Deadline: May 30, 2024
The Italian Association of Ukrainian Studies (AISU) is pleased to announce a call for papers for its second international conference, which takes the idea of “Continuity and Change” as its theme. The University of Cagliari will host the event on January 15-16, 2025.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has caused many to reconsider Ukraine’s place on their mental maps, spurring reflection on what makes Ukraine a nation in its own right. Until February 2022, the notions that Ukraine is historically a part of Russia, and that Ukrainian identity has only emerged as the result of foreign interference, were deeply ingrained not only in the minds of Russian leaders but also in large sectors of Western public opinion. However, Ukraine’s fierce and spontaneous resistance in the face of Russian aggression conveyed an image of a remarkably unified nation despite a past of incomplete statehood and an internal landscape rich with ethnic, linguistic, religious, and regional differences. What, then, keeps Ukraine together across ethnic, linguistic, and confessional lines?
Since 1991, scholars have often focused on the lack of cultural and institutional continuity in Ukrainian history, suggesting that Ukraine’s permeable cultural boundaries, multiethnic society, and fluid frontiers are precisely what have made the country what it is. In this conference, we want to address this topic afresh, exploring how the competing vectors of continuity and change have shaped Ukrainian culture and history over the centuries and contributed to their distinctiveness. We invite proposals that highlight instances or patterns of reiteration, adaptation, innovation, or disruption, and which reflect on their complex interrelation within Ukrainian culture. The aim of this conference is to rethink the way we understand Ukraine by considering how communities and individuals coped with crises and interruptions, but also how threads of continuity permeated these interruptions.
We welcome both synchronic and diachronic approaches that explore, but are by no means limited to, the following fields: anthropology, arts, history, linguistics, literature, philosophy, political science, religious studies, and sociology.
Please submit your proposal for a 20-minute paper by filling in the application form.
The language in which the conference will be conducted is English.
For all general inquiries, please contact: aisu.studiucraini@gmail.com
Important Dates:
Deadline for paper proposals: May 31, 2024
Notification of acceptance: June 30, 2024
Date and place of the conference: January 15 – January 16, 2025, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
Format: In-person only
Fees and funding: There is no conference registration fee. Participants are expected to fund their own travel. The University of Cagliari will cover accommodation costs and some meals. A small number of bursaries will be available to support attendance, with priority given to early-career and low-income scholars. Please indicate on your paper proposal if you will require support to attend the conference and provide a brief justification for it.
Organizing Committee:
Alessandro Achilli (University of Cagliari)
Maria Grazia Bartolini (University of Milan)
Simone Attilio Bellezza (University of Eastern Piedmont)
Giovanna Brogi (University of Milan)
Francesco Guida (Roma Tre University)
Oleg Rumyantsev (University of Palermo)
Massimo Tria (University of Cagliari)