REECAS Northwest Conference

REECAS Northwest, the annual ASEEES Northwest Regional Conference for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies, welcomes students, faculty, independent scholars, and language educators from the United States and abroad.

REECAS Northwest, the annual ASEEES Northwest Regional Conference for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies, welcomes students, faculty, independent scholars, and language educators from the United States and abroad.

REECAS Northwest 2025

The 31st Annual Conference for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies

April 10-12, 2025

University of Washington

Seattle, WA USA

Call for papers now open!

Please note that all presenters and attendees must register for the REECAS Northwest Conference.

 

 

Free wi-fi is available for conference attendees. To access wi-fi, please log into the University of Washington network with:

UW Net ID: Coming in 2025

Password: Coming in 2025

 


About the Conference

2022 Ellison Center Director Scott Radnitz speaking at the REECAS Northwest Conference

REECAS Northwest, the annual ASEEES Northwest Regional Conference for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies, welcomes students, faculty, independent scholars, and language educators from the United States and abroad. Established in 1994, REECAS Northwest is an important annual event for scholars and students in the Pacific Northwest and beyond, with participant and partner universities from across the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. The interdisciplinary conference is organized by the University of Washington’s Ellison Center for Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies. Sometimes abbreviated as “REECAS NW”, the conference was recognized as the official ASEEES northwest regional conference by the ASEEES Board of Directors in 2017.

The conference hosts many panels on a variety of topics from a wide diversity of disciplines including political science, history, literature, linguistics, anthropology, culture, migration studies, gender studies, LGBTQ studies, film studies and more.

Papers on Russia and all the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia are welcome, including the Uyghur region in China (Xinxiang and elsewhere).

We additionally welcome papers and panels on the European Union and how the processes of EU enlargement and integration have affected the countries of the REECAS region. 


Call for Proposals | NOW OPEN!

The REECAS Northwest Conference welcomes both individual paper proposals and also panel/roundtable proposals. Individual proposal submissions will be grouped into panels with a common theme.

  • Panel Proposals: Panel chairs should gather their individual panelist information (name, email, affiliation, presentation title) and submit that on behalf of all panelists using the Call for Proposals Form. Upon acceptance, individual presenters and chairs will be required to register separately for the conference using a distinct Conference Registration Form, which will become live after the proposal acceptance announcement date.
  • Individual Paper Proposals: Individuals who are not part of a pre-formed panel should submit their proposal using the Call for Proposals Form. Upon acceptance, individual presenters and chairs will be required to register separately for the conference using a distinct Conference Registration Form, which will become live after the proposal acceptance announcement date.

Please note that the REECAS Northwest Annual Conference is in-person only.

For further details and definitions, please see the conference paper and presentation Guidelines, Definitions, and Best Practices webpage.

Submit Proposal


Key Dates and Deadlines

  • Call for Proposals Deadline (abstract and C.V.): February 17, 2025 (11:59 pm)
  • Notification of Acceptance: February 21, 2025
  • Panels Announced: February 26, 2025
  • Final Papers to Chair: March 31, 2025
  • Presenter Registration Deadline: April 1, 2025

Conference Registration OPENING IN 2025

Registration is required for the REECAS Northwest Conference. ALL participants (accepted presenters and audience members) must register using the below online form.

  • Faculty/Independent Scholar Presenters: $40
  • Student Presenters: $25
  • General Public Attendees (non-presenters): $25
  • Seattle Tashkent Sister City Association Members: $15
  • University of Washington Faculty/Students/Staff: Complementary

Conference Registration 


Keynote Lecture | Lauri Mälksoo –  Russia, the Soviet Union, and Imperial Continuity in International Law

About the talk: 

Russia, the Soviet Union, and Imperial Continuity in International Law is the title of Professor Mälksoo’s forthcoming monograph, a sequel to his Russian Approaches to International Law (Oxford University Press, 2015), which received Honorable Mention in the 2016 ASEEES Marshall Shulman Book Prize for outstanding monograph dealing with the international relations.  He is co-editor and author of the lead entry in The Oxford Handbook of International Law in Europe (to be published in April 2025).

