About the conference
International Conference
Majorities ↔ Minorities:
The Slavia’s Linguistic-Cultural Identities Through the Ages
In the anniversary year of the University of Vienna, the Department of Slavic Studies, the oldest establishment of this kind worldwide, aims to remind of its rich heritage and Vienna’s special role in the mediation between the Slavic cultures in the last more than one and a half centuries by means of the announced conference.
This conference, which is also dedicated the anniversary of the Viennese Department of Slavic Studies, deals with questions of current developments in the Slavic world as well as with its history. The question about the identity of the individual and society – in a cultural, linguistic and confessional regard – is in the foreground. This applies not only the Slavs, but also to other ethnic groups that live or lived in the Slavia. Our approach to this issue is committed to the philological tradition of cultural studies.
The thematic framework of the conference comprises the following fields:
- Politics of minorities in the Hapsburg empire with special regard to the education system
- Development of new majorities and minorities in the Slavia
- Outline of history: language policy and ideological influences
- Change of the role of the Russian language from a primarily imperial language to a new minority language in the succession states of the Soviet Union
- Status, problems and future of minority and micro languages in the Slavia
- Eastern Jewish culture and Yiddish in the context of majority/minority difficulties
- Are there “phantom languages” and “phantom cultures” in the Slavia?
- Religious minority identities
The conference languages are all occurring Slavic languages as well as German, Yiddish and English.
The Department of Slavic Studies of the University of Vienna is looking forward to numerous interesting papers and interdisciplinary discussions.
Contact for inquiries and further information:
konferenz2015.slawistik@univie.ac.at
