ReThinking multiculturalism, multilingualism and cultural diplomacy in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea Region. The 12th International Conference on Baltic and Nordic Studies

Târgu Mureș, May 27-28, 2021

Acronym: RethinkMulti-Kulti2021

Small Hall of the Palace of Culture of Târgu Mureș

îâConference website	https://balticnordic.hypotheses.org/conference2021
Abstract registration deadline (extended)	March 1st, 2021
Submission deadline	April 30, 2021

Aims of the conference

RethinkMulti-Kulti2021 reflects on multiculturalism, multilingualism and cultural diplomacy in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea Region ten years after German Chancellor Angela Merkel heralded the demise of German multicultural society. The affirmation that the half-a-century cherished multi-kulti “utterly failed” has been applauded by many Conservative politicians and eventually signalled as an augur by far-right gurus. Merkel’s track record as a devoted democratic-minded politician, EU leader and advocate of migrant integration has gained a quasi-universal approval of this claim. Moreover, Merkel’s statement has never been properly questioned, but rather taken for granted in the Academia. In the meanwhile, politicies regulating multiculturalism and multilingualism have been in a stalemate in the EU and the EEA when they have not acknowledged a regress, especially in what Fareed Zakaria termed illiberal democracies.

The conference is not summoned as an attempt to revive the political agenda behind multi-kulti, but to critically reexamine the role of multiculturalism, multilinguism and cultural diplomacy from the perspective of Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea Region. We regard Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea Region as interconnected by a multitude of historical, cultural and social channels and partly overlapping and therefore are encouraging the applicants considering papers dealing with multiculturalism, multilinguism and cultural diplomacy as mirorred in Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Germany, Greenland, Iceland, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, and Sweden, the UK and the wider Europe. Moreover, our approach is not restricted to the ten years following Merkel’s speech or the half a century past the heyday of multi-kulti, but takes a broader historical and sequential glance. The organizers welcome papers dealing with contacts, liaisons, affiliations, divergences, hatred, legal or de facto statuses of cultures and languages in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea Region. Approaches inspired by theories and concepts e.g. cultural appropriation, post-colonial studies, emotion theory are also recommended. The organizers regard the relations between languages, cultures and diplomacies across the various layers of history and ideology blocs with great interest. How multilingualism, multiculturalism and cultural diplomacy fared or muddle through from liberal societies to far-right or far-left regimes and back continues to figure high on public agenda. The multicultural and multilinguistic encounters between the Vikings and the wider Europe, the contribution of Hansa to the fashioning of modern Europe or the role of authors such as Hans Christian Andersen, Henrik Ibsen, Mika Waltari, Leonidas Donskis, Sofi Oksanen may refresh our understanding of Europe as it has hitherto developed.

Submission Guidelines

All papers must be original and not simultaneously submitted to another conference or journal. The following paper categories are welcome:

Full papers describing multiculturalism, multilingualism and cultural diplomacy in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea Region, the relations between communities, nationals and nations within and with the two regions, etc.
Please submit your paper or panel proposal by February 15, 2021 on Easychair platform: https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=rethinkmultikulti202. Alternatively, you can e-mail your submission (title, keywords and abstract) to e-mails baltoskandia(at)gmail.com or welcome(at)rethinkingeurope.com.

List of Topics

PLENARY SESSION THEMES
• The Swedish model of heritage preservation – a tool for building inclusive and integrated society
• A View from Poland: the State and the Orthodox Church in the Ukrainian Lands in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries as Reflected in the Polish Historical Research

PANEL THEMES
Panel 1: Multiculturalism in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea Region
Panel 2: Multiculturalism, identity and in-between
Panel 3: Multilingualism in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea Region
Panel 4: Diplomacy, multilingualism and multiculturalism
Panel 5: Romanian reception of literary and social alterity
Panel 6: Eastern Europe and The Cold War II?

Committees

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

Organizing committee

Honorary chair – Dr. Violeta Motulaitė, Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania in Romania and Bulgaria
Chair – 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: Dr. Bogdan Schipor, “A.D. Xenopol” Institute of History of the Romanian Academy & The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies
Co-chair: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Adrian Vitalaru, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași & The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies
Executive Chair: Lect. Dr. Costel Coroban, Ovidius University of Constanta & The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies

Scientific committee:

