Call For Papers

The Language(s) of Freedom(s) - Visegrad Scholarship at OSA
Research topic for Visegrad Scholarship at Open Society Archives
Academic year 2024/2025
Deadline: November 15, 2024

The Language(s) of Freedom(s)
The criticism about infringements of academic freedom, or about the radicalization of autocratic powers cannot do without an understanding of the loaded vocabularies of freedoms in the past and present, for both societies and their elites. A complex rethinking and recontextualization of the thinkers of liberties, including from the Cold War era, must also be undertaken, together with the truth-seeking adventures and projects from the past.
We invite historians, researchers, political scientists, sociologists and socially engaged artists to reflect on the past uses of the languages of (attaining) freedoms by taking cues from the Blinken OSA collections. The applicants are encouraged to reflect on the connections as well as on the differences between current times and the past by following some recommended sub-topics listed below.
-the contribution to Eastern European intellectuals and dissenters to political philosophy in the past and present, the relevance and afterlife of their insights [clues: personal collections of Eastern European oppositionist and the RFE collections regarding their activities]
- the comparative and different understandings of what constituted authorship and censorship
- independentist movements in the 90s: the complex interplay of nationalism, decolonization, political freedoms and their impact nowadays [clues: curated collection Winning Freedom, Ukraine 1989-1991 https://ukraine.89-91.osaarchivum.org/ and similar collections from the Soviet Red Archives, Samizdat archives, Western Press Archives]
- the representation and analysis of citizens’ aspirations within the communist regimes by internal and external observers; what was the understanding of political freedoms in relationship with other rights? [clue: the collection of audience and opinion surveys done by RFE and RL]
- the fascination with the revolution and social movements among the Western intellectuals and the communist parties within the non-communist countries; self-reflexivity with regards the nature of real existing socialism [clue: Kevin Devlin collection]
- the different meanings of freedom in the East and the West, and the transformation brought by the human rights paradigm
- the complex status of the alternative movements and artistic phenomena within centralized socialist systems (from gray zones to radical opposition); the transformative meaning they gave to an official lexicon through their concern with “peace,” “futures,” etc.
- the dysfunctional relationship between language and meaning and the ensuing concern for truth within different intellectual and scientific communities
- the language of transnational politics in the 70s and the adaptation of local political visions to the language of Western liberatory international organizations (ILO, Helsinki institutions, Amnesty international), etc.
- discursive strategies of Cold War observers, theorists and activists:
- the usage of the term totalitarianism, analytical term or discursive mechanism revived by the transnational activism and history writing in the 70s and 1980s (a situation re-emerging now?)
- the role of “liberatory” Western radios within the Cold War: political impact, protective strategies towards endangered oppositionist, documentation of issues then and now
- What have was or could be achieved by preserving records documenting rights abuses? A critical assessment of and ways of repurposing human rights archiving in times of democratic backsliding.
Blinken OSA Archivum research program
The current call is part of a reflexive-research program at Blinken OSA Archivum interested in connecting past issues related to oppressive regimes, censorship, violence and information manipulation to current phenomena. We would like to assess the potential of a genealogical project linking the contemporary epistemic and political crisis of democracy to past modes of inquiry and activism.

Admission
We seek to promote exchanges among people with backgrounds in the arts, humanities and social sciences in the way they think through and about archives while being concerned with current problems. From this point of view, the invitation is addressed to all scholars interested in theories of knowledge, who would use Blinken OSA Archivum documents as props for larger reflections and activist concerns.

Fellowship requirements and Blinken OSA Archivum support
While working on their own subject, fellows will have the opportunity to collaborate with Blinken OSA Archivum researchers and to transform their archival investigation into a full research experience. The fellows are invited to give a final presentation about their research findings at Blinken OSA Archivum and the ways in which the documents were relevant to their research. The presentations are organized within the Visegrad Scholarship at Blinken OSA Archivum lecture series and as such are open for the general public.
Blinken OSA Archivum academic and archival staff will assist the fellows in their investigations, facilitate contact with the CEU community, and grant access to the CEU library. Besides its archival analogue collections, Blinken OSA Archivum can also offer access to unique, audio-visual materials related to documentary practices, a special collection of RFE (anti)propaganda books and a growing collection on digital humanities, human rights, archival theory and philosophy.

