Calls For Papers

CALL FOR PAPER PROPOSALS

 Special Issue of RLJ, Volume 76, Issue 1 (June 2026)

 “Career Readiness in Learning and Teaching Slavic Languages”

Victoria Hasko and Karen Evans-Romaine, editors

Full manuscripts due July 15, 2025 – rljeditor@gmail.com

_______________________________________________________________

Purpose, Aims, and Foci of the Special Issue:  

The 2023 Modern Language Association (MLA) report reveals that most collegiate modern language programs are experiencing declining enrollments nationwide (Lusin et al., 2023). This trend is creating a pressing need to articulate the relevance and value of language proficiency to language learners, parents, and campus administrators. At the same time, the report suggests that some language programs are thriving, and it attributes their vitality at least in part to the integration of career readiness into world language programming (ibid.). While a specific roadmap for such integration is lacking, the report highlights promising initiatives such as collaboration with career services, the inclusion of content courses tailored for specific professional purposes, and inclusion of language programs into interdisciplinary degrees and certificates. Recent learner surveys also suggest that students may be more committed to language programs that prepare them to apply their language knowledge effectively in diverse, real-world contexts, including professional internships, study abroad opportunities, and community partnerships (Morgan & Thompson, 2023; Murphy et al., 2022; also see JNCL-NCLIS, 2024). 

Slavic language programs, including Russian, are not immune to the national decline in enrollments. For example, according to the Survey of Enrollments in Russian Language Classes conducted by Study, Research, and Custom Programs Abroad (SRAS), approximately two-thirds of the 167 Russian language programs in the U.S. reported negative enrollment growth in 2023, with more than one-third experiencing a significant decline of over 20 percent. In this context, presenting linguistic and cultural proficiency as critical career assets that provide a competitive edge can be challenging not only for students but also for faculty. This special issue on Career Readiness seeks to explore how Slavic language programs can address these challenges and position themselves as key academic units within their institutions by integrating career education into their curricula and programming. The volume invites contributions that investigate effective strategies for aligning the teaching of Russian and other Slavic languages with workforce needs, examine the development of interdisciplinary connections that require expertise in language and area studies, showcase successful career readiness implementation strategies, and address structural barriers to such efforts in collaboration with various partners on their home campuses, in their local communities, with study abroad providers, and with future employers. Interested authors are also encouraged to explore how to prepare students for internships and careers that will engage them with multilingual and multicultural communities around the world where Slavic languages are spoken.

Potential subtopics may include, but are not limited to:

• Conceptual and theoretical perspectives on “career readiness” in world language education, including theorization of the term itself;
• Best practices for embedding career readiness into world language curricula, and Slavic languages in particular;
• Case studies of successful collaborations with career services, other academic units, study abroad providers, or industry and community partners;
• Interdisciplinary connections between Slavic language studies and professional fields;
• Developing courses or programs in Russian/Slavic for specific purposes (e.g., business, STEM, diplomacy);
• The role of internships, community engagement, and experiential learning in language programs in ensuring career readiness of language learners;
• Overcoming structural barriers to integrating career readiness into language teaching;
• Student motivations for studying Slavic languages and their connection to career pathways;
• Student advising on career readiness and career pathways;
• Alumni engagement with regard to career pathways;
• Assessment of career readiness.

Submissions may take the form of:

• Theoretical essays exploring the broader implications of career readiness in Slavic language programs;
• Reflective case studies detailing program innovations and implementation challenges;
• Course and program proposals outlining new models for integrating career preparation into curricula.

This special issue aims to provide practical insights for educators, program administrators, and policymakers seeking to sustain the vitality of Slavic language programs in the U.S. by integrating linguistic proficiency with transferable skills, professional competencies, and real-world applications.

Languages of Publication: RLJ publishes articles written in English or Russian.

Submission Instructions: Those interested in contributing should submit the following to rljeditor@gmail.com as a single Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx) or .PDF file attachment by March 31, 2025:

• Author name(s) and affiliation(s);
• Proposed article title;
• 250-word overview/abstract;
• 50-word biography for each author.

