Call for Papers “Chechnya: rationales of violence and war experiences”

Conference venue: Paris (France)
Period: Oct. 22-23, 2012
Deadline for application: May 4, 2012
Deadline for submitting abstracts: Sep. 15, 2012

Since 1994, the Chechen war has been qualified in diverse ways by actors and observers – colonial war, counter-terrorist operation, restoration of constitutional order, war of extermination. This profusion – or perhaps confusion of qualifiers reveals a multitude of explanations for the causes, aims and consequences of the war, and often hints at the exceptionality of the conflict. The aim of this conference will be not only to sum up, renew and enrich existing research on the Chechen war, but also to put the phenomena of violence at work there in a comparative perspective that takes into account the renewal of the historiography of 20th century wars.
This conference is organized by the research project "Understanding Violence in Russia: War, Institutions, Society". The objective of this conference – which will mainly focus on the history of Chechnya since the end of the Soviet period and the collapse of the USSR – is therefore not only to examine political, economic and social trends having marked the Republic, but to reflect on conditions determining the production of knowledge on this war from a comparative perspective, thanks to specialists on other conflicts who will participate as discussants.

The questions to be addressed at the conference can be grouped under four main themes:

The inter-disciplinary conference is open to the contributions of historians, sociologists, researchers in political science and international relations, cultural studies, literature and the cinema, as well as specialists in military questions. Although the conference will focus mainly on Chechnya since the fall of the USSR, contributions on earlier periods are also welcome, as are proposals involving a comparison between the Chechen case and other conflicts.

Those wishing to participate should send to chechnyaviolence@gmail.com a resume of 300 to 500 words along with a short biographical note (no CV) by May 4, 2012. Participants accepted will be informed by June 1, 2012 and will be requested to provide an abstract of approximately 5-7 pages (3000-5000 words) for September 15, 2012.
Working languages: French, English, Russian (presentations are possible in these three languages, French-Russian and Russian-French translation only will be available).

e-mail: chechnyaviolence@gmail.com