In April 2015, the first Peripheral Histories? conference was held in Manchester, England. Bringing together three dozen postgraduate and early-career researchers, it explored the rapidly-expanding field of historical studies into the Russian and post-Soviet provinces, localities, and republics. The Peripheral Histories? blog continues the legacy of this conference by providing a space to share emerging research on regions and peoples of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe which have been perceived as geographically, politically or culturally ‘peripheral’.
Our chronological and geographical scope is wide-ranging; from the medieval to the post-Soviet, and from Eastern Europe and the Balkans to Siberia. As our name suggests, we are interested in the shifting ways in which ‘peripherality’ has been constructed; in the changing status of and relations between ‘centres’ and ‘peripheries’ and the ways in which borderlands have been remade in particular historical circumstances. Our project is transnational and we welcome posts which engage with lives lived in ‘liminal’ zones; as well as border-crossings, mobilities and migration. Though our focus is historical we welcome contributions from other disciplines concerned with the place of the past in contemporary life
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Peripheral Histories? is particularly designed to provide a forum for postgraduate and early career scholars (broadly conceived) to share their work. However, it serves a broader purpose of stimulating debate and dialogue across established generational and academic boundaries; we welcome contributions from established academics and those working in related fields outside academia.
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This website was redeveloped with the support of the Humanities Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University.