Call for Papers: 22-23 October
The British-French Association for the Study of Russian Culture will hold its next conference at University College London, in the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, on Friday 22 (from 4.00 pm) and Saturday 23 October 2010.
I invite papers (in English, French or Russian) on one or more aspects of intercultural relations between Russia and the United Kingdom, Russia and France, or the three countries together.
Working titles and a brief summary (no more than 100 words) should be sent to me by 15 September, via email.
UCL is near to St Pancras station (the Eurostar terminal) and there are hotels in the neighbourhood, e.g. The Tavistock.
With best wishes, Derek Offord, University of Bristol
ARCHIVE
Spring conference of the British-French Association for the Study of Russian Culture at the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne. 9-10 April 2010
The theme for the conference is the representation of the East in Russian culture, in the broadest sense of the word. Although Russia itself encompasses both ‘the East’ and ‘the West’, it nevertheless looks to the Orient as ‘the Other’, depicting its Asian half as its alter ego. Russia’s relationship with the East is a recurrent theme in scholarship. Indeed, a number of recent conferences and publications have been devoted to Russian orientalism. While Western academics focus on Russia’s Asian identity and its so-called oriental wisdom, it is nevertheless important to remember that Russia has always constructed its own sense of the ‘East’ in relation to its West. With this in mind, we would welcome papers which examine the complex, multi-faceted and multi-dimensional relationship between Russia’s ‘self’ and its ‘other’. Possible subjects include aspects of everyday life (chinoiseries, African servants [арапы], jazz), political theory (the Soviets in Africa, Indochina or Central Asia, reproducing French or British colonialist behaviour while at the same time denouncing it), international politics, or examples of influence in art, music, communication or commerce. Perhaps there have been individuals in Russia who have sought to represent themselves as the exotic, African or Asian Other, in the manner of René Caillié, Ferdinand Duranton or Lawrence of Arabia. Our understanding of the ‘East’ is not geographic, since we are interested in the ways in which this concept is represented in the collective Russian psyche and in its culture. It may even be found in the West, or indeed in Africa, in the Islamic or Jewish worlds, or in the shape of the exotic, non-European Other. We encourage proposals concerning Asian Russia itself, the relationship between the imperial centre and the periphery, and the problem of identity in politics and culture. We would also be very interested to receive proposals for papers examining the way in which the imperial past has been re-interpreted in different national traditions, as well as interventions highlighting the plurality of ‘orientalisms’ in Russian culture.
The mission of the British-French Association for the Study of Russian
Culture is to encourage scholarly dialogue between English, French and
Russian-speaking colleagues working in the fields of Slavic Studies,
comparative literature, and the humanities in general. The Association
is holding its next conference at the Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris
IV) on Friday 9 and Saturday 10 April 2010.
The programme can be downloaded here.
Anna Pondopoulo, Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV)
Graham Roberts, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre la Défense