[Discussion] "HIERARCHY AND POWER IN THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATIONS"

[Gonul]

Subject: Third International Conference "Hierarchy and Power in the
History
of Civilizations" (First Announcement updated)

Dear Colleague,

Please find below the updated version of the first announcement of the
Third International Conference "Hierarchy and Power in the History of
Civilizations". Please pay attention to the settled date of the
Conference
and the change of the Organizing Committee's e-mail address.

Yours sincerely,

Organizing Committee


                        RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

              CENTER FOR CIVILIZATIONAL AND REGIONAL STUDIES

                       INSTITUTE FOR AFRICAN STUDIES

               30/1 Spiridonovka St., 123001 Moscow, RUSSIA
             Tel.: + (7 095) 291 4119; Fax: + (7 095) 202 0786
                         E-mail: civ-reg@inafr.ru

                      THIRD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

           "HIERARCHY AND POWER IN THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATIONS"

                      June 18-21 2004, Moscow, Russia



              FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PANEL PROPOSALS


Center  for  Civilizational  and  Regional  Studies in cooperation with
the

Institute  for African Studies (both under the Russian Academy of
Sciences)

is  organizing  in  Moscow  in  June  18-21  2004  the  Third
International

Conference "HIERARCHY AND POWER IN THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATIONS".



The  First  Conference  held in Moscow by the Center for Civilizational
and

Regional  Studies in co-operation with the Russian State University for
the

Humanities  in  June  2000,  brought  together over 150 scholars. While
the

majority  of  participants  were  from  Russia, others came from
Australia,

Canada,  France,  Germany,  India,  Kazakhstan,  Netherlands, Poland,
South

Africa,  Spain,  UK,  Ukraine,  and the USA. The work of the Conference
was

organized along 8 panels. Billed as a discussion of 'the general trends
and

mechanisms  of  sociocultural evolution and the processes of
sociopolitical

evolution  in  their  regional  and  temporary variation', it turned
into a

series  of  debates about the relationship between anthropology and
history

of  the  longue durée, with contributions from (and implications for)
those

working  in  political  science,  sociology,  cultural studies, and
related

disciplines.   The  success  of  the  First  Conference  suggested  to
its

participants   an  idea  to  ensure  the  biannual  regularity  of
further

conferences.  Furthermore,  it  was  decided  to  broaden  its
disciplinary

diapason  by  inviting  to  participate  in  the Second Conference not
only

anthropologists,  archaeologists, historians, and sociobiologists, but
also

political  scientists,  sociologists, jurists, geographers, and
specialists

in  other  related fields aiming at the creating of a world-wide network
of

scholars  concerned  with  all  the  possible  aspects  of the
Conference?s

general problematique.



The  Second Conference took place in Saint Petersburg, Russia in July
2002.

The  Conference  was  held  jointly  by  the  Center for Civilizational
and

Regional  Studies  and  the  Institute  of Oriental Studies (St.
Petersburg

Branch). This time the Conference brought together 180 scholars. 93 of
them

represented research centers and universities of 14 Russian cities while
87

participants  came from 30 countries of all the inhabited continents of
the

Earth:  Australia,  Austria,  Belorus,  Canada,  China  (including
Taiwan),

Colombia, Czech Republic, France, French Polynesia, Georgia, Germany,
Great

Britain,  Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Latvia,
Malaysia,

Mali,  Netherlands,  Nigeria,  Slovenia,  South  Africa,  Thailand,
Turkey,

Ukraine, USA. The work of the Conference was organized along 18 panels.
The

Conference was supported financially by the Royal Anthropological
Institute

of  Great  Britain  and Ireland (London) and the ?Uchitel? Publishing
House

(Volgograd).   For   more  information  about  the  first  two
Conferences

(Announcements, Programs, electronic versions of the Books of Abstracts
and

journal  reviews)  please  visit the Center for Civilizational and
Regional

Studies?  Internet  site  at the address http://civreg.ru. At this site
one

may  also get acquainted with the history and activities of the Center.
The

address   of   the   Institute   for  African  Studies?  Internet  site
is

http://inafr.ru.



