CREES

The workshop will provide a superb forum in which to investigate a variety of issues, including, but not limited to, the following:

§ State formation and democratization
§ Status of Kosovo
§ Privatization and the creation of new market economies
§ Ethnopolitics and the civil rights of minorities
§ The role of language (identity and citizenship; maintenance, shift, and
endangerment)
§ Law reform, the writing of new legal codes, and rethinking intellectual
property rights
§ Human security (terrorism, trafficking of women and children, organized
crime syndicates)
§ Demographic movement (displaced peoples, diasporic formations,
refugees, guest workers)
§ The culture of socialism and postsocialism
§ Education (rewriting of curricula; establishment of new institutions
for higher learning)
§ Popular culture and contemporary society
§ The arts, social change, and postsocialist identity (literature, fine
arts, architecture)
§ The changing position of Balkan states vis-à-vis the EU, the U.S.,
Russia, and the Middle East
§ Religion in the Balkans
§ Gender, especially changing roles and images of women in society

Workshop Format
Workshop sessions will be devoted to a discussion of the participants’
research; investigation of current literature and paradigms; and a
presentation of scholarly resources, including relevant databases by staff specialists from the Slavic and East European Library. Time will also be available for research in the UI Library­one of the largest Slavic and East European collections in the U.S. Participants may stay beyond the workshop dates to conduct individual research.

Workshop Eligibility
The workshop is open to advanced graduate students and junior faculty in any discipline and professionals who specialize in the modern Balkans. To be eligible for workshop housing and travel grants, which are funded by a U.S. State Department Title VIII grant, applicants must be U.S. citizens/permanent residents and must state the policy relevance (broadly defined) of their research in the application. Limited space and housing grant available for international scholars. Depending on space availability, those who do not qualify for financial support may participate in the workshop at their own expense. Please see the Summer Lab website (url below) for more information.

Housing and Travel Grants
Participants who are eligible for workshop housing and travel grants (see eligibility) may also apply for additional research housing grants­a total of up to 14 days for graduate students; 8 for all others. Graduate students (US citizens/permanent residents only) may also apply for travel grants of up to $200. Please see the website for more detailed information.

Deadline
1 April 2008 for international applications (limited housing grant only)
15 April 2008 for US citizen/permanent resident applications

Application
All participants are considered Summer Lab associates and must submit a Summer Research Lab application and application fee. To apply for financial assistance, applicants must also submit a one- to two-page research proposal that includes a statement clearly indicating the policy relevance of the proposed research. Workshop space is limited.

To apply online go to
www.reec.uiuc.edu/srl/srl.html and click on “how to apply” in the navigation bar. To request a paper
application form contact:

lypark@uiuc.edu
http://www.reec.uiuc.edu