Social and Labour History News

CfP: 18th Contact Day Jewish Studies on the Low Countries

5 hours 21 minutes ago

18th Contact Day Jewish Studies on the Low Countries
Institute of Jewish Studies - University of Antwerp, Tuesday 12 May 2026

The Institute of Jewish Studies at the University of Antwerp is organising the eighteenth annual interdisciplinary conference devoted to Jewish Studies on the Low Countries -- understood as the states of the current Benelux, the states that preceded them in the geographical region of the Low Countries in the widest sense, their former colonies as well as global diaspora communities connected to them. The purpose of the conference is to facilitate contacts and cooperation between researchers working within this area of study.

We encourage the participation of both early career researchers and more established scholars, in order to foster exchange between different research generations. We are particularly keen to receive proposals and/or sessions that are explicitly comparative in character or focus on specific themes and disciplines within Jewish Studies concerning the Low Countries. Proposals need not be limited to a specific historical period, and presentations may include work in progress. We will welcome proposals for both individual papers and collective panels. The conference language is English.

Please note that the conference organisers regret that they cannot provide financial support to cover travel and accommodation of presenters or participants. Please submit an abstract of maximally 400 words and a short CV by 15 December 2025.

For further information please contact:
Karin Hofmeester: kho@iisg.nl
Veerle Vanden Daelen: veerle.vandendaelen@kazernedossin.eu

Conference "Kirche und Kolonialismus. Historische, theologische und politische Perspektiven"

1 day 2 hours ago
Stuttgart/Germany   Organiser: Akademie der Diözese Rottenburg-Stuttgart, Fachbereich Geschichte; Black History in Baden-Württemberg; Prof. Dr. Bernd-Stefan Grewe (Universität Tübingen); Prof. Dr. Johannes Großmann (LMU München) Location: Akademie der Diözese Rottenburg-Stuttgart, Tagungszentrum Stuttgart-Hohenheim Funded by: AKSB/bpb; Lehrstuhl für Neueste Geschichte und Zeitgeschichte der LMU München Postcode: 70599 City: Stuttgart Country: Deutschland Takes place: In person Dates: 22.01.2026 - 23.01.2026 Deadline: 08.01.2026 Website: https://www.akademie-rs.de/vakt_25952  

Kirchliche Akteur:innen waren in vielfältiger und komplexer Weise an der europäischen Kolonisierung in den Amerikas, in Afrika, Asien und im Pazifikraum beteiligt. Mission und koloniale Herrschaft gingen Hand in Hand. Gleichzeitig leisteten Missionare und Missionsschwestern humanitäre Hilfe und stellten sich immer wieder auch auf die Seite der Unterdrückten. Der kirchliche Beitrag zur kolonialen Beherrschung einerseits und zur Befreiung aus kolonialer Unterjochung andererseits ist bis heute Gegenstand heftiger Diskussionen, sowohl in den früheren Kolonialmetropolen als auch in den ehemals kolonisierten Gebieten.

 

Kirche und Kolonialismus. Historische, theologische und politische Perspektiven

Was wissen wir heute über die damalige Rolle von Kirchen und Mission? Wie wird sie von der jüngeren historischen Forschung bewertet und in den jeweiligen Gesellschaften erinnert? Wie lassen sich die verschiedenen Erinnerungskulturen konstruktiv zueinander in Beziehung setzen? Wie könnten differenzierte Erzählungen und Bewertung gelingen, die Ambivalenzen nicht ausklammern? Und welche Schlüsse ziehen wir daraus für den heutigen Umgang mit kolonialem Erbe in den Kirchen und der Gesellschaft – auf ideeller wie auf materieller Ebene, etwa mit Blick auf geraubte Kulturobjekte oder das fotografische Material der Missionsarchive? Welche Ansätze gibt es, Theologie, Kirche, Seelsorge und Religionsunterricht antirassistisch zu denken und gestalten?

Darüber wollen wir in interaktiven Workshops mit Expert:innen aus verschiedenen Bereichen ins Gespräch kommen. Eingeladen sind alle, die sich für das Thema interessieren, insbesondere historisch und theologisch Arbeitende aus Wissenschaft und Praxis, Lehrkräfte, Studierende, kirchliche Haupt- und Ehrenamtliche sowie Multiplikator:innen aus der politischen, historischen, antirassistischen und religiösen Bildungsarbeit.

Reihe „Baden-Württemberg (post-)kolonial“

Auf der Tagung „Baden-Württemberg (post-)kolonial. Geschichtswissenschaftliche und zivilgesellschaftliche Perspektiven“ trafen 2023 zum ersten Mal in einem großen Rahmen verschiedene Akteur:innen aus zivilgesellschaftlichem Aktivismus, Wissenschaft und Public History zusammen, die sich mit der kolonialen Vergangenheit und der postkolonialen Gegenwart in Baden-Württemberg beschäftigen. Auf dieser Basis veranstalten wir seitdem regelmäßige Workshop-Tagungen, um die begonnenen Diskussionen – weiterhin mit sowohl (geschichts-)wissenschaftlichem als auch praktischem Bezug – zu vertiefen.

