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From: &quot;Serguei Alex. Oushakine&quot; &lt;<a href="mailto:oushakin%40Princeton.EDU">oushakin@Princeton.<wbr>EDU</a>&gt;<br>
<br>
Call for Papers<br>
TOTALITARIAN LAUGHTER:<br>
CULTURES OF THE COMIC UNDER SOCIALISM<br>
<br>
May 8-9, 2009<br>
<br>
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures<br>
Princeton University<br>
<a href="http://slavic.princeton.edu/events/">http://slavic.<wbr>princeton.<wbr>edu/events/</a><br>
<br>
Throughout its history, socialist mass culture actively relied on satire,<br>
humor, and comedy to foster emotional bonds with its audience. Orchestrated<br>
by the state cultural industry, public laughter released social and<br>
political tension, while leaving intact or buttressing mechanisms of<br>
repression and institutions of power. In turn, late Soviet irony or the<br>
aesthetic of grotesque, developed from below, became instrumental in<br>
solidifying a cultural distance from the values promoted by the socialist<br>
state. Varied in their impact and scope, these cultures of the comic<br>
nonetheless constantly pointed to the irrationality and ludicrousness of the<br>
socialist way of life.<br>
Whether officially approved or censored, totalitarian laughter relativized<br>
existing practices and norms, suggesting different models of understanding<br>
and embodying really existing socialism. Regardless of their content, these<br>
jokes of repression shared the same quality: they were made, not found. It<br>
is precisely this active production of totalitarian laughter from above and<br>
from below that this conference aims to explore. How did state socialism<br>
transform traditional genres and categories of the comic? How crucial was<br>
state censorship in producing (or suppressing) totalitarian laughter?<br>
Through what forms of displacement and condensation did official and<br>
non-official cultures achieve their comic effect? How did these practices of<br>
the comic correspond and interact with each other? What kinds of communities<br>
were formed in the process of producing jokes of repression? What were the<br>
mechanisms and paths of circulation through which laughable versions of<br>
socialism became available to larger audiences? Finally, what kinds of<br>
pleasure did totalitarian laughter promise, if not deliver?<br>
We seek to address these questions by bringing together an interdisciplinary<br>
group of scholars interested in reconstructing the peculiar relationship<br>
between repression and laughter under state socialism. We invite papers that<br>
explore forms of socialist grotesque in the Soviet Union and central and<br>
eastern Europe in such diverse fields as politics, history, literature,<br>
arts, music, theater, television, and film, among others.<br>
Please send an abstract (300 words) of the paper you would like to present<br>
at this conference, along with your CV, by February 10, 2008 to<br>
&lt;<a href="mailto:oushakin%40princeton.edu">oushakin@princeton.<wbr>edu</a>&gt;<br>
We may be able to offer a limited number of travel subsidies for foreign<br>
presenters.<br>
Those selected to give presentations at the conference will be contacted at<br>
the end of February 2008.<br>
Final papers will be due no later than April 20, and they will be posted on<br>
the conference's website.<br>
<br>
Program committee:<br>
Serguei Oushakine (Princeton), Petre Petrov (Princeton), Seth Graham (UCL),<br>
Kevin M.F. Platt (Penn) Nancy Ries (Colgate).<br>
<br>
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        #ygrp-sponsor .ad{
                padding: 8px 0;
        }
        #ygrp-sponsor .ad #hd1{
                font-family: Arial;
                font-weight: bold;
                color: #628c2a;
                font-size: 100%;
                line-height: 122%;
        }
        #ygrp-sponsor .ad a{
                text-decoration: none;
        }
        #ygrp-sponsor .ad a:hover{
                text-decoration: underline;
        }
        #ygrp-sponsor .ad p{
                margin: 0;
        }
        o{font-size: 0; }
        .MsoNormal{
           margin: 0 0 0 0;
        }
        #ygrp-text tt{
          font-size: 120%;
        }
        blockquote{margin: 0 0 0 4px;}
        .replbq{margin:4}
        -->
        </style>
        </head>
        <!--~-|**|PrettyHtmlEnd|**|-~-->
        </html><!--End group email -->