The immediate objective of the Third Conference is to discuss the
following

issues:

   - civilizational and evolutionary models of socio-political
development;

   -  interaction  of  the  socio-political  and  cultural-mental groups
of

   factors in the processes of social transformations;

   -  cultural and socio-biological foundations and factors of dominance
in

   human societies;

   - power strategies vs. stages of political evolution;

   - hierarchy and heterarchy in the sociopolitical history of
humankind;

   -  ideology  and  legitimation  of  power  in  different
civilizational

   contexts;

   -  violence  and  non-violence  in the history of political
institutions

   formation, development and decline;

   - the role of economy in sociopolitical processes;

   -  access  to  information  as  a  condition  and  its use as a means
of

   political manipulation and mobilization;

   - the 'classical' (band, tribe, chiefdom, state) and 'alternative'
forms

   of sociopolitical organization;

   -  'traditional'  and  recent  schools  and  trends  in the study of
the

   'hierarchy and power' problematique.

Suggestions   for   discussion   of   any  other  aspects  of  the
general

problematique of the Conference reflected in its title, are also
welcomed.



The working languages of the Conference are Russian and English.



The  Organizing  Committee  will  be  glad  to consider any panel
proposals

(within 500 words in any of the Conference working languages) which will
be

received  by  February  1,  2003. The information to be submitted
alongside

with  the  proposal,  includes  the  panel  convenor's  full  name,
title,

institutional  affiliation,  full  mail and e-mail addresses, and fax #,
as

well  names,  institutional  affiliations, and e-mail addresses of not
less

than  two  other  possible participants of the panel, at least one of
which

should represent a country other than that of the convenor.



The  Organizing  Committee  will inform the applicants about the results
of

their  panel  proposals'  consideration by February 15, 2003. Besides
that,

the  Organizing  Committee  reserves the right to establish one or two
free

communication  panels  (it  is  also suggested that each of the panels
will

eventually  include  about  a  dozen  papergivers,  and the list of all
the

participants  is  to  become known in the beginning of the year 2004 due
to

the  activities of both the Organizing Committee and panel convenors).
None

of  the  proposals  may  be  accepted  or  rejected  on  the  basis  of
its

submitter's  previous academic credentials, ethnic or national origin,
sex,

or  otherwise,  but  only  on  the basis of the proposal's relevance to
and

importance   for,   the   Conference's   general  problematique.
Proposals

emphasizing theoretical and cross-regional approaches to the 'hierarchy
and

power'  problematique  are strongly encouraged. In the case the proposal
is

accepted,  the  Organizing  Committee  will  send you the list of
documents

necessary  to  support  your  and your panel participants' visa
application

process at the Russian Consulate or Embassy in the respective countries.




The   Conference   participant's   registration   fee  is  $  100  (or
the

corresponding  sum  in  euros  or  Russian  rubles) which includes the
visa

application  support  at  the  Russian  Foreign  Ministry, Please note
that

according to the Russian visa regulations, the host organisation has to
pay

fees  to  the  Russian  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs  for  every
foreign

participant  and  even  a bigger sum for accompanying persons. However,
all

the  foreigners wishing to enter the Russian Federation must not only
apply

for  visas  at  the Russian Consulates in respective countries but also
pay

another  fee  on  their  own  for  the  visas'  granting.  culture
program,

Conference  Book  of  Abstracts, reception, coffee-breaks, is to be paid
on

the  spot  upon  arrival.  The  fee  for an accompanying person is $ 30
(or

again,  the corresponding sum in euros or Russian rubles) includes the
visa

application  support  at  the Russian Foreign Ministry and participation
in

culture  program.  Accommodation  at  the  hotel  of the Russian Academy
of

Sciences in Downtown Moscow is about $ 45 per night. It is also possible
to

make  an  independent  reservation  in  this  hotel or in one of many
other

Moscow   hotels   of   different   class   through   Internet   at
sites:

http://moscow-hotels.net and http://all-hotels.ru. Estimated meal and
other

daily  expenses  are  c.  $  15  per  person. However, please note that
the

figures  above  may  be  subjected  to  some  changes  due  to processes
in

transnational   and  national  economy  which  are  obviously  out  of
the

Organizing  Committee's  control.  If  such  changes happen, the
Organizing

Committee  will  try its best to inform the Conference participants as
soon

as possible.



All  the  correspondence should be sent for Prof. Dmitri M. Bondarenko,
Dr.

Igor   L.  Alexeev,  and  Mr.  Oleg  I.  Kavykin  preferably  by  e-mail

(conf2004@hotmail.com),  or either by fax (+ 7 095 202 0786), or by
ordinary

mail  (Center  for  Civilizational and Regional Studies, Russian Academy
of

Sciences,  30/1  Spiridonovka  St.,  123001  Moscow, Russia). The
telephone

number is: + 7 095 291 4119.