Rethinking Europe in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea Region

28-29 May 2020

Abbreviation: EURehink2020

Aims of the conference

„Cette Europe triomphante qui est née de l’échange de toutes choses spirituelles et matérielles, de la coopération volontaire et involontaire des races, de la concurrence des religions, des systèmes, des intérêts, sur un territoire très limité, m’apparaît aussi animée qu’un marché où toutes choses bonnes et précieuses sont apportées, comparées, discutées, et changent de mains. C’est une Bourse où les doctrines, les idées, les découvertes, les dogmes les plus divers, sont mobilisés, sont cotés, montent, descendent, sont l’objet des critiques les plus impitoyables et des engouements les plus aveugles. Bientôt les apports les plus lointains arrivent abondamment sur ce marché. D’une part, les terres nouvelles de l’Amérique, de l’Océanie et de l’Afrique, les antiques empires de l’Extrême-Orient envoient à l’Europe leurs matières premières pour les soumettre à ces transformations étonnantes qu’elle seule sait accomplir. D’autre part, les connaissances, les philosophies, les religions de l’ancienne Asie viennent alimenter les esprits toujours en éveil, que l’Europe produit à chaque génération ; et cette machine puissante transforme les conceptions plus ou moins étranges de l’Orient, en éprouve la profondeur, en retire les éléments utilisables.
Notre Europe, qui commence par un marché méditerranéen, devient ainsi une vaste usine ; usine au sens propre, machine à transformations, mais encore usine intellectuelle incomparable. Cette usine intellectuelle reçoit de toutes parts toutes les choses de l’esprit ; elle les distribue à ses innombrables organes. Les uns saisissent tout ce qui est nouveauté avec espoir, avec avidité, en exagèrent la valeur ; les autres résistent, opposent à l’invasion des nouveautés l’éclat et la solidité des richesses déjà constituées. Entre l’acquisition et la conservation, un équilibre mobile doit se rétablir sans cesse, mais un sens critique toujours plus actif attaque l’une ou l’autre tendance, exerce sans pitié les idées en possession et en faveur ; éprouve et discute sans pitié les tendances de cette régulation toujours obtenue. ”

Paul Valéry, “Note (ou L’Européen)” (1924)

Brexit has just happened and its consequences are not yet fully comprehended. Would the outcome be a return to a status quo ante the Brentry of 1 January 1973 in British-EU relations? Would Britain become a sort of bigger Norway tightly connected to the EU, but yet not fully a member of the united organization? Would Britain really continue to exist as such? Would Scotland, not to mention other territories, emulate London and decide on their own Brexit, this time from the United Kingdom, in order to rejoin the EU? Would actually Brexit become a pathway for other skeptical EU nations? Would Brexit rocket exclusive forms of nationalisms? Wouldthe whole of united Europe collapse, on the long run, as a result of Brexit as the League of Nations had become toothless after the US Senate had vetoed the Pact of League of Nations? But what effect is going to have Brexit on Scandinavian countries which historically have been closely connected to Britain? How is it reflected in Scandinavian intellectual milieus, in mass-media, in public discourses? What about the Baltic states which received a strong support from Britain in key moments of their history, for instance when Royal Navy came at the rescue of Estonian and Latvian independence following World War I or in the process of re-enactment of Baltic sovereignty after the collapse of the Soviet Union? Moreover, Britain was a key market for Baltic products both during the interwar period and after 1990/1991. How are their elites and public opinions reflecting on Brexit? What can they do in order to continue their strong bonds in foreign and security policy, including Eastern neighborhood, and close commercial ties? What would be the status of their co-citizens emigrated to Britain? These are but a few questions which this conference aims at answering both from a political science and international relations perspective and from a cultural, historical, educational, social and economic perspective.
When approaching the rethinking of Europe we shouldn’t eschew the fact that Europe, including Baltic and Nordic Europe, has changed quite dramatically in the past hundreds of years, and this conference aims at digging ideationally in these layers of history, even going further to the time when the Vikings recreated the European networks as a result of their trade and pillage expeditions. The Hansa, the Kalmar Union, the Swedish realm (some continue to this day calling it empire), the Russian Empire, Norway’s independence in 1905, the First World War, the independence of Finland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia a hundred years ago, the League of Nations, the Second World War and the Soviet occupational regimes forced upon in the Baltic states, the Cold War and the Iron Curtain, and finally the freedom regained by the Baltic nations and the adhering by Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania to the EU, and of the latter three countries to NATO had a tremendous impact on the region and falls within the aims of this conference. How was this region recreated mentally, how was it recomposed on the portative of decision makers, writers, intellectuals, musicians, painters, architects, film makers, journalists, diplomats, and how much of their thoughts found reflections in what actually happened in the region? Cultural institutions and networks, language and its social content, various cultural currents and political ideologies and doctrines would be closely investigated and discussed in the keynote speeches and panels of the conference.

