The Institute of Western and Southern Slavonic Studies, University of Warsaw and New Bulgarian University welcome you to join the academic conference 𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟐𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐲. The conference will take place on 15 May 2023.
The notion of care, traditionally addressed in classical ethics and/or feminism, is increasingly present in discussions around the most acute issues of the present day, including: war, pandemics, climate crisis, political instability, economic inequality. In the public discourse in Slavic countries – unlike in English-speaking and Scandinavian countries – a fragmentation of the understanding of care may be seen, as evidenced, i.a., by the heterogeneity of terminology: the English care in Polish corresponds to such terms as troska, opieka, usługi medyczne, świadczenie troski, zatroskanie, solidarność społeczna and others. Despite the multiplicity of approaches, care is consistently associated with the ethics of love and doing good and is juxtaposed with the individualistic concept of man as a ‘lonely island’.
With the subject of the conference we want to join the academic discussion on the development of the idea of care and its implementation in social and institutional practice, culture, language, education, politics, legislation, environmental protection and other fields. We are interested in unique attitudes to, and practices of care in Central and Eastern Europe shaped in the period after the Lisbon Treaty establishing the European Community (2007).
We welcome researchers from various disciplines in the area of humanities and social sciences to obtain different perspectives in an attempt to answer such fundamental questions as:
what is care and what is care-lessness;
what are practical and theoretical dimensions of care;
how do we talk about care and ‘with care’;
is care a personal and social imperative;
how is care perceived and implemented in Poland and in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
The conference will be held in Polish, Bulgarian and English.
The conference will be held in an on-site format at the Institute of Western and Southern Slavonic Studies, University of Warsaw and at New Bulgarian University, and remotely on the Zoom platform.
Organisers do not provide a fee for attending the conference.
We look forward to working with you!
Organisers:
- Institute of Western and Southern Slavonic Studies, University of Warsaw project group
- NBU project group
Programme
Monday, May 15th
8:15 Opening Ceremony and Welcome Speech
8:30 – 10:10 Session I: Literary interpretations of CARE (100 min.)
Session chair: Syliwa Siedlecka (PhD, Institute of Western and Southern Slavic Studies, UW)
- Grażyna Szwat-Gyłybowa (Prof. dr hab., Literary and cultural studies, IS PAN,): В капана на грижата. Субверсивното майчинство в романа “Деса” на Ивана Траjаноска (In the trap of care. Subversive motherhood in the novel “Desa” by Ivana Trajanoska)
- Yordan Efftimov (PhD Assoc. Prof. in Theory and History of Literature, NBU): Старите хора в съвременната българска художествена проза (Old people in contemporary Bulgarian fiction)
- Moris Fadel: (PhD Assoc. Prof. in Theory and History of Literature, NBU): The possible impossibility of care (the presence of care in Jonathan Littell’s novel The Кindly Ones.)
- Biliana Kurtasheva (PhD Assoc. Prof. in Theory and History of Literature, NBU): Фигури на грижата: баби, мигранти, роботи. Стари неравенства и нови апории (Figures of care: grandmothers, migrants, robots. Old inequalities and new aporias)
10:10 Coffee Break (15 min.)
10:25 – 12:05 Session II: Legal interpretations of CARE
Session chair: Andreana Eftimova (Prof. DSc., Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”)
- Deyana Marcheva (PhD Assoc. Prof. in Law, NBU): Notion of Care and the Need for a Theory of Vulnerable Subjects in Bulgarian Law
- Silvia Tsoneva (PhD, Assoc. Prof. in Law, NBU): The duty of care as a tool to keep tort liability under control
- Rumen Petrov (PhD Assoc. Prof. in Social Work, NBU): Care, social engineering, and care-lessness in the late totalitarian Bulgaria (and afterword). The Brain Program of the Politburo of the Bulgarian Communist party and its repercussions in psychological humanities 40 years later.
- Valeri Vachev (PhD, Faculty of Law and Administration, UW): Polish Commissioner for Human Rights facing challenges in protecting individual rights and freedoms
Short break (5 min.)
12:10 Practices of CARE: Special Guests’ Session (30 min.)
Session chair: Iliana Genew-Puhalewa (Dr hab. Institute of Western and Southern Slavic Studies, UW)
- Manol Peykov: publisher and activist, Member of Parliament
- Miwa Maruyama: writer and activist, lecturer at the Jagellonian University
12:40 Lunch Break (60 min.)
13: 40 Session III: Educational and practical dimensions of CARE (100 min.)
Session chair: Yordan Efftimov (PhD Assoc. Prof. in Theory and History of Literature, NBU)
- Ekaterina Todorova (Assoc. Prof., PhD): Приобщаващо образование за студенти със специални образователни потребности в Нов български университет (Inclusive Education of Students with Special Education Needs in New Bulgarian University)
- Georgi Tsonev (lecturer at NBU): NBU’s tutor program – academia as helping and caring for the well-being of students beyond academic knowledge
- Andreana Eftimova (Prof. , Faculty of Journalismand Mass Communication Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”): Проблеми с употребата на феминативи за професии, свързани с медицинската грижа (Problems with the use of feminized forms for professions related to medical care)
- Project team ISZiP UW: dr hab. Iliana Genew-Puhalewa, dr Magdalena Kałuża, Kinga Kaczkowska, Dominik Jachimczyk, Rafał Mrowiński (Institute of Western and Southern Slavic Studies, UW): Koncept CARE/TROSKA w dokumentach UE dotyczących wojny w Ukrainie (na materiale polskim, chorwackim, bułgarskim i angielskim) (The concept of CARE in EU documents regarding the war in Ukraine (based on Polish, Croatian, Bulgarian, and English material))
15:20 Final Discussion and Closing Ceremony
Remarks:
- The hours are given in Central European Time.
- The working languages of the conference are Bulgarian, Polish, and English.