Re(kn)own: Region(s) From Within
27-30.6.2024
RUTA Association for Central, South-Eastern, Eastern European, Baltic, Caucasus, Central and Northern Asia Studies in Global Conversation invites researchers, artists, and specialists to its inaugural conference, to be held in the Carpathian Mountains, Ukraine, 27-30 June 2024.
In response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and as part of the reckoning with its horrific violence, new connections of solidarity and knowledge exchange have emerged. RUTA's annual conference aims to build on this historical moment and to uphold the emerging debates, inquiries, and collaborations.
With an aim to develop these rich debates across disciplines, RUTA recognises that it is inadequate to use a single unifying label (whether "post-Soviet", "post-communist", "post-socialist", "Eurasia", "New East", "Global East" among others) when addressing this sociohistorically and demographically diverse and dynamic space. Thus, we refer to the ever-changing area shaped by imperial, colonial, and national violences as well as solidarity, transnational ties, and cultural exchanges as the region(s). The founding of RUTA and its inaugural conference aims to transform the region(s) from an object of study to an active and visible epistemic agent.
This year’s conference is entitled Re(kn)own: Region(s) from Within. The event strives to reclaim the process of knowledge-making in and about the region(s) and place the region(s) at the centre of epistemic debates. By basing the Association and its annual conference in Ukraine, RUTA examines how the practice of knowledge-making is inherently rooted in our region(s), bodies, material, and lived realities. We welcome presentations that engage the region(s) in its cultural and geographical diversity. We are especially interested in transnational and comparative approaches that situate the region(s) in global conversations.
Our conference welcomes proposals from diverse academic, artistic, and community practice backgrounds. We invite researchers from the humanities, social sciences, area studies, and interdisciplinary fields, as well as practitioners in community organizing, media, journalism, environment, national and international law, museums and other memory institutions, archives, the performing and visual arts. Exhibitions, film screenings, talks, plays, and other contributions to the conference are also welcome. We particularly encourage transregional panels that foster conversations among scholars both from within and outside the region(s).
We also invite engagement with, though not only, the following questions in relation to the conference theme:
- How can we initiate, strengthen, and sustain new academic and community networks in the region(s) and beyond?
- How can we collectively look for solutions to epistemic challenges of the region(s), such as inaccessible archives, unacknowledged epistemicides, and issues of area studies?
- How can we advance socially responsible, non-extractivist and epistemically reparative research methodologies and practices within and beyond the region(s)?
If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact us at [email protected].
The RUTA Association for Central, South-Eastern, Eastern Europe, Baltic, Caucasus, Central and Northern Asia Studies in Global Conversation
RUTA promotes and supports Central, South-Eastern, Eastern Europe, Baltic, Caucasus, Central and Northern Asia studies. It centres and builds on the knowledges, scholarly traditions and expertise of scholars, artists and social justice advocates in the region(s). The Association grows from epistemic communities and solidarity networks formed in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. RUTA fosters awareness and engagement with the concerns of diversity, equity and justice in academia and research.
The Association strives to lead and amplify debates on issues concerning the region(s), making them accessible to local scholars and strengthening their connections with academics and institutions globally. RUTA promotes critical research on ongoing imperial and colonial legacies that have shaped the region(s), relying on the expertise and experiences of affected societies, and stimulating social responsibility. The Association will contribute to debates leading to epistemic and cultural reparations and restitution.
The Inaugural RUTA Conference is supported by Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (Ukraine), The International Renaissance Foundation, Körber Stiftung, IWM Vienna, Kyiv School of Economics, Fund Mieroszewskiego, US Ukraine Study Fund, House of Europe, Goethe-Institut, Danyliw Foundation.