About the Fellowship
The twenty grants of 3000 euro each are designed to provide access to the archives for scholars, artists, and journalists, and to cover travel to and from Budapest, a modest subsistence, and accommodation for a research period of eight weeks. Stipends for shorter periods are pro-rated.
Applicants, preferably but not exclusively, from a V4 country, may be researchers, students after their second degree carrying out research, or artists, journalists, academics, or both.
Scholars at risk from war zones as well as refugees of conscience (scholars fleeing authoritarian regimes) are especially invited to apply.

Submission deadlines for the 2024/25 academic year
- November 15, 2024

Assessment
The Selection Committee will evaluate proposals on the strength of the professional quality and novelty of the research proposal, its relevance to the chosen topic and the involvement of the Blinken OSA Archivum holdings in the research. In the case of equal scores those from V4 countries have an advantage. The artists submitting proposals are kindly required to frame their application as research-based projects as well, carefully indicating the collections they will rely on. The artistic proposals will be assessed according to their merit, originality, timeliness as well as their feasibility (with regards to their reliance on available Blinken OSA Archivum collections). Blinken OSA Archivum can only offer conditions for the realization of artistic research, not for production.
Application procedure
Please submit the following to Blinken OSA Archivum (in one merged pdf)
1. Application letter in English (should specify expected period of stay and preferred dates and how you learnt about the scholarship (through which courses, instructors, social media groups or pages, websites, academic platforms, Blinken OSA Archivum public programs/ projects etc. you were informed about this scholarship).
Please note that the Archive’s Research Room is closed during the Christmas period, and the research stay must end on the last day of the given academic year, July 31.
2. Research description/plan in English (about 800 words and should include the following: introduction, presentation of the stage of research, literature on the subject, preliminary hypothesis, questions, identification of possible documents in the Blinken OSA Archivum holdings). Artists are expected to submit a portfolio, too. We recommend you refer to one of the topics in your application. Please also mention the specific collections you would like to consult.
3. Curriculum Vitae (C.V.)
4. Proof of officially recognized advanced level English language exam (native speakers and those with qualification from an English language institution/degree program are exempted)
5. Names of two referees with contact address. Letters of reference are not needed.

The Application letter, C.V., the Research description/plan, the copy of a language exam certification and the Referees’ contact information should be sent by email to Katalin Gadoros at gadoros@ceu.edu.

Selection Committee
All members of the committee are academic staff of Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives / Central European University or the Visegrad Fund.

More Information
To find out more about the program, please visit : https://archivum.org/academics/visegrad-scholarship-at-osa

Contact Information
The Application letter, C.V., the Research description/plan, the copy of a language exam certification and the Referees’ contact information should be sent by email to Katalin Gadoros at gadoros@ceu.edu.

We are pleased to announce a call for papers for the international conference, A Mnemonic Turn and the Future of Democratic Politics, scheduled for April 24-25, 2025. We hope the conference will contribute to a discussion on the vital yet complex and tense relationship between collective memory and democracy today.
The recent consideration of the “mnemonic turn” (Olick 2023), implies a major change in how societies view, study, represent, and instrumentalize the past in service of both the present and the future. The conference aims to discuss further how collective memory engages the actors, adjusts structures, and penetrates mechanisms of democratic politics, revealing its double — both constructive and destructive — potential. Moreover, reflection on the relationship between memory and democracy remains equally significant in the context of contemporary non-democratic and violent regimes, where the past is increasingly employed as a tool of war propaganda and to limit freedoms.

