Nonconformism & Dissent in the Soviet Bloc: Guiding Legacy or Passing Memory?

Columbia University, New York City, March 30th - April 1st, 2011

The Ukrainian Studies Program, Harriman Institute at Columbia University, is presenting a conference entitled “Nonconformism and Dissent in the Soviet Bloc: Guiding Legacy or Passing Memory?” to be held March 30th - April 1st, 2011.  The conference is being presented twenty years after the fall of the Soviet Union, a time of continued uncertainty in Eastern Europe.

The conference will focus on political and cultural nonconformism in Ukraine, Russia, and Poland in the 1960s to 80s. It will bring together an international assemblage of scholars studying that period of time as well several noteworthy dissidents and artists.  The conference will offer a historical overview of the period and will present the latest research conducted on the subject.  Additionally, the conference will provide an analysis of the political and cultural legacies of these movements in today’s Ukraine, Russia, and Poland.

Among the questions the conference aims to address are:  Where are the dissidents and cultural leaders of the Soviet-era underground today?  Are they in positions of power?  Are they influential political figures or gurus in contemporary culture?  Do they represent their people in the world as they once did?  What media forums are available for their voices? Do Ukraine, Russia, Poland, and the world need them today?

The conference will examine these issues through a series of scholarly panels as well as roundtable discussions featuring prominent Soviet-era dissidents and nonconformist artists.  The three-day conference will begin with an evening keynote address by Dr. Myroslav Marynovych, former Ukrainian dissident and prisoner of conscience and,
currently, Vice-rector for the University Mission of the Ukrainian Catholic University (L’viv, Ukraine) - “Moral Aspects of the Dissident Resistance in Ukraine: From Rosy Expectations to Sober Reality”.  The address will be followed by a reception.  Days 2 and 3 will include panels – Nonconformism and Dissent: Historical Overview, Documenting and Researching the Dissident Movements, Contemporary Society and Politics: the Legacies of Nonconformism and Dissent, The Impact Today of Nonconformist Culture. As well, there will be a dissidents’ roundtable and one entitled Nonconformist Cultural Figures, plus a talk on Yuri Ilienko and discussion Dissent and Non-Conformism in Ukrainian Film of the 1960s and Since. Cultural programming in the evenings will showcase achievements in nonconformist film (digitally re-mastered “A Well for the Thirsty” (Krynytsia dlia sprhlykh, 1965, with English subtitles), music and literature of this era.

“Nonconformism and Dissent in the Soviet Bloc: Guiding Legacy or Passing Memory?” will feature presentations by over twenty individuals: Myroslav Marynovych, Pavel Litvinov, Henryk Wujec, Vitaly Komar, Ewa Wójciak, Volodymyr Dibrova, Mykola Riabchuk, Peter Reddaway, Ann Komaroni, Benjamin Nathans, Alexander Motyl, Justyna Beinek, Ksenya Kiebuzinski, Michael Bernhard, Jeri Laber, Mark
Andryczyk, Orest Deychakiwsy, Catharine Nepomnyashchy, Anna Procyk, Christina Isajiw, William Risch, Anna Frajlich-Zajac, Yuri Shevchuk, Timothy Frye, Tarik Amar, Frank Sysyn, and Victor Morozov.

The Conference will conclude with a special North American concert by Victor Morozov, a legendary nonconformist cultural figure in Soviet Ukraine and a major recording artist in Ukraine today.

The conference is free and open to the public.

All conference panels and roundtables, as well as the keynote address, will be held in Rm. #1501, International Affairs Building, 420 West 118th St., Columbia University, New York, New York 10027.  The keynote address and reception will take place on March 30th at 8 pm. The panels and roundtables will begin at 9:30 am. on March 31st and at 10 am. on April 1st.

The film presentation will be held on March 31st at 8 pm. in Rm. 717 Hamilton Hall.

The Victor Morozov concert will be held on April 1st at 8 pm. at the Ukrainian Museum, 222 East 6th Street, New York, NY 10003.

The conference is presented by the Ukrainian Studies Program at the Harriman Institute, Columbia University. It is organized in collaboration with the East Central European Center (Columbia University), the Polish Cultural Institute (New York), and The Ukrainian Museum.

For more information please contact Mark Andryczyk at 212-854-4697 or at ukrainianstudies@columbia.edu.