Call for Papers

Joint Symposium of the Council of Young Scientists of the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Belarusian State University and the Society for Humanities (Slovenia).

Conceptual Dimensions of Contemporary Nationalism

Since the 1980s, nations and nationalism studies played a prominent role in social sciences and humanities. In recent years, a chain of events around the world gave an impetus to a renewed reflection on what is frequently diagnosed as the rise of nationalism or even the nationalism renaissance. Why did this new development catch experts unaware? Is it a reappearance of the same phenomenon or a substantive transformation? How does the ongoing upsurge of nationalism relate to the current stage of globalization and the digitalization of society? As a highly sensitive issue with much at stake, nationalism particularly needs a dispassionate and, at least by intention, value neutral academic discussion. The purpose of the Symposium is to provide a platform for such a discussion that would contribute to refining approaches to the contemporary nationalism in social sciences and humanities.

The thematic range of the Symposium is defined by but not limited to the following questions

1. What are the meaningful ways of asking questions about nationalism?

2. What (re)defines the contemporary nationalism and its varieties around the world?

3. Is nationality in the eye of the beholder - and who are the beholders?

4. What kind of knowledge do we have and what kind of knowledge do we need to make conclusions about nationalism?

5. How should we debate nationalism inside and outside the academic ivory tower?

The Symposium will take place on 17 September 2020 in an online format as a series of panels followed by an online discussion. The organizers invite up to 6 faculty members, graduate students, alumni and alumnae of the Belarusian State University and up to 6 members of the Society for Humanities. The working language of the Symposium is English. A proposal with a 300-500 words abstract of your presentation to Адрес электронной почты защищен от спам-ботов. Для просмотра адреса в вашем браузере должен быть включен Javascript. by 25 August 2020. The invitations will be sent to selected participants by 5 September 2020.

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