Call for Papers: EURASIAN INSIGHTS Conference in Ghent (Belgium) 10-12 March 2021

EURASIAN INSIGHTS Conference in Ghent: Past, current and upcoming dynamics in the Central Asian region, and their (possible) impacts for Europe

Click here to view the detailed call for papers on our website.

Click here to submit a paper or register your attendance without a paper. 

Held in Ghent (in Flanders, Belgium) from Wednesday 10 to Friday 12 March 2021, the purposes of the event are threefold:

Firstly, to bring together scholars, students, interested members of the public and policymakers working on or interested in the Central Asian region to interact and, as such, strengthen a network of Central Asia-related research and -education in Europe.

Secondly, to show, by examining its identities and historical roots, societal and political dynamics, external interactions, and economy and environment, that the Central Asian region is not merely a passive object in abstract geopolitics, but that it also has histories, societies, identities and aspirations of its own.

Thirdly, examine what (potential) effects and impacts of developments in Central Asia, a region situated right beyond Europe’s eastern rim, have on the EU and Europe in general (and vice-versa).

Central Asia is defined here as the five Central Asia successor states of the Soviet Union (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan with Karakalpakstan), and the Chinese province of Xinjiang. However, participation to the event is certainly not limited to the audience of hardcore Central Asia specialists. We encourage cross-case thematic and comparative examinations and, thus, attendance and input by people who work or are interested in the field of EU studies, on Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, the Islamic world beyond Central Asia, China, …

The conference is interdisciplinary in the humanities (social and political sciences, history, anthropology, cultural and religious studies, social geography …).

Along with the ‘European handbook of Central Asian studies. History, politics and societies,’ which is going to be published in 2021 by ibidem-Verlag in Hannover, this conference is one of the key outcomes of the EISCAS consortium, It offers three days of keynote lectures, round tables and thematic panels.

We invite you to submit (up to two) papers matching our 20 thematic panels, clustered around the following five standing sessions: 

  • Economy & environment
  • Governance, state & politics
  • Societal-identarian dynamics
  • Culture and/in society
  • Social situations & dynamics

(Papers on Xinjiang and Mongolia are welcome if they touch upon the topics listed in the sessions)

To submit a paper, click here.   

PARTNERS & COOPERATION

This conference is co-funded by the Erasmus Plus program of the European Union.

Our official PARTNERS are:

WIKISTAN – an organic community of Central Asia scholars that welcomes new members (no membership fee required)

European Society for Central Asian Studies – ESCAS – a longstanding informal cooperation network of Central Asian scholars

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

— KEYNOTE LECTURES —

(Pan-)Europe and Central Asia: a natural complementarity?

  • Fabienne Bossuyt, CEUS-Universiteit Gent on the EU and its policies towards the Central Asian region (exact title to be confirmed).
  • Jonathan Holslag, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, on the EU and the former USSR vis-à-vis China (exact title to be confirmed).

Are the colonial and postcolonial paradigms applicable to the Central Asian region? by Svetlana Gorshenina (Alerte Héritage, France)

External soft power exercising in Central Asia: how is it shaping the (perception of) the region, by Sébastien Peyrouse (George Washington University, USA)

— ROUND TABLE DISCUSSIONS —

The role and relevance of film in contemporary national and historical consciousness in the region (to be updated)

Looks at Central Asia in twenty-five years: what societal, political and economic scenarios and trends will shape the region? (to be updated)

— SPECIAL SESSIONS —

The perceived geopolitics of sexuality and gender in Eastern Europe, and (possible) impacts on Central Asia by Laura Luciani, CEUS-Universiteit Gent

Muslim hagiographic experiences in the former USSR and popular democracies – moderated by Stéphane Dudoignon (CNRS, France) 

(This section still accepts papers, if you want to apply to this particular session, please write your intention in your abstract when submitting) To apply, click here.