International Conference   Russia's Role in Human Mobility Historical and Contemporary Perspectives June 18-20, 2009 University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 210 Illini Union 1401 W. Green St., Urbana Lucy Ellis Lounge (1080) Foreign Languages Building 707 S. Mathews Avenue, Urbana Free and open to the public.
Call for Papers (Deadline Revised) The Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign invites paper proposals for an international conference, “Russia’s Role in Human Mobility: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives,” to be held June 18-20, 2009   The conference will have a workshop format, and feature discussion of pre-circulated papers. Thanks to the generous support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, we will be able to assist our international as well as domestic guests with travel expenses, room and board. We plan to fully sponsor at least six participants from Russia and / or the Former Soviet Union. We also hope to edit these papers for publication in a conference volume. Please see below for a more detailed description of the project. Paper Proposal Submission Guidelines Interested parties should submit paper proposals, addressing one or more of our conference themes, no later than August 18, 2008. Please include a brief (500 word) summary of the proposed work, as well as a cv or resume describing your research interests and credentials. These documents should be submitted by e-mail to the project’s co-organizer, Professor John Randolph (History, UIUC), at jwr@uiuc.edu. (A surface mail address is appended below for those who wish to use it).   On Language: The official working language of the conference is English; however, we welcome proposals and papers written in Russian and are open to making arrangments for Russian-language oral presentations. If you have any questions about language issues, please do not hesitate to contact the conference organizers.   Image: Coachman Leaning on a Whip Handle by Vasilii Tropinin (1776-1857) Project Overview Since its rapid expansion in the early modern period, Russia has played a decisive role in the making of regimes of mobility throughout Eurasia. Human movement and migration across Russian space have transformed populations, restructured individual and collective identities, and created both difficulties and opportunities for Eurasian governments. The upheavals in human movement and migration brought by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 mark but the latest turning-point in this long story. Yet despite its obvious contemporary relevance, Russia’s role in human mobility has received scant historical attention. As a result, pressing contemporary debates about issues of governance, citizenship, migration and demographic change, and human rights often lack a reliable historical context. In its absence, policy-makers lack a clear picture of historic trends. Our project aims to stimulate new thinking about this topic through the organization of a high-profile scholarly conference on the subject. "Russia’s Role in Human Mobility: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives" will take place in June 2009, as part of the University of Illinois's prestigious Ruth and Ralph Fisher Forum series in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies. It will feature a keynote speaker (delivering a publicized, public plenary address), as well as a two-day scholarly workshop. Six key themes surrounding Russia’s role in human mobility will be discussed, on the basis of pre-circulated papers submitted by panel participants: 1. Russia and the Governance of Mobility 2. Russia, Mobility, and Migration 3. Russia, Mobility, and Citizenship 4. Modalities of Mobility in Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union 5. Mobility and Everyday Life in Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union 6. Russia's Place in Global Mobility Systems Each of these panels will involve at least one guest scholar from Russia or the Former Soviet Union, as well as one scholar specializing in contemporary issues. It is thus hoped that each panel, as well as the conference as a whole, will spark international as well as interdisciplinary dialog. We want our discussions to constantly move forward across time and space, building the basis for a deeper connection and mutual interaction between historical scholarship and work on contemporary issues. As was mentioned earlier, we intend to publish the papers produced by this conference in an edited conference volume. We are also hoping it will serve as a catalyst for further scholarly initiatives. June 25, 2008: MacArthur Foundation Joins as Sponsor We are pleased to announce that that our conference and related publishing initiatives will be co-sponsored by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, as part of the Foundation's Initiative on Global Migration and Human Mobility. The Ralph and Ruth Fisher Forum is held in conjunction with the Summer Research Laboratory on Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia.  The conference is made possible by Mary and Hal Zirin's generous gift to the Ralph and Ruth Fisher Endowment Fund in honor of Professor Ralph Fisher and his wife Ruth. Ralph Fisher is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Illinois and founder of the Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center and the Summer Research Lab. Organizers Prof. John Randolph Prof. Eugene M. Avrutin Surface Mail Address Paper proposals may be submitted by e-mail to Professor John Randolph (jwr@uiuc.edu). Should you prefer to use surface mail, please send to: Prof. John Randolph Department of History University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 309 Gregory Hall, MC 466 810 S. Wright St. Urbana, IL 61801 USA   For more information on the conference, please contact: Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center University of Illinois 217.333.1244 or reec@uiuc.edu     top

Past Fisher Forums   2008 Fisher Forum Interpreting Emotion in Eastern Europe, Russia, and Eurasia   2007 Fisher Forum Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn as Writer, Myth-Maker and Public Figure   2006 Fisher Forum Book Arts, Culture and Media in Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia: From Print to Digital 2005 Fisher Forum Commodity, Consumer, Entrepreneur?: Women and the Marketplace   2004 Fisher Forum Winds of Societal Change: Remaking Postcommunist Cities     Documents English CFP, .doc English CFP, .pdf CFP po-russki, .doc CFP po-russki, .pdf