Historical Past and Contemporary Propaganda in the Global Context
Friday, June 7, 2024 – Saturday, June 8, 2024 9:00 am – 5:45 pm CET/GMT+1Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Zentrum (Geschwister-Scholl-Straße 1/3 10117 Berlin)
The international conference "Historical Past and Contemporary Propaganda in the Global Context" will be co-hosted by the Smolny Beyond Borders Initiative at BCB and the Center for Comparative Research on Democracy of Humboldt University on June 7–8, 2024.
The conference aims to explore various aspects of the contemporary practice of memory and propaganda in the global context, encompassing Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Two main questions that will be discussed are: What characteristics, if any, distinguish the politics of propaganda from the politics of history? Which factors beyond political regimes determine how propaganda has been implemented in the past?
The keynote talk, titled "Russia's Casus Belli: Memory Politics or Political Propaganda?" will be presented by Alexander Etkind of Central European University at 5:00pm on June 8.
The conference will take place at the Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Zentrum of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Geschwister-Scholl-Straße 1/3, 10117 Berlin). Programming on Friday, June 7 will run from 8:45am-5:45am; and on Saturday, June 8 from 8:45am-6:30pm.
Smolny Beyond Borders is a liberal arts initiative that continues and builds upon the legacy of Smolny College (formerly a joint program of St. Petersburg State University and Bard College), the longest-running dual degree program between any Russian and American institution. It was established in November 2022 by a group of former Smolny College faculty with the support of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, and Bard College Berlin (BCB). For nearly a quarter of a century, Smolny College was unprecedented in its support of the liberal arts community in Russia. With Putin’s authoritarian regime targeting progressive educational institutions, many Russian intellectuals, including former Smolny faculty members and students, have been forced to leave Russia. The Gagarin Center for the Study of Civil Society and Human Rights at Bard College allows Russian scholars to continue to pursue research and educational activities focused on contemporary social, economic, and human rights issues. The Center was formerly part of Smolny College. The Center now partners with Smolny Beyond Borders, an educational initiative for faculty and students who left Russia and the surrounding region due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine and risk of political persecution. Supported by the Andrew Gagarin Trust, the Center continues to support Smolny BB faculty research on vital issues and public programming. For more information visit: https://www.smolny.org
The Center for Comparative Research on Democracy (CCRD) is a research center at the Department of Social Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. The Center is dedicated to promoting a deeper and more nuanced understanding of democracy by bringing together scholars from a wide range of disciplines, including political science, sociology, philosophy, and law, to study the complex and multifaced nature of democracy. The Center's research activities include organizing workshops and conferences, fostering international collaborations, and supporting graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. CCRD also engages policy makers and the broader public through its outreach activities, such as public lectures, book events, roundtable discussions. It provides opportunities and platforms for scholars at risk and facilitates the exchange of ideas on academic freedom. It also creates a hub for comparative research on issues of (de-)democratization in Europe and beyond. For more information visit: https://ccrd-berlin.de/
The U.S. Russia Foundation (USRF) is an American non-profit organization founded in 2008 that aims to strengthen relations between the United States and Russia and to promote the development of the private sector in the Russian Federation. The Foundation is the legacy organization of the U.S. Russia Investment Fund (TUSRIF), an organization founded by the U.S. Government under the Support for Eastern European Democracy Act of 1989 and the Freedom Support Act of 1992. USRF works in partnership with the U.S. Government through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). USRF makes grants in three main lanes, Media & Free Enterprise, Rule of Law, and Civil Society & Expertise. For more information visit: https://www.usrf.us
Email: [email protected]