International Conference - Armenia 2018: Reality and Perspectives
June 22-24, 2018, Yerevan (Armenia)
CALL FOR PAPERS
Armenian Research Center for the Humanities (ARCH), in collaboration with the American University of Armenia, Yerevan State University, Haigazian University of Beirut, Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Collaboration for Democracy NGO, and Khnko Aper National Children’s Library, is organizing an international conference entitled “Armenia 2018: Reality and Perspectives,” to take place on June 22-24, 2018 in Yerevan. The Conference is sponsored by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
Since independence, Armenia, along with other post-Soviet states, has been viewed through the lens of “country in transition”. The term denoted a transition from Soviet social-economic structure to market economy and western type democracy. Although the usefulness of this methodological paradigm has been questioned by several western scholars in the early 2000s, it remains in use in the West till now. The transition paradigm is utilized by Armenian scholars when they communicate with external institutions (International Organizations and Western academics). Within Armenia, the traditional “nationalist” conceptualization remains the most popular. However, it is becoming more and more apparent that neither “transitional” nor “nationalist” discourses aren’t adequate to describe the social-economic realities of Armenia in a proper way.
The conference aspires to move towards the development of a new rational, scholarly discourse that will make possible the development of a critical alternative to the “quasi-patriotic” and “quasi-Western” ways of speaking and will enable rational analyses of the socio-economic and cultural realities of the Republic of Armenia.
We invite the participation of scholars and researchers involved or interested in studying the following topics:
- The social structure of contemporary Armenian society
- The place and role of informal institutions and mechanisms in Armenia
- The impact of the protracted Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on the domestic politics of Armenia
- The specific features of the public sphere and civic movements in Armenia
- The church - society - state triangle in contemporary Armenia
- Armenia in the context of post-colonial studies
- The specific features of Soviet-Armenian modernization
- The role of possibly increasing traditionalism and archaism in contemporary Armenia.
- The transformation phases of Armenian nationalism and its current condition
- The place of the Republic of Armenia in the context of the “Armenian trans-nation” (RA – NK – Diaspora triangle)
- The Republic of Armenia – the view from the Diaspora
- Political discourse in contemporary Armenia
- The critical analysis of the widespread mass-media discourses in Armenia
- The critical analysis of the methodologies and ideologies of the social sciences (including applied sociology)
- Are the models used to describe post-Soviet societies relevant
- Analysis of educational strategies currently employed in Armenia.
The organizing committee is open also to other proposals related to the topics listed above.
Scholars or researchers wishing to participate in the conference should submit their proposals to conference.armenia2018@gmail.com. They should be no more than 500 words, and must include:
1. Compact abstract of the paper
2. Author’s name and contact information
3. Institutional affiliation (if any)
4. Short BIO (not a CV) no more than 100 words
The working languages of the Conference are Armenian, English and Russian.
Proposals for conference papers will be accepted until January 20, 2018. Selection will be completed by January 30, 2018. Full or partial compensation for the travel and accommodation expenses is available to foreign participants if they present reasons for such compensation.
If you have any questions please contact us by the same address: conference.armenia2018@gmail.com