Conference “The Chernobyl Accident and Society: 30 Years after the Catastrophe”

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The International NGO “HISTORIKA” (Minsk)
Belarusian Oral History Archive (Minsk)
Institute of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Warsaw)
Flying University (Minsk)
invite participation in the international scholarly conference
“The Chernobyl Accident and Society: 30 Years after the Catastrophe”
(Minsk, 15–16 April 2016)
The thirtieth anniversary of the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant should become an occasion for a certain “inventory” of our knowledge on the problem of the human being and society in the “post-Chernobyl world” and, perhaps, for defining new research directions.

It is no secret that for a number of reasons this catastrophe and its consequences in Belarus have been pushed to the periphery of public and scholarly interest.

However, as the studies of the Belarusian Oral History Archive (2015) have shown, Chernobyl still resonates as a great pain in the memory of those affected by this tragedy.

At the same time, it underscores the importance of the social sciences and humanities, as well as the responsibility of scholars for what happens to the human being and society in a situation of global catastrophe.

We invite scholars to try to answer the following questions:
What social and political consequences did the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant have for Belarusian society and for the entire post-Soviet region?

How did this accident affect the development of the social sciences and humanities?

How have the Chernobyl catastrophe and its consequences been reflected in the memory and culture of the peoples of Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia?

The conference will have an interdisciplinary character.

We expect the participation of historians, cultural scholars, political scientists, sociologists, literary scholars, as well as representatives of other social sciences and humanities.

Two sessions are planned:
The Human Being, Society, and the State 30 Years after the Chernobyl Catastrophe
Memory and Reflection: Chernobyl in the Mirrors of Memory and Culture
The working languages of the conference are Belarusian, Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, and English.

Please send applications for participation by 31 January 2016 to: [email protected] ([email protected]).

The application should indicate academic degree, place of work, the title of the paper and theses (no more than 2,000 characters), contact telephone number, and email address.

The organizing committee reserves the right to select applications.

The conference materials will be published.

The organizers will reimburse travel and accommodation expenses for conference participants.

Please forward this information to all interested persons.

Conference organizing committee:
Doctor of Historical Sciences Ales Smalianchuk,
Mgr Uladzimir Valodzin
Mgr Hanna Kavaliova
Mgr Andrei Mastyka
Pavel Sitnik