Contemporary research suggests that economic marginalization of ethnic minorities remains a persistent trait in Central\, Eastern\, and Southeastern Europe. From a historical perspective\, economic advantages and disadvantages were often determined along ethnic lines. This changed w ith the onset of nationalism and the formation of nation-states\, where ac cess to power and economic resources started to be reserved for ethnic maj orities\, crucially changing the status many ethnic economic elites had pr eviously enjoyed. In the interwar period\, the governments of the new nati on-states were eager to take over their countries not only politically and culturally\, but also with a focus on the economic sphere. This severely impacted the former elites\, who were often members of ethnic minorities\, as well as other ethnic groups\, especially Jews\, who\, while usually no t belonging to the elites\, had previously still held crucial positions in the economic sphere.
\nThis conference seeks to explore the intrica te dynamics of ethnicity and economic development in Eastern Europe. By fo cusing on historical research with a special emphasis on the late imperial and the interwar period\, this event aims to shed light on how identifica tion and differentiation based on ethnicity have shaped economic experienc es and outcomes in the region. The conference will address topics such as the unequal concentration of wealth across ethnic lines\, the economic and social marginalization of certain ethnic groups\, and the correlation bet ween social and economic inequalities with ethnicity and majority-minority relations.
\nKey themes discussed at the conference include the rel ationship between ethnicity and entrepreneurship\, the economic advantages of common ethnicity\, and the impact of ethnic (as well as racial) discri mination\, as well as the overall role of ethnicity in economic developmen t.
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260911T180000 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:news797@osteuropa.philhist.unibas.ch DTSTAMP;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260907T140437 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260924T140000 SUMMARY:Conference "Living the Soviet Utopia: Cultural History of Technolog oies in Ukraine\, 1922-1991" DESCRIPTION:Rather than treating technology as a purely infrastructural or economic domain\, the conference approaches it as a cultural force that sh aped forms of knowledge\, social hierarchies\, and everyday life\, while s imultaneously being redefined through these very practices. Central to thi s framework are questions about how scientific knowledge and expert author ity were produced within specific institutional environments\, including c losed academic cities\, secrecy regimes\, and highly structured research i nfrastructures\, and how these conditions contributed to the formation of a distinct scientific intelligentsia. Equally important is the exploration of technology in everyday life: how industrial goods\, housing technologi es\, agricultural modernization\, and consumer technologies mediated daily routines\, aspirations\, and material cultures of Soviet citizens. The co nference further interrogates how infrastructures of modernization were ex perienced unevenly across space and social groups\, producing both visions of progress and persistent frictions of scarcity\, adaptation\, and infor mal practice. At the same time\, attention is given to the cultural imagin ation of technology in Soviet Ukraine\, including cybernetics and early no tions of artificial intelligence\, as well as to the ways in which technol ogical optimism and its limits were represented\, contested\, and reworked in cinema\, visual culture\, and artistic responses to industrialization and catastrophe. In this regard\, the Chernobyl disaster serves as a criti cal point of reflection on the fragility of technological utopianism and i ts environmental and social consequences.\\r\\nFor more information\, see the flyer [t3://file?uid=1197] below. X-ALT-DESC:Rather than treating technology as a purely infrastructural o r economic domain\, the conference approaches it as a cultural force that shaped forms of knowledge\, social hierarchies\, and everyday life\, while simultaneously being redefined through these very practices. Central to t his framework are questions about how scientific knowledge and expert auth ority were produced within specific institutional environments\, including closed academic cities\, secrecy regimes\, and highly structured research infrastructures\, and how these conditions contributed to the formation o f a distinct scientific intelligentsia. Equally important is the explorati on of technology in everyday life: how industrial goods\, housing technolo gies\, agricultural modernization\, and consumer technologies mediated dai ly routines\, aspirations\, and material cultures of Soviet citizens. The conference further interrogates how infrastructures of modernization were experienced unevenly across space and social groups\, producing both visio ns of progress and persistent frictions of scarcity\, adaptation\, and inf ormal practice. At the same time\, attention is given to the cultural imag ination of technology in Soviet Ukraine\, including cybernetics and early notions of artificial intelligence\, as well as to the ways in which techn ological optimism and its limits were represented\, contested\, and rework ed in cinema\, visual culture\, and artistic responses to industrializatio n and catastrophe. In this regard\, the Chernobyl disaster serves as a cri tical point of reflection on the fragility of technological utopianism and its environmental and social consequences.
\nFor more information\, see the flyer below.
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260925T150000 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR