Call for papers: Nobility/Mark Raeff

Tue Sep 30 19:46:56 UTC 2008

Dear Galya,

Since the call for papers that you've posted today mentions Mark  
Raeff's work, it is worth adding a footnote to your message. I've just  
received the news about Mark Raeff's death a few days ago. There was  
an article about him published by the New York Times that is located  
here:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/29/education/29raeff.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

All best,
Sasha

-------------------------------
Alexandra Smith (PhD, University of London)
Reader in Russian
Department of European Languages and Cultures
School of  Languages, Literatures and Cultures
The University of Edinburgh
David Hume Tower
George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9JX
UK

tel. +44-(0)131-6511381
fax: +44- (0)131- 650-3604
e-mail: Alexandra.Smith at ed.ac.uk

Quoting "RYLKOVA,GALINA S" <grylkova at UFL.EDU>:

> Dear colleagues,
> I am posting this message on behalf  of my colleague, Olga Glagoleva.
> Please, address all your queries to her directly.
> Galina Rylkova
>
>
> Call for Papers
>
> Nobility, State and Society in 18th-century Provincial Russia
> Deutsches Historisches Institut Moskau (DHI)
> 23-26 April, 2009
> Deadline for submission of abstracts: 15 October 2008.
>
> In his pioneering work on the Russian nobility of the 18th century,
> Mark Raeff wrote that
> "failure to create a genuine estate of the nobility perpetuated the
> average nobleman's
> rootlessness and dependence on the state" which, in the long run,
> "became the seedbed of the intelligentsia" (M. Raeff, Origins of the
> Russian Intelligentsia: The Eighteenth-Century
> Nobility, 1966). This view exerts a powerful influence to this day; in
> a recent study, for
> instance, we learn that "Images of alienation, absenteeism, economic
> torpidity, decline, and
> crisis derive from the multiple and malleable attributes of noble
> identity" (E.K. Wirtschafter,
> Social Identity in Imperial Russia, 1997). The paradigm of the
> nobility???s insecurity becomes
> most pervasive when applied to the provincial nobility, whose customs,
> lifestyles, and tastes
> are habitually associated with backwardness, ignorance, and boredom.
> However, as Michael
> Kugler argued with respect to European history, "the nature of
> provincialism has not been
> outlined in detail" (M. Kugler, "Provincial Intellectuals: Identity,
> Patriotism, and Enlightened
> Peripheries," 1996). The purpose of this conference is to extend
> Kugler???s insight to Russia
> and re-examine the provincial nobility in the 18th century.
>
> A revived post-Soviet interest in the Russian provinces has resulted in
> a good number of new
> publications, both in Russia and the West. These post-1991 studies can
> be roughly divided in
> two major groups: those focusing on the empirical side of local history
> and seeking to unearth
> new archival data, and those investing energy in the development of
> novel theoretical
> approaches and generalizations. In the words of a recent review, "in
> the West we are
> confronted with theory without local, and in Russia we see the local
> without theory" (Susan
> Smith-Peter, "How to Write a Region: Local and Regional
> Historiography," Kritika 5.3
> (2004) 527-542).
>
> This conference aims to merge the empirical and theoretical approaches
> to local history.
> Ultimately, our goal is to produce a picture of life in the Russian
> provinces that is both rich in
> detail and solidly grounded in theory. Our main focus is on the
> 18th-century provincial
> nobility???s interactions with the state and society. For this purpose
> we plan to see what can be
> gained from using local and micro history methods within a theoretical
> framework of regional
> studies. It is, we believe, high time to reconsider the still dominant
> view on the life in the
> provinces as backward and rude and on the provincial nobility as
> rootless and alienated.We
> hope that "re-thinking history" in terms of local studies (Ch.
> Phythian-Adams) will prove
> useful to our comprehension of the history of the Russian provinces and
> challenging to our
> perception of the 18th -century Russian nobility.
> The conference organizers aspire to bring together a group of scholars
> to present their work
> and engage in discussions on the provincial nobility in 18th-century
> Russia. We invite papers
> on the topic that present empirically significant research based on
> diverse archival and other
> sources and are, at the same time, integrated into a strong theoretical
> framework. Papers with
> a comparative dimension are particularly welcome.
>
> The following is a by no means exhaustive list of issues the papers
> might touch upon:
>
> -the provinces versus the capital, regional versus central, local
> versus national;
> -the "provincial" way of life in the 18th century;
> -the provincial nobility and the state;
> -the provincial nobility and society;
> -social mobility in the provinces and its impact on the "provincial"
> way of life;
> -local noble communities;
> -local administration and the provincial nobility;
> -the provincial nobility's search for an identity;
> -the provincial nobility's nakazy to the Legislative Commission of 1767-1768;
> -Noble Assemblies and the formation of civil society in Russia;
> -economic, social, cultural, and legal interactions in the life of the
> provincial nobility;
> -gender relations in provincial noble families and communities;
> -the role of women in creating provincial noble societies;
> -the army presence in the provinces and its impact on the local
> nobility's life;
> -the impact of the country's modernization on the provinces;
> -life strategies in creating independent spaces in the provinces;
> -the role of the provinces in shaping Russian national identity;
> -the mythology of the provinces;
> -provincialism versus regionalism;
> -provincialism in its Russian, European and North American contexts,
> comparative
> perspectives, etc.
>
> Organizational Information:
> The organizers have applied for funding at the Deutsches Historisches
> Institut Moskau (DHI).
> The conference will take place at the DHI at the Institut nauchnoi
> informatsii po
> obshchestvennym naukam Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk (INION RAN) in Moscow
> (Nachimovskij Prospekt 51/21). The sponsoring institution would cover
> the costs for travel
> and accommodation of all participants.
>
>
> Conference date: 23-26 April, 2009
> Abstracts in Russian or English (maximum length: 500 words) of the
> paper you intend to give
> should be sent to: Nobility.DHI at gmx.de
> Your abstract should include your email address and institutional
> affiliation, the title of your
> intended paper, and the abstract text.
> Deadline for submission of abstracts: 15 October 2008.
> Notification of applicants: no later than 1 December 2008.
>
>
> Chosen participants will then be asked to submit their article-length
> (at a maximum of 10,000
> words) original papers in Russian no later than 1 March 2009. The
> papers will be pre-
> circulated among all participants so that there is ample time to read
> them before the
> conference.
> The papers will be grouped in thematic panels. Paper presentations at
> the conference will be
> limited to 15 minutes. At each panel one conference participant will
> moderate and comment
> briefly on the papers. The working language of the conference is
> Russian ??? no translation
> services.
> After the conference authors will rework their papers for publication
> in a volume to appear in
> 2010.
>
> We are looking forward to reading your proposals!
>
> Conference organizers:
> Olga Glagoleva, PhD (University of Toronto) olga.glagoleva at utoronto.ca;
> Prof. Aleksandr Kamenskii (RGGU) kamenskii at list.ru;
> Ingrid Schierle (DHI) ingrid.schierle at dhi-moskau.org .
>
>
> Dr. Olga Glagoleva
> University of Toronto
> 416-363-7870
> olga.glagoleva at utoronto.ca
> --
> RYLKOVA,GALINA S
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- 
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------