Polonia mon amour

LETTER OF INFORMATION AND INVITATION
Russian Institute for Cultural Research
Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Moscow
Polish Cultural Center in Moscow
Polish Academy of Sciences Permanent Representation
to the Russian Academy of Sciences
Moscow Pedagogical State University
Pedagogical University of Cracow of a name the Commission of National Education
Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences
with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Russian State Foundation for the Humanities
have the pleasure to announce the International Conference “Russia and Poland: The Duty of Memory and the Right to Oblivion”
to be held October 22 through October 24, 2009,  in the Russian Institute for Cultural Research (Moscow).
This conference invites Russian and foreign experts in cultural studies, philosophy, history, philology, sociology, political science, art studies, psychology, pedagogy, etc., whose field of interest includes various aspects of memory studies, as well as the impact of cultural (social) memory on the dynamics of Russian-Polish intercultural communication.
The conference seeks to analyze the role of history and historical education in forming and maintaining the cultural identities of Russia and Poland and the ways in which they influence Russian-Polish relations. It also aims at elaborating approaches allowing to overcome «memorial barriers» on the way to mutual understanding.
The conference will be organized into a plenary session, four sections, a round table and a discussion panel.
Section I
«Historia vita memoriae: Memory and Historiography in the Context of Russian-Polish Relations»Topics for discussion:
• Are historical studies a form of cultural memory?
• Historical memory and historical consciousness: the traditions of investigation
• Mutual historiographical portraits of Poland and Russia: pride and prejudice
• Historical analogies: a resource for cooperation or a source of conflict?
• Historical studies in the time of radical social and political transformations
• National reconciliation and international dialogue: the contribution of history
Section II
«Memory and Educational Practices in Russia and Poland»
Topics for discussion:
• Historical education and memorial socialization
• The role of educational disciplines related to social sciences and the humanities in forming collective memory and identity
• Commissions on the rendering of joint history in educational literature
• The official educational narrative and «alternative memory»
• The USSR and the People`s Republic of Poland in Russian and Polish educational literature: a comparative analysis
• Historical education and historical reconciliation
• Russia and Poland in the textbooks and curricula of the both countries: a didactic aspect
• National consciousness in Russian and Polish literature at the turn of the century
• Making use of the «Other»
Section III
«The “Memorial Cultures” of Russia and Poland: The Similarity and the Specific»Topics for discussion:
• Cultural memory as concept: its theoretical sources and heuristic potential
• The «history of memory» as a research program of historical cultural studies
• Structuring cultural memory: specificity of topics and narratives
• The «Saviours of Europe»: Russian and Polish cultural memory of the place of the two nations in Western civilization
• «Places of remembrance» and memorial landscapes: the status and specificity of their functioning in culture
• Policy concerning cultural heritage
• The «Slavic brotherhood» and/or the «European choice»: cultural memory and the Polish-Russian dialogue
Section IV
«The Social Dimension of Memory: Russian and Polish Perspectives»Topics for discussion:
• A sociological analysis of collective memory: the old heritage and the new problematic
• Traditional interpretations of the phenomenon of collective memory in the social sciences
• The social function of memory in Russia and Poland: legitimization and identity
• Social strategies of memory and oblivion: history and the present
• Mechanisms of the social transmission of collective memory
• The institutes of memory: the family, state, church, the school and the army as memory keepers
• Nostalgia: social functions and forms of its representation
• Collective memory in empirical research
• The media space as bearer of social memory
• Overcoming negative historical stereotypes in Russian-Polish relations: sociological and socio-psychological perspectives
Round Table
«Memory Studies: On the Way to a “Memorial Paradigm” in the Humanities and Social Sciences»Topics for discussion:
• Understanding memory: from «depth of the spirit» to cultural and historical determination
• Memory defined as collective, social, cultural, historical: a correlation of concepts
• Memory: collective or collected? Problematizing the ontological status of collective memory
• Memory and oblivion in culture: unity of opposites
• The social framework of memory and manipulations with memory
• The «memorial boom» and the sacralization of memory in the present-day world: causes and consequences
• Memory, trauma and intercultural communication
• Ethics of memory. Amnesty and amnesia
• Memory studies: «is» or «are»? Prospects for a new discipline
Discussion Panel
«The Memory of Minorities and Regions: Potential for Conflict or Resource for Development? Russian and Polish Experience»
Topics for discussion:
• Memory and identity in the context of glocalization: crisis of national narratives
• The contemporary society as a set of «memory communities»
• Memory in the processes of constructing regional and ethno-cultural identities in Russia and Poland
• The role of the mass-media and the educational system in forming, maintaining and transforming the memory of regional communities and minorities
• Traumatic experience in the structures of memory of regional communities and ethno-cultural minorities
• Symbols of identity and the memory of local communities and minorities. Struggling for the semiotic appropriation of spaces
• Clashes between national memory and local memorial narratives: the experience of Russia and Poland
• Local memoirs and the problem of unity of a country’s cultural space: Russian and Polish experience
The languages of the conference are Russian, Polish and English
Please send us the following materials:
- application form (see Annex 1) in one of the conference languages (hard copy, fax or electronic copy);
- abstract of the paper in one of the conference languages (hard copy, fax or electronic copy; maximum 2.000 spaced characters).
The submission deadline for applications is June 1, 2009
The organizing committee is obliged to declare that it will decline applications and papers that do not match the theme of the conference.
The conference proceedings are expected to be published as a separate volume. The organizing committee has the right to select and copyedit the materials for publication.
SCHEDULE OF THE CONFERENCE:
Arrival – October 21, 2009
Opening ceremony – October 22, 2009
Plenary session – October 22, 2009
Panels – October 23, 2009
Round Table – October 24, 2009
Discussion Panel – October 24, 2009
Closing ceremony – October 24, 2009
Departure – October 25, 2009
Contact information:
Tel. +7 (495) 959 09 08 – reception
Tel. +7 (495) 959 13 98 – Ms. Irina Alexeenko, conference coordinator
Fax: +7 (495) 959 10 17
E-mail: memory-ricr@ricur.ru
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From: Васильев Алексей
Date: 2009/3/27
Subject: [Medianthro] the International Conference “Russia and Poland: The Duty of Memory and the Right to Oblivion”
To: medianthro@lists.easaonline.org
Dear colleagues,
Please send us the following materials:
- application form (see Annex 1 to the Informational Letter attached to the current letter) in one of the conference languages (hard copy, fax or electronic copy);
- abstract of the paper in one of the conference languages (hard copy, fax or electronic copy; maximum 2.000 spaced characters).
The submission deadline for applications is June 1, 2009
Sincerely yours,
Alexey Vasilyev,
Deputy Director
Russian Institute for Cultural Research
20, Bersenevskaya nab., 119072, Moscow, Russia
Tel.+7 495 959 09 08
Fax +7 495 959 10 17
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