Rooted knowledges and dialogues for change

For many years, canonized expertise on the RUTA region(s) has been produced from the outside, in particular through a Western academic gaze. This gaze has further largely reproduced the Russian imperial perspective on RUTA societies. In doing so, it elevated imperial lines of thought, devaluing and othering the intellectual and cultural heritage of peripheralized communities, who have been interpreted predominantly through metropolitan vantage points. Institutionalised as authoritative expertise, these ways of knowledge-making have obscured the colonial foundations of research as an endeavour: imperial societies studying, categorising and explaining the Other, to whom they relate from curious afar and in ways that commonly extract and abstract from lived realities. These ‘proper’ ways of conducting research have often prioritised distance over connection, emphasising a certain type of objectivity as a quality produced through detachment, while devaluing closeness, relational bonds and emotions as obstacles to ‘pure’ and reliable knowledge.

With our RUTA communities, we have been reclaiming the work of knowledge-making on the RUTA region(s) and societies. During our 2026 annual conference, we will be exploring rooted and embodied knowledges as catalysts for change and as drivers of shifts in power. In particular, we are keen to ask, how does the production of knowledge and cultural heritage differ when it is rooted in the places and communities it speaks to, and what possibilities does this enable? By re-connecting with generations of knowledges from the RUTA region(s) as well as those in dialogues with us, we wish to discuss what is distinctive about scholarship and art that is embedded within our regions and communities. How do our research and art practices change when they are rooted in a place, centering the lived and embodied experiences of its people? And what do such embodied and rooted knowledges and art mean for those who make them, those who learn from them, and for the ways we engage with the world?

Generations of thinkers and advocates of social justice and the makers of political art have emphasized the crucial role of positionality for thinking, acting and creative practice that stands the chance to empower, mobilise and improve the wellbeing of oppressed communities. Their observations appear even more pressing in the context of resistance against authoritarian rule, imperial subjugation and wars of aggression. What is the role of rooted knowledges in the protection of human life and our precious ecosystems amid the rise of (neo)colonialism and fascism? And how can we best protect what is endangered beyond an over-emphasis on the resilience of affected communities, but with insistence on the ending of the cycles of perpetration and systems of destruction and violence?

These questions also invite us to engage with the inherent vulnerability of our bodies as sites of knowledge production and what the fundamentally frail condition of human existence teaches us about knowledge-making, but also more broadly about the need for justice, safety and real possibilities for thriving, thinking, writing and creating. Moreover, in a world where the safety of some is paid with the lives of those who dare to resist systemic destruction, can the shift toward embodied knowledges contribute to much-needed shifts in power for a more equitable protection of human life and endangered environments? How do we then carry knowledges from one place to another, in ways that convey the urgency of change? These concerns highlight the importance of direct and equitable dialogues, but also the crucial need for turning dialogues into meaningful actions. In particular, actions that will lead toward the changes that communities at risk have been advocating for and paving with their thinking and work.

We especially welcome contributions on these (but not only these) topics:

• Rooted knowledges and RUTA dialogues.
• Emotions as sources and vectors of knowledge.
• Embodied and rooted knowledges: approaches and methodologies.
• Positionality in research, activism and art.
• Perspectives on and beyond resilience.
• Vulnerability, embodiment, dissent.
• Ecocide and environmental protection.
• Indigeneity and Indigenous approaches to lifeways in and beyond the RUTA regions.
• Never again for anyone: preventing and stopping genocides and epistemicides.
• Transitional justice: what it is and why it is important.
• Antifascism and transformative social movements.
• Border violence, belonging and asylum.
• Migration: forced migration, exploitation, socio-economic justice.
• Labour relations in the RUTA region(s): addressing exploitation and extractivism.
• Social reproduction and gender equity.
• Queering and decolonising the canon.
• Archives and libraries as sites of resistance.
• Allyship and solidarities across regional, disciplinary and academic / activist borders.
• Politically engaged research and its methods.
• Identifying and countering disinformation and propaganda.
• Disruptive and reparative knowledges.

The conference will take place from July, 2026 in Ukraine’s Carpathian Mountains, in a location with on-site air raid shelters. The Carpathians are recognised as a Green All state and local guidelines regarding safety and security will be strictly adhered to throughout the conference. For safety and security reasons, the venue and logistics pertaining to the conference will be disclosed to registered participants close to the conference date.

Proposals of panels, roundtables, as well as individual presentations must be submitted by November 15, 2025. Confirmations of acceptance will be communicated by the end of January 2026.

Preference will be given to transregional panels that bring region(s) into conversation (ideally, perspectives on an umbrella topic by scholars from multiple RUTA region(s), tracing how particular concerns manifest in similar / different ways across the region).

Submissions that discuss the RUTA region(s) in the global context are highly encouraged.

Individual Papers

Paper abstract (300 words max.)
Biography (100 words max.)

Individual submissions will be clustered into trans-regionally conceptualised panels that will involve experts working from/on different parts of the RUTA region(s) and beyond.

Panels and Roundtables

Panels (consisting of four papers; or held e.g. as a discussion on a particular concept or text, in which case please propose a suitable format under the panel description in the submission form) and roundtables (with a maximum of five participants-speakers, including a moderator – in total a maximum six people per roundtable)

Panel and roundtable abstract (300 words max.)

List of participants with presentation titles and paper abstracts (each 300 words max.)
Biography of each participant (100 words max. per participant)

We strongly encourage and prioritise trans-regional panels and roundtables, involving researchers working from/on various parts of the RUTA region(s) and globally. In regards to the format of the debates, we welcome panels and roundtables discussing particular topics, but also e.g. different ways that specific concepts or theories have been worked with or critiqued in various parts of the RUTA region(s) and globally. We also welcome panels and roundtables that will focus on discussing the significance of a specific core text and its links or importance to the RUTA region(s) and beyond; and those that will explore how to conduct socially responsible, ethically sound, non-extractivist and anti-colonial forms of research and fieldwork in the RUTA region(s) and globally.

Artistic Engagements

Possible artistic engagements might include pop-up events, workshops, art interventions, activations, performances, screenings, etc.

Project description (500 words max.). Please include information about the necessary equipment and setting requirements. Priority will be given to projects that meet the criteria of feasibility.

Biography of each participant (100 words max. per participant).

Conference registration fee: the conference will have sliding scale fees. As the RUTA Association, we are committed to making our conferences affordable for scholars from the RUTA region(s).

There will be a limited number of travel grants that participants in need of financial assistance and without institutional funding can apply for.

Please send your enquiries to: conference@ruta-association.org