2024 RSA Central and Eastern Europe Conference Special Sessions

Session Organisers and Speakers:
Lena Dallywater, Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, Germany
Steffi Marung, Leipzig University, Germany
Dennis Dierks, Leipzig University, Germany
Bohdan Novoshytskyi, Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, Leipzig, Germany

Session Details (closed Session)
Two years after the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, there is an increasing number of offers that provide basic knowledge about the attacked country and its history, as well as articles which offer interpretations and analyses. In this special session, the editors of a new anthology present their endeavour to add a publication that is devoted to two so far less discussed issues: firstly, the consequences of the war for global interrelation relation and world order, and secondly insights into reflection on the global consequences from around the world. When starting the project, the aim was to compile a collection of texts by international authors who, since the beginning of the war of aggression (2022 ff), have analysed the war as a caesura for world-wide interdependencies, and the interrelation of Eastern Europe with other regions of the world. The focus is on the global embeddedness of the war, the global effects and the possible consequences for the emergence of a new world order. Together with guests and a critical commentator, the editors discuss central claims, lay out what they have developed so far and engage in a discussion with the audience.

Session Organisers:
Federico Venturini, University of Udine, Italy
Andrea Guaran, University of Udine, Italy

Session Details:
Waste production is an ongoing problem, with production rates increasing worldwide while recycling lags behind. Waste has multiple significant impacts on the environment, such as methane emissions (an important greenhouse gas), leachate production, microplastic pollution, and ash resulting from combustion. Current waste disposal methods, such as waste-to-energy or landfilling, pose significant challenges due to their adverse effects on health and the environment.
Central and Eastern European (CEE) regions are facing significant challenges in waste management due to ongoing substantial internal and external restructuring. The best waste is that which has not yet been produced, emphasizing the importance of shifting our focus from recycling to waste prevention. By doing so, we can minimize the necessity for waste management, thereby reducing its energy costs and environmental impacts.
Waste is an interconnected issue involving various dimensions, such as lifestyle, production, policy, and technology. From this perspective, education plays a crucial role for all stakeholders—politicians, entrepreneurs, youth, and citizens alike—enabling them to understand the problem, propose solutions, and inspire individual and collective changes. Now more than ever, a spectrum of essential actions is needed to guide us toward a sustainable future, distinguishing between economically sustainable and environmentally beneficial practices and those that are less optimal. How can we look at this challenge?
The objective of this panel is to explore challenges and best practices related to waste in Central and Eastern European (CEE) regions and to facilitate connections among different actors involved in waste studies.

We invite researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and students to submit abstracts that engage with waste prevention and management in Central and Eastern European (CEE) regions, exploring topics including but not limited to:
– innovative waste management practices
– critical issues in waste management
– power dynamics and interactions among stakeholders
– waste’s role in transitioning to a circular economy
– impacts of waste production and management on urban metabolism
– the role of education in waste prevention

Selected papers will be considered for publication in an edited volume of the Springer Sustainable Development Goals Series.

The session will be held in person in English.

Session Organisers:
Anna Krzywoszynska, University of Oulu, Finland
Małgorzata Kowalska, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland

Session Details:
Regeneration and restoration of ecologies and ecosystems is increasingly important at national and international policy levels. This includes concerns related to soils, waters, forests, and biodiversity, amongst others. The CEE region faces particular challenges and opportunities in this regard. On the one hand, lower levels of economic development have sometimes contributed to a better state of, for example, agricultural ecosystems. On the other hand, the legacy of totalitarian regimes and, in particular, the increased extraction and consumption of natural resources, are creating growing pressures.

How to ensure socially and ecologically just pathways for restoring and regenerating ecosystems in CEE is becoming an urgent question as more actors enter the conversation, and as the distribution of epistemic and political power becomes more complex. For example, international governance bodies as well as corporations are targeting land and other natural resources and flows (such as carbon) in order to secure their own sustainability objectives. At the same time, recent farmers’ protests against the Green New Deal highlight the importance of embedding regeneration and restoration efforts in the capacities, values, and meanings of local land-based populations. Whose voices matter in how regeneration and restoration initiatives are planned, justified, and executed is therefore becoming an urgent question for CEE countries.

