Scholars to focus on break-up of multi-ethnic federations

About 100 prominent Central and East European scholars and writers plan to gather for a groundbreaking workshop examining the disintegration of multi-ethnic federations associated with the break-up of the former communist states.

The conference Friday, April 16th, sponsored by the International Institute at UW–Madison, its member programs, and the Department of Slavic Languages, is entitled “Brothers No More.”

Details “Brothers No More,” a scholarly conference examining the break-up of multi-ethnic federations in Central and Eastern Europe, will be hel April 16 in the Memorial Union. The event is free and open to the public.

Tomislav Longinovic, associate chair of the Department of Slavic Languages, says most discussion of this topic has been dominated by political scientists and historians.

“This is a unique opportunity to hear the point of view of those who participated in the social and cultural movements as practitioners” who experienced events first-hand, he says.

The conference comes at an important time. With the outbreak of war over the future of Kosovo, and renewed debate over the question of America’s role in the region, there is, more than ever, a need for background and perspective.

The workshop will address cultural issues related to the identities of Bosnians, Serbs, Jews, and Russians in the context of new nationalism. The event brings together a panel of exceptionally distinguished writers, journalists and translators.

Among the panelists:

• David Albahari was president of the Jewish community of Yugoslavia when civil war broke out in that country several years ago. He is the author of more than a dozen works of fiction, including “Words are Something Else.” Albahari will speak about the position of Jews in new state entities that have emerged since the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.
• Aleksandar Hemon, a fiction writer and journalist, is the author of a collection of short stories and numerous articles in the Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina) press. Hemon, who currently lives in Chicago, will speak about the complexities of Bosnian identity.
• Dragan Kujundzic, a professor of Russian at Memphis University in Tennessee, is the author of numerous theoretical studies on Russian literature and identity.
• Zoran Multinovic, visiting professor of Comparative Literature at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Multinovic is one of the most promising young scholars from East Central Europe. He was fired from the University of Belgrade, along with five other colleagues, when he refused to sign a loyalty oath.

The conference is sponsored by the International Institute; the Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies (CREECA); the Global Studies Program; two research circles of the International Institute; the Slavic Languages Department; and the Wisconsin Union Directorate. The free event, to be held in Memorial Union, is open to the public.