Decoding the Periodical: A Workshop in Slavic, East European and Eurasian Periodical Studies will take place at Princeton University on Friday March 27th, 2015.

This will be the first conference in to deeply probe the Slavic and East European periodical culture within the context of Periodical Studies, an interdisciplinary framework that foregrounds the journal, magazine or newspaper as a cultural form. The Periodical Studies approach poses questions such as: how does editorial practice, serialization, or publication in a multi-authored journal impact the production of art and literature? How do periodicals create intellectual networks that generate new ideas and a unique frame for reception? What insights can we draw from studying the distinct paratext created by periodicals: their layout, illustrations, indices, editorial columns, and letters to the editor

This conference will bring together Slavists from various disciplinary backgrounds to engage with Periodical Studies methodologies and discuss issues including:

• How can new approaches to periodicals enrich or problematize conventional narratives of cultural development in the Slavic, East European and Eurasian space?
• How can the distinct traditions of periodical literature in Eastern Europe and Eurasia expand existing periodical studies inquiry? Points of interest include: politicization, conformity and disagreement, alternative models of circulation, production, and symbolic or economic capital.
• What methodological approaches are particularly productive with regard to our fields, or how can we adapt them more effectively to our objects of study?
• How do the proliferation of digital archives and digital editions, as well as the emergence of digital humanities, impact how we read, interpret and analyze periodical literature?
• What opportunities can periodicals afford for innovative teaching practices?

The keynote address will be delivered by Nicholas Sawicki, the Frank Hook Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of Art History Department of Art, Architecture and Design at Lehigh University.

The conference is organized by Philip Gleissner (Slavic Department), Natalia Ermolaev (Center for Digital Humanities) and Katherine Hill Reischl (Slavic Department), and
generously sponsored by the following departments and centers at Princeton: the Center for Digital Humanities, the Library, the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, the Program in Russian and Eurasian Studies, and Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program in the Humanities (IHUM).