Details

This year’s conference, the University’s third on Belarus, will bring together history scholars, educational practitioners, civic activists and independent publishers from Belarus, Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, Israel, Canada and the United States.

The Warsaw event will examine Belarus’ place in Europe at a particularly important moment. Following decisions to enter into a “Dialogue Process” with Brussels, join the EU’s Eastern Partnership Program and develop a multi-vector foreign policy, the Belarusian government is reevaluating the country’s relationship and place in Europe. Its approach to the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald was a recent example. Once reluctant to embrace its European heritage as a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the government allowed the production of television documentaries, reenactment festivals, a postage stamp and book, and other official forms of celebration for this major event in European history.

The multi-discipline conference will examine key intersections between the history of Belarus and Europe, as well as their impact on current events, foreign policy and curricula. The two-day event’s panels will focus on core academic concepts, modern teaching methodologies, crossborder research and educational projects, and recent publications on the topic of Belarus and Europe. Five practical workshops will look at important historical texts which should be made accessible to the Belarusian public, highlight crossborder projects with Europe that deal with historical scholarship and publishing, and opportunities to build closer ties between Belarusian and foreign historians. The conference will feature leading historians on Belarus from around the world. The proceedings will be published in Belarusian and English. The working languages of the event will be Belarusian and English. For more details, please consult the attached agenda.

If you wish to attend the event, please contact the conference organizers (office@civicspaceinstitute.org.pl).

The event is organized with support of Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Open Society Institute and National Endowment for Democracy.