Senior Lecturer Dr. Vusala Afandiyeva, Director of the Scandinavian Center, Azerbaijan University of Languages
Lect. Dr. Nerijus Babinskas, Vilnius University
Lect. Dr. Costel Coroban, The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies and Ovidius University of Constanța
Dr. Doru Liciu, Ministry of Foreign Affaits of Romania
Assoc. Professor Dr. Gianina Druță, Centre for Ibsen Studies, University of Oslo
doc. dr. Saulius Kaubrys, Vilnius University
Ramojus Kraujelis, Vilnius University
Lect. Dr. Crina Leon, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași & The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Enikő Molnár Bodrogi, Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ugnius Mikučionis, University of Bergen
Senior Researcher Dr. Bogdan Schipor, A.D. Xenopol Institute of History of the Romanian Academy & The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies
Prof. Dr. Hab. Silviu Miloiu, The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies and Valahia University of Târgoviște
Tor Einar Sæther, Trondheim Adult Education Centre
Dr. Flavia Teoc, Centre for the Study of Antiquity and Christianity, Aarhus and Scandinavian Association for Language and Cognition
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Carmen Vioreanu, University of Bucharest

Invited Speakers

Prof. Dr. Hab. Sergiu Musteață, „Ion Creangă” State University of ChișinăuAssociate Researcher
Prof. Dr. Valerii Lastovskyi, Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts

Publication

RenewMulti-Kulti2021 proceedings will be published in The Romanian Journal for Baltic and Nordic Studies, vol. 13 (2021).

Revista Română pentru Studii Baltice şi Nordice – The Romanian Journal for Baltic and Nordic Studies is a biannual peer-reviewed journal dedicated to publishing the results of research in all fields which are intertwined with the aims of The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies such as: history of Baltic and Nordic Europe; Baltic and Nordic Europe in International Relations; Baltic and Nordic Cultures and Civilizations; economics and societies of Baltic and Nordic Europe; relations between Romania and the Baltic and Nordic Europe.

The journal has been established with the aim of fostering research and dialogue among scholars working in Romania and abroad in fields of research related to the interests of ARSBN. We are eager and honored to open our pages to all both senior and young scholars engaged in studies regarding the Baltic and Nordic Europe and Romania’s relations with these regions, along with any reviews on other published books and articles calling attention. Our journal will also host reviews of any scholarly events focusing on any of the themes of the Association.

Submission Guidelines

Articles should be submitted as email attachments in Microsoft Word format to the Editorial secretary at editorial@arsbn.ro or baltoskandia@gmail.com .
Contributions must be original and should not be under consideration by any other publication at the time of their submission. A cover letter in this sense should accompany the manuscript.
The maximum length for consideration of an article is 6,000 – 12,000 words (including footnotes), and 700 – 1,000 words for a review.
Please submit double-spaced papers in 11-point Book Antiqua font with 2 cm margins. Footnotes should be in 9-point.
All research articles must include a 100-200 word English language abstract (and in Romanian or one of the Nordic and Baltic languages when applicable) and at least five English language key words.
Submissions should include complete bibliographic references (including page numbers) in footnotes.
Final bibliography should be inserted at the end of the article.
For general rules of grammar, form, and style, authors should refer to The Chicago Manual of Style (The University of Chicago Press).
All manuscripts will be subject to anonymous peer review, and will be evaluated on the basis of their creativity, quality of scholarship, and contribution to advancing the understanding of the regions concerned.

Please note that the the journal does not ask for article processing charges.

Programme:

Programme (May 26th, 2021): https://balticnordic.hypotheses.org/files/2021/05/2021-Conference-Program-Multi-Kulti_May-2021-2.pdf

Venue

Green scenario

The conference will be held in Târgu Mureș, in central Romania, some 120 km away from Cluj-Napoca and 325 km from the capital of Romania, Bucharest.

The opening of the conference is scheduled on 27 May 2020, 11-12 AM, in the glittering Small Hall of the Palace of Culture of Târgu Mureș.

The panels of the conference will be held on 27 May, from 2 to 7 PM and on 28 May, from 9 AM to 3 PM in the Medieval Citadel of Târgu Mureș.

The official reception offered by the organizers is scheduled on 27 May, 20 hours. In the afternoon of 28 May a guided trip to the impressive medieval citadel of Sighisoara will be scheduled. All meals on 27 and 28 May will be offered by the organizers.

Târgu Mureș hosts an airport that you may find convenient for your flights. However, the nearest bigger air venue is „Avram Iancu” International Airport of Cluj Napoca. The transfer from the airport to the place of the conference will be offered. It is recommended the arrival of participants on 27 May, but efforts will be made to adapt to your flights.

For any questions related to the location of the event, accommodation, etc. please send an email to welcome@rethinkingeurope.com.

Yellow scenario

The conference will be held in Târgu Mureș for those participants who can attent physically and everything goes according to the green scenario for them with adjustments to the conditions laid down by the authorities. All other participants shall be connected online via Zoom. All connection details in this regard will be offered ahead of time.

Red Scenario

The conference will be held online and all details regarding the Zoom connection facilities will be offered in due time.

Updates:

Currently, Targu Mures is in the yellow scenario – https://www.aspms.ro/documente/incidenta.pdf