Conference proposed panels:

• The EU after the Brexit: perspectives on the future of Europe
• Perceptions of the Brexit process in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea Region
• Rethinking Europe during the accession process of the the Baltic states, Finland and Sweden at the EU
• Dividing Europe during the Cold War in the Baltic Sea Region: perspectives over the Iron Curtain
• Imagining Europe in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea Region during the two world wars
• Crafting Europe during the peace conferences
• Rethinking Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea Region in Europe during the interwar period
• Scandinavia, the Baltic Sea Region and the idea of Europe in history
• The Vikings and the reconnecting of Europe
• Rethinking Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea Region during the age of medieval monarchies
• The emergence of modernity in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea Region
• European lectureships at Nordic and Baltic universities
• Teaching in English versus teaching in smaller languages
• Recent influences of the English language on Scandinavian and Baltic languages
• European literary influences in the North
• Cultural relations between the Nordic and the Baltic countries and the rest of Europe

Roundtable

From the fall of Communism to Brexit: is the EU a success?

The Conference Schedule and Deadlines

• Publication of the call for papers: 1 February 2020
• Proposals for panels and roundtables (approx. 500 words): 30 March 2020
• Abstracts for individual papers (approx. 300 words): 30 March 2020
• Notification of acceptance: 31 March 2020
• Publication of the conference program: 31 March 2020
• Conference: 28-29 May 2020
• Deadline for submitting the conference articles: 30 June 2020
• Publication of conference articles: 30 September 2020 and 15 December 2020.

Keynote addresses

Prof. Dr. Radu Carp, University of Bucharest
Associate Researcher Dr. Mihai Dragnea, University of South-Eastern Norway
Mr. Adrian Pogacian, ReThinking Europe

Submission

The submission web page for EURethink2020 is https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=eurethink2020.

Conference programme:

Thursday, 28 May 2020

11.00-11.10: The opening of the Eleventh Annual International Conference on Baltic and Nordic Studies in Romania (video recordings)

Speakers: Silviu Miloiu, President of the Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies and Vice-Rector of Valahia University of Târgoviște & Adrian Pogacian, President of ReThinking Europe (video recordings)

11.10-12.00: From the fall of Communism to Brexit: is the EU a success?

Speakers:

The address of Her Excellency Dr. Violeta Motulaitė, Ambassador Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary of the Republic of Lithuania in Romania, Honorary President of the Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies

The address of Her Excellency Ms. Marjut Akola, Ambassador Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary of Finland in Romania

12.00-12.15: Piano mini-recital, Dragoş Andrei Cantea, Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo and George Enescu National University of Arts in Iaşi (video recordings)

Dragos Andrei Cantea

Eyvind Alnæs – Sidste reis

Constantin Silvestri – Bacchanale

12.30-13.30: break

14.00-19.00: Conference sessions and plenary sessions

14.00-14.45: Plenary session I: The EU after Brexit: perspectives on the future of Europe

Chair: Kari Alenius

Speakers:

Radu Carp, Combining soft power with the geopolitical approach – how hard is it for the EU to change its attitude?

