Minutes of the meeting of the Presidium of the International Committee of Slavicists (Zagreb, October 16-18, 2000) (Ljubljana, November 10, 2000)

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1 Minutes of the meeting of the Presidium of the International Committee of Slavicists (Zagreb, October 16-18, 2000) (Ljubljana, November 10, 2000) The meeting of the Presidium of the International Committee of Slavicists took place in Zagreb, October 16-18, In keeping with the decision made at the consultative meeting in Brno and Prague (1999), viz. that the 2000 meeting be attended by representatives from six Slavic countries (East Slavic: Belorussia, the Russian Federation; West Slavic: the Czech Republic, Poland; South Slavic: Croatia, Slovenia) and six non-slavic countries (European: Austria, Italy, Germany, Romania; non- European: Canada, the United States of America), the meeting was attended by 15 members of the International Committee of Slavicists, three of whom were from Slovenia as organizer of the impending congress: Prof. Henadz Cychun, Prof. Michael Flier, Prof. Ivo Franges (honorary member), Prof. Dorin Gamulescu, Prof. Stefano Garzonio, Prof. Karl Gutschmidt, Prof. Miha Javornik (Secretary), Prof. Anica Nazor, Prof. Gerhard Neweklowsky, Prof. Ivo Pospisil, Prof. Aleksander Skaza (Vice-President), Prof. Lucjan Suchanek, Prof. Alenka Sivic-Dular (president), Prof. Oleg N. Trubacev and Prof. Nicholas G. Zeku1in. The meeting was also attended by Prof. Cvjetko Milanja (President of the Croatian Committee of Slavicists), Prof. Borislav Pavlovski (President of the Croatian Philological Society), Prof. Dubravka Sesar (former President of the Croatian Committee of Slavicists) and Asst. Prof. Milos Zelenka, assistant professor (Editor of the journal Slavia). The sessions took place at the Dubrovnik Hotel in Zagreb on October 16-17, 2000; on October 18 the participants went on a sightseeing tour to the Plitvice Lakes Nature Reserve. The introductory speakers were Borislav Pavlovski on behalf of the Croatian Philological Society and Cvjetko Milanja on behalf of the Croatian Committee of Slavicists. The former's address of welcome included a brief presentation of the activities of the Croatian Philological Society; the latter informed the attending members about, and invited them to participate in, the international Croatian Congress of Slavicists held every four years since 1995: the first was in Pula (1995), the second in Osijek (1999), the third will be put forward to the year 2002 in order to avoid collision with the 13th International Congress of Slavicists in Ljubljana The two speeches were followed by Prof. Ivo Pranjkovic's talk on the current state of the standard Croatian language and its use in Croatia; a short discussion ensued. Occasioned by the meeting, and opened on the day that the meeting was convened, was an exhibition of Croat publications in Slavic studies; the publications were available to the attendants of the meeting. The agenda of the Zagreb meeting consisted of issues vital to the organization of the 13th International Congress of Slavicists (Ljubljana 2003):

