Central and East European Studies Program

The recurrent lockdowns and travel restrictions of the Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020-2022 threw into high relief how nomadic many of our lives have become in the 21st century. With the option or necessity of working from home, many white-collar workers decamped to extra-urban locales with good weather and nice views. At the same time, for many of us, the Pandemic came as a relief from the sometimes-excessive demands of work-related travel. Now that the Pandemic is more or less over, many of us again find ourselves clocking the kilometers on planes, trains and automobiles. We also look forward to resuming our regular Partnership Conferences!

Russia’s attack on Ukraine early in 2022 set off yet another wave of movement, this time both of refugees from Ukraine and young men leaving Russia, looking to build a life beyond the threat of the military draft for a war they don’t support. Of course, these recent developments echo earlier waves of human movement, both individual and group migrations, as well as nomadic, semi-nomadic or quasi-nomadic lifestyles. The wave of Ukrainian refugees and Russian refuseniks recapitulates waves of emigration of past generations. On the Canadian Prairies, for example, many immigrants from Northern, Central and Eastern Europe arrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, looking for land. These immigrants displaced Indigenous peoples, such as the Anishinabe, Cree, Oji Cree, Lakota, Siksika and Dene peoples who had lived nomadic and semi-nomadic lifestyles on this land before they were forced to settle in “reservations” as a result of treaties. The nomadic Inuit populations of northern Canada were forced to settle into communities only in the 1950s. With every migration, ideas, customs, practices and languages migrate with the people. As Deleuze and Guattari have pointed out, people pick and choose which ideas to adopt: “Psychical Nomadism.”

These waves of movement have had all kinds of implications that may be examined in a wide range of disciplines, including health care, law, education, social services, the production of knowledge in both the sciences and humanities, the migration of art forms, musical styles, architectural typologies, etc.

For this conference, we welcome proposals for papers from all disciplines that invoke movement, migration and nomadism—understood in the broadest sense of peoples, ideas and culture, and what this implies for knowledge and consciousness wrought by changes in perspective.
 
Submissions
Submission deadline is March 15, 2023.

Email a 150-word abstract and a short CV to Dr. Oliver Botar and Dr. Elena Baraban. 

Early submissions are encouraged. Submissions will be peer-reviewed by a committee of faculty members. 

The study of Central and Eastern Europe provides training for a wide range of professions that require skills in communication, interpretation and research. A first-hand understanding of an area, and fluency in one of its languages, can open doors to careers in industries such as:

• business
• academia
• journalism
• politics
• commerce
• education
• travel
• translation

Undergraduate students have the opportunity to work with our leading faculty researchers and gain valuable experience.

Learn more and apply for a UM URA

The Central and East European Studies Program provides awards, scholarships and bursaries at all levels of study (usually administered by the Department of German and Slavic Studies). Students are also eligible for university fellowships and national awards. Further awards and scholarship opportunities might be found in conjunction to specific study and work abroad programs and travel courses.

You'll find awards in the UM-wide awards database, including the following:

• Special Departmental Achievement Awards and Scholarships: For high achievement / promise in undergraduate courses in Central and East European Studies (administered by the Department of German and Slavic Studies).
• C. E. L'Ami Prize in Slavic Studies: For demonstrating outstanding achievement in Slavic studies.
• Anastasia Sawula Prize: For highest standing in Ukrainian I or another Slavic literature course.
• Sam and Mary Szach Scholarship: For completion with good standing of at least one year in a Slavic studies program.