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Conference on “Disaster Nationalism” and Present-day Europe

Last week, on 22 and 23 May 2026, an interdisciplinary conference on “Disaster Nationalism” and Present-day Europe was held at Charles University, Faculty of Arts, Prague.


Dr Svetluša Surová, director and senior researcher at the Minority Issues Research Institute, has participated in the session on “Varieties of Nationalism: Diasporic Identifications, Repressive Marginalization, Millennialist Conspiracies and Sacralized Nationhood”.



Disaster Nationalism and Present-day Europe Programme, 22-23 May 2026, Charles University, Faculty of Arts, Room 104, Prague



Disaster Nationalism Conference


The conference sparked interdisciplinary discussions that examined how “disaster nationalism” has affected various European regions and their recent changes, especially highlighting cultural and artistic reactions to nationalist narratives.


Keynote speakers were Professor Luba Jurgenson from Université Paris-Sorbonne, Department of Slavic Studies, who gave a lecture on “The Discourse of Disaster and Its Contemporary Metamorphoses: From Cultural Construction to Weapon of War”, and Professor Murray Pittock from the University of Glasgow, who presented on “The Natures of European Nationalism: Simple Questions, Complex Problems and Disastrous Answers.”


The convener of the conference was Professor Martin Procházka, MAE, and organizer was the Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague. This conference was supported by the European Regional Development Fund project “Beyond Security: Role of Conflict in Resilience-Building”.



MIRI Panellist at the Conference


Dr Svetluša Surová, director and senior researcher at the Minority Issues Research Institute, has participated in the session on “Varieties of Nationalism: Diasporic Identifications, Repressive Marginalization, Millennialist Conspiracies and Sacralized Nationhood”, chaired by Professor Martin Procházka.


The panel included Zdeněk Uherek, who presented on “Diasporic Identifications with the Nation and State: Czech Citizens Leaving the Country of Origin and Their Returns”; Zuzana Marie Kostićová, who lectured on “New Age Spirituality, Millennialism and Conspiracism: From Progressive to Apocalyptic”; Zdenko Širka, presenting on “Religious Nationalism in Serbia and finally Svetluša Surová, presenting her research “’We Were Like Dogs Locked in Here’: Dissenting Voices from the Quarantined Roma Settlements during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Slovakia”.


Disaster Nationalism and Present-day Europe Programme, 22-23 May 2026, Charles University, Faculty of Arts, Room 104, Prague


For more information about the conference, see the Programme Brochure with Abstracts.




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