[ecrea] CFP: Shibboleth 1967/1968 conference

Shibboleth 1967/1968

International Conference

Warsaw, Poland

2-4 December 2015

Deadline for abstract submission: 30 September 2015

On behalf of the Institute of Literary Research, Polish Academy of
Sciences, American Studies Center, University of Warsaw, Institute of
Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of Science, POLIN Museum of the History
of Polish Jews and Polish Academy of Sciences we would like to invite
you to participate in the Shibboleth 1967/1968 conference, which will be
held in Warsaw on 2-4 December 2015.

The date 1967/1968 became recognized as a key moment in Jewish history,
which is, however, differently located in various national narratives.
The events that took place around this time in Israel, in the former
Soviet bloc countries, Western Europe, and the US are often read in the
immediate context of their respective local political configurations.
Diagnosing the limitations of such an approach, we would like to explore
the transnational political aspects of 1967/1968 in Jewish history, but
even more importantly its broader cultural and social dimensions.
Juxtaposing, for instance, the significance of the Six-Day War in
Israel, the anti-Semitic campaign in Poland, the birth of youth
subculture, and the sexual revolution can deepen our understanding not
only of 1967/1968, but also of the resulting new modes of Jewishness
prominent today.

Such a broadened transnational and cultural understanding of the events
of 1967/1968 may challenge them as a universal marker of the
transformations of Jewishness. For instance, it has been assumed that
the Six-Day war influenced Holocaust memorialization in the US, which in
turn significantly shaped the construction of Jewish identity. Newer
studies, however, show a more nuanced grasp of these processes that seem
to have their genealogy in the years immediately after WWII. How do
these challenges to the import of 1967/1968 present itself if we
approach the date from a transnational vantage point? How does the date
signify when it is embedded in other cultural narratives?

The aim of this conference is to expand on these questions and create a
space for critical comparative reflection on 1967/1968 including the
context of Central and Eastern Europe. Whereas, for instance, the
Polish-Jewish contexts of March 1968, the political conditioning of the
anti-Semitic campaign, its course, the following forced immigration and
the experience of the immigrants have been explored for quite some time,
they are most often located in that narrow national and political
context and only seldom a part of a broader conversation on Jews under
communism, which often focuses on the Soviet Union. While contrasting
hegemonic and marginalized narratives from various national settings in
Eastern, Central, and Western Europe, the US and Israel, we want to
propose a new decentered and transnational framework for thinking about
1967/1968.

Possible topics could include but are not limited to:

1967/1968 in literature and film
1967/1968 in art
(Narratives of) 1967/1968 immigration
1967/1968 and communism
(Trans)national configurations of 1967/1968
1967/1968 and Zionism
1967/1968 and memorializing the Holocaust
1967/1968 and gender and sexuality
Sexual revolution and Jewishness
Polish March 1968 as a student revolt
Student revolt and Jewishness
1967/1968 and generational differences
1967/1968 and alternative periodizations
1967/1968 and Jewish Studies

We invite scholars of literary studies, cultural studies, or history and
related fields to submit an abstract (ca. 200 words) and a short bio
note to:

(conference.shibboleth /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(conference.shibboleth /at/ gmail.com)>
by 30 September 2015.

The conference language is English. There will be no conference fee.

https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/78517/shibboleth-19671968-international-conference-warsaw-poland-2-4

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