CALL FOR PAPERS

Postcommunist Visual Culture and Cinema: Interdisciplinary Studies, Methodology, Dissemination,

AHRC-St. Andrews Postgraduate Conference, University of St. Andrews,
Scotland, 20-21 March 2009

Closing date of abstract submission: 15 December 2008

This AHRC sponsored conference is organised jointly by the Centre for Film Studies and the Centre for Russian, Soviet and Eastern European Studies at the University of St. Andrews. It will bring together doctoral students from the United Kingdom and Europe, whose work is focused on the visual culture and cinema of the post-Communist period. The main objective is to launch a productive dialogue on methodological and practical issues affecting all those engaged in the study of the film and visual culture of the postcommunist period.

We invite participants from across Social Sciences and Humanities: Language, Literature, Culture, Law, International Relations, Politics, Media, Film and Television Studies, Art History, Architecture, Design, Museum Studies, Russian, German, East European languages and cultures, Law, Religious Studies, Philosophy, Publishing, and other disciplines.

Opening on Friday afternoon (5 pm) and continuing throughout the day on Saturday, the conference will feature thematic talks dedicated to the status of the field and the profession. Postgraduate participants will be able to present their work in the context of two sessions, at panels moderated by the featured speakers. You are welcome to discuss aspects of your work, and talk of its challenging and exciting moments.

We propose to structure the discussion in the context of the following questions:

(i)How are post-Cold War divisions reflected in cultural production in the Former communist world?
(ii)What are its specificities and what are the challenges for researching cultural production?
(iii)How do the global and the local interplay in the region?
(iv)Can the umbrella of "postcommunism" be explored as shared experience?

Confirmed speakers/convenors include:
Prof. Ib Bondebjerg (Film and Media, University of Copenhagen)
Prof. Ewa Mazierska (Film Studies, University of Central Lancashire)
Prof. Brian McNair (Media Sociology, University of Strathclyde)

Conference opening
Prof. Andrew Wachtel (Slavic and Cultural Sociology, Graduate Dean,
Northwestern University, Chicago, USA)
Prof. Dina Iordanova (Film Studies, University of St. Andrews),

Please send an abstract of 150 words outlining the theme of your intended presentation (about 15 min. length), together with your contact details and a brief biographical note to Lars Kristensen at