CfP: Carceral Frontiers – Penal Histories of the Russian Far East and Beyond

 CfP: Carceral Frontiers – Penal Histories of the Russian Far East and Beyond

International Workshop, 29-30 January 2026, Helsinki

Organizers: Anna Mazanik (Max Weber Network Eastern Europe) and Mikhail Nakonechnyi (ERC Project ‘Manipulation of Health Data in Liberal and Authoritarian Custodial Institutions’, University of Helsinki,)

Deadline for proposal submission: 17 October 2025.

The Russian Far East and the wider Pacific world have long been important to the history of exile, forced labor, and incarceration. From the Tsarist katorga and exile system to Stalin’s Gulag complexes, the region served both as a penal periphery and as a crucial arena for state projects of colonization, industrialization, and social control. Its remoteness, harsh frontier environments, and proximity to the Pacific also shaped distinctive practices of penal governance and record-keeping, particularly in how prisoner health, mortality, and mobility were documented, managed, or concealed. At the same time, the operation of penal institutions, although often excluded from the public history narratives, had a profound impact on the social composition, infrastructural development, economies, and ecologies of the Far East and is essential for understanding the past and present of the region.

This workshop seeks to bring together scholars working on the penal history of the Russian Far East and beyond, situating the region within a global comparative perspective. We welcome papers on all matters carceral, including the histories of penal systems, special settlements, and prisoners-of-war camps, histories of prison medicine, human-environment relations, and wider forms of penal modalities in the Russian Far East, Siberia, and neighboring regions. Comparative and transnational contributions extending to colonial, postcolonial, and Pacific contexts are especially encouraged. We particularly invite approaches that illuminate broader questions of state legitimacy, institutional accountability, and the global history of punishment through the lens of mortality, health, environment, and carceral experience.

We intend to publish an edited volume based on the workshop.

The workshop will take place in Helsinki on 29-30 January 2026. It is organized by the Max Weber Network Eastern Europe and the ERC Project “Death, Smoke, And Mirrors: Manipulation of Health Data in Liberal and Authoritarian Custodial Institutions” at the University of Helsinki. The organizers will cover the accommodation and travel costs for the invited participants.

Please submit your paper proposals (ca. 300 words) and a short biography to Anna Mazanik (anna.mazanik@mws-osteuropa.org) and Mikhail Nakonechnyi (mikhail.nakonechnyi@helsinki.fi) by 17 October 2025.