The process of continuous definition and
institutionalisation of the concept of nation is an important dimension of
political and social realities throughout the world. The phenomenon of
nation-building permeates multiple areas of politics and everyday life,
acquiring diverse forms. Laboratories for numerous nation-building projects
across time, post-communist societies can be said to offer a privileged
position for observing this protean nature of nationalism.
Far from losing its significance, nationalism in Central
and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the Caucasus and Central
Asia adjusted itself to changing circumstances, political regimes
and social orders. Arguably incommensurable, the nation-building strategies and
manifestations of nationalism specific to the communist and post-communist
periods respectively are strongly connected through a burgeoning “nation-talk”,
i.e. the permanent usage of nation and ethnicity as key categories of social
and political practices.
The student conference organized by the Department of
Political Science, University of Bucharest, in collaboration with Université
Paris 1 – Panthéon Sorbonne, Université Libre de Bruxelles (CEVIPOL), and the
Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the
Romanian Exile (Bucharest), is an invitation to reflect upon the changing
nature of nationalism in communist and post-communist societies. The last
decades have brought forth a wide range of mutations from and denials of the
traditional nation-state-centred nationalism, which in the view of Ernest
Gellner sought the congruence of cultural and political boundaries. The
different transborder and substate models of nationalism or the long-distance
nationalism (Benedict Anderson) facilitated by new communication technologies
can be seen as indications of these developments.
We welcome theoretical or empirical papers addressing the
following or related topics:
- communism and nation-building;- nationalism and transition to democracy;
- memories of past conflict and the politics of reconciliation;
- nationhood and ethnicity in everyday life;
- ethnicised aggression and aggressive ethnicity;
- ethnopolitical settlements, relationship between majorities and minorities;
- transborder nation-building;
- long-distance nationalism, migration and diasporas;
- regional identities and substate nation-building;
- border identities;
- racism, xenophobia;
- human rights and minority rights, group rights, pluralism.
The conference is open to both undergraduate (final
years) and postgraduate students from different fields of social sciences and
humanities: Political Science, Anthropology, History, Sociology, Economics,
etc.
The conference will take place at the Political Science Department,
University of Bucharest:
8, Spiru Haret Street,
010175, Bucharest (District 1), Romania.
Applications, in English or French, consisting of a paper
abstract of 250 words and a short CV (one paragraph) must be submitted by 30
March 2012, to: conference@fspub.unibuc.ro
The selected papers should be submitted by May 7th (cca.
20, 000 – 25, 000 characters) . The languages of the conference will be English
and French. However, the final paper can be written in Romanian, English, or
French.
The conference is part of the activities undertaken by
the consortium Université Libre de Bruxelles – University of Bucarest –
University of Wroclaw – Babes-Bolyai University, within the framework of the
common MA program « Central and Eastern European Politics and Societies » (http://ceeps.uni.wroc.pl/).
It is organized in partnership with Ambassade de
France en Roumanie. Service de Coopération et d’Action Culturelle, Bucharest;
Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie, Bucharest, Délégation Wallonie-
Bruxelles International, Bucharest; The Policy Center for Roma and Minorities,
Bucharest; Europe Direct CENTRAS, Bucharest and Political Science Students
Association University of Bucharest.
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