Summer School on Sociology of Ethnonationalism

Dear Colleagues,

Notification:
Tajik Agency for Social Studies (Tamiss), the International Higher
Educational Support Program/OSI-Budapest with assistance of the
Department of Humanities at Technological University of Tajikistan
plan the Summer School on Sociology of Ethno-nationalism, to conduct
in Tajikistan in August 5-17, 2002. The School will gather the young
teachers, researchers and post-graduate students currently involved
in the higher educational institutions of the region of Central Asia
and other professionals beyond the region who are oriented in the
related fields. These categories will participate as students, and
as Resource Persons we have already invited both senior and junior
academics from the post-socialist and the western countries
including Tajikistan, Russian Federation, Germany and the U.S.. The
staff of the resource persons will instruct three courses within the
School, which overlap each other in the whole context of the
Syllabus on Sociology of Ethno-nationalism. The
structure of the School combines a set of events, programs and
institutions that represents a systematic attempt to approach
scientific cognition and mobilize an academic program at the level
of higher education and considers sociological sides of one of the
mostly serious sources of identity-based and strategically
structured relations in the terms of ethno-national motivations and
policies in Central Asian national states.

Definition:
The attributes of traditional power (in the conditions of Central
Asia), surrounding and substantially affecting humane relations and
institutional constructions, especially in respects with the
interests based on the conventional community solidarity and
intermember conflicts at different levels, have much more and more
constant evidences based on ethno-national ideologies and
identities. On one hand, the ethno-national evidences are been using
now for constructing prospective projects of intermember and
intergovernmental relations and on another hand, the given evidences
rather identify ideological argumentation that the latter doesnt
maintain adequate cultural and social conditions for interethnic and
intergovernmental relations, in part. Consequently, potential
conflicts are remaining on the bases of interests being inclined to
the imagined identities. At the same time, the interest-based
conflicts not only dont stimulate societal development, but also
establish contextual and conditional evidences for signifying
traditional relations in the context of real expectations. The
experiences witness that traditional relations not only cause
interest and strategic divergence and systemic modification
reflected upon the subjects of the power but also develop structural
division of these subjects towards the excluding identification and
institutionalization in the terms of formation of national
consciousness and its maintenance (for example, through
nation-state-building, ethnicity, culturalization etc.).

Call for collaboration:
The organizers plan a number of programs and events within the
Summer School and for its follow-up activities, therefore, we would
ask your kind attention to overview them and give your feedback,
respectively. We would highly appreciate your contribution and
active collaboration in any area listed below.
1) Involving the young teachers and researchers of higher education
in the related fields of the School as students. In this respect, we
expect to find any assistance with dissemination of the needed
information among your colleagues and friends in the further process
of the program development. We just want to use more effective
sources and ways for calling for participation in order to involve
most prominent professionals in the School. Also we would like to
consider your position concerning the methods for disseminating the
relevant information and establishing contacts with the devoted
domestic and foreign individuals and institutions. We attempt to
place both detailed information and application materials
(instruction and form) in the Internet and other possible resource
bases in order to make the access to them easier and transparent. In
this case, we would appreciate any contribution too.
2) The School, after conducting the courses, plans to collect,
compile and at the extent possible publish a number of the needed
materials on the ethno-national issues of the post-socialist
countries and especially those challenging to study post-communist
realities of the region of Central Asia. The collected materials in
the form of Reader will be distributed among the potential
participants of the School. Simultaneously, together with the direct
contributions of the resource persons and the scholars in the fields
of the proposed courses we will design detailed Syllabi relevant to
Sociology of ethno-national issues and recommend them for higher
educational institutions of Central Asian states. In the materials
the reference will be made to the recent scientific literature,
which are not so far accessible to the region. Therefore, we expect
any collaboration for perfecting the contexts of these materials.
3) The lack of the necessary scientific and professional materials
related to the topics of the School challenges us to search for the
ways of their mobilization. By now, we have acquired some materials
through some private resources and international channels, which
enrich the context of the program. Also we are developing scientific
and professional resources for the Section of Ethnicity and
Nationalism in the Library of the Agency for Social Studies Tamiss.
The resources both in hard and electronic forms will be shared with
the involved participants in the School and other professionals. But
we are aware that the available materials are not sufficient,
therefore, we are looking for other possibilities.
4) As the follow-up activities for the School we intend to realize
the following two plans:
One, designing and publishing a manual on Sociology of
Ethno-nationalism; its recommendation and distribution for the
higher educational institutions of the region of Central Asia;
Two, strengthening scientific and professional contacts, exchanges
and collaborations among the involved participants and contributors
of the School with the different ways including:
- exchange of professional information and opinions by Internet
bases (email list, web-site etc.) and other possible communicative
sources;
- possible research and professional collaborations in the related
fields.
For these reasons, we expect that all interested sides will be
involved, as well as working groups will be organized in the course
of the School in respect with research and teaching orientations and
interests of the participants. Thus, we may stimulate human
conditions for maintaining further collaborations. On this base, we
could research and develop the related fields through the higher
education. Therefore, we would appreciate to find more suggestions
and contributions to providing definition for and conditioning these
planning activities at your convenience and disposal.
5) The Schools application has recently been endorsed by the
Advisory Committee of the International HESP/OSI (Budapest) for
funding 50% of the proposed budget and providing some other
professional support. Now we are applying to the potential funding
sources for finding the remainder  up to 50% of the total sum.
Therefore, we need any advice how and where to orient better our
expectance.

This is one of the possible way that Agency for Social Studies
Tamiss expects to find an international team of partner individuals
and institutions for scientific study, development of learning
conditions and resources and their mobilization into resolution of
the relevant problems to the region of Central Asia, which have
national and international significance and, therefore, they can
immediately influence the quality of the formation of global
contexts. Of course, in the process of these activities one may
enlighten the appropriate motives of cooperation.

The organizing team of the Summer School -
Hofiz Boboyorov,
Nuriddin Shahobiddinov,
Dilshod Rakhimov,
Sofia Kasymova


Contact Address:
Sofia Kasymova
Assistant of the Program
Tajikistan, Dushanbe
734025, Glavpochtampt, "Do Vostrebovaniya"

or

Khofiz Boboerov
Course Director
Phone: (856) 225 64 75 (by May 24, 2002)
Fax: (856) 225 65 00 (by May 24, 2002)
E-mail: [email protected]

Web-page: http://www.idealist.org/orgs/84916 (more information about
the Summer School can be found.)

(We encourage you send the full package of the application documents
electronically as we may have further related e-mail
correspondence.)