Euroacademia Conferences
Europe Inside-Out: Europe and Europeanness Exposed to Plural Observers (9th Edition)April 24 - 25, 2020
Identities and Identifications: Politicized Uses of Collective Identities (9th Edition)June 12 - 13, 2020
8th Forum of Critical Studies: Asking Big Questions AgainJanuary 24 - 25, 2020
Re-Inventing Eastern Europe (7th Edition)December 13 - 14, 2019
The European Union and the Politicization of Europe (8th Edition)October 25 - 26, 2019
Identities and Identifications: Politicized Uses of Collective Identities (8th Edition)June 28 - 29, 2019
The European Union and the Politicization of Europe (7th Edition)January 25 - 26, 2019- 7th Forum of Critical Studies: Asking Big Questions AgainNovember 23 - 24, 2018
Europe Inside-Out: Europe and Europeanness Exposed to Plural Observers (8th Edition)September 28 - 30, 2018- Identities and Identifications: Politicized Uses of Collective Identities (7th Edition)June 14 - 15, 2018
Papers
Thinking on Art as a Sustainable Instrument of Cultural Diplomacy
The notion of art as an effective instrument of cultural diplomacy is undervalued and not fully explored, even though cultural diplomacy has a long history and has surged over recent years. The focus of this paper is to discuss the role of the contemporary art space as an instrumental tool harnessing new approaches of cultural diplomacy that engender sustainable and advantageous international relations; this whilst embracing curatorial practices that align with notions of alterity to effectively broker collective interests, present European values, and ‘unity in diversity’.The Berlin Biennale – Curating Cultural Diplomacy in the Unified City
This paper will explore the position the Biennale has taken of straddling the art world and being a representative of the state, questioning what political influence is possible within this. Using Forget Fear, the seventh Berlin Biennale held in the summer of 2012 curated by Artur Żmijewski, an artist known for his politically engaged and often highly controversial artwork, as the primary example through which to explore its arguably overdetermined political content. Looking beyond these arguments this research attempts to present a productive analysis of how the Biennale can work as both a diplomatic device in place-marketing the city and still provide a significant contribution to contemporary exhibition-making.The Political Background of a Failed Idea: Peter Ludwig Collection in Bulgaria
The paper will discuss the political background of the rejection of Peter Ludwig’s donation and the Bulgarian authorities’s refusal to participate in the creation of a Peter Ludwig Collection of Contemporary Art in Bulgaria. The story sank into oblivion and was never made public or discussed afterward. In 2018 I had the chance to work with the archive owned both by Svetlin Roussev and the St. Cyril and St. Methodius International Foundation in Sofia. It allowed me to trace the history back to its main protagonists and decision-makers, and it revealed selection mechanisms, as well as other practices of cultural politics in a moment of harsh political changes.Can Art Save the World? How “Old” and “New” Europe Performed Cultural Diplomacy Events with Russia at the Time of War in Ukraine 2014-2015
Cultural diplomacy is seen as a subnetwork of public diplomacy, framed both by foreign and cultural policy. The presentation, while focusing on the structures (nodes of cultural diplomacy network), goes back to neo-institutional approaches and to foreign policy analysis. The author asks the question which role was ascribed to the artists and cultural industry in the debates about the events. The answer to the latter comes from the analysis of government documents and reports, debates in parliaments, but also from the content analysis of media outlets, covering the events.Rethinking the East-West Dichotomy: Czech Travel Writing about Portugal, Where the Earth Ends and the Sea Begins
Focusing on the relationship between East European Czech culture and West European Portuguese culture as portrayed through Czech travel writing, this paper provides an alternative perspective to the traditional East-West dichotomy. I address ways that Czech travel writing has portrayed Portugal within the context of how this Western European Portuguese nation is seen from its East. From the standpoint of Czech nationalists, the Czech lands are the center while the Western European country of Portugal becomes the periphery, the symbolic end of the world where the earth ends, and the sea begins.Mental Mapping of the Western Europe and Its Effects on Public Diplomacy Making: Comparison of Polish and Turkish Public Diplomacy Making Regarding the European Union
My prospective research asks whether the mental mapping of the Western Europe has an impact on public diplomacy making as research question. To answer this question, two different cases of Polish and Turkish public diplomacy making regarding the European Union will be compared with the help of method of agreement. Although two countries differ in terms of European Union membership, territoriality and culture, both tries to show their “Europeanness” through public diplomacy. In this regard, my prospective research aims to research effects of the mental mapping of Western Europe on these similar outcomes.The Visual Language of Neo-Nationalism: Patriotic Performance and Fashion in the Post-Communist Central European, Eurasia and Baltic States
My assumption is that current development of the Post-Communist neo-nationalist patriotic fashion and performance resembles the 19th century patriotic national self-visualization. Similarly to the 19th century, it is based on imagination and emotions and the progress of nowadays media plays the same role in the visualization of nationalistic ideology which the development of periodicals, photographs and cinema played then. After the idea of nationalism collapsed following the decline of empires, successor states and the Communist bloc in the 20th century, the nowadays neo-nationalism starts to develop.Home Is A Foreign Country: East German Alterity in Post-1990 Film
The Eastern European alterity at issue is thereby doubly informed. On the one hand, it constructs an Orientalist Other within the bounds of the continent. My paper contends that while the Orientalist Other overshadows the Eastern European alterity based on a non-capitalist experience, it is ultimately the latter which makes the East an increasingly popular subject. After all, the crisis of the neoliberalist project does not only affect the East: it is a global phenomenon that already commands the attention of a global audience and will—ultimately, eventually—demand a global perspective.Nesting Orientalisms: The Case of Hungary, Its Imaginary Occidentalisation Process and Inconsistencies
Through the process of mapping its location and construction of occidental identity, Hungary defines itself as a part of central Europe. But what are the legitimated reasons of Hungary to define itself as central European instead of eastern Europe? What are the possible reasons to reject Hungary’s central European self-definition? Moreover, under the shadow of the discussion on central Europe vs. eastern Europe, to what extent does the rise of authoritarianism block ongoing occidentalisation process of Hungary? In this research, I will answer these questions by analyzing modern political history of Hungary.Provinciality in the Construction of the Eastern European Self-Identity in Latvian Media
The paper focuses on provinciality in the construction of the identity and self-identity of Eastern Europe. By provincialism is understood the rational and emotional attitude towards Eastern Europe as the periphery of the European metropolis. Provincial thinking and feelings are characterised by a hierarchical approach to the imagined construction of the centre and periphery.Provincial feelings have an ambivalent character. On the one hand, affiliation to Eastern Europe is accompanied by a certain sense of inferiority, detachment and distance, resulting from a comparison with an increased value allocation for Western Europe, its society, art, way of life and values.
