International conferences: “Nansen Readings” in St. Petersburg turn spotlight on “Russian emigration. First half of 20th c. Results of the study”

On November 23-25 2010 in St. Petersburg was held 4th International scientific conference “Nansen Readings” with its central theme “Russian emigration. First half of 20th c. Results of the study. The conference was organized by the St. Petersburg Committee for External Relations.

International scientific conferences “Nansen Readings” keep the St. Petersburg tradition of scientific conferences “Russia Abroad”, which have been being organized since 1999. The 4th International conference summarized the results of the study which focused on culture and history of the Russian Abroad.

The central subject of the first and second days of the conference – “Achievements in research of the Russian Abroad. Current state of the issue”. Discussion of this theme was divided into four main parts: culture, science, politics, and publishing. The third day of the conference highlighted the theme: “Source study and historiography of the Russian abroad”.

The conference stated a significant progress in development of a young science – study on emigration, which emerged two decades ago, and is attracting keener public interest. During these years was assimilated a large factual material, recorded testimonies, published numerous memoirs, diaries, and archival documents.

The conference brought together specialists from Belarus, Poland, the USA, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Japan, Russian authors – from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk, Barnaul, Vladivostok, Voronezh, Yekaterinburg, Kaliningrad, Omsk, Khabarovsk, Yaroslavl. Within the framework of the conference was launched a presentation of collected articles of the conference “Nansen Readings – 2009”, as well as new books and monographs relevant to the subject of the conference.