Update on the Activities of the International Congress of Slavists
At the 13th Congress in Ljubljana (2003), the Board decided that the 14th Congress would take place in Ochrida, Macedonia in 2008. Milan Ǵurčinov of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences became the President for the 2003-2008 period.
The first Annual Meeting of the new Executive took place near Opole, Poland in September 2004. There was a wide-ranging discussion on many issues, particular concerning planning for the Ochrida 2008 Congress. A congress website has now been set up and can be accessed at http://www.msk.edu.mk/
The Congress will take place, probably in the first week of September 2008 in Ochrida, Macedonia. In size it will be able to accommodate almost as many participants as actually attended in Ljubljana. The Canadian quota is likely to remain roughly the same as for Ljubljana (between 8 and 10 participants). There is a keen interest in securing the participation of younger scholars (including graduate students). Details about deadlines and procedures for submitting proposals will be circulated as these issues are established.
There was
extensive initial discussion of the themes for the Congress. The list of proposed themes, as amended after
the discussions can be accessed at http://www.utoronto.ca/slavic/cas/ICS-themes-rus.html Interested
members are asked to provide Nick Zekulin with their comments before 21 May
2005 at zekulin@ucalgary.ca (The next Executive meeting will be in Belgrade
in June 2005 at which time the themes will be discussed again). The issue of “panels” (bloky) elicited
the usual heated debate and the parameters are still open for discussion (comments
again please). It is likely
that among the parameters set will be that the papers be interdisciplinary and
the participants must be from at least three countries. How this fits with the currently proposed
list of topics (although those were aimed more at Round Tables in any event) is
unclear to me and will no doubt be the subject of further heated debate in
Belgrade.
Among the more interesting developments was the continuing reform of the
various ICS “Commissions”. In Ljubljana
new rules were adopted that required each commission to provide a plan of
activities for the next five years, on the basis of which each Commission was —
or was not — renewed for that five-year period.
Further renewal would depend on a report of the previous five-year’s
activities as well as a plan for the next five years. At the meeting in Poland significant
procedural changes were implemented. Up
until now, membership was by designation by a “National Committee”; in the
future, those interested in the activities of a Commission may contact its
chair and if a mutually agreeable role for participation is found, the chair
will simply inform the National representative that X has become a member in
that commission. A list of the current
commissions with their chairs (most with e-mail addresses) can be found on the
new website listed above (at http://www.msk.edu.mk/en/komisii_en.htm
to be precise). It was felt that in this
age of electronic communication, it was perfectly feasible to participate in
the activities of a commission without obligatory physical meetings and that by
opening up membership, many of these commissions might assume a more vital role
in the activities of the ICS in between Congress sessions.
Should anyone wish more information, please feel free to contact me.
Nick Žekulin,
Canadian Representative to the ICS