Dear colleagues,
We invite your participation in a graduate conference planned for this spring at Harvard University, dedicated to intersections in Slavic Studies with Disability Studies, Critical Race Theory, Gender Studies, Postcolonialism, and Ecocriticism. Please see our call for papers below — we welcome abstracts of up to 300 words until November 1st, 2022 at diversifyingslavic@gmail.com.
Please don’t hesitate to write to us with questions.
Best,
Anna Vichkitova and Alex Braslavsky
Diversifying Slavic: New Approaches to the Field
Harvard University Graduate Conference, March 10-11, 2023
*To Be Held In-Person*
Co-organizers: Alex Braslavsky and Anna Vichkitova, Harvard University
In recent months, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has challenged scholars in Slavic studies to collectively rethink approaches to the field. Our aim for this conference is to invite fellow graduate students from other universities to join us in engaging these new and developing approaches to the region. We intend to have broad representation of many Slavic literatures and cultures along with from Russian on the panels to make for comprehensive discussion. We are interested in films and works of literature as well as other cultural representations.
Potential panel topics include but will not be limited to:
- Intersections between Critical Race Theory and the Slavic World (intersections between race and national identity, including Pushkin as an African-Russian, critical readings of Slavic literatures through the lens of Critical Race Theory, discussions of the historical legacy of African Americans visiting the Soviet Union, contemporary reflections on race and ethnicity in Eastern Europe and Eurasia).
- Methods of addressing other forms of chauvinism, including Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in literature and culture.
- Feminist, Genderfluid, and Non-Binary Activism in the Post-Soviet Context (Eastern European and Eurasian anti-war feminist movements, LGBTQ culture and activism in Eastern Europe and Eurasia).
- Discussing Neurodivergence among Slavic Artists and Writers (how we can apprehend artists and writers who had or have dyslexia or dysgraphia, autism, borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, etc. and how it has influenced their work, the ethics of diagnostic literary analysis).
- Disability Studies (papers raising the visibility of those with disabilities in Slavic and post-Soviet literatures, analyses of works by authors with disabilities, methods of combating ableist analyses, imagery in depictions of disabilities in literature and film, ethics of treating people with disabilities in creative works and scholarship).
- Decolonizing Methods: Legacies of Russian Imperialism and Soviet Colonialism. (Postcolonial theory in studies of the ex-Soviet bloc, critical perspectives on Slavic orientalism during different historical periods (Russian Empire, Soviet period, post-Soviet times), Russo-Soviet colonialism in Caucasus and Central Asia).
- Ecocriticism in Slavic Studies (ecopoetry, ecocriticism, and environmental studies applications in literary and cultural contexts, nuclear disarmament movements in the Eastern European and Eurasian regions).
- Age Studies (papers that address juvenilia, theories of the Third and Fourth Ages in literary and cultural studies, perspectives on ageism in Slavic, Eastern European, and Eurasian narratives).
Format
This conference will be held in person on Harvard’s campus at the Barker Center at 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. Presenters will have 15-20 minutes to share their paper, followed by commentary from the panel discussant, then open discussion. This conference is intended to provide graduate students with the opportunity to present their work, receive constructive feedback and forge connections with fellow researchers.
The working language of this conference will be English.
Please submit abstracts (300 words or less) and a short bio (50-75 words) to diversifyingslavic@gmail.com.
The early deadline for submissions is November 1st, 2022. Please submit all files as Word documents. Notification of acceptance will be sent in November.
We will be able to provide travel subsidies in the amount of $250 per participant to help defray travel costs for conference participants.
Any questions should be addressed to diversifyingslavic@gmail.com.
We look forward to your contributions!
Anna and Alex