Call For Papers

“Everything is Still Before You”: Being Young in Siberia Today

15–17 November, 2003
Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle, Germany

When older people in Russia say to younger ones, “You are young, everything is still before you” (Ty eshche molodoi, u tebia vse eshche vperedi), they do so with a mixture of envy and hope for the possibilities of the future, and nostalgia for their own bygone youth. But this saying is also tinged with a pity born of the recognition of the difficulties and uncertainties confronting young people today. Such difficulties and uncertainties become magnified in allegedly peripheral regions such as Siberia. How are contemporary Siberian youth dealing with these issues? What are they doing to gain a degree of control over their own lives? Is it possible to interpret some of the “problems” of youth – crime, violence, substance abuse – not as the inevitable outcomes of economic and political forces beyond the control of youth, but rather as conscious expressions of self-defined life-styles?

As a first step toward addressing these questions, the Siberian Studies Centre of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology invites papers for the conference “Everything is Still Before You”: Being Young in Siberia Today, to be held 15–17 November, 2003, in Halle, Germany. We are seeking papers based on recent fieldwork. Papers should focus on issues facing young people living in Siberia (both indigenous and non-indigenous), including but not limited to:

• changing expectations and orientations,

• relationships to “traditional” ways of life,

• relationships to native languages,

• popular culture,

• migration, urban-rural connections,

• (un)employment and economic activities (both legal and illegal),

• aggression against others and oneself: crime, violence, suicide,

• gender issues,

• sexuality,

• conflict between generations.

Each presenter will be given 25 minutes to present his/her paper. Please send a 500 word abstract by 31 August 2003 to the Siberian Studies Centre (address indicated below). Conference languages are English and Russian.

Given the short notice of this call for papers, we do not expect publication-length texts by the time of the conference. However, participants are expected to submit presentation-length drafts (2500-3000 words) by 7 November, so that all participants will have the opportunity to read the papers of their co-panelists (and others) before the conference begins.

Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
Siberian Studies Centre

Co-ordinator
Joachim Otto Habeck
Postfach/PO Box 11 03 51
D-06017 Halle/Saale, Germany

Tel.: +49 (0)3 45 - 29 27 – 216
Fax: +49 (0)3 45 - 29 27 – 502

http://www.eth.mpg.de

e-mail: habeck@eth.mpg.de