formerly closed archives or previously unknown papers or collections and who are employing innovative research methods to explore the nature and legacies of the Gulag. We are particularly interested in stimulating cross-disciplinary conversations about the Gulag in communist and post-communist societies.

Proposals must come from young researchers who have already completed their dissertation research (ABD) or researchers who have defended their dissertation within the last five years. This will be an intensive 2-1/2 day working conference during which each of the selected papers will be critiqued by the other participants and a team of discussants made up of Miami University faculty. Two keynote speakers—Steve Barnes (George Mason University) and Lynne Viola (University of Toronto)--will also deliver lectures on the Gulag. We also intend to publish an edited volume on the conference theme and expect the papers presented at the conference to be publishable. The Havighurst Center will provide accommodation in Oxford, ground transportation to and from the airport, and partial travel funding (up to $400 for domestic travel and up to $800 for international travel in the form of an honorarium).

Please submit an abstract of approximately 250 words and a short CV to mailto:HavighurstCenter@muohio.edu. We will begin to review proposals on April 20, 2010. Please type “2010 Gulag Conference” as the subject of the email. 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