East and Central European Cultures in Exile. Archiving, Collecting,  and Publishing in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries

The Herder Institute Summer Academy invites Early Career Researchers,  including Advanced Master Students, Ph.D. Students, and Early  Postdocs, to participate in a workshop dealing with the East and  Central European diaspora’s experiences of collecting, archiving, and  publishing in exile. Eastern Europe can be characterized by constant  flux, with peoples, objects, andinstitutions undergoing continuous  movement. From the late nineteenth century through periods of wars,  revolutions, and the Cold War, various social, ethnic, religious, and  political groups were compelled to migrate and exile due to poverty,  catastrophes of the twentieth century, aspirations for better lives,  and sometimes escaping prosecution for both trumped-up accusation and  actual WWII crimes. Mass migration entails the establishment of  cultural institutions in new environments, including archives,  libraries, and publishing houses, which serve as mediators between  cultures and their bearers, both within and outside their respective  countries.

Suppressed under socialism, East European cultures sought avenues to  the „free world,“ yet they were influenced by the ideological  confrontation between East and West. Along with opposing the  unfreedoms of Socialism in their native countries and on the global  scale, publishing activities in the diaspora could include the  dissemination of far-right and radical nationalist ideas. Furthermore,  conflicts, recriminations, suspicions, and financial quarrels were not  rare and they occupied a visible place in émigré publications. How can  we critically engage with this heritage while paying attention to its  diversity and historical significance?

The Summer Academy will delve into the publishing and collecting  initiatives that emerged across Europe and the world following World  War II, continuing into the late 1980s.

Equally crucial is the issue of preservation and accessibility, which  can be facilitated through digitization. However, the challenge lies  in how to approach and digitally connect the scattered multicultural  and multilingual collections.

Against the backdrop of Russia’s ongoing aggressive war in Ukraine and  mounting repressions in Belarus and Russia, East European cultures  find themselves once again facing exile and emigration, while the Cold  War experience of émigré activities at archiving, collecting, and  publishing regain its relevance.

With its extensive archival materials, including the unique Urbańczyk  collection of the Polish underground press from the era of  Solidarność, the newspaper clippings archive from the Cold War period,  and the comprehensive periodicals archive covering Eastern and Central  Europe, the Herder Institute provides an exceptional foundation for  this thematic focus, which will be explored through various  theoretical and practical thematic units.

We invite submissions for 10-15 Minutes Paper presentations on the  topics, including, but not limited to:
– Publishing Houses in exile: national and transnational perspectives
– The variety of émigré and publishing and collecting activities and  how they affect the production of knowledge on Eastern Europe during  the Cold War and after
– (Re)creation of national cultures in exile Intercultural connections  and collections in the diasporas
– New and old diasporas’ approaches to publishing and collecting:  continuity or rupture?
– The role of digital publishing and archiving techniques for  enhancing access to émigré collections and archives

Send your exposé (approx. 300 words) and a short CV to
forum@herder-institut.de
until April 30, 2024.
Accomodation for selected participants will be provided and travel  costs up to 250 Euro (EU), 500 Euro (Non-EU), 800 Euro (overseas  travels) can be covered upon request.

Kontakt
Dr. Tatsiana Astrouskaya (tatsiana.astrouskaya@herder-institut.de),  Dr. Denisa Nešťáková (denisa.nestakova@herder-institut.de)