2 (1) The themes for the 13th International Congress of Slavicists and their approval. (2) The forms of work at the 13th International Congress of Slavicists. (3) New business. The report on the progress of the preparations for the 13th International Congress of Slavicists pointed out that the period was marked by activities relating to the aspects of content/program, finance, organizational details and promotion. The Congress will take place from August 15 through August 21, 2003 in Ljubljana on the premises of the Ivan Cankar Congress Center; the term may not be the most suitable, but even as early as 1998 this was the only temporal slot still available in the program schedule of the Ivan Cankar Congress Center. In the absence of feasible alternatives the Presidium of the International Committee of Slavicists approved the term. - The Congress logo is being designed; the Post of Slovenia has been requested to consider honoring the 13th Congress by issuing a stamp commemorating Franz Miklosich. Member countries' response to the minutes of the 1999 Brno-Prague meeting: 21 out of the 39 countries which are members of the International Association of Slavicists responded in one way or another to the preliminary list of the 2003 congress themes or to other items contained in the minutes of the meeting held in Brno and Prague in Establishing contact also with the rest of the member countries obviously remains one of the priorities during the coming year. Etymological Committee founded: The national committees of Slavicists that did respond seconded both the motion that an etymological committee be set up with the International Committee of Slavicists and the motion that Prof. Zhanna Varbot (Moscow) be nominated chairwoman of this committee. Meanwhile, however, she withdrew her candidacy for the office of chairperson due to objective circumstances, so the office was taken over by Prof. Eva Havlova (Brno), who promptly took steps toward constituting the committee. By mid-october 2000, membership confirmations had arrived from 27 etymologists from 11 countries (Austria, Belorussia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Yugoslavia); additional acceptance is expected from the proposed members from Canada, Croatia, Macedonia and Ukraine. National quotas: The national quotas for the 13th International Congress of Slavicists had been assigned on the basis of the quotas proposed for the 12th International Congress of Slavicists (Krakow 1998)--i.e. a total of 650 participants-and published in Slavia 69/1, p In the meantime five national committees (the Belorussian, Finnish, Italian, Macedonian and Yugoslav) asked for their quotas to be expanded. The Presidium of the International Committee of Slavicists granted their requests, so that the final quotas for the national committees are: Slavic countries: Belorussia - 25, Bosnia and Herzegovina - 5, Bulgaria - 40, Croatia - 20, the Czech Republic - 35, Macedonia - 18, Poland - 60, the Russian Federation- 60, Slovakia- 25, Slovenia- 12 (with the right to possibly enlarge its quota), Ukraine - 40, Yugoslavia -35; non-slavic countries: Australia and New Zealand - 5, Austria- 15, Belgium - 10, Canada -10, Denmark- 5, Estonia- 3, Finland- 15, France - 15, Germany- 60, Great Britain - 15, Greece- 5, Hungary - 20, India- 5, Israel- 5, Italy -

3 25, Japan - 3, Kazakhstan - 10, Latvia - 3, Lithuania - 3, Moldavia - 3, the Netherlands - 10, Norway - 5, Romania - 15, Spain - 5, Sweden - 10, Switzerland- 5, the United States of America This makes a total of 693 participants in the 13th International Congress of Slavicists. The International Committee of Slavicists will discuss any further requests for a higher quota at its future meetings. - The Slovene Committee of Slavicists made a motion, and the motion was carried, that the thematic-block participants, who are members of the official national delegations to the congress, not be included in the above national quotas but considered an independent extra quota of participants in the thematic blocks. 1.0 The congress themes: In 1999 the Slovene Organizing Committee for the 13th International Congress of Slavicists and the Slovene Committee of Slavicists prepared the first outline of the congress themes and submitted it to the reduced Presidium of the International Committee of Slavicists as it held its consultative meeting in Brno and Prague (September 1999). The second version of the preliminary list of the congress themes was drafted on the basis of proposals and amendments made by members of the Polish, Czech and German Committees of Slavicists (i.e., members of the reduced Presidium of the International Committee of Slavicists who attended the consultative meeting in Brno- Prague, 1999). This version was attached to the minutes of that meeting and dispatched to all the national committees of Slavicists, as well as published, in Russian and Slovene, in Slavia 69/1 (2000), pp The third draft of the congress themes, incorporating comments and amendments sent in during the year 2000 by national committees of Slavicists, was discussed at this year's meeting. The final and official version approved at this meeting is in the Croatian language and entitled Tematika 13. medunarodnoga slavistickog kongresa (Ljubljana, kolovoza 2003). Constituting an integral part of these minutes, it will be published together with the minutes in Slavia. 2.0 Forms of work at the 13th International Congress of Slavicists were discussed thoroughly and at great length as to their kind and quantity and particularly as to the structural elements relating to the concept of 'thematic blocks' from the point of view of content and organization. The following decisions were made: 2.1 The work at the 13th International Congress of Slavicists will be organized in four modes: a) plenary papers; b) sessions (work in 'sections'): panelists' papers, print-only contributions ('scripta'); c) thematic blocks; d) round tables. 2.2 The motion to include special morning discussion groups for junior research fellows was not carried. However, the national committees of Slavicists are urged to encourage

