Call for Papers

The Association Internationale d'Histoire Contemporaine de l'Europe (AIHCE) will convene a two-part conference in 2005 on the subject, "1956: Europe and the World,." The first three sessions, which will be held in the spring of 2005 near Bratislava, Slovakia, will examine Europe in 1956. The second part, which will take place in August 2005 at the meeting of the International Congress of Historical Sciences in Sydney, Australia, will cover the global issues of 1956.

Overall themes: For Europe and the larger world, the year 1956 marked the climax of a decade of transformation from ruin to recovery and from a global World War II to a global Cold War, the beginning of decolonization, emergence of "three worlds." The year 1956 was also marked by new ideological, strategic, economic, and cultural forces, which challenged traditional ideas, leaders, and power structures.

In an attempt to explore the bases of this transformation, the AIHCE invites individual paper proposals (topics 1-4) under the following categories:

Bratislava: Europe in 1956

A. Postwar revival and Adjustments
1. Suez
2. The German Problem
3. The Common Market
4. Decolonization

B. Whither Communism?
1. 20th Party Congress of the CPSU
2. Poland
3. Hungary
4. Yugoslavia

C. Europe Divided
1. Space and the Atom
2. Peace Movements
3. Espionage
4. Cultural Cold War

Sydney: Global 1956

A. Religion, Race, Gender
1. The Catholic Church
2. Confronting Racism in Africa
3. Gender and Empire
4. Israel and Its Neighbors

B. Global Players
1. "Pactomania"
2. African-Asian Solidarity Movement and the Concept of Neutralism
3. The United Nations
4. China's Way

C. Economic, Cultural Transformation
1. The "new urbanism"
2. Tourism and cultural transfer
3. Oil as a primary source of energy
4. The Olympics

Paper proposals: Proposals for either the Bratislava or Sydney meetings will be accepted until June 30, 2003. Submissions should include a one-page single-spaced description of the proposal that also states how the paper will address the larger topic under consideration along with a one-page curriculum vita. Since publication is anticipated, papers should be a maximum of thirty pages in length, based on original research, and may not have been presented or published elsewhere.

The AIHCE does not provide travel funds to contributors, but will extend a letter of invitation that may be used to apply for grants.