Adrian Pogacian, From migration issue to COVID-19 crisis

14.45-16.30: Session 1

Panel 1 Panel 2
Intercultural relations in the Nordic and Baltic countries Rethinking the Baltic Sea Region in Europe during the interwar period
Chair: Enikő Molnár Bodrogi Chair: Mihai Dragnea
Dorijan Hajdu and Sabira Ståhlberg: A fly in amber? Nordic-Balkan citizen cultural connections then and now Kari Alenius: Rethinking Romania in Finland, 1918-1944
Crina Leon: Spreading Romanian Language and Culture in Norway after Year 2000 Silviu Miloiu: Rethinking Europe in a renewed Baltic Sea Region: the Finnish foreign policy and Baltic regionalization after World War I
Ildikó Varga: Cultural relations between the Nordic and the Baltic countries and the rest of Europe – The case of the La Fontaine Literary Society Bogdan-Alexandru Schipor, Romania, Poland and the difficult path towards a regional alliance in early 1920s
  Gintaras Druckus: Kaunas in the 20s and 30s of the 20th century: modern architecture as evidence of Europe oriented modern city
  Sándor Földvári: Former and Recent Baltic Capitals between the Central European and Nordic (Scandinavian) Trends: The Case of Kaunas as for the Urban Culture

16.30-16.45: Break

16.45-17.15: Plenary session II: Constructions of Christian Identity and the Idea of the Holy Land in the Northern Periphery: The Sawley World Map in Twelfth-Century England

Chair: Costel Coroban

Speaker: Mihai Dragnea

17.15-19.00: Session 2

Panel 3 Panel 4
Teaching and use of Nordic languages Encounters, fantasies and perceptions in shaping Europe
Chair: Crina Leon Chair: Sándor Földvári
Ioana-Andreea Mureşan and Raluca Pop Petruş: SKAM – The Language Terminator (Språkterminatoren)? Norwegian, English and Global Success Alexandra Gruian: Heading to the North and back – the influence of the Arctic expedition on the 19th-century travelers of Sibiu
Adél Furu: Paths to learning second languages in Finland Sabira Ståhlberg: Window to a world beyond: A journey to the Black Sea in 1963
Raluca Pop Petruş: Overcoming challenges of teaching smaller languages. The case of teaching Norwegian as a foreign language Shan Huang: Reality and fantasy of the Baltic Tunnel: In comparison with the British-French Channel Tunnel
Karoliina Salo: Directives given by the L2-doctor on multicultural primary care consultations  

Friday, 29 May 2020

09.30-13.00: Conference sessions and plenary sessions

Panel 5 Panel 6
Rethinking Europe in Nordic and Baltic cultures Reception of Nordic literature
Chair: Roxana Dreve Chair: Adrian Pogacian
Enikő Molnár Bodrogi: Modernization and Language Loss Gianina Druţă: Henrik Ibsen’s “Ghosts” and the star-actor tradition on the Romanian stage (1894-1947)
Donato Gagliastro: Alberto Moravia in Swedish literary culture Ovio Olaru: The place of crime. The case of Scandinavian Noir
Johanna Domokos: Saami Poetic Criticism of Nordic and Global Antroposcene Marian-Alin Dudoi: Halldór Laxness and the Romanians

Session 4: 11.00 – 13.00

Panel 7 Panel 8
New perspectives on Norwegian literature Rethinking Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea Region in Europe during the two world wars
Chair: Gianina Druţă Chair: Bogdan-Alexandru Schipor
Ioana-Andreea Mureşan: Norwegian Emigration and the Emergence of Modernity in Norway. America Letters and the Case of Knut Hamsun and Sigbjørn Obstfelder Costel Coroban: The Idea of Europe in Women’s Diaries from the Great War
Raluca-Daniela Răduţ: The Sense of Space and Arctic Nature in Cora Sandel’s Kranes Konditori: Interior med figurer (Krane’s Café: An Interior with Figures) Kriss Kapenieks: Latvians’ Image of Europe During First World War: Change of Viewpoint from Russian Imperial Citizen to European National Subject
Roxana Dreve: Standing out vs. Standing still? Children, adults and Janteloven in Thorbjørn Egner’s book People and Robbers of Cardamon Town (Folk og røvere i Kardemomme by) Andreea Dahlquist: Romanian-Swedish trade relations during the Second World War, a way of rethinking the economic perspectives
  Artur-Lóránd Lakatos: April 1940: The German Invasion of Norway in Romanian Diplomatic Sources
  Luiza Filimon, Rewind and replay: mainstream parties and the pull of radicalization. The Nordic experience

13.00-13.15: Closing Session
Chairs: Crina Leon and Silviu Miloiu

Publication

EURehink2020 proceedings will be published in The Romanian Journal for Baltic and Nordic Studies, vol. 12, issue 1 and 2 (2020).

