Conference 2023

Register for our conference here

Rethinking Identity in Changing Contexts

20th Graduate Student Conference February 24-25, 2023

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Sunnie Rucker-Chang

Associate Professor of Slavic & East European Languages and Cultures

The Ohio State University

Please join us in William Pitt Union room 837 for Dr. Rucker-Chang's keynote lecture:

Please see HERE for an up-to-date flyer

  “On ‘Decentering’ and Reimagining Slavic and East European Studies from the Periphery”

The Balkans have long been characterized as the periphery and studies of the region are reflective of this status. This is further evidenced by scholarly interventions of the region that exist in European Studies, Slavic and East European Studies, and Near Eastern Studies among other fields. These scholarly interventions are frequently, and often necessarily, in reference to larger and more dominant powers—Ankara, Beijing, Brussels, Moscow, and even Washington DC. The constant marginalization of the area offers scholars of the Balkans insights into other regions, other points of view, canons, and critical frames. In this talk, I will address the insights gleaned from working in space viewed as peripheral and how those lessons are crucially important to the broader field of Slavic and East European Studies. As the field seeks to employ “decolonizing” strategies that disrupt and decenter dominant frames of scholarly inquiry, it will require the incorporation of more inclusive and diverse methods to represent the heterogeneous cultures, languages, and geopolitical realities that the field encompasses. Addressing these issues from the periphery of the Balkans and studies about the region can provide a path forward. 

Contact GOSECA at info.goseca@gmail.com with any questions!