On 17-18 September 2014, the NISE platform organises a conference on the notion of heroism in national movements. During this first event of an ambitious project on ‘Heroes and protagonists’, meant to assess and compare the role of both glorified and mostly invisible individuals in European nationalisms, the mechanics of national hero worship will be unravelled. Central to the conference, taking place in Vilnius, is the question why and how people become national heroes and how this is related to the stage of national development, from the nineteenth century onwards. In order to answer this question, several perspectives must be taken into account, including mass communication, education, gender and identity.

While all ‘hero’ classifications are welcome, the conference will have four thematic sessions, dealing with 1. the awakening of historical or mythical figures; 2. contemporary people and the acquisition/attribution of heroic traits; 3. heroism in socio-cultural circles, and 4. heroism in popular media. The results of the conference will be published in a book and made available by the NISE database.

Abstracts counting c. 250 words are due on 31 December 2013. More information on the conference, its theme and the overarching project can be found on the NISE website (http://nise.eu).