1989: History Competition

The South Caucasus Regional Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation anannounces the competition for small research grants. The deadline for submitting the applications is January 21, 2019.

Every year in Berlin, the Heinrich Boell Foundation organizes the European History Forum, which gathers historians, politicians, social scientists and civil society actors from Eastern, Central and Western Europe in one space in order to strengthen the critical thinking of Europe’s recent history. The 8^th European History Forum will be dedicated to the year of 1989. The year of 1989 was an important historical milestone for the countries of South Caucasus.

The South Caucasus Regional Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation announces the competition for small research grants for students, young researchers, historians and visual anthropologists. Within the framework of the research grants, recipients have to prepare academic articles (length: 15-18 pages) which will analyze the events of 1989 in Azerbaijan and assess what the year 1989 means from today’s perspective. The academic articles can be about the following topics:

• The events of 1989 and their impact on the recent history of Azerbaijan;

• The perspectives of persons who were involved in demonstrations and political processes in Azerbaijan;
• Generation of 1989: their attitudes and viewpoints on transition in Azerbaijan;

• From 1989 to the independence: the main challenges of the transition period in Azerbaijan;

• The role of the political elite in the transition process in Azerbaijan;
• The fate of the communist party in the transition period in Azerbaijan;

• The press and discourse in 1989 in Azerbaijan;
• Transformation of public spaces: a beginning of desovetization in Azerbaijan;
• Nagorno-Karabakh in 1989;
• The gender perspective of the year 1989: the role of women in public sphere in Azerbaijan;
• Baku and migration: the transformation of social spaces.

Young scientists, researchers, historians, visual anthropologists and students who are studying on the MA and PhD level in the fields of humanities and social sciences can submit their applications. The interested individuals can send their CV (together with the list of publications), motivation letter and the research proposal (2-3 pages) which should include the literature review and overview of the research methods that will be used within the framework of the research grant. The applications should be English language and sent till January 21 to the following e-mail: info@ge.boell.org with the subject line – 1989 in Azerbaijan.

There will be two steps of selection process: review of applications and oral (skype) interviews (1-2 February, 2019).

The selected applicants will have the opportunity to get feedback from mentors while working on their research grants. The deadline for submitting the final versions of the articles – April 5^th 2019. The selected applicants will also have the possibility to participate in a round-table discussion by the end of April. The amount of the research grant is 500 EURO gross. The author of the best article will have the opportunity to attend the European History Forum in Berlin on May 20-21. After attending the Forum, the author has to submit the report of the Forum till June 15.