History of Slavic Studies at International Congress of Slavists
A special session entitled ‘Views on European regions in the history of Slavic studies’ has been included in the official programme of the 16th International Congress of Slavists at the International Committee of Slavists’ extended presidium meeting. This special session has been initiated and will be chaired by Leonid Gorizontov. Historians and philologists from Russia, Poland, Slovakia, Italy, and Germany will speak at the session.
Slavic peoples’ position in Europe, the heterogeneity of the Slavic world, and its interaction with non-Slavic neighbours have long been the key issues in Slavic studies. The study of these has always proposed combining the ethno-cultural discourse, which is natural for Slavic studies, with a regional approach. There has been a transition from the traditional division of Europe into Pax Orthodoxa and Pax Latina, the Slavic, the German, and the Roman parts, to the idea of multi-religious and multi-ethnic macro-regions.
The subject of the special session suggested by the Slavic Studies History Committee under the International Committee of Slavists is the evolving scholarly views on the Slavic people’s attribution to European regions, the borders between the insiders and the outsiders, the close and the far, and the modern and the outdated. This topic can be considered through several areas of studies. A historical retrospective helps with the understanding of such relevant issues as regional identities, mental maps that reflect the prestige geography, and various types of integration projects.
The main forum of slavists is organized once every five years and will be held in 2018 in Belgrade. Applications for special sessions have been selected as part of a competitive process.