{"id":12982,"date":"2026-09-03T15:14:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T15:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arisc.org\/?p=12982"},"modified":"2026-09-03T15:14:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T15:14:13","slug":"cfp-paths-not-taken-forgotten-non-territorial-entities-in-the-early-soviet-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arisc.org\/?p=12982","title":{"rendered":"CfP: Paths Not Taken: Forgotten (?!) (Non-)Territorial Entities in the Early Soviet Union"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

International Conference, Tbilisi, 25\u201327 February 2027<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organizer<\/strong>: David Jishkariani (Max Weber Foundation \u2013 Max Weber Network Eastern Europe (MWNO)
Co-organizer<\/strong>: J\u00f6rn Happel (Helmut-Schmidt-Universit\u00e4t\/Universit\u00e4t der Bundeswehr Hamburg)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Submission Deadline: 20 October 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/mwsgeorgia.hypotheses.org\/13941<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the early decades of the twentieth century, the Soviet Union undertook a massive project of defining, institutionalizing, and mapping nationality. Grounded in the structural principles of territoriality, economic viability, and demographic\/ethnographic composition, this era witnessed the creation of numerous territorial entities across the vast expanse of the early Soviet Union. Centered on the idea of nativization\/indigenization (korenizatsiia), Soviet nationalities policy encouraged diverse ethnic groups to develop their own administrative, political, and cultural institutions. These formations varied significantly, reflecting distinct linguistic, cultural, geographic, and economic realities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This conference seeks to move beyond the vantage point of the Soviet Union\u2019s eventual, successful establishment\/institutionalization of nationality to explore these \u201cforgotten\u201d alternatives. The organizers invite papers that examine not merely why these territorial and nonterritorial entities were dismantled, but how they functioned as sites of social and political experimentation. The organizers ask: What did these structures mean to the officials who built them and the diverse populations who inhabited them? By recovering these projects, this conference challenges the teleological view of the USSR as a predetermined \u201ccommunal apartment\u201d of nations, revealing instead a period of possibility and contingency in Soviet state and nation-building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organizers welcome contributions addressing various geographical regions, scales of analysis, and chronological frameworks. Possible themes include, but are not limited to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n