In this session, we are interested in exploring the CEE-relevant aspects of epistemic tensions and conflicts around regeneration and restoration, with a particular focus on multiple dimensions of justice in thee processes. We ask: What knowledges are being mobilised to restore and regenerate CEE ecologies? What visions of change underpin restoration and regeneration narratives? Whose voices matter, and whose voices are silenced, in these visions? What is the impact of regeneration and restoration initiatives on achieving social, ecological, multi-species, or inter-generational justice? What are the best and worst examples of restoration and regeneration initiatives from a justice perspective? What may be the benefits and challenges of innovative forms of gathering and representing information about restoration and regeneration (e.g. citizen-led science, participatory modelling, storytelling, peer to peer networks)?

We invite contributions from scholars and researchers working on the knowledge politics and knowledge cultures of regeneration and restoration in CEE. We wish to explore situations of knowledge conflict, as well as of cooperation and innovation. We welcome contributions from across social sciences as well as from interdisciplinary research.

Session Organisers:
Katarina Kušić, University of Vienna, Austria
Saska Petrova, University of Manchester, UK

Session Description:
While the dramatic post-1989 socio-economic and political transformations in CEE have been analysed and theorised across disciplines and contexts, the ecological backdrop of these transformations has received less attention. This is despite the variety and magnitude of environmental transformations involved: the dismantling of ecological legacies inherited from communism, the implications of broader environmental processes (such as the climate crisis), and the consequences of restructuring decisions in various political and economic domains. One of the most salient dynamics of environmental transition in CEE is the expansion of extractivism across the region, including lithium mining, tourism development, large and small hydropower projects, and industrialised agriculture.

Despite being used and critiqued for a long time, ‘extractivism’ remains a potent and useful lens for analysing power, inequality, resistance, and emancipation in projects that seek value in specific human-nature relations (Fluri 2020, Vasile 2012). We hope to put recent manifestations of extractivism in CEE in conversation with imperial, colonial, and socialist environmental histories of the region. In doing so, we build upon the existing project of developing ‘regional political ecology’ (Kovács 2021), and connect it to histories that trace technological and socio-ecological transformations of CEE (Dorondel and Şerban 2022).

Following from Murrey and Mollett’s (2023) ‘extractive logics’, we aim to unpack and question frameworks and practices that underpin both extractive systems of ‘removal, destruction, and dehumanisation’, and the resistance and cross-region solidarities in CEE. We focus on several questions: How can continuities and differences in processes of extracting value from natural environments help us understand power, empowerment, and dispossession in the region? Can the supply chains involved shed light on different forms of region-making from within and without? What are the policy and everyday consequences of both implemented and abandoned projects of extraction?

We invite papers that deal with conceptual and empirical issues in the history and present of extractivism in CEE on the following topics (but not in any way limited to them):

– Green extractivism and renewable energy transitions
– Extractivism of labour and environmental protests
– Care extractivism and its ecologies
– Extractivism and decolonial emancipation
– Scales and places of extractivism
– Tourism and conservation as extractivism
– Agricultural extractivism
– Conceptual and methodological challenges and possibilities of extractivism research

Session Organisers:
Jani Kozina, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Slovenia
Jörn Harfst, University of Graz, Austria

Session Description:
Central and Eastern Europe have been characterised by major shifts in their production sectors in recent decades. The deindustrialization of traditional manufacturing sectors has been accompanied by strong (foreign-driven) investment in selected industrial sectors (Bukowki & Śniegocki, 2017). This development had a profound impact on local labour markets (e.g. migration, changes in the demographics of the workforce, polarisation of jobs, wage differentials, mismatch between skills supply and demand) and the regional development prospects of the affected regions (Landesmann & Vidovic, 2021).

There is also a growing recognition that traditional development strategies and EU policies have often failed to address these challenges (Capello & Cerisola, 2022), which are also increasingly associated with socio-economic marginalisation and political dissatisfaction (Rodríguez-Pose 2018). Many top-down policy initiatives at the European level, such as the green and digital transitions, seem to focus on specific economic sectors while ignoring social aspects, such as local and regional labour markets. This is in line with much of the recent literature on the transformation processes of industrialised regions, which focuses on the role of leadership and the “agents of change” and mainly identifies and analyses the network processes of key decision-makers and their (top-down) influence on such processes (e.g. Beer et al., 2019; Grillisch & Sotarauta, 2020). This largely ignores the needs and challenges of different groups within the transformation processes, from which different views, perspectives and values emerge that form the core of under-researched informal institutions (Rodríguez-Pose, 2020).

