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2019 Midwest Slavic Conference

April 8, 2019

2019 Midwest Slavic Conference

Midwest Slavic Conference Plenary Panel

The Center for Slavic and East European Studies (CSEES) and the Midwest Slavic Association were pleased to host the 2019 Midwest Slavic Conference, which took place at the Blackwell Inn and Conference Center from Friday, April 5th to Sunday, April 7th. Presenters and attendees from 26 different universities from both in and outside the U.S. were present at this year’s conference. This year, 61 undergraduate and graduate students, independent scholars, and faculty members presented their original research at the conference. These papers made up 21 panels that explored topics in the disciplines of history, linguistics, social science, and the humanities, and covered the regions of the Baltics, Balkans, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia.

The theme of this year’s conference marked 30 years since 1989 and the beginning of the collapse of communist states in Central and Eastern Europe. The conference opened on Friday with a keynote address by Dr. Vitaly Chernetsky (U. of Kansas) entitled “A Farewell to an Empire Revisited,” which expanded on the conference’s theme by focusing on cultural representations of the fall of communism in Ukrainian and Central European literature and film. The keynote was followed by a plenary panel on Saturday, composed of Dr. Krisztina Fehervary (U. of Michigan), Dr. Venelin Ganev (U. of Miami), and Dr. Mark Svede (Ohio State U.) who analyzed the effects that the year 1989 had in the realms of socio-cultural anthropology, political science, and the visual arts in the Baltics and Central Europe.

This year’s conference was an intellectually stimulating two days that provided attendees and presenters alike with the opportunity to present and discuss their research and network with other scholars in the field.

CSEES and the Midwest Slavic Association would like to thank all those who presented, chaired panels, attended and volunteered at this year’s conference and we look forward to seeing you all again at the 2020 Midwest Slavic Conference.