Call for Panel Papers

[Alexei Lalo]

Call for Panel Papers 
ASEEES 43rd Annual Convention in Washington, DC
November 17-20, 2011


We currently have a chair, two panelists and one discussant for the below
panel. We are looking for one more panelist and, possibly, one more
discussant. Please send your paper title and brief abstract to
alalo at mail.utexas.edu if interested.

Remapping Russia as an Empire: Memory, Postcoloniality, Neoimperialism

Russia has often been considered by scholars as a special case of
imperialism or a second-world empire because of its geopolitical location on
the border between Europe and Asia and the proximity of its bordering
colonies. In his article, "Russian History and the Debate over Orientalism,"
Adeeb Khalid writes that "the dichotomy between the Occident and the Orient
is not clear in the case of Russia, but is rather replaced by an 'uneasy
triptych.'" Indeed, many scholars of the Russian empire and Russian
Orientalism have highlighted the intimate relationship not only between
Russian Orientalism and Anglo-French Orientalist discourses, but also the
similarities in its colonial policies to French Algeria and British India.
What exactly makes the Russian Empire different from / similar to
Anglo-French imperialism? How did Russia's proclaimed identity as an
Orthodox nation impact its relationship to non-Russian Orthodox colonized
territories, or as Alexander Etkind argues, its "internal colonization" of
non-Orthodox sects?

The threat of Russification (both cultural/linguistic and political/military
imperialism) has also impacted the postcolonial borderlands of the former
USSR including Western Ukraine, Belarus, Transcaucasia, Central Asia and
Siberia/Far East. The current leaders of Russia appear to be interested in
restoring Russia's influence within the borders of the former Soviet Union
and beyond. What do we make of Russia's neo-imperial pursuits and to what
extent is the danger of Russification real or imaginary? What is the
relationship between Russian expansionist ideologies in contemporary and
historical discourse to other imperial ideologies including: Sinification,
Globalization/Americanization, European expansion, Pan-Islamism, and
Pan-Turkism? What role did religion (namely dominant Orthodoxy, Islam, as
well as sectarian groups) play in animating discourses of imperialism in the
Russian Empire and the Soviet Union? Why does Russia's post/neo-imperial
condition seem to be characterized by an increase of xenophobia, interethnic
violence, and interconfessional intolerance?

We invite paper proposals from colleagues in social sciences and humanities
grappling with any issues pertaining to Russia's imperial history and
current affairs, including cultural discourses of resistance to
Russification (in art, music, film, literature or popular culture). We would
especially welcome papers on Russian imperialism's interface with issues of
utopianism/antiutopianism, gender and sexuality, migration and demography,
democracy and human rights.

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