CfP: History of Communism in Europe, "Intellectuals under Communism", DL: May 1st

Tue Dec 14 18:55:28 UTC 2010

CALL FOR PAPERS FOR 2011 

Avatars of Intellectuals under Communism 

History of Communism in Europe, new series, vol. II/2011 

The forthcoming issue of History of Communism in Europe will focus on 
the Avatars of Intellectuals under Communism. The very relationship 
between intellectuals and the totalitarian State is of outstanding 
importance for anyone willing to understand the fate of academia and 
culture under Communism. The circulation of ideas in the public space 
and its subsequent shaping of the political and social bodies depended 
upon the aforementioned interaction. The Communist states witnessed 
very diverse reactions towards the ideological monopoly of the Party: 
outspoken resistance, quiet refusal, forced exile, passive 
collaboration, vocal support, and many other intermediary approaches. 

The next issue of the HCE welcomes original contributions on this 
topic. Ideally, the authors should address the role of the 
intelligentsia from a comparative viewpoint. The editors encourage 
young scholars, in particular, to assess the recent historical, 
cultural, and political findings within the former Soviet Bloc: 
Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Poland, former 
GDR or various states of the former USSR or Yugoslavia. Equally, we 
welcome any contribution that describes the attitude of Western 
intelligentsia towards the birth, the growth, and the historical decay 
of the Communist utopia. 

Senior scholars, researchers and PhD students are invited to submit 
their proposals on one of the following topics: 

--Intellectuals and the Communist Party: doctrinaires, utopian 
revolutionaries, critiques, and dissident thinkers. 

--Dissidence vs. collaboration. Case-studies and overarching 
narratives about the relationship between intellectuals and the Party 
nomenclatura and the Secret Police. In particular, we welcome 
discussions prompted by the recent archival revelations (responses 
formulated under pressure in terms of personal voice, voluntary 
betrayal, blind loyalty, etc) 

--Eastern European intellectuals and the civil society. How was the 
1989 event prefigured by the cultural circles of Poland, Hungary, 
Russia, and Czech Republic? Which were the first nuclei of civil 
society under communism and how did the Eastern European intellectuals 
coined the concept of civil society along their pursuits of an 
alternative political praxis? 

--The alternative culture vs. official culture under Communism (this 
may also include reference to recordings and archival documents about 
the activities of various literary and artistic bodies). 

--The phenomenon of samizdat. The grassroots strategies eluding 
state-imposed censorship on intellectual products. 

--Readings of Western intellectuals in relation to Communist utopia. 
How did various philosophers, writers, and journalists justify the 
works of the authoritarian and totalitarian States behind the Iron 
Curtain? 
Fellow travelers in Communist countries. Stories about organized trips 
to Soviet Union and other communist countries, presented to Western 
guests as morally neutral, if not benevolent societies (subsequent 
topics in epistemology: the construal of the Other, the culture of 
Self-Hatred, etc). 
Media and intellectuals under communism. This may include references 
to powerful alternative media vehicles (i.e. Radio Free Europe), but 
also to the widespread phenomenon of sponsored journalism. 

--Reading the past after 1989 through intellectual lenses 
(recollections, mémoires, diaries, personal archives). The 
contributors are kindly asked to write abstracts that do not exceed 
500 words. Deadline: May 1st, 2011. You may submit your proposals at: 
office at iiccr.ro. 

Selected authors will be notified by May 15th. The deadline for the 
final draft of the paper is June 15th, 2011

Damiana OTOIU
CEVIPOL - ULB
Institut de Sociologie
44, Avenue Jeanne
1050, Bruxelles
Tél: +32(0)26503449

http://www.cevipol.site.ulb.ac.be/fr/membres_otoiu-damianagabriela.html

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