(R)evolution: legacy, representations and contemporary experiences
Deadline: Saturday 3rd April, 2017
Friday 5 May 2017
Institut du Monde Anglophone, 5 rue de l’École de Médecine, 75005 Paris
1917, the year of the Russian Revolution, is considered to have changed the
face of the world and its consequences can still be felt today. This upheaval
of the political and social order not only had a symbolic meaning, but also a
long-lasting and far-reaching impact.
For the Russians, 1917 was a year of Revolutions against the privileges of the
nobility and of part of the upperclasses, against hunger, against war, against
corrupted and indifferent politicians, against the exploitation of industrial
workers and peasants, against the appropriation of their labour, against phony
revolutionaries and the conniving intelligentsia, in short, against the status quo. Have those
demands, which appeared a hundred years ago, really been answered to? Are they
different from those of today’s European societies?
Capitalism or communism, free market or planned economies, individualism or
solidarism, the Western world or the Eastern bloc, siding with the
United-States or with the Soviet Union, the CIA or the KGB, democracy or
totalitarianism, submission or revolt… To what extent have the analysis of
history and of our contemporary societies been steeped in the divisions which arose in 1917?
A century later, what is the legacy of this revolution? How can we define the
concept of “revolution” today? Does it still evoke the uprising of a people
and a change of political regime? Or has the idea of a revolution become
synonymous with evolution and progress, in a scientific and technological
sense? Does evolution now mean revolution?
With the centenary of the Russian revolution being celebrated this year, the
Réseau de jeunes chercheur.e.s en Histoire Culturelle of the University
Sorbonne Nouvelle- Paris 3, a network of young researchers in Cultural History
built around a seminar entitled Cultural history / Circulation, reception,
mediation run by Mrs Svetla
Moussakova, will dedicate its fourth conference to a reflection on the theme
(R)evolution, understood as cultural legacy and as an idea or a concept. The
goal is to question the Russian Revolution and the experiences and
contemporary perceptions of the “Revolution” in European and Mediterranean societies
from a multidisciplinary point of view, by addressing social, cultural,
political and technological questions.
This conference will be organized around five main themes. The issues raised
below are ones that might be considered, but they are only suggestions.
(R)EVOLUTION: LEGACY, REPRESENTATIONS AND CONTEMPORARY EXPERIENCES
How the Cultural History writes the (r)evolution
How can we define and characterize the concept of (r)evolutions from the
point of view of cultural history?
What semantical analysis can we give of the (r)evolution?
(R)evolutions: a reality or a theoretical construct invented by historians?
How do people who have experienced, or are experiencing, first hand a
(r)evolution understand and comprehend it?
How can we determine the causes and consequences of a (r)evolution? How can
we evaluate or measure theirresults and consequences?
(Cultural) circulation of (r)evolutionary ideas
How does a (r)evolution begin and spread?
Travelling revolutionaries, or how do revolutions export themselves?
From one to the next: the international flow of revolutionary ideas
Political (r)evolutions and cultural (r)evolutions: how can we define the
dynamic between the two?
(R)evolutions and migrations
Migrating after a (r)evolution
Migrations and the emergence and circulation of ideas
Migratory flows in a globally connected world
Forced displacements, circulation of the individuals and reception policy
The Revolution 2.0 or the “connected” Revolution
(R)evolution 2.0: changing parameters for the 21st century society?
The protagonists: (r)evolution in the digital age, or protest movements and
their use of Internet
The revolution and the “global village”: when one spark can lead to a
global fire
How were new technologies used in the most recent revolutionary movements?
Could the Arab Spring have taken place without them?
How have new technologies redefined the notion of ‘revolutionary act’?
Retweeting for the good cause. (R)evolutions and cultures
What role do (r)evolutions play for the arts? What do they bring to
culture?
Revolutionary writings, literature and translation
When literature vaunts the (r)evolution
The media and the re-writing of the history of
(r)evolutions, whether successful or not: accounts from the winning side
(R)evolution and censorship: an ambiguous relation
A revolution to fight the revolutionaries: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?*
Gender and (r)evolution. The new feminist movement: the seeds of a new
revolution? *Who will guard the guards themselves?
Submission
Abstracts (in French or English) of about 3,000 – 5,000 characters (spaces
included), as well as a bibliography and a short biodata, will be sent to
rjchc.paris3@gmail.com before Saturday 3rd April, 2017.
The organizing committee will inform you of the result of your candidacy on 10
April.
The abstract will be published in our ‘carnet de recherche’
http://rhc.hypotheses.org/.
We will favour disciplinary diversity, the thematic coherence of the
conference
and the originality of the abstracts and sources you have studied.
Location
The conference will be held at the Institut du Monde Anglophone, 5 rue de
l’École de médecine, 75006 Paris (Grand-Amphithéâtre)
Organizing Committee
Laura BONN, PhD student in Political Science UniversitéSorbonneNouvelle –
Paris 3 – ED 514– ICEE
Friedrich-Alexander- Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg –
ZentralinstitutfürRegionenfors chung
Giedré CIBULSKAITE-VERSINSKIENE, Doctor in Contemporary History, Université
Sorbonne Nouvelle–Paris 3
Lara CUNY, PhD student in Irish Studies
Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3 – ED 514 – PRISMES
Alexandre NAVARRO, PhD student in Contemporary History
Université Sorbonne Nouvelle–Paris 3 – ED 514 – ICEE
LiubovPATRUKHINA, PhD student in German Studies
Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3 – ED 514 – CEREG
Elena TISLENKO, PhD student in Cultural History
Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3 – ED 514 – ICEE
