Czech and Slovak Studies Workshop 2026 | Harris Center for Judaic Studies

The University of Nebraska will host the 26th Annual Czech and Slovak Studies Workshop.

April 23-25, 2026
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Location TBA

Call for Papers

The workshop welcomes papers on Czech and Slovak topics, broadly defined, in all disciplines.

Areas of interest have been anthropology, architecture, art, economics, education, film, geography, history, Jewish studies, literature, music, philosophy, politics, religion, society, sociology, and theater.
Work in progress is an appropriate format for our workshop.
Our interdisciplinary conference has previously drawn participants from colleges and universities in the United States and abroad.
Junior faculty and advanced graduate students are particularly encouraged to apply.

Application materials, as well as any questions, should be emailed to Hana Waisserova at hwaisserova2@unl.edu with the subject heading “Czech and Slovak Studies Workshop.”

The steering committee will review the proposals and contact the applicants by the end of January 2026.

Applications

Submit proposals by January 12, 2026.

Paper abstract of approximately 250 words that includes your name and the paper title
Curriculum vitae
Indicate if you have attended a Czech and Slovak Studies Workshop in the past

Email your Application Materials

Keynote Speaker

“Bohemia’s Jews and Their Nineteenth Century”

Jindřich Toman
University of Michigan

Trained in Czechoslovakia, Germany and the U.S., Jindrich Toman follows an academic path defined by languages and cultures of Central Europe. His book on Jewish culture and literature, Bohemia’s Jews and Their Nineteenth Century: Texts, Contexts, Reassessments (University of Chicago Press, 2023), focuses on the scarcely written-about “quiet” decades of the nineteenth century, exploring Jewish expression, Jewish-Czech relations, and the changing attitudes toward Jews between the 1820s and 1880s.

Full Toman biography

Roundtable

“Bohemian Jewishness: From Poetics to Politics”

Jacques Rupnik, Sciences Po

Jindřich Toman, University of Michigan

Veronika Tuckerová, Harvard University

Jacques Rupnik is Research Professor of political science at Sciences Po, Paris; visiting professor at the College of Europe in Bruges; and a popular political commentator and publicist. His book, The Fates of Central Europe Between Hitler and Stalin: Selected Writings of Josef Guttmann, will be published in 2026 by University of Chicago Press.

Full Rupnik biography

Veronika Tuckerová teaches Czech at Harvard University's Slavic Department. Her writing has appeared in The New German Critique, Journal of World Literature, brücken, Revolver Revue and Roš chodeš. Her book, Reading Kafka in Prague: On Translation, Samizdat, Censorship, Export, and Dissent, the first book-length study of the reception of Franz Kafka in his homeland of Czechoslovakia, was published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2025.

Full Tuckerová biography