International conference to reflect on the state of East European and Eurasian Studies in the light of Russia-Ukraine war

The Sixth Annual Tartu Conference on Russian and East European Studies on 12–14 June 2022 will bring more than 150 researchers to Tartu for a discussion on the contemporary challenges in Eastern Europe and Eurasia.

The international conference, organised for the sixth time by the Centre for Eurasian and Russian Studies (CEURUS) of the University of Tartu, is this year held under the theme Which Way is the Future? Progress and Tradition in Eastern Europe and Eurasia.

The organiser of the conference, University of Tartu Professor of EU-Russia Studies Viacheslav Morozov, commented on the conference theme as follows, “When the programme committee proposed this topic for the conference last autumn, the shocking events in Ukraine were yet to unfold. By now, the question about the future of ‘our’ region has turned into a debate about the future of Europe and, indeed, of the wider world.”

In nearly 40 panel sessions of the conference, more than 150 scholars from all over Europe, North America and elsewhere will be presenting their research. Topics range from political science and security studies to governance and law, and from literature and translation studies to cultural and identity politics in Eastern Europe and Eurasia.

The conference will open on 12 June with a keynote address by Professor Vitaly Chernetsky, a distinguished Ukrainian literary scholar from the University of Kansas, USA, who will reflect on the effect of the Russia-Ukraine war on the state of area studies discipline. The day after, Professor Andrea Pető from Central European University will discuss the politics of gender under illiberal regimes. Both keynotes are open to the public and can be followed at UT aula in person or online via www.uttv.ee.

Additional sessions have been added to the conference programme to address the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia and its regional and global implications. On Monday, 13 June, the participants will be invited to a screening of the Estonian-Ukrainian documentary “Tales of a Toy Horse” (2021).

The conference will conclude with a plenary roundtable Ukraine: What Has It Taught the World and What Can We Do to Secure a Better Future? The speakers – scholars from Ukraine, Poland, the United States and the United Kingdom – will discuss the reasons why it took an outbreak of a major war for Ukrainian voices to be taken seriously by large parts of the academic and policy community, and on the lessons that must be drawn from Russia’s aggression and Ukraine’s heroic resistance. The session will take place on Tuesday, 14 June at 17:00 at Lossi 36 and is open to everyone.

The full conference programme is available on the conference website.

The conference is supported by the UT Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, UT Faculty of Social Sciences, Tartu City Government, and the US Embassy in Tallinn.

Further information: Maili Vilson, Deputy Head for Academic Affairs of Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, Executive Director of CEURUS, and co-organiser of the conference, +372 737 6375, maili.vilson@morozovut-ee

 Fidan Vali, Communication Specialist, fidan.vali@ut.ee