International online conference: “Alexander Chayanov: Differentiation and Integration of Economics and Politics, Science and Art”

29-30 September 2021

The conference will be held in Russian and English with simultaneous translation. Please find the program attached.
We can send you the Zoom link and conference materials upon registration by e-mail to chayanov.conference2021@gmail.com.

Fields of research: Literary studies, cultural studies, history, economy, interdisciplinary approaches to the humanities and social sciences.

The legacy of Aleksandr Vasil’evich Chayanov (1888-1937) is the subject of study in various scientific disciplines. Economists, sociologists, and historians study his works in the field of agrarian economics, rural sociology, and the cooperative movement. At the same time, Chayanov’s work as a writer is studied by literary and cultural studies, as well as in art history. The greatest number of studies is devoted to his novel The Journey of my Brother Alexei to the Land of Peasant Utopia. However, Chayanov’s poems, gothic short stories, and his drama have not yet received due attention, both in terms of their literary specificity, and in terms of their place in the literary production of the first quarter of the 20th century. Chayanov’s works on history and art history also await more research. Studying the scholar’s entire body of works in regard to the inseparable connection of his economic, historical, art history and literary heritage will provide an opportunity to take a new look at Chayanov’s oeuvre as a whole.

The conference will bring together various approaches to the study of Chayanov’s legacy and discuss a range of issues:
- Problems and peculiarities of the study of the life and work of Chayanov the writer;
- Unknown facts and new materials in the study of his literary heritage;
- Chayanov’s literary and scientific work in the context of the era; the utopian tradition;
- Chayanov’s sphere of communication and mutual influences;
- Links between Chayanov’s scholarly and literary work; the relationship between
economics/sociology/history and literature in Chayanov’s life and work;
- Chayanov’s work on art history in the context of his intellectual heritage and the
historical period of the first quarter of the 20th century;
- Chayanov the writer, scholar, citizen: Integrating Chayanov’s different legacies, and the
peculiarities of interdisciplinary research.

The organization team:
Alexander Nikulin, director of the Center for Agrarian Studies RANEPA, director of the Chayanov Research Center MSSES
Natalia Mikhalenko, senior researcher, Gorky Institute of World Literature
Eliane Fitzé, PhD candidate, University of Fribourg

Contact: chayanov.conference2021@gmail.com