International Research Conference "Toward a Multiethnic History of Russia and the USSR"
On November 7–8, 2023, Center for Historical Research is hosting a two-day international research conference "Toward a Multiethnic History of Russia and the USSR" which will bring together historical scientists from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia to jointly examine the history of Russia from the perspective of a multinational state from Peter the Great to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The conference will be held in-person at HSE St. Petersburg. The call for papers is open until Septemer 10, 2023.
About the conference
For several decades, historians, in both Russia and the West, have examined the history of the Russian state from its political centers – Moscow and St. Petersburg. The opening of the Russian Archives in the 1990s changed this dynamic. Specifically, it afforded scholars with fresh opportunities to go beyond the centers of state power and to explore the “periphery” of the vast multinational Russian state.
Histories of ethnically distinct regions, from the Caucasus to the Far East, have been discovered and rediscovered by new generations of historians. The conference “Toward a Multiethnic History of Russia and the USSR” seeks to build on this new and enduring trend by bringing together historical scientists from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia. An important objective of the conference will be to jointly critically examine the history of Russia from the perspective of a multinational state.
With regard to this topic, many different questions will be considered at this conference. What opportunities, challenges, and dilemmas does a multinational state face? What are the benefits? What do residents of other former Soviet republics and other regions of Russia have to say about this experience? How can they enhance our understanding of the history of the Russian state in general?
We expect this conference to be fruitful not only in an academic sense, but also in the sense that it will strengthen institutional cooperation between the Centre for Historical Research of the HSE St. Petersburg and our colleagues in Yerevan.
Applications
Participation is open to scholars, PhD students, and advanced MA and BA students from all universities and research institutions in the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia. Submissions must include (1) the topic of research, (2) an abstract (up to 500 words), and (3) name, institutional affiliation, and position. Submissions can be sent in Russian or English. Please note that HSE does not send feedback for submissions and cannot cover travel and accommodation costs. Submission Deadline: 10 September 2023. Send submissions to: Centre for Historical Research, history.spb@hse.ru.
Subjects of papers might include, but are certainly not limited to: Multiethnicity and interethnic relations in the Russian Empire and the USSR; National policy in the Russian and Soviet history; Dilemmas and opportunities of empires and multinational states; Russian Ethnography and its national contexts.
Call for papers