Please note: Abstract acceptance does not guarantee publication of the submitted manuscript. All manuscripts will be subject to a double-blind peer review process.

Timeline:

March 31, 2025 - Submission deadline for 250-word abstracts and author bio/information.

April 15, 2025 - Invitations to submit a full article sent.

July 15, 2025 - Submission deadline for full-length manuscripts (up to 5,000 words, including References). Authors should prepare their manuscript according to the Style Guidelines available at https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/rlj/policies.html.

June 2026 - Publication of the special issue.

We look forward to your submissions! Should you have any questions about this project, please contact the co-editors of the special issue, Drs. Victoria Hasko (vhasko@uga.edu) and Karen Evans-Romaine (evansromaine@wisc.edu).

Deadline: April 1, 2025

The S Word - Stanislavsky's Many Faces: Then and Now

Annual Symposium organized by The Stanislavsky Research Centre (Leeds/Malta) in collaboration with The Department of Theatre Studies (School of Performing Arts, University of Malta)

Dates:​​​ 6-9 November 2025

Venue: ​​Valletta Campus of the University of Malta, Valletta, Malta

Keynote speakers: ​Prof. Andrei Malaev-Babel (FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training and International Demidov Association) 

Prof. Frank Camilleri (University of Malta)

Benedetti Lecture:​Prof. Bella Merlin (University of California, Riverside)

Co-conveners: ​Prof. Stefan Aquilina (University of Malta)

Prof. Paul Fryer (Stanislavsky Research Centre) 

Following on from past successful editions of the Symposium, we are very pleased to announce the following Call for Papers/Presentations for the next major event of The S Word project.

Stanislavsky’s work touched so many areas of practice that simply referring to him as a ‘theatre-maker’ seems to be reductive. An actor skilled in character transformation; a highly creative director famous for compelling stage creations; a pedagogue and teacher of many performers; an experimenter who brought seismic shifts to the art of performance, in Russia and across continents; a theorist of acting and performance; book author; collaborator; public speaker;political figure; and scientist – these are among the many ‘faces’ which today we attribute to Stanislavsky. As its core, the symposium invites submissions tackling any of these or even other faces of Stanislavsky, either in isolation or in interaction with one another. 

Moreover, in its subtitle of ‘Then and Now’, the symposium is offering a second prompt for further discussion. Proposals that tackle the ‘then’, i.e. which seek to unravel Stanislavsky’s own ideas, productions, methods of work, etc. are certainly welcome; so are other proposals which consider the ‘now’, or our own interpretations and applications of Stanislavsky in a markedly different, twenty-first-century performance context. In this way, the Symposium seeks to develop a dialogue between past and present, at a time when we are steadily moving forward into ever-more contemporary understandings of the System. The ‘now’ is also extended to the research methods used today to study a historical figure like Stanislavsky. While rigorous historical study will always be important, the Symposium asks what other methodologies can be used to extend our knowledge of Stanislavsky.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

• Stanislavsky’s many faces, their negotiation and interaction 

• Relatively obscure work, sources, or practices within Stanislavsky’s oeuvre 

• Reappraising the System: how and why 

• Stanislavsky and his collaborators

• Stanislavsky today – issues of international transmission, appropriation, and adaptation

• Teaching Stanislavsky and pedagogical perspectives

• Stanislavsky and contemporary performance (e.g. postdramatic theatre, digital performance, etc.)

• Stanislavsky and contemporary concerns including gender, race, well-being, intimacy, etc.

• Methodologies used in researching Stanislavsky today: history-based; practice-as-research; use of theory, etc. 

• Interdisciplinary connections with other fields, such as Psychology, Cognitive Science, Cultural Studies, Philosophy, History, etc.

• Provocations that critique or offer a ‘risk-taking approach’ towards Stanislavsky. 

We invite proposals for contributions in the following formats:

• an individual conventional paper (20 minutes);

• practice-as-research sessions/practical presentations (20 minutes);

• practical/workshop sessions (40 minutes);

• panel presentations (a minimum of three participants) (60 minutes).

