CFP: Theory and Methods Workshop on Alternative Cultures
Call for Participation
Theory and Methods Workshop on Alternative Cultures
Hegedušić Room/Seminar Room (1st Floor – right wing)
Croatian Institute of History
Opaticka ul. 10, 10000 Zagreb
The theory and methods workshop on alternative cultures emerged from, and is a continuation of, the previous workshop on the genealogies and framing of alternative cultures (May 31, 2019) held within the framework of the 2019 Management Committee Meeting of the NEP4DISSENT COST Action. The upcoming workshop’s central goal is to use its results to build the theory and methods chapter of the upcoming volume Creative Dissent: Alternative Cultures during Socialism and Beyond, 1945-1991 (edited by K. Cseh-Varga / M. Klimke / B. Peksevgen / R. Werenskjold / M. Zubak).
This workshop is centered around exploring what ‘alternative culture’ means, and how we can critically reflect on the terminology within the context of state socialisms. The organizers of the workshop are interested in the origins, the translation, the adaptation, the production, the reproduction, and the distribution of this terminology, both as a historic and a contemporary phenomenon. In this workshop, we seek to challenge the existing theories of alternative cultures and the methods used to research them. The scope of topics to be covered also includes the use and origins of the term ‘alternative culture’ and its many variations in aesthetic thought; its manifestation in a variety of artistic genres; its nature as a travelling concept between and within different ideological worlds; the relation between alternative and mainstream cultures; the term’s (re-)invention in youth culture; and the methodological challenges (misconceptions?) that are attached to the (retrospective/historical) separation of ‘culture’ into many different typologies.
We are seeking up to 12 seriously interested participants who will actively contribute to the collective writing process of the above-mentioned theory and methods chapter, and who are also willing to pursue this initiative further.
Applications with a 300 word statement of interest are due by February 4, 2020. Successful applicants will be notified about acceptance by February 10, 2020.
Workshop attendees will be granted online access to the draft version of the theory and methods chapter (based on the discussion which took place at the genealogies and framing workshop in May 2019) by February 24, 2020. This document will form the basis of our debate, and will be the text we will mainly be working on throughout the March 2020 workshop. The email which participants will receive by February 24 will also include a detailed schedule and information on preparations and on-site tasks. Every participant who has already contributed to the writing of the chapter, or who will do so at the workshop, will be listed as an author of the Creative Dissent chapter.
The organizers will gladly respond to any enquiries regarding organizational and content-related issues.
Katalin Cseh-Varga (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna): k.cseh-varga@akbild.ac.at
Marko Zubak (Croatian Institute of History): markozubak@hotmail.com