This CENTRAL Workshop is a cooperation between the University of Vienna, the University of Warsaw, ELTE Budapest and Charles University Prague.

Venue: Erika-Weinzierl-Saal, Main Buiding, Universitätsring 1, 1010 Vienna

Program: to be announced

Can we speak of colonialism in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)? And can we use categories of (post-)colonialism to analyze the history and present of the region? The Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine since 2022 has brought these questions to the fore with urge. They tie in with a broader debate about the place of the region in global political geography, as a former "Second World" of the Cold War era and economic "semi-periphery" in past and present. Here, the issue of race also acquires great significance: given the region's in-between position, are Central and East Europeans "fully white" in global hierarchies of race? And how do they, in turn, negotiate racial difference within and beyond the region? Bringing together senior and junior scholars working on the global history of CEE and on the history of race in the region, these workshops will discuss these key topics of historical and contemporary analysis.