In this session, we aim to broaden the understanding between local and regional labour markets and the social groups operating within them. The focus is on peripheral, often industrialised towns and regions in CEE regions, often referred to as ‘left behind’ places. We want to ask what the future of work might look like in such places and what these trends and prospects might mean for local and regional labour markets, including vulnerable and marginalised groups such as women, older people, youth, NEET, minorities, and migrants (e.g. Nayak, 2006; Helgesen et al., 2013; Nared et al., 2013). These groups are usually ignored and underrepresented in the academic debate on transformation processes (Hadjimichalis & Hudson, 2006), although they are usually the most affected by socio-economic transformation processes. By promoting this ‘bottom-up’ perspective on urban and regional development, the session aims to improve understanding of the employment and social prospects in industrial towns and regions in CEE, which form the basis of their economic development (Lintz et al., 2007).

Papers addressing the following questions are welcome:
– What labour market developments can we observe in peripheral industrial cities and regions in CEE?
– How are brain drain and brain gain related to changes in industrial labour markets in CEE?
– What concepts are there regarding the future of work in the context of the transformation of industrial towns and regions?
– What methodological approaches exist to determine the future labour market needs of industrial cities and regions?
– What are the perspectives and narratives of marginalised groups on the transformation of the labour market in industrial cities and regions?
– What kind of policies are developed and needed for the participation of marginalised groups in the labour markets of industrial cities and regions?
– How do the different European policies of ‘green’, ‘digital’ and ‘just’ transition affect employment opportunities in industrial sectors in CEE?

These are just a few examples of the questions that could be addressed in this session.

The session invites contributions from the fields of economic geography, urban and regional planning, labour market analysis, governance, and urban and regional development. Other contributions dealing with the socio-cultural significance of labour markets and employment in industrial cities and regions, especially in relation to marginalised groups, are also welcome.

Please submit proposals for papers in the form of a 250-word abstract (text only) via the RSA Conference Portal by May 14, 2024. Proposals will be reviewed by the conference programme committee based on originality, interest, and thematic balance.

Session Organisers:
James W. Scott, University of Eastern, Finland & Institute for Regional Studies, Hungary
Imre Nagy, University of Novi Sad, Serbia
Szilárd Rácz, Institute for Regional Studies, Hungary
Haris Gekić, University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Péter Reményi University of Pécs & Institute for Regional Studies, Hungary

Session Description:
The politically fragmented and geopolitically contested situation in Southeast Europe (West Balkans) raises numerous questions regarding the nature of interstate relations, the interplay between EU-level agendas and domestic concerns as well as the influence of external players such as China, Russia, Turkey and the US. Within this context, the proposed Special Session specifically focuses on small ‘post-socialist’ countries in the region as actors that seek to further their strategic, economic and security agendas in different ways though cooperation.

The EU is a special case where, despite the influence of big players, small states have been able to leverage influence as part of a political community or as cooperation partner. Moreover, the Ukraine war has forced a rethinking of the EU’s cooperation ambitions in its regional ‘Neighbourhoods’ and shifted the onus of security actorness eastward to new member states, most of them small in terms of population. Based on selected case studies we aim to better understand regional cooperation dynamics and tensions. To this end, we will relate the need to stabilise narratives of national identity and purpose to regional cooperation agendas and their outcomes; beyond ‘objective’ domestic interests, we thus assume that perceptual elements such as geopolitical self-images, geographical imaginaries and historical memories are decisive factors. Within this context, the impact of EU regionalisation and Europeanisation (e.g. the creation of shared values and sense of European identity) will be investigated. We will also consider how small state positionality interacts with multipower competition (e.g. EU vis à vis China, Russia, Turkey and the US) in the Western Balkans.

This session will be organized by the Small State Geopolitics Research Group of the Institute for Regional Studies and the University of Pécs.

