ACLA 2006: Princton University
General Topic: The Human and its Other

Seminar Title: The Othering of (and Othering within)
Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and Eurasia

Seminar Organizer: Vlatka Velcic, California State
University, Long Beach (vvelcic_at_csulb.edu)

This panel proposes to continue inquiries from previous
ACLA conferences which invited the application of
post-colonial theories and concepts to the literature and
culture of Eastern Europe and related geographical spaces.
In previous sessions we discussed the classical empires
(the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian) and their
cultural influences. Last year's panel focused
specifically on echoes of the "Soviet Empire" on Eastern
Europe, the Balkans, and Eurasia. Working within the theme
of this year's conference, we can surmise that the empires
roaming through the past and looming in the present of
Eastern Europe have created not only Eastern Europe, the
Balkans, and Eurasia as a specific kind of Eastern
"Other," as opposed to the more "Human" West (i.e.,
enlightened, democratic, progressive, etc.), but also that
Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and Eurasia have at different
times created their own hierarchies of "Others" (i.e.,
gypsies, various Asian peoples, etc.). These processes are
recorded and reflected, however obliquely, though literary
and cultural production, and conversely literature and
culture also actively participate in the othering process.
We invite papers on various aspects of Othering of and in
Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and Eurasia. We are
interested in the ways that traditional empires "Othered"
the peoples of Eastern Europeans, the Balkans, and
Eurasia, but also the way in which Eastern Europeans
"Other" each other in contemporary literature and culture.
We are specifically interested in papers that explore how
this creation of "Others" relates to themes of
nationalism, violence, class, gender, and identity.

To submit a proposal, go to the ACLA website
(www.acla.org) and follow the links for paper submission.

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Received on Sun Nov 27 2005 - 18:22:56 EST