Organizing committee

Prof. Dr. Silviu Miloiu, The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies & Valahia University of Târgovişte – chair
Mr. Adrian Pogacian, ReThinking Europe – co-chair
Lect. Dr. Crina Leon, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași & The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies – co-chair

Scientific Committee

Prof. Dr. Kari Alenius, University of Oulu
Prof. Dr. Florin Anghel, Ovidius University of Constanța
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Enikő Molnár Bodrogi, Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca
Senior Researcher Dr. Bogdan Schipor, A.D. Xenopol Institute of History of the Romanian Academy & The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies
Lect. Dr. Crina Leon, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași & The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies
Steinar Lone, The Norwegian Association of Literary Translators and NonFiction Writers and Translators Organisation
Prof. Dr. Silviu Miloiu, Valahia University of Targoviste & The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies
Prof. Dr. Sergiu Musteață, Ion Creangă Pedagogical University of Chișinău
Mr. Adrian Pogacian, ReThinking Europe
Dr. Octavian Țîcu, Institute of History, Academy of Science of the Republic of Moldova
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Carmen Vioreanu, University of Bucharest

Program Committee

Prof. Dr. Silviu Miloiu, The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies & Valahia University of Târgovişte
Lect. Dr. Crina Leon, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași & The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies
Mr. Adrian Pogacian, ReThinking Europe

Secretary of the Scientific and Program Committee

Assist. Dr. Costel Coroban, The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies & Ovidius University of Constanța

Past conferences

The conference continues and develops a project that the Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies (ARSBN) initiated in 2010, aiming at investigating, comparing and describing the relations, encounters, intersections, confluences, mutual influences and/or parallels between the Nordic and Baltic Sea areas, on the one hand, and the Black Sea Region, on the other hand. The project was structured in annual international conferences. Thus, the first conference, entitled “Romania and Lithuania in the interwar international relations: bonds, intersections and encounters” was held on 19-21 May 2010 in Târgoviște and concentrated, as the title suggests, on the present and historical relations between the two countries belonging to these two areas. The following editions of the annual ARSBN conference enlarged their scope, being entitled “The Black Sea and the Baltic Sea regions: confluences, influences and crosscurrents in the modern and contemporary ages” (Târgoviște, 20-22 May 2011), “European networks: the Balkans, Scandinavia and the Baltic World in a time of economic and ideological crisis” (Târgoviște, 25-27 May 2012), “Empire-building and region-building in the Baltic, North and Black Sea areas” (Constanța, 24-26 May 2013), “A piece of culture, a culture of peace, re-imaging European communities in the North Sea, Baltic Sea and Black Sea regions” (Târgoviște, 17-19 August 2014), “Historical memory, the politics of memory and cultural identity: Romania, Scandinavia and Baltic Sea Region in comparison” (Constanța, 22-23 May 2015), “Good governance in Romania and the Nordic and Baltic countries” (Bucharest, 24-25 November 2016), “Finland, Romania, Roma integration – Learning from each other” (Bucharest, 9 October 2017), and “100 Years since Modern Independence and Unification in the Baltic Sea Region and East-Central Europe” (Târgoviște, 15-16 November 2018) and „Dissent versus conformism in the Nordic, Baltic and Black Sea areas” (Constanța, 6-8 June 2019).
During its previous ten editions, the ARSBN conference addressed fundamental problems within the current agenda of the Nordic, Baltic and Black sea states and contributed with fresh ideas and innovative research results to the general knowledge in the scientific field. Moreover, the conference advanced draft proposals useful to the European decision-makers of different fields.
While the participants to the first two editions of the conference concentrated rather on the historical dimension of the relations, the following editions brought together specialists from various fields (political science, economics, international relations, minority studies, cultural studies, mnemonic studies, etc.) and addressed, besides the historical aspect of relations, other aspects relevant to the present time, i.e. the global economic crisis, the Balkan organized crime in Nordic Europe, region-building processes, the minorities in the Baltic Sea area and in the Balkans, the Roma minority integration, the remembrance of 1918, dissent and conformism, etc.

Contact

All questions about submissions should be emailed to baltoskandia@gmail.com or welcome@rethinkingeurope.com.

Webpages of the conference

https://balticnordic.hypotheses.org/conference2020
http://www.rethinkingeurope.com

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