In a first instance please send a short written proposal (no more than 300 words) to Prof. Stefan Aquilina (stefan.aquilina@um.edu.mt) and Prof. Paul Fryer (paul@paulfryer.me.uk), to arrive no later than 1 April 2025. Please include a short bionote.

Symposium papers and presentations will be considered for publication in the journal Stanislavski Studies, published by Taylor and Francis.

Registration for this event will open in Spring 2025.

Deadline: April 18, 2025

The Azerbaijan American Music Foundation (AAMF) announces a call for contributions to the International Ethnomusicology Conference 2025, held in memory of Aida Huseynova. By utilizing a virtual format, AAMF aims to enhance global interest and participation among presenters. The conference welcomes ethnomusicologists, researchers, and graduate and postgraduate students from around the world. English will be the official language of the event.

The conference aims to unite musicologists and researchers to share their experiences and findings related to the music of the Middle East, Asia, and particularly Azerbaijan. Aida Huseynova (1965 – 2022) was a prominent Azerbaijani musicologist. She taught in the Music in General Studies program at Indiana University Bloomington and served as an art consultant for Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, the Mike Morris Dance Group, and other initiatives. Huseynova authored the comprehensive monograph “Music of Azerbaijan: From Mugham to Opera.”

The AAMF has initiated this conference to honor Aida Huseynova’s legacy and to encourage musicologists to explore the captivating music of Azerbaijan, examining its role and impact on global music.

IMPORTANT DEADLINES:

Friday, April 18, 2025: Abstract submissions

Friday, May 23, 2025: Notification to candidates whose abstracts are approved; they will be invited to present their complete papers at the virtual conference.

Tuesday, September 30, 2025: Submission of full research papers due by midnight EST and 5:00 AM GMT

Thursday, October 2, and Friday, October 3, 2025: Virtual conference; participants will receive a Zoom invitation. Time TBA

Friday, October 10, 2025: Announcement of award winners on AAMF’s website and social media.

Date to be Announced: Winners will have the opportunity to present in person at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music in Chicago, where they will meet with faculty and students and receive their awards.

Please see below the call for proposals for our research cluster, Muslim Lives in a Shifting World. This project seeks to reexamine the tumultuous period around the collapse of the Soviet state through the experiences of Muslim communities, the largest religious minority in the former Soviet space. By examining Muslim lives in the region from the 1970s to the present, we shed new light on the diversity of lived experiences in a multiethnic, multireligious society during a period of change and transition. 

With participation from a transnational network of scholars, we seek to highlight and analyze underexamined sources that reflect the diversity of Muslim identities and lived experiences in this period. This project will bring together scholars across international institutions and career stages, with the goal of publishing a two-volume open access handbook of peer-reviewed scholarly articles. The contributions in the first volume will analyze the Muslim press and other published collections, while the contributions in the second volume will examine archives, unpublished sources, and special collections on Muslim lives in this period. It will be available to scholars as well as general readers and will support multidisciplinary research, teaching, and learning. 

You can apply until April 30, 2025, by sending the following materials to the cluster organizers (muslimlivesresearchcluster@gmail.com):

• Resume
• Writing sample [published article, research papers, or dissertation chapter]
• An abstract of 250 words
• A 1-2-page bibliography of sources and/or collections you plan to use 
• A short bio (max. 150 words). 

To foster collaboration, we are accepting abstracts in English and Russian. We welcome submissions from authors based in any country. Accepted proposals must be developed into an advanced draft by Spring2026. 

All disciplines are welcome. Graduate students, emerging scholars, and scholars based in the region are especially encouraged to apply. We also welcome applications from scholars studying the connections between Eurasian Muslims and other world regions.

International Conference on GLOBALISATION IN LANGUAGES, EDUCATION, CULTURE, AND COMMUNICATION (GLECC2025)

https://glecc.org/2025/

Dates: 30-31 July 2025 (main conference)
Venue: Manchester, U.K.
Submission deadline: 30 April 2025

The past two decades have witnessed remarkable advancements in the studies into Education, Second and Foreign Languages, Translation and Interpreting, Cultural Studies & Communication. This growth can be largely attributed to the forces of globalisation. Consequently, adopting the globalisation perspective is timely and provides a natural framework for connecting these diverse yet interlinked disciplines.

