Tuesday, May 24, 2016

CFP: Close Encounters across the Iron Curtain.

International Conference University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam School of Regional, Transnational and European Studies, "European Travel Cultures" Research Group
14.10.2016-15.10.2016, Amsterdam

Twenty-five years after the collapse of Communism, mutual perceptions of “the East” and “the West” seem more than ever to be building on Cold War stereotypes. Exploring the roots of this phenomenon, the European Travel Cultures research group at the University of Amsterdam invites the submission of proposals for the second “Close Encounters” workshop.
The workshop will focus on the sense-making of tourist encounters between East and West during the Cold War. How did tourists and travellers understand their encounters with people, cultures, and political systems on the other side of the Iron Curtain and how were these meanings disseminated and received?
We are particularly interested in papers dealing with East – West encounters at the intersection of mediality and materiality:
  • What kind of media (TV, Radio, Printed matter, dictionaries, books, maps etc.) did tourists use in preparation of their journeys? How critical did the users approach these source of information?
  • How was “being elsewhere” experienced and understood by people traveling across the Iron Curtain for leisurely purposes and work? We invite participants to include attempts at mutual understanding as well as conscious attempts at self-distancing.
  • How did travel experiences influence self-conceptions and identities of the travellers while being abroad and back home? 
  • What kind of images, stories and material souvenirs did the tourist bring home and how did they try to circulate their experiences and interpretations back home?
We particularly welcome papers from the fields of history of the everyday, consumption history, media studies, reception studies, and cultural anthropology exploring mutual misinterpretations, misreadings of the alien environment, cases of conscious and subconscious misconduct etc.
Participants will be required to submit papers for pre-circulation four weeks ahead of the conference. We also ask for the submission of original contributions as we plan publishing an edited volume.
Deadlines: Please send an abstract of up to 500 words and a short bio (max. 100 words) to close-encounters-fgw@uva.nl before 15 June 2016. Conference papers are due on 15 September 2016.
Conference fee: € 50 covering lunches and the conference dinner.
Funding: Very limited funding is available to cover accommodation and travel costs. Please indicate when submitting the abstract if you would like to apply for funding.
Conference organisers: Dr Christian Noack (c.u.noack@uva.nl); Dr Sune Bechmann Pedersen (sune.bechmann_pedersen@hist.lu.se)

Friday, May 6, 2016

CFP: Copernicus Graduate School

"Inclusion and Exclusion as Constitutive Elements of Society Formation Processes"
11-14 July 2016 ToruĊ„ (Poland)
It can be said that the paradigm of civil society in the processes of nation-building does not find clear usage in the research on nationalism. Such research approach would be very inspiring as a model for explaining the role of democracy and power in nationalism or relations between the individual and a social group. Without a doubt the contemporary nation is a form of organization of modern mass societies which uses existence conditions, formulation of goals and attributes of civil society. It realizes the promise of solidarity and community, which makes the nation so attractive and constructs the identity of masses. Without such structures of self-organization of civil society, implementation of thinking in national categories is unimaginable, and only a self-organization commitment towards the nation brings the feeling of bonds and mobilization potential for every possibility, which lets the nationalized societies function. The necessary equalization with individual project of life done by that develops a spectrum, which fulfills the necessity of security by an individual. Understanding society through the idea of nation and the functionality of civil society constitutes the strength and stability of national movement. Feasibility is perceived as an important civilization element.

In the sense of research "close to society", the existential question will be asked about basic parameters of change and adjusting to them of human being. Cultural bonds, transitional spaces and territories inhabited by mixed ethnic groups, which negate formal patterns of homogenic society become particularly effective for demonstrating the models of social development, which are used in order to bring answers to actual questions about conflict solutions and society organization options.

The work of the summer school is divided into four work groups:
1. Nationalization of the Society as Normative Unification Process
2. Determinants of Closed and Open Societies
3. Nationality Policies in Multinational States
4. Economic Aspects of Social Exclusion
  
The Summer School is addressed to PhD students of all humanistic disciplines.
Every participant of the Summer School will be actively working in a discussion group under the guidance of CGS fellow. The fellows will deliver the preparatory reading.

The results of the event will be published in a reviewed volume of the "CGS Studies" scientific series, at the Cambridge Scholars Publishing House (UK). Every participant will be invited to deliver a paper related to the topic and inspired by the event.
The working language is English - all the discussions will be held and papers for the book have to be prepared in English.

Admission fee:
110 €/450 PLN (with accommodation) 90 €/370 PLN (without accommodation)
The fee covers:
- accommodation with breakfast and other board,
- participation in the working groups' discussions and other related events,
- summer school materials,
- publication of the paper in English in a book of the series "CGS Studies",
- official banquet.

Application deadline: 20.06.2016

More information: www.cgs.umk.pl
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