Centralist Ambitions and Peripheral Realities in the 20th Century. Contested Identities in Yugoslavia

The international conference is jointly organised by the Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Institute of World History at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies in Regensburg, and the Croatian Institute of History in Zagreb. It will take place on 16 May 2023 at the Czech Academy of Sciences, Hall 108.

Invitation     Programme

The planned conference aims at bringing together researchers whose professional interest is focused on the research of various forms of identity (national, regional, local) on the example of Yugoslavia, a state with a very specific national, social and cultural structure during the vast majority of the 20th century. In contrast to previous texts, whose basis was mainly related to the question of national (nationwide) identity, the focus of this conference will be oriented towards the analysis of tensions and negotiations on the forms of identity between the power centre and the periphery in the phases of transformation (political, social, cultural, etc.), as well as towards important sociopolitical changes (crises, changes in ruling structures, war conflicts). In the implementation of the conference, a number of methodological approaches will be applied, from local and migration history to institutional and cultural-historical research. 

The conference is the output of the research programme of the AV 21 Strategy “Anatomy of European Society, History, Tradition, Culture, Identity” of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague, with the support of the Cooperatio programme of Charles University in Prague.

Conference language: English

Additional information: Milan Sovilj, Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences (sovilj@hiu.cas.cz)