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Call for Papers
"Shared/Entangled Histories: Comparative Perspectives on
Hungary and Romania"
International Conference
Södertörn University College
Central European University
Babes-Bolyai University
Cluj (Romania)
12-14 September 2008
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Research Project organized by the History Department and
Pasts, Inc. Center for Historical Studies, Central European
University and CBEES Centre for Baltic and East European
Studies, Södertörn University College, Sweden
Rationale of the project:
The collapse of communist regimes in East-Central Europe has
inaugurated sweeping economic and socio-political changes,
marked by the conversion of state economies into market
economies, political liberalization and democratization, and
integration into European and Euro-Atlantic security and
political organizations. These changes have also affected
the pattern of interstate relations in the region. Countries
in East-Central Europe are today linked by a dense network
of inter-governmental agreements, which have worked for
changing the nature of interstate relations by fostering
cooperation rather than conflict.
The relationship between Romania and Hungary is illustrative
in this respect, having undergone a spectacular evolution in
the last two decades, from intense diplomatic conflict to
collaboration and politico-military partnership. Stimulated
by the process of European integration, the political elites
from the two countries have fostered political and economic
interdependence. Nevertheless, promoted mainly at the level
of political elites in the two countries and fulfilled under
the decisive influence of the international community, the
Romanian-Hungarian reconciliation needs to be supplemented
with, and consolidated by, a real and continuous dialogue
and change of images at the level of cultural production or
public opinion in the two countries.
Addressing the problem of lack of intensive mutual
collaboration and communication between Romanian and
Hungarian intellectuals, the current project aims at
bringing together scholars from the two countries focusing
on the Romanian-Hungarian bilateral relations and
shared/entangled history in the united Europe. As the
success of the post-1945 historical reconciliation between
France and Germany after WWII shows, the way of overcoming
the conflicting legacies inherent in the mutually traumatic
perceptions of the others is to create a multi-layered
framework of intercultural dialogue and exchange, involving
different groups and widening the channels of interaction.
The current project aims at fostering new research on the
shared history of Hungary and Romania by employing
relational and transnational approaches, as part of a more
general effort to rewrite continental history from an
integrated perspective. East-Central European countries
share a common historical past that goes far back in time to
enduring medieval and early modern imperial legacies. After
1945, they experienced similar strategies of communist
modernization, and a forceful integration into a common
military and economic block. Post-communist countries in the
region are now facing similar socio-political challenges.
Despite these similarities, scholars in the region continue
to focus on their own national histories, and have
relatively limited knowledge ofor openness towardthe
historical experience of their neighbors.
Participants to the project are encouraged to relate to a
broader historical discourse that transcends national lines
of reference, by integrating new regional, continental, or
global perspectives, in the light of recent trends in
comparative, entangled, transnational, and regional history.
A transnational and regional(ist) reconceptualization of the
history of East-Central Europe would have a refreshing
impact on the writing of European history as well.
Currently, European history writing is in a process of
transformation, moving away from its concentration on the
historical experience of Western Europe and toward
considering the history of peripheral areas. Countries in
East-Central Europe can actively contribute to enhancing the
plurality of historical and cultural experiences defying
Europeanness and European values, by promoting a more
integrative perspective.
Call for papers for an international conference in Cluj,
September 12-14, 2008:
The project will open with an international conference that
will take place in Cluj on September 12-14, 2008, organized
in collaboration with the Department of Political,
Administrative and Communicational Sciences, and the
Department of Sociology and Social Work, Babes-Bolyai
University, Cluj. We are inviting applications from scholars
working on projects with an intercultural and/or comparative
edge related to Hungary and Romania in a (Central) European
context, interested in developing a long-term framework of
cooperation. We also welcome applications dealing with
similar cases of overlapping histories in Europe
(French-German, Greek-Turkish, Polish-Ukrainian,
Czech-German, etc.) to be grouped in introductory thematic
panels.
Proposed papers should fall into the following thematic
categories:
1. Dynamism of nation-formation. Looking at the complex
process of nation-formation, components and regional actors,
and challenges to the nationalization of society in the
Romanian and Hungarian contexts.
2. 'Canonization' of national cultures. Historical
consciousness, national and multicultural canons - with a
special emphasis on historical textbooks, national
historiography, and literary canon-building.
3. Historical myths and representations. Cult of heroes, the
image of the other, the heuristics of the historiographical
approach concentrating on historical myths and imagology.
4. Overlapping spaces and historical memories. Political
instrumentalization of collective memory, lieux de mémoire,
the paradigm of national heritage in a transnational
context.
5. Shared spaces and everyday life. Anthropology of
intercultural communication and community-building -
practices of everyday life, performances of ethnicity,
migration, mixing of languages and cultures, multiethnic
urban subcultures, etc.
6. Economic interaction, nationalism, and challenges. Ethnic
economics, economic nationalism, state intervention,
everyday economic experiences, the Europeanization and
transnationalization of economic regions.
7. Political thought and practice. Citizenship and civic
loyalty in multiethnic political frameworks, minorities and
majorities in the media - representing cultural and
political otherness; comparative political thought - local
contextualizations of European ideological traditions,
regionalization, and transnational cooperation in the EU;
the role of the outsider - the relationship of the
countries in the hands of great power politics and
international organizations.
The language of the conference is English. The proceedings
of the conference will be published in a thematic volume, as
well as in the peer-reviewed journal East-Central
Europe/L'Europe du Centre Est. Eine wissenschaftliche
Zeitschrift. Drawing on the experience of the conference, we
hope to consolidate a transnational academic network dealing
with shared/entangled histories in Central Europe.
Travel, accommodation, and other related costs for selected
candidates will be fully covered by the organizers. The
project is supported by the Baltic and East European
Graduate School, Södertörns högskola (University College)
Sweden, the CEU-OSI Comparative History Project, and by
Pasts, Inc. Center for Historical Studies, CEU.
Organizers:
Anders Blomqvist, PhD candidate in History, Södertörn
University College
Constantin Iordachi, Associate Professor, History
Department, CEU, Budapest
Balázs Trencsényi, Assistant Professor, History Department,
CEU, Budapest
We welcome applications for thematic panels or individual
papers. Application for individual papers should include a
500 word resume and a CV of the applicant and must reach the
organizers by May 31, 2008. Each panel proposal should
include a short description of the thematic focus, as well
as the 500 word resume and CV of the proposed participant.
Applications and inquiries should be addressed to:
Anders Blomqvist
Email: [email protected]
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