CfP: Workshop on SEE History, 6-13.4.2003, Bucharest

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

THIRD WORKSHOP ON SOUTH-EAST EUROPEAN HISTORY: BUCHAREST, 6-13 APRIL 2003

The Centre for South-East European Studies, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, in collaboration with the British Council, the British Academy, and the New Europe College, Bucharest, is organizing a WORKSHOP on History and Society since 1970, to be held in Bucharest, 6-13 April 2003. The event will bring together historians from the UK and South-East Europe to debate and discuss issues around the interpretation of the recent socialist past and its effects on present societies. (For a full description of the themes and organization of the workshops, as well as reports from previous sessions, see www.ssees.ac.uk/seecentre.htm.)

This session of the workshops will be aimed at producing a collective publication surveying current research and issues in 'history and society since 1970' across the region.  Participants will be encouraged to develop their workshop contributions for this purpose.  In addition, participants will have the opportunity to address a wider audience through a variety of public events linking research in social history to issues of political culture in the region.

Those interested in participating should send a cover letter stating the nature of their expertise and potential contribution to the themes of the workshop, accompanied by a brief CV, to Dr. Alex Drace-Francis at adracefr@ssees.ac.uk.  The deadline for expressions of interest is 8 January 2002.  Participants will be selected by the organizing committee and will be notified in mid-January.  Limited funding is available to cover
travel and expenses; preference will be given to participants coming from the region.

History and Society since 1970
Bucharest
6-13 April 2003

Workshop sessions at the New Europe College
Five workshop sessions focused on specific themes, each run by a mediator, with the aim of generating discussion, but also building up to the publication of a new and up-to-date survey of the issues, problems and achievements of the last thirty years (bridging pre- and post-1989 history writing).
Themes:
1.  What kinds of expectations are generated in Balkan societies around the idea of history and who is responsible for them?
2.  How has the social role of the historian changed in the past 30 years?
3. Have new institutional structures been put in place for the production, dissemination and reception of historical knowledge since the end of the Cold War? Do they work? How?
4. Have any complex theories of society emerged since the discrediting of Marxist historical schemes? What is to be done with historiographical production from the 1970s and 1980s?
5. A special session dedicated to the discussion of concepts in history and social theory. (Suggestions have included 'revolution', 'power', 'public'.)