International interdisciplinary conference “PARENTS AND CHILDREN”:

Department of Theory of Literature

Shevchenko Institute of Literature of the NAS of Ukraine

and

Department of Ukrainian Studies at the Institute of Slavic Studies

University of Wrocław (Poland)

in cooperation with the International Association for the Humanities

would like to invite you to the international interdisciplinary conference on

“PARENTS AND CHILDREN”: GENERATIONAL FACTOR AND THE POSSIBILITIES OF POSTCOLONIAL STUDIES IN THE LITERARY STUDIES OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE AND THE BALKANS

Kyiv, 15-16 May 2014

The significance of the generational factor in social, cultural and political processes of the 20th century is becoming increasingly more evident. Nowadays we can describe the history of the last century in terms of generations: “Silver Age generation”, “executed generation”, the “lost generation”, “hippie generation”, “shistdesyatnyky” generation, post-totalitarian generation and so on.

Furthermore, the overlap between contemporary literary studies and cultural studies draws attention to issues related to anthropological aspects of artistic imagery and the literary process. Analyses of the generational factor become particularly important, because it is crucial in the development and transformation of the cultural field into the new times. The Generation gap is not only a social, cultural and psychical phenomenon, but also an aesthetic one that creates various forms of subcultures. Self-consciousness and generational memory change discursive paradigms and cultural styles and form the image of an era.

The generational factor is particularly evident in the times of breakthrough. Post-totalitarian and post-colonial issues of memory, body, and language are closely intertwined with the idea of changing generations, generational consciousness, and division of generations. The popularity of postcolonial theory in Eastern Europe adds new overtones to the analysis of generational issues. Consequently, the possibilities of deploying postcolonial studies in the post-socialist space are actively being discussed. Postcolonial methodology, with its new approaches and ideas, enriches historiography, sociology, and cultural studies, particularly in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Thus, it opens new possibilities for literary studies in these regions.

The conference theme covers the following issues:

- anthropology, sociology and aesthetics of "generational consciousness";

- “a literary generation" as an historiographical problem;

- modernization and the effects of generation;

- “parents and children”: memory, tradition, “the anxiety of influence” (Harold Bloom);

- gender and generation;

- post-colonial resistance and generation factor;

- postcolonial “spaces of culture”, question of hybridization and generation factor;

- generation gap in literature, culture and history;

- self-identification of generation (“shistdesyatnyky” as a generational phenomenon);

- the possibility of postcolonial studies in the post-socialist space.

We welcome literary critics, linguists, cultural scholars, anthropologists, historians, sociologists and all scholars interested in the generational phenomenon and the possibility of applying postcolonial research in the study of Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

The conference is as part of the project sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Poland (No. 12H 12 0046 81 “POSTTOTALITARIAN GENERATIONAL SYNDROME IN SLAVIC LITERATURES OF CENTRAL, EASTERN AND SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE AT THE TURN OF THE 21ST CENTURY IN THE LIGHT OF POSTCOLONIAL STUDIES”).

Application forms and abstracts should be emailed to the Organizing Committee (theoreticalsymposium@gmail.com) until 15 March 2014. The conference fee is 200 UAH (for foreign participants 25 EUR) and will be fully allocated to the edition and publication of the conference proceedings. Paying the fee does not guarantee publication as all submitted articles undergo a double-blind review process prior to acceptance. The organizers do not provide accommodation or meals during the conference. We also do not reimburse travel costs.

Organizing Committee Address: 01001 Kyiv, Hrushevskoho St., 4, Shevchenko Institute of Literature of the NAS, Department of Theory of Literature (room 310)

Organizing Committee: T. Hundorova (Conference Chair), A. Matusiak, H. Hrinchenko. Conference secretaries: L. Berbenets and M. Świetlicki

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