2009 Junior Scholars Training Workshop

Fri Mar 20 17:13:13 UTC 2009

* REMINDER *

*2009 Junior Scholars Training Workshop:*

*Mobility in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies: Historical 
and Contemporary Perspectives*

June 16-18, 2009

*Moderators:*

Professor Willard Sunderland 
<http://www.artsci.uc.edu/history/sunderland.shtml>, Department of 
History, University of Cincinnati

Professor Sarah D. Phillips <http://www.indiana.edu/%7Emedanth/>, 
Department of Anthropology, Indiana University

Professor John Randolph <https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/jwr/www/>, Department 
of History, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

The Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies Center of the 
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign invites doctoral students and 
junior faculty to participate in a select, two day scholarly workshop on 
the movement of people, information, and things across Russian, Soviet, 
and Post-Soviet space, historically and today. This workshop will 
provide a forum for an extended conversation about the meaning of 
mobility in our region, and about key questions and sources used to 
analyze it. After an opening discussion of recent approaches to 
mobility---based on common readings distributed in 
advance---participants will have a chance to present their own works in 
progress (drafts of which will also be circulated in advanced), for 
collective discussion and constructive critique. It is hoped that 
participants will return from their time here armed with new ideas, 
resources, and contacts to help them continue their work. (The Workshop 
will be limited to a small group of participants).

The Junior Scholars Training Workshop will be held in conjunction with 
two events, and participants will be encouraged to attend them as well. 
The first is the 2009 Ralph and Ruth Fisher Forum 
<https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/jwr/www/mobility2009/index.html>. Titled 
"Russia's Role in Human Mobility: Historical and Contemporary 
Perspectives," this major international conference will be held from 
June 18 to June 20^th on our campus, and features scholars from across 
the United States, Canada, Europe and the Former Soviet Union.

The second is our annual Summer Research Lab 
<http://www.reec.illinois.edu/srl/srl.html>, which provides subsidized 
housing (and housing fee waivers) to scholars who wish to stay in 
Champaign-Urbana for a short period of time to work in our famous 
library collections, meet other scholars and consult with our Slavic 
Reference Service <http://www.library.uiuc.edu/spx/srs.htm>. Workshop 
participants will be eligible for a variety of subsidies, including 
housing and travel grants (see below).

*Workshop Themes, Goals, and Calendar*

In recent years, studies of human mobility have begun to move beyond 
their traditional concerns---measuring the scale, speed, and direction 
of human movement---to consider questions of geography, agency, and 
subjectivity. How do power and culture develop, spatially? How does the 
practice of movement---how does the valence of movement---change over 
time? What sort of framework do means and modes of mobility provide for 
political action, sociability, and the making of individual or 
collective identities? All of these questions seem especially electric 
in the fields of Russian, East European, and Eurasian studies, where the 
historical and contemporary questions surrounding the practice, 
governance, politics, and culture of mobility are so extraordinarily 
rich and complex.

Funded by a Title VIII grant from the U.S. Department of State, this 
year's Junior Scholars Training Workshop will allow researchers from a 
variety of fields to meet and discuss the state of mobility as a 
category of research in our field. It is open to doctoral students, 
professionals, and junior faculty in a variety of disciplines (including 
history, anthropology, sociology, education, law, and political science).

The Workshop will be based on reading materials circulated in advance, 
including a brief selection of short secondary works (to get the 
conversation going) and excerpts from the research projects of the 
participants (dissertation proposals, chapters, book manuscript 
materials, articles, etc.). Workshop sessions will be devoted to 
discussions of the participants' research; investigation of current 
literature and paradigms; and a presentation of scholarly resources, 
including relevant databases by staff specialists from the Slavic and 
East European Library. Time will also be available for research in the 
UI Library--one of the largest Slavic and East European collections in 
the U.S. Participants will be encouraged to stay for up to 14 days after 
the Workshop to work in our library and consult with fellow scholars, as 
participants in our Summer Research Lab 
<http://www.reec.illinois.edu/srl/srl.html>.

During this time, Workshop participants are also invited to attend the 
sessions of the 2009 Fisher Forum, "Russia's Role in Human Mobility," 
<https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/jwr/www/mobility2009/index.html> featuring a 
keynote address by Professor Stephen Kotkin (Department of History, 
Princeton University).

The tentative schedule of events:

June 16, 2009: Arrival, orientation, and opening thematic conversation.

June 17, 2009: Intensive workshop featuring discussion of participants' 
work in progress; library tour, consultation with Slavic Reference Service.

June 18, 2009: Workshop discussion of participant work concludes; Fisher 
Forum 2009 begins with keynote address by Professor S. Kotkin (evening).

*Eligibility*

The Workshop itself is open to doctoral students and junior faculty in 
any discipline and professionals who specialize in Russian, East 
European, and Eurasian studies. To be eligible for our housing and 
travel grants, which are funded by the U.S. Department of State, 
participating scholars must be US citizens or permanent residents and 
must state the policy relevance (broadly defined) of their research in 
the application. Very limited housing grants are available for 
international scholars. Those who are not eligible for financial support 
may take part in the workshop at their own expense, pending space 
availability.

*Workshop Housing and Travel Grant*

Since all participants will be considered Summer Research Lab 
associates, participants are eligible for free *housing grants for up to 
14 days for graduate students and 8 for all others*. These grants 
provide access to summer dormitory housing on our campus, within a short 
walk from the main library and campus quad.

A limited number of travel grants 
<http://www.reec.illinois.edu/srl/SRLGeneral/travel_grants.html> are 
also available for graduate students (US citizens/permanent residents) only.

Although all candidates must apply separately for these financial aid 
incentives, we will work hard to help you with this process, and to 
assist you in any way with your visit and stay.

*Application and Deadlines*

Workshop space is limited to a dozen candidates. Applications are due 
April 15, 2009, with decisions to be rendered by the end of that month.

To apply for the Junior Scholars Training Workshop, please take the 
following steps:

1) Submit a Summer Research Lab application 
<http://www.reec.illinois.edu/srl/application_2008.html> and application 
fee (upon acceptance). To be eligible for financial assistance, 
applicants must submit a one- to two-page research proposal that 
includes a statement clearly indicating the policy relevance of the 
proposed research, broadly defined. For more information on this issue 
please click on proposal information 
<http://www.reec.illinois.edu/srl/SRLGeneral/proposal.html> in the side bar.

2) Send a letter of introduction, cv, and short (500-1000 word) abstract 
describing your project and what part of it you would like to present (a 
chapter, proposal, an article, an excerpt from a larger work, etc.) to 
Professor John Randolph (jwr at illinois.edu) .

Thank you for your attention. Please do not hesitate to contact the 
project's organizer, Professor John Randolph (jwr at illinois.edu 
<mailto:jwr at illinois.edu>) should you have any questions or desires with 
regard to this initiative. We welcome your interest!

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