Organisation & Tagungsleitung

Samrawit Araya (Black History in Baden-Württemberg)
Prof. Dr. Bernd-Stefan Grewe (Universität Tübingen)
Prof. Dr. Johannes Großmann (LMU München)
Teresa Heinzelmann (Black History in Baden-Württemberg)
Dr. Johannes Kuber (Akademie der Diözese Rottenburg-Stuttgart)
Yasmin Nasrudin (Black History in Baden-Württemberg)

Anmeldung

Begrenzte Plätze – Teilnahme nur mit Anmeldung bis spätestens 08.01.2026: www.akademie-rs.de/vakt_25952.

Bitte geben Sie bei der Anmeldung im Feld „Bemerkungen“ Ihren beruflichen Kontext und Ihr fachliches Interesse an. Teilen Sie uns bitte auch mit, falls Sie eine Teilnahmebestätigung als Fortbildung benötigen.

Sie erhalten eine Anmeldebestätigung. Bei Rücktritt von der Anmeldung vom 12.–20.01.

(Eingangsdatum) stellen wir Ihnen die Hälfte der Tagungskosten in Rechnung, danach bzw. bei Fernbleiben die Gesamtkosten. Ersatz durch eine andere Person befreit von Stornogebühren.

Tagungskosten

inkl. Verpflegung und Übernachtung im EZ 115,50 €
inkl. Verpflegung und Übernachtung im DZ 101,00 €
ohne Übernachtung und Frühstück 66,50 €

Stipendium für Studierende

Wenn Sie als Studierende Interesse an einem Stipendium für diese Tagung haben, melden Sie sich bitte bei Johannes Kuber (kuber@akademie-rs.de). Der Förderverein der Akademie kann bei entsprechender Eignung einen großen Teil der Kosten übernehmen. (Der Rechtsweg ist ausgeschlossen.)

Awareness

Wir erwarten einen respektvollen Umgang miteinander. Räume sind nicht unweigerlich frei von Diskriminierung, selbst wenn sie diskriminierungskritische Inhalte bearbeiten. Wir dulden keine menschenverachtenden Äußerungen oder Handlungen jeglicher Art.

Sollten Sie während der Veranstaltung Diskriminierungserfahrungen machen oder Gesprächsbedarf haben, steht Ihnen ein Awareness-Team zur Verfügung.

Programm

Donnerstag, 22. Januar 2026

12:00 Uhr
Gemeinsames Mittagessen

12:45 Uhr
Begrüßung und Organisatorisches
Dr. Johannes Kuber (Akademie der Diözese Rottenburg-Stuttgart)

13:15 Uhr
#dearwhitechurch. Über Rassismus, weiße Privilegien und die Verantwortung der Kirche
Anti-Bias-Workshop mit Dr. Nathalie Eleyth, Universität Zürich

15:15 Uhr
Kaffee & Kuchen

15:45 Uhr
Einleitung und Problemaufriss
Organisationsteam und Teilnehmer:innen

16:15 Uhr
Workshop-Runde 1 mit zwei parallelen Workshops
Dr. Jan Hüsgen, Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste: Religiöse Beute? Ordens- und Missionssammlungen und postkoloniale Provenienzforschung
Judit Alema, Politikwissenschaftlerin: Vom kolonialen Erbe zur Vielfalt. Workshop zu postkolonialen Ansätzen in der Seelsorge

18:15 Uhr
Reflexion. Blitzlicht zu Fragen, Anmerkungen, Wünschen

18:30 Uhr
Abendessen

19:30 Uhr
„Das koloniale Missverständnis“ (Jean-Marie Teno, Kamerun/Frankreich/Deutschland 2004)
Film und Gespräch

Kennenlernen und Austausch in der Denkbar

Freitag, 23. Januar 2026

08:00 Uhr
Frühstück

09:00 Uhr
Reflexion. Blitzlicht zu Fragen, Anmerkungen, Wünschen

09:15 Uhr
Workshop-Runde 2 mit zwei parallelen Workshops
Dr. Amélé Ekué, Mission 21, und Marilyn Umurungi, Landesmuseum Zürich: Hinsehen. Menschenbilder im Kulturenkontakt zwischen Ordnung und Vielfalt. Ein Workshop zu Mission und Rassismus
Dr. Jan Hüsgen, Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste: Religiöse Beute? Ordens- und Missionssammlungen und postkoloniale Provenienzforschung

11:15 Uhr
Kaffee & Snacks

11:45 Uhr
Von Togo nach Deutschland. Kinder der Mission zur Ausbildung in Württemberg
Vortrag von Prof. Dr. Kokou Azamede, Université de Lomé (Togo)

