International Workshop at the Amsterdam School for Regional, Transnational and European Studies, the University of Amsterdam, the
Netherlands
20.03.2015-21.03.2015, Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam
Deadline: 20.01.2015
25 years after 1989, the current international consternation about Russia's conduct in the wake of the Ukrainian crises and annexation of the Crimean peninsula render painstakingly visible that mutual perceptions of East and West are still deeply influenced by Cold War stereotypes.
Although they bear the ideological stamps of the communist /capitalist divide, these stereotypes have been not necessarily produced and disseminated by ideologists. Most often it were travellers, journalists, and other interpreters of culture who popularized representations of "us" and "them" in an ostensibly less politicized manner and embedded them into broader consciousness. The aim of the workshop is to present a forum for the analysis of Eastern and Western "Cold War travelogues" and to examine them in the longue durée perspective.
We invite contributions from scholars in all academic fields that consider the following questions:
What imagery of 'land and cityscapes', 'everyday life' or 'the people(s)' did travel writers, journalists or other mediators produce?
In how far were their perspectives shaped by ideological and practical constraints, or by already entrenched cultural stereotypes? How did they relate to such established images and prejudices: did they confirm or challenge existing views? What did they want to see, and what did they prefer to remain silent about? Which media formats (textual and visual) were particular influential a different periods during the Cold War? Did visual and textual representations differ, if yes, how and why? What importance is accorded to (the crossing of) space and boundaries? What can we say of the perception of such imagery by the targeted public?
Deadline for submission: January 20, 2015.
Abstracts (maximum 500 words) are invited for consideration as contributions to this conference and a short bio (max. 100 words) to be considered.
Panel proposals (max. 4 papers; 400 words panel description & 100 word abstract of each paper) are also invited. Please add short bios for all participants (max. 100 words).
Please send your abstract to: close-encounters-fgw@uva.nl
Conference fee: EUR 50 for lunches and conference dinner.
For more information, please contact the organizers: Christian Noack
(C.U.Noack@uva.nl) or Dina Fainberg (D.Fainberg@uva.nl)