Association for the Studies of Nationalities 2011 World Conference

Venue: New York (USA)
Period: Apr. 14 - 16, 2011

The preliminary program of the ASN 2011 World Convention can be downloaded at www.nationalities.org. Updated versions will be posted regularly on the ASN website. The Convention, sponsored by the Harriman Institute, will be held at Columbia University, New York, on April 14-16, 2011. 

As always, the Convention boasts the most international lineup of panelists of North American-based conventions, with more than half of the 400+ scholars delivering papers, currently based outside of the United States in nearly 50 countries. More than 750 panelists and participants are expected at the Convention. The program features 140+ panels, including the screening of several new documentaries that will be announced later.

A number of special panels are featured on the program, including a presentation by Father Patrick Desbois, President of Yahad-in Unum in Paris, on his multi-year project "The Holocaust by Bullets" in Ukraine; a roundtable on the role of blogging in academic social science, and a roundtable on the unity crisis currently experienced by Belgium. In addition, the panel/workshop "How to Get an Article Published," one of the most attended panels at the 2010 Convention, will be making a repeat appearance, with the editors of Nationalities Papers, Ethnopolitics, and Europe-Asia Studies. Several panels are also adorn the three thematic sidebars of "History, Politics, and Memory", "Ethnicity and Violence," and "Debating Self-Determination after Kosovo."

These panels will enrich an exceptionally strong lineup of panels in all regions of the former Communist world and Eurasia: Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia/Turkey/China, the Balkans, Ukraine and Central Europe (including the Baltics and Moldova). Every year, the Program Committee has to be more selective in devising the lineup, due to the increasing number of proposals. Central Europe leads the way with 25 panels each, followed by the Balkans, with 20, Central Asia/China/Turkey—with a combined 18 panels, Russia—14, Ukraine and Belarus—10, and the Caucasus—9. Thirteen panels appear in the "Thematic" section. Recurrent themes on the program, other than the sidebars, include War Tribunals, Post-Conflict, EU Enlargement, Language, Ethnic Minorities, Foreign Policy and Diasporas.

In its most visible section, the Convention will be hosting twelve special panels featuring new important books by Alfred Stepan, Juan Linz and Yogenda Yadrav (Crafting State-Nations: India and Other Multinational Democracies, Johns Hopkins, 2011), Timothy Snyder (Bloodlands, Basic, 2010), Charles King (Odessa: Genius and Death in a City of Dreams, Norton, 2011), Christian Gerlach (Extremely Violent Societies, Cambridge, 2010), Fuat Dundar (Crime of Numbers: The Role of Statistics in the Armenian Question, 1878-1918, Transaction, 2010), Larry Wolff (The Idea of Galicia, Stanford, 2010), Scott Radnitz (Weapons of the Wealthy: Predatory Regimes and Elite-Led Protests in Central Asia, Cornell, 2010), Elise Giuliano (Constructing Grievance: Ethnic Nationalism in Russia's Republics, Cornell, 2010), Nadav Shelef (Evolving Nationalism: Homeland, Identity, and Religion in Israel, 1925-2005, Cornell, 2010), Monika Baár (Historians and Nationalism: East Central Europe in the Nineteenth Century, Oxford, 2010), Lara Nettelfield (Courting Democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Columbia, 2010), and Milica Uvalic (Serbia's Transition: Towards a Better Future, Palgrave, 2010).

Two of these book panels are part of the section "Nationalism Studies", which offers a platform for the latest trends in nationalism studies worldwide. Ten more panels appear in the Nationalism section, such as "Historical Legacy in the Making of Boundaries, Loyalty and Political Identity,""Power Sharing: Theory and Practice," and "Multiethnic Socieites". 

Since 2005, the ASN Convention has acknowledged excellence in graduate studies research by offering Awards for Best Doctoral Student Papers in five sections: Russia/Ukraine/Caucasus, Eurasia/Turkey, Central Europe, Balkans, and Nationalism Studies. The winners at the 2010 Convention were Marlene Spoerri (U of Amsterdam, The Netherlands) for the Balkans, Cristian Cercel (Durham U, UK) for Central Europe, Nicole Eaton (UC Berkeley, US) and Michal Simecka (U ofOxford, UK) for Russia/Ukraine/Caucasus, and Mateusz Laszczkowski (Max Planck Institute, Germany) for Central Eurasia/Turkey. More than a hundred doctoral students will be eligible for the awards at the 2011 Convention.

Registration fees are $70 for ASN members, $90 for nonmembers, $50 for students (and a special rate of $20 for nonpanelist graduate students enrolled in New York area universities).
The registration form can be downloaded at www.nationalities.org. For registration information, please contact Erin R. Carll (erinrcarll@gmail.com).
For general convention information, contact ASN Executive Director Gordon N. Bardos (gnb12@columbia.edu or 212 854 8487)

For practical information regarding the convention, please contact Gordon N. Bardos (gnb12@columbia.edu)
For registration information, please contact Erin R. Carll (erinrcarll@gmail.com)
For information on panels, please contact Dominique Arel (darel@uottawa.ca)