CALL FOR PAPERS

Questions around citizenship and belonging have marked the emancipatory struggles of marginalized communities in the 1800s and 1900s. Citizenship was (and still is) a deeply personal and embodied experience. A dizzying amount of paperwork, visual evidence, and documentation acted as a gatekeeper to healthcare, work, property, education, welfare, and political representation. At times claiming citizenship exposed marginalized individuals to repressive measures of the state. In other cases citizenship enabled mass participation and expansion of protections for communities formerly excluded from national belonging. This complicated dance of belonging has shaped the way formal and informal citizenship has expanded and contracted throughout the 1800s and 1900s.

This conference brings together histories of citizenship impacting different marginalized populations. As three core populations which have been left out of full citizenship across central and eastern Europe, we especially encourage submissions on the interrelated struggles of Roma, Jews, and people with disabilities. Papers should explore the material and discursive connections between multiple groups, and the different strategies utilized by states, organizations, and individuals to advocate for citizenship access, and the change in statuses throughout time. We also invite scholars who explore personal histories and the bottom-up agency of members of marginalized communities advocating for their rights as citizens. While we welcome scholars exploring questions around citizenship, belonging, and emancipation globally, we will prioritize case studies from Central and Eastern Europe.

The aim of this conference is to bring multiple fields of historical inquiry into conversation with one another: including, but not limited to Romani histories, Jewish histories, and histories of people with disability. While we will prioritize papers that address one or more of these three fields, we remain open and welcoming to papers that address other underrepresented populations.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Legal and extra-legal efforts to create and dissolve citizenship status.
• Cultural constructions of citizenship and non-citizens, including informal and lived citizenship.
• Institutional efforts to expand and contract citizenship for key populations.
• Organizational and advocacy efforts around citizenship, as well as civic resistance.
• Citizenship changes marked by socio-political upheavals and geopolitical realignments.
• Access and barriers to work, property, education and political representation based on citizenship status.

There may be an opportunity for some papers to be included within a special edition of an academic journal at a future date. 

Submissions should include a working title, abstract of no more than 300 words, and 3 keywords which highlight the focus of the proposed presentation. Each presentation should be up to 20 minutes and may include visuals and/or a PowerPoint presentation. 

PhD students are warmly encouraged to apply. Accepted early-career scholars will present and workshop their texts in a separate panel under the mentorship of senior scholars from their fields. More details forthcoming in January. 

Submissions and questions should be emailed to romanihistories@ff.cuni.cz and dalen@wustl.edu by December 15, 2026. A notification of acceptance will be sent to authors by January 15, 2026. 

Accepted presenters will have accommodations covered at Villa Lanna for the duration of the conference.

Organizers: Dalen Wakeley-Smith (Washington University in Saint Louis), Vita Zalar (Charles University). Workshop organizer: Marko Pecak (Central European University) 

The conference is co-organized by the Prague Center for Romani Histories (Faculty of Arts, Charles University), and the ERC project “Inclusive History of East-Central Europe: Mid-19th Century to Present”.

“Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Research Council Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.”