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The Summer School «The Problem and Politics of Diversity: The Russian Empire and Soviet Union in Comparative Perspective» (August, 21-28, 2016)

     The Summer School “The Problem and Politics of Diversity: The Russian Empire and Soviet Union in Comparative Perspective” is organized jointly by the National Research University – Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg and the Far Eastern Federal University (Vladivostok). The School will be held on the FEFU campus on Russky Island, Vladivostok, August, 21-28, 2016.

    The summer school will explore the problem diversity, which is the key element in the definition of the phenomenon of empire and the central conceptual problem in contemporary theoretical reflection in empire and colonialism studies. The problem of diversity as an inherent characteristic of imperial formation and imperial situation will be approached from theoretical point of view, from the vantage point of historiography of global and comparative history of empires (including the comparison of the Russian and Ottoman empires), as well as from the angle of current historical studies of the continuity and rupture between the Russian Empire and Soviet Union. The school will revisit the question of whether ethnic and national markers have always been central in differentiating and ruling the population of empire and discuss multiple regimes and registers of particularism and imperial universalism. One of the special foci of the school will be changes in taxonomy of imperial diversity associated with imperial reforms and revolutions, transformations of authoritative discourses of human diversity. The location of the school in the city of Vladivostok which was one of the latest expansions of the Russian Empire provides an ample opportunity to juxtapose Russian longue duree imperial politics and late 19^th century transfers of practices and ideologies of colonialism. The participants will also explore the historic making of the politics of imperial diversity in the regional, religious, legal (including citizenship and subjecthood), socio-economic, and political dimensions. Special attention will be given to the balance of pragmatic bureaucratic policy and the input of authoritative scientific discourses into the making of imperial politics of diversity.

Thematic structure of the course:

• Theories of Empire and Global and Comparative Empire Studies
  
• Theories of Nationalism and Studies of Nationalism in Imperial Contexts
  
• Political Discourses on Diversity in the Russian Empire
  
• The Empire of Knowledge: Ethnography and Geography in Late Imperial Russia
  
• Imperial Citizenship and Imperial Subjecthood: a Far Eastern Case in Comparative Perspective.
  
• Pacific Russia in Western historiography
  
• Current Historiographic Debates on the History of the Soviet Union 
  
• Historiographic Approaches to the Soviet Nationality Policy
  

Core faculty of the summer school

Ronald Suny, PhD the William H. Sewell Jr. Distinguished University Professor of History, University of Michigan, Emeritus Professor of Political Science and History, University of Chicago, Leading Research Fellow, HSE University in St. Petersburg

Alexander Semyonov, PhD Professor of History, Chair, Department of History, HSE University in St. Petersburg, co-editor, Ab Imperio: Studies of New Imperial History and Nationalism in the Post-Soviet Space

Sergey Glebov, PhD Associate Professor, Director, Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, Smith and Amherst Colleges, co-editor, Ab Imperio: Studies of New Imperial History and Nationalism in the Post-Soviet Space.

     The summer school will include a master class on strategies of developing a manuscript for an English language publication and a colloquium devoted to discussion of research manuscripts by participants. 

Junior faculty, Ph. D. students, and advanced graduate students are welcome to apply.

     Applications should consist of application form, statement of purpose reflecting on the themes of the summer school, a manuscript reflecting the current stage of research or a publication representative of the fields of interest of the applicant. Applications should be in English. The deadline for the application process is June 12, 2016. Completed applications should be sent to caps@dvfu.ru

Application form

The language of the summer school: English

Summer school participation fee

Participation fee covers organizing expenses, daily meals and accommodation.

We offer two options:

Fee with accommodation in single room – 50000 RUB;

Fee with accommodation in twin room – 40000 RUB.

Registration fee (with no accommodation provided) could be covered for applicants from FEFU upon separate consideration through personal interview. Such interest is to be mentioned in the submission email.

For more information, please contact us:

Prof. Natalia Ryzhova, School Organizer

Contacts: caps@dvfu.ru