Call for Papers - Orientalism, Colonial Thinking and the Former Soviet Periphery

Exploring Bias and Stereotype Representations of Eastern and Central Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia

Description

Eligible topics

• Section one will debate the impact of colonial and Orientalist thinking on policy-making processes about former subjects of the Russian and Soviet power, both in the international arena and in internal affairs. Examples of research questions are: how do existing prejudices in media, politics and academia contribute to consolidating the idea of post-communist countries as “passive” actors with “limited sovereignty”, “subordinated”, limited in their possibility to freely choose an international alignment, and of common people in Eastern European countries as “backward”, or “second-class Europeans”? How does this affect decisions taken at a European level concerning security crises of the post-Soviet world? What are the recurrent (and competing) images and via what tools are they routinized?
• Section two will approach the issue from a historical perspective. The purpose is to discuss whether colonial thinking and the possible understanding of Eastern Europe as a subaltern, passive entity biases Western views of history in the region. Asking whether there exists a “hierarchy of historical narratives” in the way the history of countries of the former Soviet bloc are perceived by scholars, media and politicians, the section aims to explore if and how these prejudices impact Western receptiveness of historical interpretations and discourses coming from former imperial subjects, making them less effective than competing narratives coming from Russia or the West itself, and how does this impact regional and international relations.
• Section three will be specifically dedicated to the applicability of the concept of Orientalism and Post-Colonial studies to the study of the context in which Russian/Soviet colonial thinking was first developed, i.e. the early Czarist imperial “frontier”: the North Caucasus, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Central Asia, broadly understood to include the five “Stans” as well as regions that experienced significant Russian/Soviet influence at different points in their history, such as Mongolia and Xinjiang. To what extent, in what forms, and why do Orientalist stereotypes still bias our understanding of the Asian part of the former Czarist and Soviet sphere, and what is the impact of this on political and academic agendas?

Keynote speakers

• Dr. Andreas Umland, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
• Prof. Alexander J. Motyl, Rutgers University
• Mykola Ryabchuk, Ukrainian Centre for Cultural Studies
• Dr. John Heathershaw, Exeter University
• Dr. Nick Megoran, Newcastle University

Guidelines for submission

• Name of candidate;
• Institutional affiliation;
• A link to or a short academic bio (Max. 100 words);
• Email address;
• Which of the three thematic sections the paper is eligible for;
• Title of the proposed paper;
• Abstract of the proposed paper (between 200-250 words)

• Title of the panel;
• A panel description (between 180 and 300 words);
• Which of the three thematic sections the panel is eligible for;
• Name of the panel convenor;
• Name of the panel members (at least three + convenor);
• Institutional affiliation of the panel members and convenor;
• A link to or a short academic bio (Max. 100 words) of each panel member and convenor;
• Email addresses of the panel members and convenor;
• itles of the papers proposed within the panel (at least three + convenor);
• Abstracts of the proposed papers (between 200-250 words)

Organizer

• Vilnius University

Information & contacts