Session Organisers:
Amer Kurtović, Social Sciences Research Center, International Burch University, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Albulena Halili, Max van der Stoel Institute, South East European University, North Macedonia
Miljana Đurčević Cucić, Faculty of Political Science, University of Belgrade, Serbia
Teodora Stanković, Center for Advanced Studies, University of Montenegro, Montenegro

Session Description:
This session is entitled “The European Union in the Western Balkans” and is envisioned to explore the positionality of the European Union toward the Western Balkans, including specifically its role throughout the WB, its influences (economic, political, societal, etc.) on the WB (countries, economies, localities, political, societies, etc.), and its positions towards the WB, but also alternatively the WB outside of the EU, the WB as left behind the EU (and not necessarily by the EU), and the WB next to the EU. A comprehensive session with panelists primarily from the six Western Balkans countries will present papers that explore these topics from various country-specific perspectives, but also using diverse approaches, concepts, models, and theories.

Session Organisers:
Monika Bobako, Adam Mickiewicz University, Polska
Francesco Trupia, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland

Session Description:
The current Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza prompts a new focus on the links between Israel/Palestine and the Central and Eastern Europe. The objective of the session is to (re)explore these links and analyze their historical, political, cultural and philosophical dimensions in the light of the current stage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We invite scholars and researchers interested in inquiring into the topics that include but are not limited to:

• Current ramifications of the legacy of the CEE in the region e.g. Jews’ migration to Palestine in the early 20th century, contribution to the creation of the state of Israel.
• attitudes towards the conflict in the CEE
• history of shifting political alliances with the sides of the conflict and its impact on attitudes towards the conflict in the CEE
• the legacy of socialism and its role in shaping present-day relations between the CEE and Middle East
• experiences of the Arab and Palestinian diaspora in the CEE and their connections to the Middle East
• the emergence of Islamophobia in the CEE and its connections to the conflict
• responses of the CEE societies to the war in Gaza through political protests and solidarity mobilizations
• competing narratives on the conflict and emerging ‘postcolonial’ sensibilities
• the changing geopolitical landscape for the CEE resulting from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• the conflict and its links to the CEE in art, literature and philosophy
• comparative approaches to trauma and displacement in Israel/Palestine and the CEE

We welcome contributions that transgress boundaries of academic disciplines and aim at providing deepened, theoretically informed and historically contextualized, understanding of the new dynamics of the Israel/Palestine connections to the CEE region.

Session Organisers:
Sıla Ceren Varış Husar, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Slovakia
Maroš Finka, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Slovakia
Milan Husár, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Slovakia
Vladimír Ondrejička, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Slovakia

Session Description:
This special session aims to emphasize on the critical connection between spatial planning and urban and regional policies within Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. In this context, the discussion will investigate the role of the public sector in the transformation of regional economies. Session also explores how private and non-governmental entities navigate the complex relation of economic, social, and environmental factors to foster resilient development and equitable growth across diverse CEE regions. Emphasizing the significance of knowledge dissemination and innovation, the session will also analyze how insights from research and practice networks contribute policy formulation and implementation, consequently enhancing the effectiveness of spatial planning initiatives.

We welcome submissions from researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and young academics to contribute abstracts exploring spatial planning and management within the Central and Eastern European (CEE) context. Potential areas of contributions include, but are not limited to, the following research inquiries:

1. How can the public sector effectively balance economic development goals with social and environmental considerations in spatial planning efforts?
2. What are some potential strategies employed by CEE countries in supporting innovation to catalyze economic transformation at the regional level?
3. How can human capital development and empowerment contribute to more resilient regional economies?
4. What are the key challenges and opportunities for enhancing regional cooperation particularly in the CEE countries?
5. How can integrated territorial development approaches be designed to address the unique challenges and opportunities of specific territories within the CEE region?
6. What mechanisms exist for fostering cooperation to promote resilient development and territorial cohesion both within and beyond the CEE region?

The session organizers’ expertise extends beyond joint (EMINUK funded by Slovak Research and Development Agency) and individual research projects (SASPRO2 – REGINNO Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions COFUND) towards to a broader research network, associates from Spa-ce.net (Network of Spatial Research and Planning in Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe) which is a collaborative network comprising institutes and organizations from Central and Eastern Europe, dedicated to spatial research and planning with the goal to promote the establishment of transnational, trans-regional, and cross-border partnerships among institutes, fostering collaborative efforts in the field of spatial research and planning across the region. Selected Contributions of this special session potentially will be considered for publication in a special issue for the European Journal of Spatial Development.