4 young upcoming scholars' participation in the 13th International Congress of Slavicists as much as possible. 2.3 The deadline for submitting session papers: The deadline for submitting session papers (panelists' papers and print only contributions) is October 1, They must be sent to the address of the Slovene Committee of Slavicists. In keeping with the tradition each submission should include a summary in one of the official languages of the congress (all Slavic languages, German, French, English) In agreement with the decision made at the plenary session in Urbino (1994} the conceptual framework remains to be one in which narrowly specialized themes are treated in 'thematic blocks' as a specific mode of work distinguished from sessions (Ôsection workõ), i.e. panels tackling a broader range of themes The number of thematic blocks at the 13th International Congress of Slavicists shall be limited to a total of 20 (twenty} The total number of active participants in the thematic blocks (cf } constitutes a separate quota not included in the national quotas; the active participants in the thematic blocks are, however, official members of their countries' national delegations A new office was created: the office of Thematic Blocks Coordinator. To facilitate organization, it was agreed that the Thematic Blocks Coordinator would be appointed by the Slovene Committee of Slavicists and that he or she would be a member of the Slovene Organizing Committee for the 13th International Congress of Slavicists. The appointee is: Prof. Miran Hladnik, Slovenski slavisticni komite, Filozofska fakulteta, Askerceva cesta 2, SI Ljubljana., mira.hladnik@guest.arnes.si The national committees of Slavicists are to send their suggestions for thematic blocks directly to the Thematic Blocks Coordinator. He keeps a record of thematic blocks that have been suggested and must report on the progress at the meeting of the International Committee of Slavicists (2001), who will decide about each thematic block separately Whoever wants to propose a thematic block must submit their proposal to their national committee of Slavicists; if the committee endorses it, it forwards the proposal to the Thematic Blocks Coordinator The person who has proposed a thematic block becomes responsible for organizing the block and making sure that it gets carried out at the congress There are three to five scheduled discussants (Ôactive participantsõ) in a thematic block, experts in the field; three different countries-three national committees of Slavicists-need to be represented, and it is recommended that at least one of them be a Slavic country.

5 2.4.8 The discussants in thematic blocks have ten minutes each to present their papers/theses, which must be published before the congress begins Any proposal submitted to the Thematic Blocks Coordinator by a national committee of Slavicists must comprise the following elements: (a) the title of the thematic block, (b) the name of the person responsible for organizing the thematic block, (c) the names of the discussants, (d) a short argument in support of the content of the thematic block, (e) a short presentation of the issue or the theses to be discussed in the thematic block. Thematic blocks must be submitted to the Thematic Blocks Coordinator on a special application form (Thematic Block Submission Form), a sample of which is attached to these minutes Proposals for possibly organizing round tables will be made by the Presidium of the International Committee of Slavicists when it convenes in They will be selected from among the thematic blocks that will have been suggested by the time of the meeting The deadline for submitting thematic blocks: The deadline for submitting a thematic block to the address of the Thematic Blocks Coordinator is October 1, The submission form should be filled out in one of the official languages of the congress (all Slavic languages, German, French, English). 2.5 The national committees of Slavicists are kindly requested to inform their members of the requirements concerning the thematic blocks. Those national committees that have already sent in proposals for thematic blocks are asked to re-submit them in the form now set. 3.0 New business. 3.1 The following new members of the International Committee of Slaviscists were unanimously approved at the meeting: Prof. Stefano Garzonio (replacing Prof. Giovanna Brogi Bercoff), Prof. Gerhard Neweklowsky (replacing Prof. Rudolf Neuhäuser), Prof. M. Pavlyshyn (replacing Prof. Paul Cubberley), Nicholas G. Zekulin (replacing Prof. Tom Priestly). 3.2 A nomination to replace resigning Secretary of the International Committee of Slavicists, Prof Erika Krzisnik, was made by the Slovene Committee of Slavicists. Prof. Miha Javornik was approved in her place. 3.3 On the motion of the Polish Committee of Slavicists, Prof. Stanislaw Gajda was appointed to coordinate the activities of the committees affiliated to the International Committee of Slavicists. 3.4 Professors Janusz Siatkowski and Go Mihaila were put up (by Professors Lucjan Suchanek and Dorin Gamulescu, respectively) to be elected honorary members of the International Committee of Slavicists. Both motions were carried.

6 3.5 There was a discussion on the issue of finance involving accommodations and foreseeable costs (such as hotel prices ) per capita during the Ljubljana congress, as well as the issue of possibly obtaining additional means from international funds. The Slovene Committee of Slavicists committed itself to mailing preliminary information about this to all the national committees of Slavicists as soon as possible. 3.6 The next meeting of the Presidium of the International Committee of Slavicists was scheduled for the beginning of December 2001 in Slovakia, at the invitation of the Slovak Committee of Slavicists. [NB: This version of the minutes is senza diacritics: if you wish for the proper form of the names & titles, please contact Nicholas G. Zekulin.]