Call for Papers - Language, Culture and Identity around the Caspian (and beyond)

Call for Papers - Language, Culture and Identity around the Caspian (and beyond): Local, regional and sub-national perspectives in nation-building

Abstract Deadline: October 18, 2013

We are currently preparing an edited volume on local, regional and sub-national perspectives in nation-building processes in the Caspian region and beyond. We are looking for 2-3 additional contributions on specific country case studies for Afghanistan, Georgia and Uzbekistan.

The contributions should aim to probe the extent to which nation-building policies put forward by ruling elites have resonated, been understood and contested by their intended audiences. This can be related to nation-building policies, projects and discourses broadly conceived around the themes of culture, language and identity. Existing accounts of nation-building tend to neglect local realities, and the way nation-building is lived through by locals at the everyday level, or by those policy-takers that apparently have no voice in the political process. In contrast, our book documents the way micro-actors dialogue with macro ones at different levels (e.g. national, sub-national, regional) and through a dialogical process renegotiate nationalising policies, discourses and values. Case studies, therefore, should aim to contribute to this approach in empirical terms and theoretically by engaging with the literature on nation-building, nationalism and identity. Contributions are welcome from across social science disciplines.

Editors are: Rico Isaacs (Oxford Brookes University) and Abel Polese (Dublin City University/Tallinn University)

We are available to discuss informally at the e-mail address below. Otherwise please send a 300 word abstract and short bio to ricoisaacs@brookes.ac.uk.