CfP: Beyond Revolution in Russia. Narratives – Spaces – Concepts. A 100 Years since the Event.

The outbreak of a socialist revolution in one of the least industrially developed European regions might be found by the contemporaries as surprising as the destabilizing potential of new revolutionary thoughts in the following period of the civil war. Its consequences were fully manifested, for instance, in young successor states of the Austrian Empire: Poland, Czechoslovakia, or Hungary. Apart from the immediate influence of revolutionary events, we would like to focus on transferring and transforming functions of ideas, concepts, and practices of the revolution both within Russian, or rather Soviet Empire, and in the Central-Eastern European region.

During the conference, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the events in Russia, we would like to consider individual layers of reception, commemoration, and performance of revolutionary thoughts, images, and practices in the area of the Central and Eastern Europe.

We would like to render the Russian revolution in its ambiguity between the event itself, medium-term social and economic transformations, and a long-term reconfiguration of the spaces of power and politics.

In what ways and directions did the revolutionary violence spread? What concept of the revolution became the basis for the hegemonic ideological toolbox of the Stalinist Empire after the subsequent civil war? How were the images of the Russian Revolution changing within the dominant discourses of the state-socialist dictatorships in the post-Stalinist era? What was left of revolutionary thoughts in the so-called post-ideological era after the “end of history” in 1989?

These and similar questions should open up the discussion of the issues from the fields of philosophy, political science, historiography, and other social sciences and humanities, which can be connected with, although not limited to, the following topics:

Narratives of the Russian Revolution
Historiographical concepts, key debates, contemporary interpretations, layers of interpretation, the transformation of images and roles of the Russian revolution in the Central-Eastern European cultures

Russian Revolution in time and space
Revolution and the Russian Empire (Russian revolutions 1905-1917), performance and topography of the spread of revolutionary practices, features and layers of historical memory, commemoration rituals and the places of memory of the Russian Revolution

Concepts and interpretations of the Russian Revolution
The Russian concept of revolution and its reception; did the idea of the Russian revolution fail? Russian revolution in Czechoslovak (or Czech and Slovak) and Central and Eastern European intellectual space

The conference takes place at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University (náměstí Jana Palacha 2, Praha 1).

Conference fee is 50 Euro (ceremonial reception, conference service, 4x coffee break, 2x lunch).

The full-time students can be exempted from the fee. They can also apply for a contribution towards the transport and accommodation expenses.

Conference languages: Czech, English

Contact: conference.17@ffabula.cz

We kindly ask those interested to sending us a draft paper till May 15, 2017. Aside from a title and a short annotation (150-200 words), it should include contact details, CV, and a list of the 5 most important publications from the last 10 years.

Authors of chosen papers will be contacted till June 30, 2017.

Deadline for submitting conference papers with maximum length of 5 500 words is October 15, 2017.

The organizers reserve the right to choose the papers.

Deadline for submitting the papers that should be published in the monograph (between 7-10 thousand words) is January 31, 2018.

The conference is organized by Students of History Association of Faculty of Arts of Charles University under the auspices of Institute for the Study of Strategic Regions – Charles University, The Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Faculty of Arts of Charles University and Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes.