This year, EHU Student Conference aims to commemorate two important dates: the 500th anniversary of the first printed book in Belarusian (and the first printed book in East Slavic languages) published by Francysk Skaryna, and the 25th anniversary of the European Humanities University.
The aim of the conference is to present research and exchange reflections and ideas about diverse trends and local practices in the global era in a variety of communication / technology paradigms. We offer a platform to discuss the social/human consequences of invention of (book) printing – yet examining it not only from the historical perspective, but also from that of the recent communicative turns that we have experienced or are experiencing now.
Printed word in a local/national language was instrumental in democratization and greater availability of information: advances in technology brought about progress of knowledge, the printing revolution gradually making knowledge a democratic product, rather than an elitist one. However, it is not only a matter of a language or languages, but also of the universalization of technology, knowledge and development principles, as well as of tools that can be used locally to promote, preserve and access the increasingly universal information. With the development of new digital technologies, this process has acquired a new dimension.
The conference participants are welcome to reflect on (but not limited to) the following issues:
- What future awaits the printed word?
- Are we speaking about the total or partial transition to word and knowledge in a new digital format?
- Is this transit as revolutionary as the invention of printing?
- What happens during such transitions?
- What are the practices that we lose and gain during such transits?
- How are local traditions and practices changing during global transformations, transitions?
- How does this turn affect the human dimension – and, for that matter, what does it mean “to be human” at the dawn of the new era?
- What local and global trends in the development of knowledge and education in Belarus and in the region do we observe in the age of the numerous technological, political, and economic transits?
- How does global development of technology in knowledge allow us to respond to the political-ideological and economic change in our country and in the world?
- What is the role of the University in offering a new form and content of knowledge to younger generations?
The following panels are planned as part of the conference:
- Liberal Arts Education: Tradition and the 21st Century Demands
- Genealogy of User: From Handwritten Text to Printed and Digital Design
- Experience of Local Political and Economic Transformations as Global Knowledge
- Printing House and Revolution: Techno-Cultural Logic of (Social) Transformation
- Problems of Establishing the International and European Law and Order
- Integration Processes, Constitutionalism, and Human Rights
- Gender Turn in Social Sciences: Different Research Strategies and Forms of Understanding the Social
- New Technologies in Public Policy and Public Administration
- Humanities Issues in Today’s Medicine
- The Digitalized: Subjectivity, Knowledge and the Social in the Digital Age
- Heritage Studies: Searching for a New Horizon of Knowledge
- Glocalization in Tourism: Global Concepts in Local Terms
- Technology and the City
- Post-Migrant Cities: Lessons from the Urban Age
The conference program will also feature a series of pre-conference events on May 2-5, including workshops, lectures, round table discussions, book presentations and student research project presentations, film screenings and entertainment activities offering students from different countries an opportunity for networking and learning about EHU. The conference agenda will be available in early April 2017.
The working languages of the conference: Belarusian, Russian, and English.
Conference venue: Campus of the European Humanities University (5 Valakupiu Str., Vilnius, Lithuania).
