Call for Papers for the 2025 Annual Conference
“Rethinking Coexistence: Hungary, Hungarianness, and Finding Commonality in Diversity”
May 31 to June 2, 2025, George Brown College, Toronto
Download Call for Papers 2025 (PDF version)
The Hungarian Studies Association of Canada invites proposals for individual papers, posters, roundtable discussions, workshops, complete panels, and other innovative presentations and sessions for our annual conference to be held in conjunction with the Congress of Social Sciences and Humanities hosted by George Brown College in vibrant downtownToronto, Ontario, from May 31 to June 2, 2025. As the conference will follow a hybrid format, we invite proposals for both in-person and virtual presentations. Please indicate in your proposal which presentation format you wish to be considered for.
Building on the Congress theme of “Reframing Togetherness” and its target emphasis on finding common ground in an age of dislocation, polarization, and extremism, this year’s HSAC conference seeks proposals that thematize “Rethinking Coexistence” in Hungarian Studies. Proposals may address cultural change and exchange, as well as potential responses to climate and humanitarian disasters, and the challenge of ever-evolving technologies, all areas impacting our successful coexistence. This thematic focus invites consideration of a range of topics from cultural output to historical events, including political, economic, legal, ethical, literary, linguistic, journalistic, artistic, musical, and scientific endeavors. All relevant considerations of these themes within the field of Hungarian Studies writ large will be considered.
Although we strongly encourage proposals that speak to the conference theme, as in previous years, we also welcome proposals on any topic related to Hungary and Hungarian Studies. The Hungarian Studies Association of Canada also supports and encourages both creative and critical scholarly engagement within and across disciplines.
We especially encourage proposals from graduate students and advanced undergraduates. In addition to offering limited funding to offset the costs of participation in the conference, HSAC will choose one graduate student presenter to receive Congress’s Graduate Merit Award. The award winner will be recognized publicly by Congress, and will receive a $500 award.
Proposals should include a maximum 300-word abstract and a brief 100-word bio that can be used to introduce the speaker. Since both the abstract and the bio will be published online, they should be prepared in Word format using Times New Roman, 12-point font. Abstracts should be sent electronically both to the Chair of the Program Committee, Ginny Lewis (ginny.lewis@northern.edu), and to Agatha Schwartz (Agatha.Schwartz@uottawa.ca), HSAC President. Proposals are preferred in English or French but will also be accepted in Hungarian.
Presentations at the conference are no longer than 20 minutes with an additional 5-10 minutes for discussion. The deadline for submission is Monday, January 13, 2025. We will notify presenters of the Committee’s decisions no later than March 3, 2025.
The HSAC Conference Program Committee is chaired by Ginny Lewis of Northern State University (ginny.lewis@northern.edu).
The other members are:
Angela Chong:aachong@usc.edu
Sonya Di Sclafani: sonya.disclafani@mail.concordia.ca
Congress 2025 theme: Reframing Togetherness
Congress 2025 invites us to model togetherness by questioning traditional knowledge hierarchies and by collaborating on fundamental – and applied – research solutions for humanity’s historically rooted problems.
As the first college to host Congress, George Brown invites researchers, students, educators, policymakers, and the public to reframe what it means to coexist with other humans, the environment, and technology. With an invitation and a challenge, we aim to open a collaborative space that bridges different ways of learning and producing knowledge in order to rethink our roles and responsibilities in these times of climate and humanitarian disasters, ever-evolving technologies, social isolation, dislocation, and increasing polarization.
This milestone Congress challenges all attendees to model togetherness by questioning traditional knowledge hierarchies and by collaborating on fundamental – and applied – research solutions for humanity’s historically rooted problems. If communities rally around commonalities, togetherness may offer us a way to build on a foundation of diversity and heterogeneity that helps us reframe our perspectives and generate innovative solutions for enduring issues.
What past, present, or fictional models of togetherness can put these issues into new contexts? How can we further decolonize our worldview and rework our relationships to the environment and technology? Conversely, what are the drawbacks of togetherness? In response to contemporary realities, new pitfalls of interconnection, from mental health impacts to reactionary extremism, emerge continually. Ultimately, how can our collaborative sharing of knowledge and learning enable us to care for a world in trouble in personally, societally, culturally, and politically healthy ways?