Clio Caucasus is an initiative by scholars in the humanities, journalists, human rights activists and civil activists from the three republics of the South Caucasus and the Federal Republic of Germany who have set themselves the goal of providing a moderated platform for information, communication and publication on research into the Caucasus, guided by international quality standards for scholarship, free from propaganda, stereotyping and ascriptions of blame, and which is thus intended as a contribution to conflict prevention.
Clio Caucasus aims at a structured appraisal of information pertaining to all scholarly events in the humanities which bear on the Caucasus, both within the region and outside of it. To this end, extensive use is made of existing offerings from teaching and research institutes, libraries, academic databases and websites, which are collected on the pages of the portal in order that they may be centrally searchable. At the same time, all users who adhere to scholarly standards may publicize their own information and contributions on the subject. Fostering the exchange of knowledge from and about the region, along with sharing didactic experience, serve to contextualize debates and discourses in international historical research, free from political sway. Such exchange serves also to introduce current methods of historical teaching and research, and to encourage discussion on the experience of engaging with highly contentious histories.
Clio Caucasus is guided by the experience of existing humanities and social studies portals (http://www.clio-online.de/ http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/ http://www.h-net.org/ http://www.euroclio.eu/); it is, however, organized principally with an eye to scholars, researchers, students and teachers in the South Caucasus, as well as international researchers with a Caucasus specialism. In order to facilitate as broad a scope as possible for intraregional communication, Russian-language materials are presented; contributions in German and English are equally welcome. Owing to extremely limited resources, the desired availability of material in multiple languages is unachievable for the time being.
The founders feel bound by the motto of HSozKult “From scholars, for scholars, by scholars”, and hereby call upon all scholars and students with an interest in the Caucasus to participate!
The project is sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service as part of the programme ‘Conflict Prevention in the South Caucasus’ of the Foreign Ministry; for this support we express our sincerest gratitude! Any further supporters of these interests are warmly invited to participate and cooperate!