East-West Cultural Exchanges and the Cold War

Conference venue: University of Jyväskylä (Finland)
Period: Jun. 14 - 16, 2012
Deadline for submitting abstracts: Dec. 1, 2011

Cultural exchange in the Cold War has received little attention compared to traditional areas of Cold War studies: diplomacy, military affairs, and even economics. Although the cultural Cold War has in recent years received growing attention internationally, the research is still very scattered. With this conference we aim to bring together research concerned with cultural exchanges during the Cold War era, both from the East and the West. Furthermore, we hope to encourage a theoretical discussion about the still rather vague definition of the cultural Cold War, and indeed about the validity of the concept itself.

Conference is free of charge, but participants need to cover their travel and accommodation expenses. Participants will be informed about accommodation and details of travel after selection in January.

Possible paper topics can include, but are not limited to:

The organizing committee of the conference invites proposals dealing with the theme of the conference, either on topics in the areas mentioned above, or on other subjects relevant to the theme. The deadline for proposals is 1 December 2011. Respond via email to eastwestculture@gmail.com with your name, institution and affiliation, email address, proposed paper title, a 150-word abstract and curriculum vitae. Faculty and graduate students are eligible. Please put “Conference Proposal” in your subject line. Oral presentations will be limited to 20 minutes. The pre-circulated conference paper should not exceed 3000 words in length, excluding endnotes and bibliography. Abstracts ought to be in Word or RTF format and contain the following information: a) author (s), b) affiliation, c) e-mail address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract

Please, use plain text and abstain from using footnotes or special formatting in your abstract. You will be informed about the acceptance of your abstract by January 15 at the latest. We also aim to publish one or more post-conference publications on the themes of the conference.

Simo Mikkonen
University of Jyväskylä
e-mail: eastwestculture@gmail.com