BACKGROUND:
In recent decades, there has been a significant breakthrough in recognizing the importance of collective memory in understanding historical and social phenomena, as well as in shaping contemporary political life. The rapidly growing field of memory studies has absorbed phenomena, concepts, and approaches that relate to the reconstruction and representation of the past for individuals and societies, such as oral history, autobiography, myth, tradition, memorialization, and commemorations. Consequently, memory has evolved into a “metahistorical category” that encompasses and integrates a wide range of disciplines dealing with the past, including history, anthropology, sociology, psychology, and literary studies, all of which engage with processes of remembering and reconstructing the past (Klein 2000).
The quest for a shared history and identity serves as an essential mechanism for marginalized groups to demand recognition, reparations, and institutional reforms, ultimately pressing for the democratization of memory, greater transparency, justice, and inclusive politics to safeguard against authoritarianism.
Collective memory is crucial for confronting difficult pasts by upholding the moral imperative “never again.” Mass atrocities during WWII in Europe and the Far East, in Latin America and Africa, as well as in recent wars and conflicts, such as Ukraine and the Middle East, are crucial for understanding the need for democracy. This includes the crimes committed by totalitarian and authoritarian regimes against their own societies and the memory of unprosecuted and unpunished crimes.
Memorial culture may reinforce democratic values and moral principles of justice, equality, and human rights by building mnemonic infrastructures—national monuments, museums, and commemorations of pivotal historical events. However, memory can also act as a divisive force within democratic societies. Contentious and contested narratives of an “unmastered past” (Olick 2023), involving deeply troubling colonial experiences, slavery, authoritarianism, dictatorship, ethnic and religious conflicts, and crimes, can polarize societies when these legacies have not been fully processed, acknowledged, or reconciled. “Memory wars” often challenge social cohesion and fuel intense debates about identity and belonging, resulting in the political exclusion and marginalization of certain groups and communities. We aim to address unresolved aspects of the past, such as the lack of accountability for oppressive regimes, insufficient reckoning with authoritarian crimes, and incomplete historical justice in many contexts worldwide. Our focus is on how these unaddressed legacies continue to shape current challenges and socio-political dynamics across different regions.
Collective memory is an essential but contested element of social life, capable of both sustaining and challenging democratic institutions and processes. It can activate public debates on social justice, rights, freedoms, and equality and assist citizens in enacting democracy, but it can also be used and abused for political gain. Democracy Dies in Darkness — reads the wise motto adopted by the Washington Post in 2017. The Post’s executive editor, Martin Baron, may have shown some foresight when he stated, “Certain institutions have a very important role in making sure that there is light.” The task of our conference is to shed light on our past and illuminate our present and future. We hope that you can join us in this endeavor.


THE CONFERENCE: proposed themes and submission details
This year’s conference will engage with the proposed wide-ranging theme of A Mnemonic Turn and the Future of Democratic Politics, accommodating a variety of issues particularly relevant to the current pressing concerns of collective memory and democracy. These issues include, but are not limited to:
• The democratic potential of memory politics
• The role of both social and academic institutions in shaping collective memory
• The emergence of repressed or unmastered pasts
• Transitional justice and memory politics
• The intersection of demos and ethnos in shaping new mnemonic practices
• The crisis of the post-WWII moral and memory consensus: How does the politics of forgetting fuel the resurgence of authoritarian governments?
• The authoritarian appropriation of memory politics
• The transformative power of public discourse
• Decolonization and memory: reclaiming the past as a form of identity politics
• The upsurge of memory movements and mnemonic practices
• The emergence of grassroots memory representations and resistance movements
• Challenges posed by the mnemonic turn and the prevalence of post-truth narratives
• The question of unfinished/incomplete historical narratives: the interplay between memory and history
• Memory, geopolitics, and democracy


SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
We welcome submissions from advanced graduate students, scholars, artists, and memory activists interested in presenting their reflections, artifacts, or performances relevant to the conference topics.
Please send your proposals (title and abstract at max. 300 words) and a short bio (max. 100 words) to memorystudies@newschool.edu by November 30, 2024. Applicants will be informed of a decision by December 20, 2024.
For those accepted, final papers (or presentations) will be due two weeks before the conference.
The conference will be in person only and open to the public (with RVSP).