About the speaker: 

Lauri Mälksoo is Professor of International Law at the University of Tartu in Estonia. During the academic year 2023-2024, he is fellow at the Institut d’études avancées (IEA) in Paris. He earned his law degree at the University of Tartu in 1998, his LL.M. at Georgetown University in 1999 and doctorate at Humboldt University Berlin in 2002. He has subsequently had fellowships at NYU School of Law, at the University of Tokyo and at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars (in Washington, DC). He is member of the Institut de Droit International and since 2021, of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe. He is an editor-in-chief of the Baltic Yearbook of International Law (at Brill) and is member of the editorial board of the Review of Central and East European Law. Among his publications are monographs Illegal Annexation and State Continuity: The Incorporation of the Baltic States by the USSR'(2nd ed., 2022, Brill) and Russian Approaches to International Law (OUP, 2015). He is one of the four editors of the forthcoming The Oxford Handbook of International Law in Europe (OUP, 2024) and was the co-editor of Russia and the European Court of Human Rights: The Strasbourg Effect (CUP, 2017). He has published widely on the history of international law related to Russia and the Soviet Union, as well as on current developments and cases in international law. (Source: https://www.college-de-france.fr/en/person/lauri-malksoo)


Plenary Session | The Future of Democracy and Free Markets in Central and Eastern Europe

featuring

The Honorable Mark Gitenstein | The Honorable Audra Plepytė

Ambassador Mark Gitenstein

  • US Ambassador to the European Union, 2021-2025

  • US  Ambassador to Romania, 2009-2012 

About the talk:

How is the EU accession process proceeding with Moldova, Ukraine and other aspiring entrants in the region? Ambassador Gitenstein will offer an assessment of the European Commission’s application of its various enforcement tools to ensure compliance by member states of their treaty obligations. He will additionally discuss the role of the United States in supporting those processes and the role played by hostile powers like Russia in undermining them. Furthermore, Ambassador Gitenstein will consider the disturbing deterioration of independent media in the region as the essential bulwark for democracy, free markets and against corruption and backsliding.

About the speaker:

Mark Gitenstein was the US Ambassador to the European Union from 2021-2025. He is a lawyer who recently retired from Mayer Brown LLP, where he had served over most of the last 30 years as partner and counsel. Gitenstein served as U.S. Ambassador to Romania (2009- 2012) and began his career with 17 years of service in the U.S. Senate on the Judiciary and Intelligence committees. He worked for then-Senator Biden for 13 of those 17 years, co-chairing the then-Senator’s transition to the vice presidency in 2008 and helping set up his transition to the presidency in 2020. Over the last two decades, he has worked extensively in Central and Eastern Europe, focused on preserving and fortifying democracy by ensuring transparency in equity markets, fighting corruption, strengthening the rule of law, defending free and independent media, and protecting journalists.

As US Ambassador to the EU he focused primarily on supporting the allied response to the  Russian invasion of Ukraine including extensive work on export controls, sanctions and developing innovative ways in which the US/EU could finance the war.  He resolved vexing trade disputes on privacy and climate tech and worked in three successful summits to develop common approaches not only on the war and trade but on countering the People’s Republic of China and forging a common US/EU approach to the Gaza war.

Of particular note, Ambassador Gitenstein has worked tirelessly to raise awareness on both sides of the Atlantic of the importance of free media as a bulwark against democratic backsliding, along with a call for action and funding in this field. He forged new pathways to convene civil society leaders, financial experts, philanthropists, and successful media outlets to recommend policy actions to the EU Commission to leverage blended-finance equity investments in innovative ways to invigorate independent and pluralist media landscapes in the region. Recognizing international capital and EU policy support are not enough to fund sustainable financing of pluralistic media markets in Central and Eastern Europe, he brought media investor forums in local markets to galvanize local buy-in to ensure scale of financing and increase trust and accountability of media locally.

Ambassador Audra Plepytė

  • Ambassador of Lithuania to the United States and Mexico, 2021-Present

  • Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the United Nations, 2017-2021

 

About the Talk:

How can we effectively strengthen democratic institutions, safeguard freedom of speech, and foster resilient societies? Ambassador Audra Plepytė will delve into these issues, drawing on Lithuania’s experience during the EU integration process. Ambassador Plepytė will share key lessons learned and Lithuania’s approach in supporting other countries aspiring to join the EU, including Moldova and Georgia.

