CFP: Echoes of Soviet Empire (10/15/04; ACLA, 3/11/05-3/13/05)

CALL FOR PAPERS

American Comparative Literature Association Conference
Pennsylvania State University, March 11-13, 2005
Conference Theme: Imperialisms--Temporal, Spatial, Formal

Panel: Echoes of the Soviet "Empire" in Eastern Europe,
the Balkans, and Eurasia
Chair: Vlatka Velcic, California State University, Long
Beach

This panel plans to continue conversations started on two
panels during two previous ACLAs: "(Post)-Coloniality and
Under-Examined Empires" and "(Post)-Coloniality on the
East and South-East Margins of Europe." Previously, the
panels focused on the legacy left in the cultures and
literatures of East European and related geographical
areas by the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian
Empires. This year the panel welcomes proposals that
directly focus on the Soviet Empire and its past and
present influences. Again, we expect the proposals to
rework concepts of (post)-colonial theory and assess its
value in the examination of Soviet imperialism.

Possible issues to examine in the proposals/presentations
include (but are not limited to) the following:

1. Do literary and cultural texts from Eastern Europe and
related areas represent the Soviet Union as an imperial
force? Is the Soviet "Empire" ignored, feared, or
celebrated? How do texts narrate the relationship between
Eastern Europe and related areas to the Soviet Union?

2. How do texts portray the relationship between the
Soviet Union and other empires operating in Eastern
Europe, Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and Eurasia such as the
Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian Empires?

3. How do "texts" present resistance to the Soviet
"Empire"? What textual forms of resistance do texts
employ? Satire? Fantasy? Tragedy? Comic Laughter? Are
these forms successful in their resistance to the
"Empire"?

4. How does the Soviet Union and its "imperialism" relate
to contemporary Russia and attempts to build new
contemporary empires?

Email 250-300 word proposals with basic contact
information by October 15 to Vlatka Velcic at
vvelcic_at_csulb.edu

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Received on Wed Oct 13 2004 - 12:28:17 EDT