This conference aims to bring together researchers, educators, practitioners, and policymakers to disseminate research outcomes, share insights, discuss findings, exchange visions, and identify challenges and trends in an interactive and immersive multidisciplinary environment. The submissions take the forms of abstract, full paper, panel discussion, and workshop proposals.

There is a “conference first” policy in place. Selected papers will be invited to further develop into full journal articles free of APCs. Conference proceedings will be published open access with an ISBN.

There will be optional pre-conference workshops on 29 July and post conference events on 1 August.

CALL FOR PAPERS: The Humanities and Natural Sciences in the Late Stalin Era

 The CUPOLA project (Culture’s Politics Under Authoritarian Rule: Soviet Civilizationism and the Case of the Humanities During the Stalin Era, 2024–2028) invites chapter proposals for the book project The Humanities and Natural Sciences in the Late Stalin Era. The deadline for abstracts is May 15, 2025, with notifications of acceptance sent by May 23, 2025. We invite abstracts for book chapters that offer novel perspectives on the humanities and natural sciences during the late Stalin era. To apply, please submit an abstract (maximum 500 words) and a CV (maximum two pages) to elina.viljanen@helsinki.fi.

Research on Stalin-era humanities and natural sciences has primarily focused on the political and ideological control exerted by the state. However, there is a scarcity of studies exploring the degrees of autonomy and submission within these fields. To address this gap, we propose examining the political strategies employed by scholars in Soviet humanities and natural sciences in their efforts to gain relative autonomy from Soviet political control. This approach is grounded in the understanding that, for political instrumentalization to be effective, it cannot entirely eliminate scholarly autonomy, as scholarship must remain useful for political purposes.

Our project seeks to explore the intersections between the political, cultural, and philosophical aspects of Soviet humanities and natural sciences. Our premise is that the political aspects of humanities and sciences are not reducible only to the active role they assume through their actors and ideas in conventional state driven politics. To address and test this premise, we introduce the methodological concept of culture’s politics, which refers to the struggle for power to define and govern one’s own cultural existence. In the context of the humanities and natural sciences, it is essential to ask: To what extent did scholars under Stalinism experience relative autonomy? What did autonomy entail, and why is this phenomenon significant? How should we conceptualize the late Stalin era in scholarship, particularly from the perspectives of the history of ideas and philosophy of science?

A seminar to discuss preliminary book chapters will be held at the Aleksanteri Institute of the University of Helsinki on October 2–3, 2025. Online participation will be available, and the deadline for submitting draft chapters is September 22nd, 2025.

Manuscripts are due by September 1, 2025

Journal of Global Postcolonial Studies

Call for Papers

Special Issue on Russian Postcolonial Studies

Guest Editor: Tamar Koplatadze, Christ Church, University of Oxford, tamar.koplatadze@chch.ox.ac.uk

Russia and the countries that were incorporated into the Soviet Union have not historically received extensive critical attention within the postcolonial discourse. In the wake of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, scholarly interest has grown in re-assessing established methodologies and engaging with postcolonial theory when studying these countries. Postcolonial approaches can be key to analyzing the link between imperialism and situations of core-periphery disparity, both past and ongoing, whether expressed in the man-made famines in Ukraine and Kazakhstan, the overproduction of cotton in Central Asia, the nuclear testing in Semipalatinsk, the extraction of natural resources in Siberia, or post-Soviet migration patterns. Moreover, local writers, creative artists and activists addressing these questions are increasingly situating their works within the global postcolonial tradition.

