Centre | Centre, 2/2015 - Call for authors

The theme of the issue: Public holidays and their celebrations in Central Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries

Editorial deadline: 30 June 2015
Contact: stred@mua.cas.cz
Publication languages: Czech, English, German
Journal website: http://www.mua.cas.cz/index.php/casopisy/stred
Full journal content: www.ceeol.com
Abstracts: http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl

Official holidays are important components of state policies and represent an important element in the process of constructing and promoting state identities. Often tied to the traditions of the ruling families in monarchies, widely republicanized during the interwar period of the 20th century, or, conversely, completely regimented in the postwar era, the celebration of national holidays structured the annual calendar and was an effective way to "control" cyclical time and to recast the established traditions of the old world in the minds of millions of citizens of the new state formations. The context of the Central European area offers opportunities for comparison, for example of different social, national or political levels in the different states, their centres and peripheries. The content and form of codified festivals, and their alternations, were created by state power as well as by various social actors and political or interest groups. Research on their establishment, negotiation and enforcement can bring us closer to the creation of new social orders. Contributions can thus pursue the question of how the new order was interpreted through festivals (e.g. after 1918, 1945/8 or 1989/90), how the scenarios of festivals changed, or how the 'dramatisation' itself played out in interaction with changing audiences.

Suggestions for thematic strands:

• Comparison of the practice of celebrating official holidays in different Central European countries, the question of specifics and areas of contact
• the transnationalisation of national celebrations (celebrations of the end of the Second World War, etc.) and its relation to individual national/state practices
• the question of the different forms and contents of state/national festivals in the centre and the peripheries
• gender issues; the different positions of women and men in the celebration of different festivals
• relations of diversified political, religious and national backgrounds to official (state) commemorative activities and practices; official holidays and minorities
• the role of the military in the creation of different official festival cultures - the generational aspect - the transformation of the celebration of specific festivals in an intergenerational perspective