Rutgers European Identity Conference

[Gerald Pirog]

Please announce this conference to interested graduate students.

Gerald Pirog

_________

European Identity and Nationalism

Call for Papers
Multi-disciplinary Conference
11 - 13 May, 2001
Sponsored by Comparative Literature Department, Political Science
Department and The Center for Russian, Central
and East European Studies.


  The unification of Germany and the nationalist tide that paralleled
this historical change, the nationalist movement in Scotland that
threatens to actualize the predicted break-up of Great Britain, the rise
of the right in France, Belgium and Austria and a number of
regionalist/nationalist movements across Europe challenge the idea that
the national will give way to the supranational. At the same time, the
recent collapse of communism has challenged the
imaginary geography of "Europe" to include past and recent "others"
(e.g., "the Balkans", the "Slavs", "the post-Soviets"), to confront the
bankruptcy of state socialism and to make sense of the idiosyncratic
cohabitation of post-modern and pre-modern world-views.  Meanwhile,
Europe is faced with new war fronts of  nationalizing processes at its
midst.

Consequently, the configuration of the new "European political identity"
seems to be  slipping away from the control of the European Union, as
more voices - both within and outside the Union -- pronounce that Europe
does not equate with the EU). Exploring European identity leads
us into a more fluid and contested terrain that is at times bigger
(narratives of expanding cosmopolitanism) and at times smaller
(narratives of separatism manifested as aggressive nationalisms).  This
troublesome but also promising process of (re-)inventing Europe provides

the opportunity to deepen our understanding of nationalism and its place
in Europe, and to identify the dominant modes of recasting European
identity vis-a-vis more particular identities (nationalism, regionalism,
minorities). Simultaneously, we are challenged to re-conceptualize the
representation of the European political identity and its
actor/story-teller.

We invite graduate students to participate in this fully
interdisciplinary conference, with organizers from five
disciplines--history, anthropology, political science, literature,
cultural studies-putting together the panels.  The issues that will be
addressed will include but not be limited to:

-Interplay of national and European identities at the threshold of the
new millennium;
-Europe through the eyes of its minorities/immigrants;
-Politics of European representations;
-Imaging the European space from within and from without;
-Europe and imperialism;
-The political economy of nationalism;
-Nationalism and the imperial legacies in Europe;
-Nationalism and theories of modernity/post-modernity;
-Nationalism and race/gender/class/religion;
-National literatures/arts;
-Nationalism and violence/conflict;
-Nationalism and history/genealogy/mythology/memory;

We are also open to other topics as long as they address any aspect of
the relationship between specific national identities and broadly
defined "Europeanness".

Interdisciplinary and methodologically innovative approaches are
strongly encouraged.  The conference will comprise panel discussions and
round tables. At the panel discussions,
participants will present their own work and engage in debate. At the
round table meetings, participants will explore a single piece of
writing announced by the organizers in advance.  The keynote speakers as
well as round table discussions at the conference will be announced at a
later stage. Please, visit our website periodically for updated
information on the program, speakers,
and schedule:

http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~crcees/

Please, address your inquiries to:

Yianna Liatsos yianna at rci.rutgers.edu


The deadline for abstracts submissions is November 27, 2000. The
abstracts should be no longer than one page and can be mailed, faxed or
sent via e-mail to:

CRCEES
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
172 College Avenue
New Brunswick, New Jersey, 08901-8537, U.S.A.
Tel: (732) 932-8551
Fax: (732) 932-1144
Email: crcees at rci.rutgers.edu

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