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Call for Submissions – EASA 2026 Conference, panel P053: Entangled Ruins: Polarised Temporalities and the Afterlives of Decay

We warmly invite scholars and researchers to submit proposals for Panel P053, convened by our PI, Karolina Ćwiek-Rogalska and Václav Sixta from the Charles University, at the EASA 2026 Conference.

The panel explores ruins as powerful materialisations of tension between decay and renewal, loss and endurance. Ruins reveal collisions between past and future and expose polarised temporalities shaping contemporary worlds, while also opening spaces for care, reflection, and re-imagined relations.

Focusing on the social, political, and material afterlives of decay, the panel will examine ruination as a dynamic and relational process: one that highlights contested values and unequal power, yet also gestures toward new possibilities beyond binary thinking.

Aligned with the conference theme “Anthropology: Possibilities in a Polarised World,” organizers welcome anthropological, ethnographic, geographical, theoretical, and creative contributions engaging with ruins, memory, heritage, materiality, and temporal entanglements.

Suggested keywords:
Ruins and Ruination · Temporalities · Memory and Heritage · Materiality and Decay · Anthropocene · Entanglement · Afterlives of Ruins

More information and submission details you can find here.

In his commentary, Michal analyzes the return of the Beneš Decrees to contemporary Slovak politics and law through the lens of hauntology. He argues that today the decrees function less as valid legal norms and more as a “specter” of the past that reappears in property disputes and political crises of identity. Although they are largely exhausted in legal terms, the Beneš Decrees remain symbolically powerful and are politically instrumentalized, particularly by the government, which presents them as an untouchable foundation of statehood. Michal also points to the difference between the Czech and Slovak contexts: while in the Czech Republic the decrees functioned mainly as a one-off political symbol, in Slovakia they return systematically and have tangible practical consequences. In conclusion, Michal emphasizes that instead of becoming a taboo, the “specter must be listened to” – that is, the historical and moral problematic nature of the decrees must be openly acknowledged and their legacy translated into the language of a twenty-first-century constitutional state, so that the past ceases to automatically determine the present.

Link to the text you can find here.

The workshop “Popularizing Research Online” was held by Angelika Zanki, our manager and facilitator, who promotes the team’s activities and has completed numerous trainings in this field.

The workshop is a part of the NAWA’s STER Next Generation PhDs – Innovations program for doctoral students at the Anthropos Doctoral School. It provided participants with an opportunity to engage with key principles of effectively presenting and promoting academic work in digital spaces. In today’s digital age, communicating research clearly and professionally is increasingly important, and the session emphasized the growing significance of science communication for researchers.

Participants were introduced to the basics of science communication and explored how researchers can present themselves and their projects in ways that are accessible, accurate, and engaging. The workshop highlighted examples of good practice as well as common mistakes to avoid, stressing the importance of maintaining a professional online presence. It also covered strategies for managing websites and social media profiles related to research projects, including European-funded grants, and practical methods for promoting them effectively online.

The workshop was highly practical: participants actively contributed to discussions and prepared draft social media posts, applying the knowledge gained during the session.

Angelika’s experience helped create a well-structured and supportive environment, allowing participants to recognize the importance of science communication and to develop confidence in sharing their research with wider audiences.

The Anthropos Doctoral School, where the workshop was held, is located in the heart of Warsaw’s Old Town. On the day of the workshop, the area was especially magical, as the streets were beautifully illuminated and holiday decorations were lit up, creating a unique and festive atmosphere around the school.

We are excited to share that an essay by Karina Hoření has been published on the blog of the American Ethnological Society. It is part of their new collection, Anthropology That Breaks Your Heart, edited by Salwa Tareen. The collection features essays by researchers from around the world, exploring the emotional side of anthropological practice and how fieldwork can deeply affect those who undertake it.

In this essay, Karina reflects on the emotional complexities of ethnographic research in post-war Liberec (formerly Reichenberg). Focusing on the experiences of Czech settlers who moved into houses formerly inhabited by Germans, she explores how archives and family memories reveal “ghosts” of the past. A key moment occurs during a follow-up interview with a participant, Josef, when she shares archival evidence of a German resident’s suicide in his family’s house. The encounter unexpectedly intersects with Josef’s own recent family tragedy, highlighting how personal and collective histories intertwine. Karina uses these experiences to discuss the ethical and emotional challenges of ethnography, the persistence of haunting legacies, and the limits of reconstructing the past.

At the beginning of December, our researcher, Karina Hoření, gave a presentation on her research as an invited speaker at a seminar titled “Ruins and Relics: Rhythms, Temporalities, and Trajectories of Change.” In her talk Fixation on Ruins-Fixation of Ruins Karina presented her thesis about ruins as the central space of the dominant Czech narrative about expulsion. The seminar took place at the Ethnological Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences. It was organised by the team behind the Zdivočelá země/Land gone wild project, implemented by a consortium of Czech research institutes. Both our projects are interested in post-war changes in the Czech borderlands and the enduring legacies of expulsion in the landscape, and this shared interest leads to long and passionate debates. Hopefully, it was not a last chance for our teams to meet and share our findings. 

