Workshop ‘Building cultural nations’
On 15 and 16 February 2012 NISE organized the workshop Building cultural nations. The matica and equivalent intermediary structures in Europe, in collaboration with the Central European University (CEU) and the SPIN project (University of Amsterdam). This scientific meeting was held in Budapest.
Scholars from all over Europe discussed the ideas behind and functioning of these cultural associations, how they influenced each other and in what sense they were driven by nationalist aspirations. It was the first time that a comparative approach of this theme was undertaken.
The programme had different sessions, analyzing both the cultural transfers in Eastern and Central Europe and the parallel developments elsewhere on the continent. Precirculated papers enabled thought-provoking debates during which the specificity and dynamics of the model of the matica were questioned.
Miroslav Hroch, Alexei Miller and Louis Vos acted as chairmen; Joep Leerssen and John Neubauer formulated the first conclusions at the end of the meeting. Papers and debates will result in a publication. For more information, please contact NISE conference manager Andreas Stynen (andreas.stynen@nise.eu).