International Workshop
National Culture and its Others
Tartu, 6.-7. November 2006Programme (in Estonian)
The workshop is part of the cooperation project "Autonomy and Dependence of the Arts under Different Social-Economic Conditions: the Estonian Example" between Under and Tuglas Literary Centre of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, University of Groningen and the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Tartu. It follows thematically the first international workshop held in the framework of the project in Groningen, April 2005.
This interdisciplinary workshop will be dedicated to exploring the concept of Estonian national culture and its shifting borders as they have been negotiated in cultural productions (literature, art, music, theatre, film, historiography, popular culture etc) during different historical periods.
The concept of national culture makes a frequent but unreflexive appearance in contemporary cultural discourses in Estonia. However, it is obvious that the contents and trajectories of the concept have varied considerably within different historical, social and cultural context. Therefore the workshop sets out to examine the ways in which the national has been defined in a specific historical or cultural framework, as well as divergent influences and models these definitions use and their implications.
We seek contributions relating to the following questions:
- Historical Perspective
How has the concept of national culture been negotiated during different historical periods? How have different sociopolitical conditions influenced the definitions of national culture? By which attributes (ethnicity, language, tradition, geopolitical area) has the national been defined during different historical periods?- Influences, Models
How have the other cultures inside (Baltic German, Russian etc) and outside of Estonia Estonia (Europe, Soviet Union etc) influenced the development and the definition of national culture? To what extent have the cultural developments and discourses of neighbouring countries (Finland, Latvia, Lithuania), Europe etc served as rhetorical models for imagining Estonian national culture?- Cultural Productions
How do cultural productions position themselves in relation to national culture? What means they use to re-imagine the national?Working languages: Estonian, English
Proposals for paper (max 1 page) are due 20 June 2006.
Submission address: utkk(at)utkk.eeOrganizing Committee: Eneken Laanes, Anneli Mihkelev, Jaak Tomberg, Marja Unt