This special issue aims to provide an interdisciplinary inquiry of the current decolonial turn, build on existing scholarship and bring to the fore new postcolonial interventions, while also countering the pitfalls of the “decolonial bandwagon” (Moosavi) such as tokenism and uncritical use of decolonial terminology. We welcome contributions that critically engage with postcolonial and decolonial theory, attempt to bridge Western and local epistemologies, compare different geographical contexts of (post)coloniality, or untangle various types of decoloniality – including political, epistemological, cultural and aesthetic, while addressing, among others, the following themes:

• • • Critical theory
    • Literature, Culture and Language
    • Comparative studies of (post)coloniality
    • History
    • Race
    • Gender
    • Environment
    • Migration
    • Activism

Submission Instructions

Manuscripts following the journal guidelines and formatted in MLA style should be submitted by September 1, 2025 at https://journals.upress.ufl.edu/jgps/submit

CALL FOR PAPERS

 Creative Bodies—Creative Minds

 The fourth international, interdisciplinary conference in gender research

 University of Graz, 30-31 March 2026

Since its inception in 2018, the interdisciplinary conference in gender research Creative Bodies—Creative Minds has, in its three cycles, brought together scholars, practitioners, and activists to explore the relationship between gender and creativity in a variety of fields. They engaged with everyday and vernacular creativities, including material and intangible DIY forms, creative self-fashioning, coping strategies, and resourceful adaptations to social and political circumstances by communities, groups, and individuals. These encounters have treated creativity as a social and collective process that is power-dependent and deeply gendered.

The fourth conference aims to continue this line of inquiry by exploring more closely the relationship between creativity, vulnerability, and subversion. The last decade has seen an increasing focus on vulnerability in the humanities and social sciences, even what we could term a “vulnerability turn” in some disciplines, such as in cultural and gender studies. “Vulnerability” has also come to an increased usage in political rhetoric, policies, and everyday language. However, the concept of vulnerability has come under increasing academic, political and public scrutiny, highlighting its ambiguity, with both positive and negative connotations. Critical research has also discussed the (mis)uses of the concept in political debates and in concrete social policies, where it often deepens social marginalisation and vulnerability instead of reducing it. Gender studies and feminist scholars, in particular, have persuasively exposed the androcentric and paternalistic bias in the cultural understanding of vulnerability as a condition of passivity and lack of agency in need of remedy. Instead, they have emphasized the relational nature of vulnerability that makes it a universal dimension of human existence, bringing attention to its social and situational aspects. Exploring vulnerability in relation to resistance has been powerful in revealing the agentic potential of vulnerability to challenge oppression, inequality, and injustice, as witnessed, for example, in the mobilizations and democratic struggles of the last decade in Southeastern Europe.

The fourth Creative Bodies—Creative Minds conference in 2026 invites interdisciplinary contributions that explore the entanglements between creativity, vulnerability, subversion and gender in different socio-cultural, political, economic and everyday settings.

Keynote speakers:

Isla Cowan, Independent Playwright and Theatre Maker, Edinburgh Jennifer Ramme, Department of Sociology, University of Graz

The areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

Everyday creativity, vulnerability, subversion and gender Creativity as a response to restrictive biopolitics and gender norms Intersectional approaches to creativity, vulnerability and subversion (race, ethnicity, age, class, gender, sexuality, ability) Collective creativities in contesting collective vulnerabilities Creativity, vulnerability and subversion in education, arts, and activism Material, temporal, situational, and relational aspects of creativity, vulnerability and subversion Creativity, vulnerability and subversion in the digital realm Creative subversion– subverting creativity imperatives Creative methodologies and creative research in social sciences and humanities Creative addresses of gendered vulnerabilities in medicine, science, and technology

We are inviting proposals for presentations from scholars of all career stages and practitioners from a wide range of disciplines including, but not limited to: sociology, cultural studies, anthropology, human geography, political science, gender studies, art, performance, social work, communication studies and journalism, history, literary studies, social studies of science and technology and environmental studies.

Please send a 250-word abstract and a 150-word bio note before 10th September 2025 to Creative.Bodies@uni-graz.at

 Registration fee: 190 EUR

 Registration fee (student presenters): 130 EUR

The conference registration fee includes the conference dinner, two lunches, tea/coffee breaks and the conference pack with the book of abstracts.

Information on registration and updates on the program will be available on the conference website: https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcreative-bodies.uni-graz.at%2Fde%2F&data=05%7C02%7Creei%40iu.edu%7C548f2b162ce340279ee408dd6abf05d7%7C1113be34aed14d00ab4bcdd02510be91%7C1%7C0%7C638784090841101578%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=%2BtJTdcyxN0SHkPv1wJrgvUw2Z2U94Q2BBOGh5C4juL8%3D&reserved=0.

