ASEEES News

Thursday, November 07, 2024

ASEEES Announces 57th ASEEES Annual Convention Theme

2025 ASEEES President
Adrienne Edgar, UC Santa Barbara

Memory is both personal and collective, and shared ways of remembering help to define human
communities. In Eastern Europe and Eurasia, individual and “unofficial” memories have often
been seen as more trustworthy than the history recounted in official sources. Yet individual
memory is inevitably affected and shaped by public memory, which some states and political
elites try to manipulate for their own gain. Authoritarian rulers, whatever their ideological stripe,
seek to control historical memory in order to bolster and justify their rule.

The study of memory is interdisciplinary, engaging cultural and literary theorists, social scientists,
historians, and others. Remembrance is also crucial to the work of archivists, librarians, museum
curators, and other professionals. For several years, our field has been reexamining long-held
assumptions and incorporating new, previously marginalized or silenced perspectives. This
process of decolonization brings with it changes in how we remember and commemorate the
past. At the same time, a broad assault on truth in our digital age makes the collective memories
that sustain communities more contested and fragile. All of these developments highlight the
importance of our work as scholars for understanding both the past and the present of Eastern
Europe and Eurasia. The 2025 ASEEES convention invites scholars working in all disciplines and
historical periods to explore the theme of memory as it relates to our region.

Spotlight on Central Asian Studies: We encourage proposals on Central Asian studies in all disciplines.

Deadline: March 1, 2025
Submission platform opens early January 2025

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