East Central Europe in the 20th Century. Roundtable on the State of the Art fo Historical Studies

East Central Europe in the 20th Century. Roundtable on the State of the Art of Historical Studies is meant to serve two interrelated purposes. First, it is called to foster reflection and dialogue on the state of the art and potential future direction of historical research dealing with East Central Europe in the 20th century. Therefore, a number of scholars with substantial contributions to the most dynamic thematic subfields are invited to share their scholarly insights and personal experiences while some of the leading scholars dealing with the history of East Central Europe are kindly asked to serve as commentators. Second, the roundtable is organized to better acquaint internationally oriented scholars dealing with this multifaceted region with each other and provide a forum where new agendas can be formulated.

Specific subjects shall be discussed in individual panels ranging from alternative approaches to the study of the region, such as the comparative, the transnational and the entangled, different spatial conceptualizations and uses of regional studies in various localities through diverging and conflicting national interpretations to the study of dictatorships and their remembrance to the challenge of integrating non-mainstream themes and actors into mainstream national and regional historiographies (please see below). Individual presentations shall last no longer than fifteen to twenty minutes and will be commented upon by distinguished scholars. All panels will include extended discussions. The discussions shall draw on in-depth studies of recent historiography published in volumes such as (Re)Writing History: Historiography in Southeast Europe after Socialism edited by Ulf Brunnbauer, Narratives Unbound: Historical Studies in Post-Communist Eastern Europe edited by Sorin Antohi, Balázs Trencsényi, and Péter Apor, well as on the recent all-European projects on modern historiography such as the volumes in the Writing the Nation series edited by Stefan Berger, Christoph Conrad and Guy P. Marchal.

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Friday// May 11th/ 2012

(Central European University, Budapest, Nádor u.9, Monument Building, room 201)

13:00 Welcome and Introduction

13:15-15:15 Panel I: East Central Europe in the 20th Century: Comparative, Transnational, Entangled?

Commentator: László Kontler (Budapest)

• Joachim von Puttkamer (Jena): East Central Europe in the 20th Century in Comparative Perspective
• Holly Case (Ithaca/ Jena): Transnational Approaches to East Central Europe in the 20th Century
• Balázs Trencsényi (Budapest): The Challenge of Studying the Political Thought of East Central Europe: Between European Embeddedness and National Autarchy
• Maciej Górny (Warsaw/Jena): Writing Comparative Histories of Historiography

15:15 Coffee Break

15:30-18:00 Panel II: Spatial Configurations. The Regional Problématique in Various National Imaginaries

Commentator: Diana Mishkova (Sofia)

• Michal Kopecek (Prague): On Czech Regional Conceptualizations
• Blazej Brzostek (Warsaw): On Polish Regional Conceptualizations
• Gábor Egry (Budapest): On Hungarian Regional Conceptualizations

16:30-16:45 Coffee Break

• Paul Gradvohl (Nancy): On French Regional Conceptualizations of East Central Europe
• Andrea Feldman (Zagreb): On Regional Conceptualization in the Post-Yugoslav Space

18:00-19:00 Buffet Dinner and Reception

19:00 Book Launches

Saturday// May 12th/ 2012

(Central European University, Budapest, Nádor u.11, Tóth István György room)

10:00-12:15 Panel III: Between Conflict and Resolution. Dealing with Competitive National Interpretations

Commentator: Wlodzimierz Borodziej (Warsaw/ Jena)

• Hannes Grandits (Berlin): On Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian relations
• René Küpper (Munich): On Czech-German relations
• Ovidiu Pecican (Cluj): On Hungarian-Romanian relations
• Tibor Frank (Budapest): Disputed Territories and Shared Pasts in Modern East Central Europe

12:15-13:15 Lunch Break

13:15-16:00 Panel IV: The Dual Dictatorial Legacy of the 20th Century: Current Uses and the Challenge of Historicization

Commentator: Ulf Brunnbauer (Regensburg)

• Dietmar Müller (Leipzig, Jena): Current Discussions on the Dual Legacy of the 20th Century
• Bogdan Iacob (Bucharest): New Trends in the Study of Communism
• Péter Apor (Budapest): Studying the Memory of Communism

14:15-14:30 Coffee Break

• Constantin Iordachi (Budapest): New Trends in the Study of Fascism
• Margit Feischmidt (Budapest): Studying Contemporary Right-Wing Extremism

16:00-16:15 Coffee Break

16:15-17:45 Panel V: From Margins to the Center? The Integration of Non-National Phenomena and Non-Mainstream Historical Actors

Commentator: John Neubauer (Amsterdam)

• Maria Falina (Budapest): On the Historical Study of Religion
• Ines Koeltzsch (Prague)/ Ferenc Laczó (Jena): On Jewish History
• Celia Donert (Potsdam): On the History of the Roma People

17:45-18:00 Coffee Break

18:00-18:30 Final Discussion and Closing Remarks

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Contact:

Ferenc Laczó
Imre Kertész Kolleg Jena
Leutragraben 1
07743 Jena
ferenc.loerinc.laczo..a..uni-jena.de