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07.10.2008 Ties that Bind and Ties that Divide: Cultural, Economic and Political Linkages in Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia Sixth Annual Graduate Student Conference University of Pittsburgh 20-22 February 2009 GOSECA outlined in our 2007 conference on globalization, regionalism and multiculturalism that belonging to a certain collectivity can bring with it privilege, pride, and power today, but disadvantage, disrepute and dismemberment tomorrow.  This year's conference is motivated by questioning this notion of linkages.  While many conferences focus on the transcendence of borders and the remapping of regions, we seek to further this theme by exploring how these relationships link, yet often simultaneously divide people. Solidarity, a cross-regional, macro-level phenomenon, also operates at the local levels between ethnic groups, sub-regions and cities. Regions may share a recent historical experience that transcends geographic boundaries and leads to the formation of more permeable geopolitical landscapes, but the emergence of ideological and political alliances, as well as economic uncertainties, has frequently led to exactly the opposite. How do these past and present alignments influence our evolving understanding of Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia? GOSECA strongly encourages submissions from the humanities, social sciences and professional schools in areas such as: Literary and artistic movements Cultural and religious identities Diverging historical legacies and past ideologies Emigration and immigration The influence of the European Union, NATO, and the Shanghai Cooperative Organization Foreign trade and international finance New energy policies This conference is interdisciplinary in nature and aims to deepen our understanding of these regions through a broad range of approaches to examine an intricately woven matrix of issues. Abstracts should be no more than 250 words long. Please submit abstracts by 01 December 2008 to the following email address: gosecaconference@yahoo.com. For more information please visit: http://www.pitt.edu/~sorc/goseca/Goseca2009/. Presented by the Graduate Organization for the Study of Europe and Central Asia and the Center for Russian and East European Studies « back to News archive print this page email this page