The Aleksanteri Conference 2023 program released

The annual Aleksanteri Conference, organized by the Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, will be held on October 25–27 at the City Centre Campus of the University of Helsinki. Registration for the conference is open until the September 30.

The conference opens with a plenary by Professor Madina Tlostanova from Linköping University, Sweden, who is well-known for her insights in the concept of coloniality and research that aims to decolonize gender, knowledge, and aesthetics.

The program also includes three separate panel plenaries that discuss the conference’s themes: Political Transformations, Legal Choices, and Carceral Practices, with speakers like Associate Professor of Russian Politics Ben Noble from University College London, Professor of Law Jeff Kahn from SMU Dedman School of Law and Gulag specialist Alan Barenberg, Associate Professor at Texas Tech University.

Political regimes and reforms, carceral practices, and legal considerations in Central Asian and eastern European countries are central to this year’s conference program. In addition, Russia’s war in Ukraine, geopolitics, economics, media, gender questions and linguistic themes are well represented in the program.

In full, the three-day-program includes 16 invited guest speakers, around 250 papers presented in over 50 panel sessions, several roundtables and book discussions as well as evening entertainment at the campus and the Helsinki City Hall.