The Center for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (CSEEES) and the Midwest Slavic Association were pleased to host the 2023 Midwest Slavic Conference which took place on The Ohio State University campus from Friday, March 24 to Sunday, March 26. This year also marked the 20th anniversary of the conference being held at Ohio State, as well as the 50th anniversary of the Society for Slovene Studies. Presenters and attendees from 38 different universities from both in and outside the U.S. were present at this year’s conference. This year 89 undergraduate and graduate students, independent scholars, and faculty members presented their original research at the conference. These papers made up 22 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, Eurasia, and Eastern Europe.

This year’s conference explored the theme of displacement and diaspora and facilitated discussions on how war has displaced and damaged cultures and societies, but has also prompted them to flourish while creating new centers and pulls across the globe when citizens are forced to flee. The conference opened on Friday with a keynote address by Dr. Valeria Sobol (U. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) entitled "Gothic Displacements and the Russian Imperial Conquest: Literary Cases of Finland and Ukraine" which expanded on the conference’s theme of displacement—also one of the key tropes of the literary Gothic tradition—which assumes a new, urgent meaning in the context of the Russian imperial conquest.

The keynote was followed by a plenary panel on Saturday, composed of Drs. Anna Barker (U. of Iowa), Philip Gleissner (Ohio State U.), and Jarosław Szczepański (U. of Warsaw) who discussed multidisciplinary approaches to preserving culture and connection in times of crisis through cooking, virtual reading groups, and demopolitics. The plenary was moderated by Sobol who served as discussant and chair. General panels by conference participants followed the plenary panel on Saturday and Sunday and included topics such as migration of Polish communities, LGBTQ+ activism in the region, Albanian linguistics, and more. 

This year's conference had several special events. During the Midwest Slavic Association Meeting CSEEES outreach coordinator, Alicia Baca, and SEELC MA student, Lejla Veskovic, were added to the association as conference organizer and graduate student representative, respectively. To help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Society for Slovene Studies, a live performance of Act I of Ivan Cankar's play Jakob Ruda was acted out by students from Ohio State's Department of Theatre, Film, and Media Arts. In addition to the performance, a special Slovenian wine tasting was organized for faculty and independent scholars who were attending the conference. Undergraduate and graduate students could attend the student mixer where they were able to meet and network with their peers. This year’s conference was an intellectually stimulating weekend that provided attendees and presenters alike with the opportunity to present and discuss their research and network with other scholars in the field.

CSEEES and the Midwest Slavic Association would like to thank all those who presented, chaired panels, attended and volunteered at this year’s conference. In particular, we would like to extend a special thank you to the following people and organizations who helped make this year's activities and special events possible: 

• The Midwest Slavic Conference Program Committee
• Those who donated registrations to the Young Scholars of Slavic Studies fund
• The Department of Theatre, Film, and Media Arts at The Ohio State U.
• The American Councils for International Education
• The Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
• The Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures at The Ohio State U.
• The Havighurst Center at Miami U.
• The Society for Slovene Studies
• U. of Pittsburgh’s Summer Language Institute
• U. of Washington's Roma Boniecka Endowed Program for Slovene Studies.

We look forward to seeing you all again at the 2024 Midwest Slavic Conference!