Call for Papers
“Central and Eastern European Media under Dictatorial Rule in the 1940s and 1950s”
International Conference
22 – 25 April 2005
Tartu University, Estonia
The conference is aimed at fostering interdisciplinary discussion about different aspects of media in dictatorships. Thus, we encourage social scientists, linguists, literature experts, historians and others to participate. Regional as well as comparative studies are welcomed.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Central and Eastern European media were controlled by authoritarian or dictatorial regimes amongst them the Third Reich and Stalin’s Soviet Union. Additionally, war time censorship and occupational regimes also played a role.
At the moment the following topics are of special interest, but we are open to other aspects as well:
- theoretical issues
- different roles in the media (overt and covert)
- media institutions and regulations (rules and norms for media)
- conflict and tension in the media (institution, texts, processes)
- propaganda
- media as a channel of information
- systems of censorship
- paradigmatic discourses of media-representation
- construction of meaning in the media (including the image of the enemy, representation of ‘truth’ in media, etc.)
- different media focuses: political versus cultural
- roles of the media audience
- attitudes of the population towards the media
The presentation of each paper should not extend beyond 20 minutes. The papers are discussed after presentation and at the end of each session there will follow a broader discussion of the theme. Selected papers will be published later in a conference volume.
The location of the conference is Tartu University, the traditional educational centre of Estonia, 150 minutes by bus from the Estonian capital Tallinn. The conference is organised by the Centre for the Study of Soviet History, Tartu University.
Please send your proposal for a paper (250-300 words) and a short CV no later than 1 October 2004, by e-mail to the local organisers Dr. Maarja Lõhmus and Dr. Olaf Mertelsmann.
e-mail: 2005conference@jrnl.ut.ee
Contact:
Centre for the Study of Soviet History
Lossi 3 – 409
51000 Tartu
Estonia
+ 372 737 5658