Graz, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site and Cultural Capital of Europe for 2003, is the capital of the Austrian province of Styria and the home of Austria’s second largest university.

Conference organizers:

Libora Oates-Indruchová, Department of Sociology, University of Graz Zorica Siročić, Department of Sociology, University of Graz Mónica Cano Abadía, BBMRI-ERIC Carolyn Defrin, Centre for Southeast European Studies, University of Graz Barbara Hönig, Department of Social Work, FH JOANNEUM – University of Applied Sciences Graz Frithjof Nungesser, Department of Sociology, University of Graz

Important dates:

Submission of abstracts: 10 September 2025 Informing about abstract acceptance: mid-November 2025 Conference registration opens: 15 December 2025 Conference registration ends: 31 January 2026

Dear Grads and Undergrads,

A summer internship with the theme of Advancing Digital Democracy in Eastern Europe. All questions/inquiries regarding this opportunity including the deadline for applying should be directed to:

Lupton P. Abshire
Strategic Outreach
Advisory Voting Initiative
A Vote, a Voice, and the Power of Participation
www.advisoryvote.us

For Russian Language Teachers, Students, and Others Interested in Russia,

On behalf of the American Home in Vladimir, Russia – which is celebrating its 30^th anniversary this year – I would like to remind you about several program opportunities and deadlines.

Applications Accepted All Year
(http://www.ah33.ru/study-russian/)

Longer and shorter programs, from one week to a year, are also possible.

The benefits of the American Home’s long-standing Intensive Russian Program – the main program offers one-to-one instruction to each participant – are provided to group participants:

• Experienced faculty specializing in teaching Russian to non-native speakers;
• Program and schedule customized to the needs of each group of students;
• Study from one week to one year;
• Individual home-stay with a Russian family;
• “Russian friend-conversation partner” program;
• On-site administrative support;
• Well-equipped classrooms in a comfortable, home-like, atmosphere;
• Excursions in Vladimir and to Suzdal (a UNESCO World Heritage site) and Bogoliubovo;
• Opportunities to meet and socialize with some of the more than 600 Russians participating in the American Home English Program and others;
• Opportunities to participate in a variety of activities—for example, volunteering at an orphanage

New master’s program “Estonian and Finno-Ugric Languages” (EFUL) at the Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics at the University of Tartu.

This two-year MA program is unique in combining in-depth language learning with comprehensive, English-based studies in linguistics. Because classes are taught in English (with the exception of language classes, of course), students whose Estonian language skills are not advanced enough to take university classes in Estonian can still study Estonian and Finno-Ugric languages in Tartu, and take full advantage of the great opportunities that Estonia has to offer.

Students in the program can choose between specializing in either Estonian or Finno-Ugric languages. In addition to attending the institute’s advanced classes in linguistics and digital methods taught by cutting-edge researchers and lecturers, studying in Tartu has a clear advantage because of its location in Estonia and in proximity to other Finno-Ugric language areas. This gives our students not only the chance to practice Estonian on a daily basis, but also access other Finno-Ugric languages, partly via the many smaller Finno-Ugric language communities in Estonia. In addition, students can develop their digital skills in modules on computational linguistics and programming, in collaboration with the University of Tartu’s Centre for Digital Humanities and Information Society.

We are happy to offer a number of scholarship opportunities, including full tuition waivers. The final details about the application process are still being worked out, but will be announced next month. For more information about the program as well as about living and studying in Tartu, check out both the EFUL website at https://ut.ee/en/curriculum/estonian-and-finno-ugric-languages and the Study-in-Estonia website www.studyinestonia.ee.

I have also attached our EFUL flyer. And of course, feel free to contact me or the program director Prof. Gerson Klumpp (gerson.klumpp@ut.ee) if you have any other questions.

Please see the link below for unpaid part/full time internships with the US Department of Education. All inquiries/questions should be directed to the point of contact at the bottom of the advert. Thank you.

Internship Opportunities with the Office of International and Foreign Language Education