In episode #101 of the Czechostacja podcast, Karolina and Jakub Medek explore interwar politics, Masaryk’s views on the many minorities living in Czechoslovakia, and his belief that it was possible to create not only a new state but eventually a new nation — the Czechoslovaks. The conversation was sparked by the recent opening of an envelope deposed in the National Archive in Prague: allegedly, it contained last words of Masaryk, and its opening became a spectacle unveiling the national myths and conventions. They also delve into the role and influence of Edvard Beneš, as well as the intellectuals with whom Masaryk eagerly debated and who simultaneously formed his intellectual support network.

A significant part of their conversation focuses on the Masaryk family — on what kind of father and husband Masaryk was, and on the crucial role played by his wife, Charlotte, an American with a strong personality.

And naturally — as always in Czechostacja — they wander into plenty of other fascinating topics along the way.

At the end of November, our researcher Michal Korhel participated in the 2025 Annual Convention of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES), held in Washington, D.C. Together with Jakub Gałęziowski from the University of Warsaw, Michal co-organized a panel titled “Forced to Move: Remembering Children’s Displacement and Migration in WWII and Its Aftermath in East-Central Europe.” Bringing this panel to life felt especially meaningful, as it allowed the organizers to gather scholars who work with memories of some of the most vulnerable figures in wartime and postwar history – children whose lives were reshaped not only by violence, but also by the uncertain quiet that followed the end of the Second World War.

The panel explored a range of child experiences: Holocaust survivors in Hungary, young refugees in what is now Slovakia, Czech children from Lidice, and Polish children born to forced laborers and displaced persons. What united these stories was the recognition that the war’s end did not immediately bring safety or stability. For many children, the postwar period introduced new forms of coercion and control, particularly within institutions that claimed to act in their best interests.

In his own presentation, “Departing from Krickerhau, Arriving to Handlová: Migration in Childhood Memories of German Expellees and Slovak Settlers,” Michal returned to the microcosm of Handlová (formerly Krickerhau), a community deeply marked by the reshuffling of populations after 1945. Through oral history interviews, he traced the contrasting yet interconnected memories of two groups of children: the German inhabitants forced to leave their homes with only a small part of their possessions, and the Slovak settlers who arrived to occupy those same houses.

Beyond the academic sessions, Michal was also able to experience Washington, D.C. in a more personal way. He visited several of the city’s landmarks and museums, each offering a different perspective on American history and public memory. One of the most memorable moments of the trip was joining a Ghost and Graveyard tour in Alexandria – a lively and atmospheric walk that added an unexpected layer of storytelling to the visit.

Overall, the ASEEES Annual Convention offered a rich blend of scholarly exchange, new perspectives, and cultural exploration. For Michal, it was an opportunity not only to share his work and learn from others, but also to place these histories of displacement and memory within a broader global context.

In November, our researcher, Karina Hoření, co-organised an online workshop with Veronika Warzycha from the Leibniz Institute for Research for Society and Space. Karina and Veronika met this summer at the Memory Studies Association conference in Prague and found that they are both interested in industrial heritage in the Czech-Polish-German borderlands. While Karina is focused on material legacies of textile production in northern Bohemia, Veronika´s PhD project is about twin cities on the Oder/Odra river and how industry is constructed as their shared heritage. Already in Prague, they decided to continue their conversation and met in November to talk for hours about new and old borders, their impacts, and their legacies in this region. This seminar is proof that connections established at international conferences can be further developed. It certainly was not the last meeting.
 

Discover Karolina Ćwiek-Rogalska’s thoughtful vignette exploring how the idea of Pomerania is shaped both personally and politically. Drawing on her own memories and experiences, she reflects on shifting perceptions of the region and offers fresh insights into what Pomerania means today. Read the full post to see how intimate stories and administrative borders come together to define a place.

Link to the blog post you can find here.

In the latest issue of the Acta Universitatis Carolinae – Studia Territorialia you can find an article written by Magdalena Bubík, titled “Cieszyn Friendship Bridge and its ghosts: the changing role of a bridge that unites and divides two countries”.

Magdalena’s article explores the changing symbolic and social role of the Friendship Bridge in Cieszyn, a town divided between Poland and Czechia by the Olza River. Once part of a militarized border zone, the bridge has evolved into a space of remembrance, reconciliation, and everyday cross-border connections. Drawing on interviews, autoethnography, archival research, and media analysis, the study shows how major political events – from the fall of communism to European integration and the COVID-19 border closures – have left their mark on the bridge’s landscape and meaning. Using the concept of hauntology, the article examines the “ghosts of the bridge”: the memories, stories, and urban traces that shape local identity and reveal how contested histories continue to influence collective belonging.

Link to the article you can find here.