CfP: REVISITING PERESTROIKA – PROCESSES AN D ALTERNATIVES: 7th Aleksanteri Conference

[Ivor Stodolsky]

Call for Papers for the 7th Annual Aleksanteri Conference
http://www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/conference2007

 REVISITING PERESTROIKA – PROCESSES AND ALTERNATIVES
 November 29 - December 1, 2007
 The Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland


 KEYNOTE SPEAKERS (in alphabetical order):

 Marietta CHUDAKOVA – Professor at the World Literature Institute, Moscow;
 member of Boris Yeltsin's Presidential Council; member, European Academy.
 http://www.ecsocman.edu.ru/db/msg/203701.html

 Boris GROYS – Professor of Philosophy and Media Theory, Hochschule für
 Gestaltung, Karlsruhe; Global Distinguished Professor of Russian and Slavic
 Studies, NYU
 http://as.nyu.edu/object/aboutas.globalprofessor.BorisGroys

 Boris KAGARLITSKY – Director, Institute of Globalization Studies,
 Moscow; former Deputy, Moscow City Soviet; dissident and former
 political prisoner.
 http://www.tni-archives.org/detail_page.phtml?page=fellows_kagarlitsky

 Jutta SCHERRER - Directeur d'études, EHESS, Paris, Centre d'études du
 monde russe, soviétique et post-soviétique; Centre d'études
 Interdisciplinaires des Faits Religieux.
 http://cercec.ehess.fr/document.php?id=511

 Alexei YURCHAK – Associate Professor, University of California at
 Berkeley, author of "Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More".
 http://ls.berkeley.edu/dept/anth/yurchak.html

 Elena ZDRAVOMYSLOVA – Co-director of the Gender Studies Program,
 Associate Professor, The European University at St. Petersburg.
 http://www.eu.spb.ru/en/imars/faculty.htm


 A WIDE SCOPE FOR DEBATE

 The political foundation for the reforms of Perestroika, whose outcome
 was to seal the fate of the USSR, was laid in Mikhail Gorbachev's
 "basic theses" of 1987. Twenty years down that road which led to the
 demise of an entire way of life and the re-constellation of the
 international system, Helsinki's Aleksanteri Institute is hosting an
 intellectual forum to revisit this era of dramatic changes,
 reassessing causes and effects, while considering alternative
 perspectives and paths not taken.

 This call for papers is an open invitation for panels, papers and
 suggestions for innovative formats (such as debates on new key
 publications, round-tables or film presentations). It is addressed to
 scholars and advanced graduate students from a wide range of
 disciplinary backgrounds, including the social and political sciences,
 cultural studies, the arts and humanities, law and economics. The
 direct relation of the perestroika-process to the collapse of the
 Soviet bloc, leading to the end of the Cold War means that
 contributions concerning Eastern Europe as well as global
 repercussions are also very much welcome.

 To stimulate topics for debate and the formation of panels, please
 find below some questions indicating the wide, multi-disciplinary
 scope aimed at:

 •       Revolutions and Processes - Was the collapse of the Soviet bloc a
 result of a series of contingencies, or deliberate political decisions?
 Was economic collapse avoidable, and if so, for how long?
 Was the restoration of capitalism inevitable, or were there
 alternative paths of development? What role did ideas and cultural
 movements play in perestroika, its pre-history and aftermath?
 •       Actors and Institutions - Which groups or traditions emerged, which
 survived and which were neglected or "written out of history" during
 the perestroika era? Did practices and customs genuinely see a
 transformation in all fields of life – from the Kremlin to the
 kitchen table? How was the role of women transformed? Did "parallel"
 and "underground" cultures cease to exist?
 •       Generations, Retrospectives and Perspectives - How did different age
 groups evaluate the changes, and how did people of different
 "mind-sets" see each other? How do contemporary social formations
 assess the perestroika era and how does this inflect the future?


 CONFERENCE SCHEDULE AND DEADLINES:

 Panel Proposals / Innovative Formats Submissions: June 1, 2007
 Individual Paper Submissions (circa 300 words): June 1, 2007
 Notification of acceptance: July 2, 2007
 Online Registration by November 1, 2007
 Conference: November 29 - December 1, 2007

 All proposals should be sent via the conference website
 (WWW.HELSINKI.FI/ALEKSANTERI/CONFERENCE2007), where an
 Extended Call for Papers as well as a Conference Discussion Forum for
 establishing panels is available.

 EXTRA-ACADEMIC PROGRAMME

 Information on a series of cultural events – artistic, documentary,
 archival, literary and cinematic – will be found on the website as
 they are confirmed.

 THE ANNUAL ALEKSANTERI CONFERENCE is an international,
 multidisciplinary conference organized by the Aleksanteri Institute,
 the Finnish Centre for Russian and Eastern European Studies
 affiliated with the University of Helsinki. Aleksanteri Conferences
 have attracted broad interest among scholars as well as policy and
 opinion-makers from a wide variety of fields.

 ORGANISING COMMITTEE

 Dr. Markku Kangaspuro (Head of Research), Suvi Kansikas (Conference
 Coordinator), Senior Researcher Vesa Oittinen, Professor Pekka Pesonen,
 Senior Researcher Aino Saarinen, Ivor Stodolsky (Conference Coordinator)

 Welcome!

 _______________________________


 Ivor A Stodolsky
 Researcher, Russian Culture and Theory
 Aleksanteri Institute, Helsinki University
 Aleksanteri Conference Coordinator
 http://www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/conference2007
 Institute: +358 3 191 23631
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