[H-verkko] Artikkelipyyntö: Conceptualizing the Borderlands of the Russian Empire as Political Space (conference)

[Agricola - Suomen humanistiverkko]

Agricolan ilmoituksiin on lähetetty uusi artikkelipyyntö: 
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Conceptualizing the Borderlands of the Russian Empire as Political Space (conference)
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Call for Papers

Conceptualizing the Borderlands of the Russian Empire as Political Space

University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu Campus, December 14-15 2023

The past and future political position of the Western borderlands of the former Russian empire has recently become an object of extensive public and scholarly discussion. Russia’s war against Ukraine has highlighted questions concerning their status: what kind of institutionalised state structures existed in the imperial context and what kind of political space did they form in terms of national, civic, and political communities?

This conference brings together scholars interested in the history of European empires and particularly the Western borderland territories within the Russian Empire. We focus on changes in political language and how the position of borderlands has historically been conceptualized, particularly by the political actors and scholars of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. We seek to gather together scholars who work on imperial substructures and in particular territories that relate to present-day Finland, the Baltic countries, Poland, Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine but also welcome papers that deal with other borderlands under the influence of the Russian empire, e.g. in the Caucasus and Balkan regions.

The histories of these territories have often been written through a teleology of national statehood. In the nineteenth century, this outlook was, however, far from certain. Political space in empires was characterized by various kind of substructures with asymmetrical relationships with the imperial centre. Depending on the historical continuity of earlier state structures, the level of cultural autonomy, and the vibrancy of political movements, historical actors had different possibilities for imagining the political future of their respective territories.

As is evidenced in the case of the Grand Duchy of Finland, the Kingdom of Poland or the Governorate of Livonia, these territories had a specific relationship to St. Petersburg. Their status rested on residue dynastic power structures. Consequently, they shared features that on one hand tied them to the old dynastic traditions and the legal make-up of the empire. On the other hand, the discussion on their status opened up an avenue for introducing modern notions of statehood.  The degree in which their separate status was acknowledged and their inhabitants were empowered with internal freedoms varied over time, and precisely this made the conceptualisation of their status a crucial question for the historical actors. In an age when the logic of empire met with the logic of the nation-state, imperial substructures were an object for conceptual innovation and contestation that is again topical in today’s political discussion and deserves our keen scholarly attention.

We especially welcome papers that study

 	the historical understandings of what it meant to be a state, grand duchy, kingdom, province, or governorate within within the imperial context
 	the use of concepts such as independence, autonomy, or sovereignty in the imperial core and the borderlands of the Russian empire
 	the historical conceptualization of civic activity and social movements in relation to nation building and the formation of separate political space
 	aspects of political representation in these territories and the relationship that local forms of representation had to the imperial centre
 	how the tendencies of the nationalisation of the empire affected the position of the borderlands
 	territorial institutionalisation and the changing significance of borders
 	how historical actors compared one region with another, e.g. comparing Poland with Finland or Bessarabia with Livonia

The conference will broaden the international cooperation and networking initiated in the frame of the project Grand Duchy of Finland as Political Space funded by the Academy of Finland. At the same time, it offers a platform for planning and elaborating new research projects and future international cooperation in the field.

Selected papers presented in the conference will be published in a special issue of an international scientific journal. The conference is related to the work of the research community Borders, Mobilities and Cultural Encounters of the University of Eastern Finland, and it will promote its research activities and international cooperation.

The conference will take place on December 14-15 2023 in Joensuu, Finland. The language of the conference is English. Currently, we are not able to invite scholars who have an affiliation with a Russian higher education institution.

As keynote speakers are invited Professor Stefan Berger (Ruhr University Bochum), a leading expert in comparative study of European empires and nation-building, and Professor Diana Mishkova (University of Sofia), a leading specialist in the conceptual history of European regions and boundaries.

The conference is free of charge, but we ask scholars attending the conference to be prepared to cover their own travels and accommodation.

Please send paper proposals by 31 July 2023. Proposals should include a title, abstract (of no more than 200 words), and information about your institutional affiliation and can be submitted here <https://forms.gle/Fb5eVRLxSzsHjSRo8>. Decisions on acceptance will be announced on 14 August. For queries about the conference, please contact: jenni.merovuo at uef.fi .

For more information, please visit the conference website: https://sites.uef.fi/conceptualizing-borderlands-conference/

The organising committee of the conference includes from Finland: Kimmo Katajala, Ilkka Liikanen, Jenni Merovuo (UEF) and Jani Marjanen (University of Helsinki), Poland: Wiktor Marzec (University of Warsaw), Ukraine: Anton Kotenko (Visiting researcher at the University of Helsinki).

 
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Lisätietoja:
Jenni Merovuo
jenni.merovuo at uef.fi
https://sites.uef.fi/conceptualizing-borderlands-conference/

Ilmoitus vanhenee: 31.7.2023 klo 23:59

Tämä ilmoitus on luettavissa Agricola-verkossa osoitteessa https://agricolaverkko.fi/announcement/conceptualizing-the-borderlands-of-the-russian-empire-as-political-space-conference/
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