In addition, Ms. Plepytė will discuss the role of energy independence, both in Lithuania and Europe, in promoting regional stability and security.

About the Speaker:

Ambassador Audra Plepytė was appointed as Lithuania’s Ambassador to the United States of America and to the United Mexican States in 2021. Before this she was a Lithuanian Permanent Representative to the United Nations where she facilitated several negotiations, led the Group of Friends, and was elected to executive bodies of UN instruments and institutions, including being elected as the President of the Executive Board of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in 2021. As a career diplomat for over 30 years, she has held numerous positions within the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dealing with bilateral and multilateral issues, heading the European Union Department (2014–2017), the Personnel Department, and International Missions and Conflict Prevention Division. She was also Lithuania’s ambassador to Spain, World Tourism Organization from 2010 till 2014. Ambassador Plepytė has BA and MA in Philosophy at Vilnius University. She also has a diploma from the Institute of International Relations at Vilnius University, as well as a certificate of Diplomatic studies at Oxford University in UK.

 


Conference Highlights

New Book Roundtable | Marina Sapritsky-Nahum – Jewish Odesa: Negotiating Identities and Traditions in Contemporary Ukraine

Indiana University Press, 2024

Jewish Odesa explores the rich Jewish history and contemporary Jewish life in Ukraine’s port city of Odesa. Long considered both a uniquely cosmopolitan and Jewish place, Odesa’s Jewish character has shifted as ethnic and cultural identities have dramatically changed since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the independence of Ukraine.
 Drawing on extensive field research, Marina Sapritsky-Nahum examines how the role of Russian language and culture, alongside lingering memories of the Soviet era, have been critically re-evaluated, leading to new forms of expression for Odesa’s Jewish community within the broader Ukrainian national context.
Jewish Odesa reveals how a city once famous for its progressive and secular Jewish traditions has been shaped by migration and altered by competing projects of Jewish revival. Russia’s war in Ukraine has further challenged Jewish communal life while simultaneously fostering a deeper sense of Ukrainian-Jewish belonging.

 

Film Reel | Coming soon!

Translation Showcase | Coming soon!

 


Conference Program

Conference Program


Graduate Student Essay Prize

REECAS Northwest awards an annual prize for the best graduate student paper presented at the conference and nominates the winner for the ASEEES Beth Holmgren Graduate Student Essay Prize. For consideration, students must present their paper at the REECAS Northwest Conference and submit their paper by uploading it to Dropbox before 11:59 pm on April 20, 2025 using this link.


Conference Hotel

Participants are required to make their own hotel reservations (including payment). The Ellison Center has secured a block of rooms at a discounted rate of  $189 per night in the stylish Graduate Hotel by Hilton, located just steps from the University of Washington in the University District. (Please scroll down to find discounted reservation link.)

We STRONGLY recommend you make your reservations soon as availability is limited. Please make your reservation no later than March 10 to secure the discounted rate. 

The group rate of $189.00 for single and double rooms is valid for 3 days pre-/post-contracted dates based on hotel availability.

There are two ways to make your university’s hotel reservations:

Online: Individuals can also make reservations online by clicking here.

By Phone: Guests may also contact the Graduate Hotel reservations line at 1-800-HILTONS. In doing so, they may request the group rate for UW REECAS NW 2025 or by providing the unique group code: 90E. 

 

Other hotels in the University District, please note that the discounted rate is not available at these hotels.

Marriott Residence Inn 

Silver Cloud Hotel

Watertown Hotel 

University Inn


Venue, Campus Maps, Parking, and Transportation

The REECAS Northwest Conference will take place in the HUB (Husky Union Building) on the University of Washington campus in Seattle. (4001 E Stevens Way NE, Seattle, WA 98195)

MORE INFO HERE

 


Seattle Restaurants and Activities

There are a variety of restaurants and cafes located on the University of Washington campus and nearby.

MORE INFO HERE

 

 


Invitation Letter Request

(Accepted proposals only) – If you require a letter of invitation to present at the conference, please complete the below form.

Invitation Letter Form


COVID-19 Prevention and UW


Questions?

If you have questions not answered by this webpage, please contact reecasnw@uw.edu.