Session Organisers:
Christian Costamagna, Leibniz ScienceCampus “Eastern Europe – Global Area” (EEGA), Germany
Lena Dallywater, Leibniz ScienceCampus “Eastern Europe – Global Area” (EEGA), Germany
Melanie Meinert, Leibniz ScienceCampus “Eastern Europe – Global Area” (EEGA), Germany

Session Description:
Reflections on the Kosovo War: 25 Years Later

The panel offers a comprehensive reflection on the Kosovo War, examining its historical significance and enduring impact a quarter-century after the conflict. Through diverse perspectives, it addresses the broader implications of the Kosovo War, including its socio-political ramifications, regional dynamics, and international interventions. The papers presented will thus address the Kosovo War from a historiographical standpoint, such as the new sources made available to historians, some controversial historiographical issues regarding the role of the United States in the conflict and its strategic objectives towards Yugoslavia. Furthermore, during the panel’s working session, not only will the causes of the Kosovo War be examined, but there will also be an attempt to critically evaluate the repercussions of those historical events on the present, which constituted a moment of profound transformation at the end of the Cold War, and how such a past still weighs on the complex relations between Belgrade and Pristina against the backdrop of a constantly evolving geopolitical landscape.

Participants:
Dr. David B. Kanin, Adjunct Lecturer in European Studies, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University.
Prof. dr. Arbër Hadri, Fellow Research Professor, Institute of History “Ali Hadri”, Prishtina.
Dr. Christian Costamagna, Postdoc Fellow, Leibniz ScienceCampus “Eastern Europe – Global Area”, University of Leipzig.

Session Organisers:
Christian Costamagna, Leibniz ScienceCampus “Eastern Europe – Global Area” (EEGA), Germany
Lena Dallywater, Leibniz ScienceCampus “Eastern Europe – Global Area” (EEGA), Germany
Melanie Meinert, Leibniz ScienceCampus “Eastern Europe – Global Area” (EEGA), Germany

Session Description:

Wars in the Archives: New Perspectives and Opportunities

This panel explores challenges and opportunities with archival materials from conflict-marked regions, focusing on former Yugoslavia. It discusses identifying and preserving documents in Kosovo, emphasizing safeguarding dispersed materials for cultural heritage. The policies of the Clinton Administration regarding the former Yugoslavia are explored through the examination of Presidential Records. This includes accessing unreleased records via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Mandatory Declassification Review process. It also examines archives’ role in justice, legal reforms, and memory initiatives and advocating for digital preservation. Emotional dimensions in war-torn archives are discussed, along with challenges of trauma among families and their communities. Moreover, it covers preservation and accessibility of tribunal archives managed by the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, that is a part of the Unite Nations system, emphasizing their importance in global discussions on peace, justice, and accountability.

Participants:
Prof. Dr. Nevenka Tromp-Vrkic, University of Amsterdam.
Ms. Kara Ellis, foreign policy archivist at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Ms. Suzanne Scott, Archivist, Mechanism Archives and Records Section, United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, The Hague.
Mr. Robert Parnica, Senior Reference Archivist, Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives, Budapest.
Sylë Ukshini, Assistant Professor, University of Gjilan, Kosovo

Session Organisers:
Piotr Idczak, Poznań University of Economics and Business, Poland
Dorota Czyżewska-Misztal, Poznań University of Economics and Business, Poland
Sebastien Bourdin, EM Normandie Business School, France
Fabien Nadou, EM Normandie Business School, France

Session Description:
The rationale behind digital transformation is to help current traditional sectors to produce new products and services in a more resource-efficient way. By doing so, European economy has a unique opportunity to bring down existing barriers, create jobs and economic growth, become more sustainable and competitive, and achieve a new level of development. Digital technologies will support the processes of optimizing the use of energy and natural resources and will increase the competitiveness of companies and comfort of people’s lives. In order to support these challenges the EU established the Digital Strategy aimed at providing strategic support for European companies on their way to the digital transformation.

