CALL FOR PANELS.FOURTH EAST ASIAN CONFERENCE ON SLAVIC EURASIAN STUDIES
CALL FOR PANELS
FOURTH EAST ASIAN CONFERENCE ON SLAVIC EURASIAN STUDIES
Image of the region in Eurasian Studies
4-5 September 2012
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies
Kolkata
Based on the discussions between the Executive Council members of
International Council for Central and East European Studies (ICCEES) and
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies (MAKAIAS) in Delhi on
June 13, 2011 and members of Japanese Council for Russian and East
European Studies (JCREES), the Korean Association of Slavic Studies (
KASS), the Chinese Association for East European, Russian and Central
Asian Studies (CAEERCA) and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian
Studies in Beijing on August 27, 2011, it was decided that the Fourth
East Asian Conference on Slavic Eurasian Studies will be hosted by
MAKAIAS on 4-5 September 2012 in Kolkata. The theme of the conference is
Image of the region in Eurasian Studies and will be held in Azad Bhavan,
MAKAIAS, (IB 166, Sector III, Salt Lake City, Kolkata. Phone: 91-33-
23356623/6642; Fax: 91-33-2335 6629).
General guidelines
• All proposals/panels need to be scholarly in nature. Panels approved
by the three Slavic Eurasian Studies associations of East Asia (Japan,
Korea and China) and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies
(MAKAIAS), Kolkata will be included in the Conference programme.
• It is desirable that each panel should comprise of a maximum of four
presentations, a chairperson and one discussant. Panels should include
participants from more than one country.
• Panels/papers should be categorized into four-history and
historiography, political science and international relations, economics,
culture. The category of a panel should be indicated along with the
panel proposals.
• The official languages of the Conference are English and Russian. All
abstracts, proposals and correspondence will necessarily be in English.
• Participants requiring letters of invitation for visa purposes may
please write with full passport details to MAKAIAS by May 15, 2012. The
Institute will have to obtain necessary clearance for the conference
from Government of India by submitting all documents (with passport
details and contact details of participants) at least 3 months before
the conference.
• Information about accommodation: Premier three-star luxury hotel (The
Sojourn, Plot No. KB 23; Sector III , Salt Lake City, Kolkata - 700098,
West Bengal, India; Ph : +91-(033)-2335-1462 (6 lines) / 2208 / 2209;
Fax: +91-(033)-2335-1590; Email : info@hotelthesojourn.com) and five-
star hotel (Hyatt Regency, JA 1, Sector 3, Salt Lake City, Kolkata
700098, Ph: 91-33-23351234; e-mail: india.reservations@hyatt.com) in
Salt Lake area.
Proposals for panels
• Arrangements for parallel panels in two conference halls are preferred.
Besides the inaugural panel and valedictory session, three panels in
each conference hall on an individual day may be held. This makes it a
total of 12 working panels, plus one inaugural panel and a valedictory
session. Additionally, a round table of one-hour duration may be held on
the second day to facilitate interaction with young researchers and
students.
• Each working panel will be of maximum of 120 minutes duration (20
minutes for each presentation and 20 minutes for the observations from
the chair and the discussant and 20 minutes for Q&A.
• Each panel should include 250-word abstracts of the papers concerned
and brief bio-notes (of about 100 words) of the contributors.
• Proposals will include the title of the panel, the titles of the
presentations, the names of the paper presenters along with academic
affiliations and contact details (including fax numbers, phone numbers
and e-mail addresses). Passport details need to be indicated along with
relevant scanned pages of the passport.
Guidelines for individual proposals
• All proposals need to be scholarly in nature and relevant to the field
of Eurasian studies.
• Proposals will have to be submitted electronically to the conference
organizers: rc4@makaias.gov.in. Suchandana Chatterjee
suchandanachatterjee@makaias.gov.in
Anita Sengupta anitasengupta@makaias.gov.in
• Each proposal should include an abstract of 250 words and a brief bio-
note of 100 words and should be submitted by 15th June 2012. However,
the titles of the panels and individual presentations are expected by
May 15, 2012. The subject heading in mails may be mentioned as Fourth
Regional Conference.
• Passport details of participants with full contact details and scanned
pages of the passport will have to be submitted.
• Participants requiring letters of invitation for visa purposes may
please write with full passport details to MAKAIAS by May 15, 2012. The
Institute will have to obtain necessary clearance for the conference
from Government of India by submitting all documents (with passport
details and contact details of participants) at least 3 months before
the conference.
• Individual proposals should indicate power point presentations or
slide presentations.
• The programme, panels and abstracts of the papers will be uploaded in
the MAKAIAS website.
Concept note
Image of the region in Eurasian Studies
The revived interest in ‘the region’ as a category of research indicates
the growing importance of not only spatial characteristics but also
human settings that qualify this spatial characteristic. This comes into
play not just in the geographical determination of ‘regions’ but also in
its designation as a separate entity. It finds its most interesting
manifestation in changed designations, emanating from a selective use of
geographical knowledge, that follow political transformations. What is
interesting is that while there is obviously a geography of space,
distance, time, terrain and weather, there is also a geography of
imagination. As one of the most imagined spaces on the global map
Eurasia has been variously perceived and constructed in different epochs.
An examination of these is interesting in terms of understanding how
definitions of the region are evolving and its reflections in studies of
the region. The focus of the present seminar is on the ways in which
Eurasian studies have evolved in various Asian centres of research.
While there is interest in Eurasia as a geopolitical entity, the
features of Eurasia’s cultural environment are not lost sight of.
Parallel discourses about cultural interconnections and tangled
histories in an Asiatic space have surfaced. In the entire gamut of post
-Soviet studies about ‘regionology’, the emphasis is not merely on
binary relationships and divergent patterns and challenges encountered
by the post-Soviet states of Eurasia but also about diverse community
patterns, institutional arrangements that have played a prominent role
in imparting dynamism to the region. The discussion has also shifted to
a mosaic of trans-national phenomena in the entire Eurasian
neighbourhood. A multitude of images about a Eurasian ecumene has
produced a great deal of interest in comparable situations in regions
such as South Asia.
The idea that gained ground within the format of regionology is how
regions reinvented themselves through an envisioning of spatial entities
like Slavic Eurasia, Central Eurasia, Central Asia or Inner Asia. Today,
each of these spatial connotations are critical components of debates
that have emerged within the realm of history, historiography,
historical geography, international relations, social anthropology etc.
In the regional discourse, the emphasis is on future possibilities
rather than missed opportunities. Krais and okrugs show more involvement
and there is a tendency for new regional partnerships.
The present seminar will try to deal with some of these variables,
taking into consideration the multiple settings of Eurasia—the Slavic,
the Mongol, the Turkic, the Chinese, the nomadic, the sedentary and also
the cosmopolitan.
The Fourth East Asian Regional Conference on Eurasian Studies is being
organized by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Kolkata
which is an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Culture,
Government of India.
Please respond with a title, 250 word abstract and a brief one page CV
within May 15, 2012 to Suchandana Chatterjee and Anita Sengupta at rc4@
makaias.gov.in, with cc to suchandana_chatterjee@makaias.gov.in and
anitasengupta@makaias.gov.in.