Call for Papers: The Anthropology of East Europe Review (AEER) is now accepting submissions for the Spring 2012 issue.

The Special Issue section theme for the Spring 2012 issue is “The ‘Chernobyl Syndrome’.
The Disaster’s legacies in Postsocialist Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.”

Deadlines: February 5, 2012 (abstracts due); March 16, 2012 (drafts of selected papers due)

Chernobyl has become a buzzword in 2011 – not only because of the 25th anniversary of the disaster, but even more due to the international focus on the recent damage to the Japanese nuclear power plants in Fukushima. As early as the 10th anniversary of the disaster, the Belarusian writer Svetlana Aleksievich declared that Chernobyl had already become “a metaphor, a symbol”. The 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident has indeed become a manifold metaphor for many issues – whether directly related to the disaster or not. At the heart of these issues lies a deep uncertainty, undermining belief in technological progress, our ability to control risky technologies and the relative security of everyday life. But even 26 years after the disaster scholarship on the societal and political consequences of Chernobyl is still marginal. In this special issue section we welcome all submissions relating to the social and political effects of Chernobyl in Postsocialist Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Of particular interest is research on reactions and perceptions of different communities, identity and citizenship formation processes after Chernobyl, memory and commemoration, perceptions of risk, health, certainty and security, as well as depictions of the disaster (literature, music, games, movies etc.), and political and societal commitment after Chernobyl.

Please send in electronic form (preferably MS Word), an abstract of no more than 250 words and a short (one paragraph) biography by February 5 to Dr. Melanie Arndt: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Those authors selected to submit complete papers (up to 6,000 words) will be asked to do so by March 16.


The Anthropology of East Europe Review (AEER), a publication of the East European Anthropology Group and SOYUZ (the Research Network for Post-socialist Cultural Studies), is a biannual edited journal of scholarship on Eastern Europe, Russia, the Balkans, and Central Asia. Our mission is to showcase fresh, up-to-date research and to help
build a community of scholars who focus on the region.