As part of this strategy, Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) have been introduced as a key component in accelerating digital transformation across Europe. In the second phase of this programme a network of European Digital Innovation Hubs was set up across the EU and beyond. DIHs operate as one-stop shops that help businesses, mainly SMEs, meet digital challenges and increase their competitiveness. Their fundamental role is to refine and upgrade production processes, products or services by implementing digital technologies. Some of the various types of services and initiatives offered by DIHs are as follows: an access to finance, training and skills development, access to technical knowledge and testing, as well as the possibility to “test before you invest”, and help in implementation digital technologies for a circular economy and sustainability management.

However, given how crucial this is for the future of Europe’s economy, it is important to better understand what functions DIHs play in the digital transformation of industries and how they work. In addition to that, there is a gap in current research concerning the specific manner in which these hubs act as territorial intermediaries within the European digitalization strategy.

Therefore, we invite all scholars interested in the digital transformation of the European economy to share contemporary research and views, and discuss experiences gained from different regions. Some suggested themes of papers within the session include, but are not limited to:

– DIHs as creators of a favorable framework for businesses and territories to maintain their competitiveness.
– Effectiveness of DIHs in promoting digital transformation and supporting the adoption of digital technologies?
– The role of DIHs in fostering circular, sustainable and resilient economy.
– Relevance of AI-related services provided by DIHs.
– DIHs as actors facilitating regional collaboration and transformation.
– What is/can be the contribution of DIHs to the twin transition? To what extent can DIHs support the new industrial goals of the EU?
– How can the operation of DIH in Europe contribute to implementing transformative actions towards a sustainable food system?

Notwithstanding the fact that the session focuses basically on DIHs relevance in the digital transformation, we also welcome theoretical analyses and empirical contributions on other types of entities that work as regional innovation intermediaries. The session is open, although 4 authors already have expressed interest in presenting their works and serve as discussants. These are:

Piotr Idczak, Poznań University of Economics and Business, Poland
Dorota Czyżewska-Misztal, Poznań University of Economics and Business, Poland
Sebastien Bourdin, EM Normandie Business School, France
Fabien Nadou, EM Normandie Business School, France

Session Organisers:
Katarzyna Czarnota, Helsinki Foundation For Human Rights, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland
Monika Bobako Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland

Session Description:
Recent years have seen a significant increase in academic interest in race, racism, racialization, coloniality and whiteness. This trend is also visible in CEE regions or regarding the CEE regions – in research both looking in and looking out of CEE.

The objective of the session is to reflect on the realities of researching race and racism in CEE and examine intellectual, political and institutional conditions in which this research is conducted.

We invite scholars interested in inquiring into the questions that include but are not limited to:

• To what extent categories of race, racism, racialization, whiteness and coloniality in CEE regions are used to study discrimination, inequality and social exclusion?
• Are conceptual frameworks developed for the study from other parts of the world adequate for the realities of CEE regions?
• What are the problems with translating the conceptualizations of race and racism embedded in the English language intellectual traditions into the realities of CEE regions?
• What institutions and social organizations foster the study of race and racism in CEE regions?
• What barriers do scholars face while researching race and racism in CEE regions?
• What is the role of regional grass-root activism and the third sector in identifying and producing knowledge on the problem of racism?
• How do regions address the problem of racism? What types of knowledge on race and racism do they refer to?
• How does new dynamics of migration and securitization of regional policies impact on the study of race and racism?

We welcome contributions from researchers working in different institutional settings who are open to critical reflection on knowledge production mechanisms operating both in CEE and beyond.

Session Organiser:
James Mark, University of Exeter, UK

Session Description
Round table discussion “Off white”

The volume “Off white – Central and Eastern Europe and the global history of race” (2024) foregrounds racial difference as a key to an alternative history of the Central and Eastern European region, which revolves around the role of whiteness as the unacknowledged foundation of semi-peripheral nation-states and national identities, and of the region’s current status as a global stronghold of unapologetic white, Christian nationalisms. Contributions address the pivotal role of whiteness in international diplomacy, geographical exploration, media cultures, music, intellectual discourses, academic theories, everyday language and banal nationalism’s many avenues of expressions. In the round table, editors and authors together with guests discuss the new paradigms for understanding the relationships among racial capitalism, populism, economic peripherality and race that the book offers.

Panelists:
James Mark, University of Exeter, UK

Discussant:
TBC

Chair:
TBC