17th Annual Graduate Student Conferece - Graduate Organization for the Study of Europe and Central Asia (GOSECA)

"Borderlands"

17th Annual Graduate Student Conference

Graduate Organization for the Study of Europe and Central Asia (GOSECA)

University of Pittsburgh, February 28-29, 2020

Borders—whether political, cultural, linguistic, or otherwise—are artificial constructs, often fluid and rarely unanimously accepted. The spaces between and beyond the lines of demarcation—the “borderlands”—often manifest as multicultural, impermanent places of shifting identities and disparate perspectives. Many scholars have remarked on the global and cultural transformations that have taken place since 1989 and the accompanying emergence of new borderlands in Europe and Central Asia. The liminal spaces around these borders have become new points of contact and conflict for various cultures and ideologies, now brought together or divided by the turn of history. For its 17th annual conference, the Graduate Organization for the Study of Europe and Central Asia (GOSECA) at the University of Pittsburgh invites presentations that explore the concept of “borderlands,” whether political, ideological, cultural, linguistic or of another type altogether.