Call for papers

Call for Papers

Shared Past – Conflicting Histories
Historical Knowledge, Memory and Politics in the Baltic Sea Region

University of Turku, Finland 28-29 September 2011

The Turku Historical Association and the Controlling History network will organize a two-day symposium for researchers and post-graduate students. The seminar will study the interactions between historical knowledge, memory and politics in the Baltic Sea Region. It will take place on the 28-29 September, in Turku, the European Capital of Culture 2011.

The organizers have the pleasure to welcome both experts and doctoral students working within the fields of history, humanities, political and social sciences. We will convene in Turku to study the various cultural and political functions of historical knowledge, arguments, myths and narratives.

The organizers welcome proposals for

1. Individual presentations gathered in 90 minutes long workshops comprising
   a maximum of 4 presentations.
2. Full panels. A full panel organized around a special theme should consist of 3-4 panelists.

Please bear in mind both in panels and individual presentations that the maximum length for each presentation should be 15 minutes.

Due to time constraints and to ensure the homogeneity of the seminar, we have to limit the amount of presentations to a maximum of 50. Therefore we will give priority to topics that meet both the geographic focus of the seminar (the Baltic Sea Region including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Finland) and the overall theme.

We welcome presentations relating especially to the following themes

Writing of history in the past and the present

Conflicting narratives on the past
Historians' and other scholars' role in memory conflicts
Ethical questions of remembering and forgetting
Political uses of historical knowledge
Histories and historical myths as cultural tools
Problems of teaching of history
Media and arts in creating and mediating historical culture

All proposals for panels (600 words) and individual presentations (300 words) should be emailed as .doc, .rtf, .docx or .pdf attachments to the chair of the organizing committee, Pertti Grönholm (shared.past.symposium(at)gmail.com) by the deadline of 3 April 2011.

Proposals must include all relevant contact information, a title, and the main questions to be addressed during the presentation. Panel proposals should contain the abstracts of all the presentations involved, the contact information of all panelists, and a title for the panel. They should also identify clearly the panel’s chair, who will act as contact person for organizational purpose.

The abstracts will be evaluated by the organizing committee and a decision announced on each of them by 31 May 2011.

Shared Past – Conflicting Histories Symposium will include six keynote lectures, plenary discussions, workshops, and an informal social programme. Central to the organization of this symposium is a will to deepen the discussion on the common themes and broaden the contacts and networks of individual researchers and post-graduate students.

The keynote lectures in plenary sessions will be given by

Professor Klas-Göran Karlsson (University of Lund)
Professor Nikolay Koposov (University of St. Petersburg)
Professor Henrik Meinander (University of Helsinki)
Professor Alfonsas Eidintas (University of Vilnius)
Dr. Irene Sneidere (University of Latvia)
Dr. Marek Tamm (University of Tallinn)

The final programme of the symposium will be published on this website by early August.

This symposium has no participation fee, but the participants should organize their accommodation in Turku. The town has been elected as European Capital of Culture 2011, and we thus advise our guests to organize their accommodation (hotels, etc) at the earliest possible opportunity. This website will provide links to hotels and hostels.

The members of the organizing committee are happy to give further information and advice in all practical matters.

The organizing committee

Dr. (docent) Pertti Grönholm, dept. of General History, University of Turku
Dr. Louis Clerc, dept. of Contemporary History, University of Turku
M.A. Heli Rantala, dept. of Cultural History, University of Turku

Contact

Email: shared.past.symposium(at)gmail.com
WWW: http://sharedpastsymposium.blogspot.com

The main organizers are supported by

School of History, Culture and Arts Studies, University of Turku
Department of  Political Science and Contemporary History, University of Turku
Department of History, Åbo Akademi University
Rozentals Society
The Graduate School on Integration and Interaction in the Baltic Sea Region, University of Turku
Baltic Sea Region Studies Master's Programme, University of Turku