CALL FOR PAPERS- SOYUZ Conference, April 1999

[Hanya Krill]

At 07:57 PM 11/3/98 -0500, you wrote:
>CALL FOR PAPERS- SOYUZ Conference, April 1999
[...]
>The theme for this year's conference focuses on changes in the periphery
>of the former Communist states since the fall of Communism.  This includes
>changes in the composition of the periphery (geographical, social, and
>economic) and changes in relationships between periphery and center.  We
>are also looking for papers that address how disciplinary approaches to
>the study of the periphery have changed.  And perhaps most importantly we
>are looking for the point of view of those in the periphery.

I am not of the "periphery", but here is my opinion anyway.

Considering that today Russia is potentially on the verge of political
Balkanization, it would be hard to make a case for the existence of any
sort of a "center" even within Russia's geographic boundaries or especially
any Russian ethnic "center" beyond it's borders.  The concepts of a
"center" and a "periphery" within the context of the proposed conference
topics as inclusive of the newly independent countries is completely absurd
today under the present geo-political structures that have arisen since the
break-up of the Soviet Union.

I thought that Russo-Soviet centrism was a thing of the past, most
especially among the erudite members on this list.

Now, as to the name "SOYUZ" ....

- Hanya Krill





****************************
Hanya Krill
akrill at shiva.hunter.cuny.edu
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