The workshop will start at 12:00 (Moscow time). The link will be sent to the participants via e-mail.

The Student Scientific Society of the Faculty of History, Lomonosov Moscow State University, invites you to participate in the workshop “Travel as a factor in forging identities: case studies”, which will be held online on November 20-21, 2020.

The aim of the workshop is to explore, bringing together the example of individual case studies:

1. how the concepts and categories of “travel” have been evolving at different stages of historical development?

2. what kind of methodological approaches can be applied to the study of the travelogues?

3. which keywords are the main and encompassing for all travel participants (for example, “identity”, “modernization”, “nationalism”, “globalization”, “dialogue”, “empty time”, etc.)?

4. what general tendencies can we observe in the formation of national and ethnic identities of the travellers, as well as in the making of the image of the local population?

Central issues for the discussion include, but are not limited to:

• Travel actors;

• Space of contact between the traveller and the local population;

• Traces of cultural contacts between travellers and local residents;

• The changing image of the states, national and ethnic groups, nature, everyday life (for example, folk costume or cuisine) through the eyes of the travellers;

• The problem of the travellers’ national / civil / ethnic / political and other identities.

How was the idea of ​​travel and travellers formed from the ancient times to the 21^st century? Which types of travel prevailed during different periods of history, and how were they intertwined with the transformations of the society? Could the wandering people create their own “imagined communities”? Whether did the spaces of cultural transit exist, through which there were regular contacts between travellers and the local population? How did travellers construct the image of the “Other”, and how did states regulate this process? How did contacts with travellers change the traveller's own identity and that of the locals?

We will try to find answers to these and many other questions using the material from various cases.

The organizers are planning to publish the paper abstracts and the results of the discussion in the online journal “Istoricheskiye issledovaniya” (“Historical studies”) of the Lomonosov Moscow State University’s Faculty of History.

Researchers in the field of history, archaeology, social and cultural anthropology, political science, sociology, and cultural studies and linguistics are invited to participate in the workshop, including postgraduates and undergraduates.

Paper proposals (max. 300 words) should reach the conference committee by November 18, 2020. The proposals should be submitted via email: gtaag@mail.ru (Alina Amvrosova) or  pavkneazev@yandex.ru (Pavel Knyazev). Please enclose the paper title and a short biographical note.

Paper abstracts (max. 6000 words) are accepted for publication before December 30, 2020 (in .doc, .docx, .pdf format). The text should be submitted in MS Word 2003 or 2007 format.

The event will be held entirely online on the Zoom platform. The conference’s working languages are English and Russian. A link to the conference will be sent to participants on the eve of the event.

• The Program