12:45 Uhr
Mittagessen

13:45 Uhr
Workshop-Runde 3 mit zwei parallelen Workshops
Dr. Amélé Ekué, Mission 21, und Marilyn Umurungi, Landesmuseum Zürich: Hinsehen. Menschenbilder im Kulturenkontakt zwischen Ordnung und Vielfalt. Ein Workshop zu Mission und Rassismus
Judit Alema, Politikwissenschaftlerin: Vom kolonialen Erbe zur Vielfalt. Workshop zu postkolonialen Ansätzen in der Seelsorge

15:45 Uhr
Kaffee & Kuchen

16:00 Uhr
Abschlussdiskussion im Fishbowl-Format

17:00 Uhr
Möglichkeit zur Führung durch eine im Tagungszentrum gezeigte Ausstellung von Joséphine Sagna und zum Gespräch mit der Künstlerin

Jeder der drei Workshops findet zweimal statt. Somit können im Lauf der Tagung alle Workshops besucht werden.

Kontakt

Akademie der Diözese Rottenburg-Stuttgart
Fachbereich Geschichte
Assistenz: Simone Storck
Im Schellenkönig 61, 70184 Stuttgart
Tel: +49 711 1640 752
E-Mail: storck@akademie-rs.de

CfP: Lines that Cross: Migration and the Making of a European Space

1 day 2 hours ago
Organiser: Memorial and Educational Site, Reception Camp Giessen; Research Network on the History of the Idea of Europe, University of East Anglia Location: Memorial and Educational Site, Reception Camp Giessen Postcode: 35398 City: Giessen Country: Germany Takes place: In Präsenz Dates: 01.07.2026 - 03.07.2026 Deadline: 20.12.2025  

The conference focuses on the interrelationship between migration and refugee movements on the one hand, and the genesis of a distinct European space on the other. By situating migration in a long-term historical perspective and exploring how it has shaped the very idea of Europe, the conference aims to advance both historical scholarship and current debates on migration, borders, identity, and memory. In doing so, it seeks to deepen our understanding of today’s challenges around mobility, inclusion and exclusion, and the uses of the past in shaping visions of Europe’s future.

 

Lines that Cross: Migration and the Making of a European Space

Since (at least) the early modern period, migration, flight, and displacement have been central to European history—not only as forces shaping local and regional environments but also as processes that help define the spatial, cultural, political, social, and intellectual limits of what “Europe” actually means. We invite papers that examine migration in and across Europe (broadly conceived) over the centuries and explore how movements of migrants and refugees have contributed to the making of Europe as a geographical, cultural, and political space. How have notions of European identity, belonging, exclusion, borders, and community been shaped by the circulation of people, ideas, and memories?

By situating migration in a long-term historical perspective and exploring how it has shaped the very idea of Europe, the conference aims to advance both historical scholarship and current debates on migration, borders, identity, and memory. In doing so, it seeks to deepen our understanding of today’s challenges around mobility, inclusion and exclusion, and the uses of the past in shaping visions of Europe’s future.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- Patterns of migration into, through, and out of Europe since the early modern period: internal migration, emigration and immigration, seasonal labour, diaspora formation.
- Forced migrations and refugee movements: expulsions, asylum seeking, causes and routes, reception and integration, long-term legacies and memory.
- Borders and territorial regimes: the evolution of border controls, frontier zones, and checkpoints in response to Europe’s changing political map.
- Europe’s external borders and their consolidation: how migration and flight from outside Europe have shaped and fortified Europe’s boundaries, including the role of institutions such as Frontex.
- Refugee camps as “non-places” (Marc Augé): from interwar camps for Eastern European Jews fleeing pogroms, to Displaced Persons camps after the Second World War, to Cold War camps for refugees from the Eastern bloc to reception centres at the EU’s external borders during and after the 2015 crisis.
- Migration and the making of European identities: cultural, legal, intellectual, and religious dimensions; notions of ‘otherness’, cosmopolitanism, nationalism.
- Transnational networks, migrant communities, and diasporas as vectors of exchange: circulation of ideas, practices, remittances, and cultural artefacts.
- Migration in European integration and rights debates: its role in shaping concepts of citizenship, belonging, human rights, and social cohesion.
- Memory, commemoration, and heritage of migration: how societies remember and narrate past migrations; their place in public history, memory culture, and identity politics.
- Representations of migrants and refugees: artistic, literary, cinematic, and media portrayals; discursive framings — political, religious, cultural.

Selected papers will be considered for publication in a peer‑reviewed edited volume or a special issue of a journal in the fields of European history or migration studies.

Subject to available funding, the organizers aim to contribute to travel and accommodation costs for presenters, particularly early-career scholars without institutional support. Applicants seeking reimbursement should indicate this in their application.

Please send your abstract (in English, max. 500 words) together with a short CV (1 page) to:

Sina Fabian
Memorial and Educational Site, Reception Camp Giessen sina.fabian@nal-giessen.de

Deadline for abstracts: 20 December 2025

Late submissions or those exceeding the word limit may not be considered.

Notification of acceptance: 14 January 2026

Organizing Committee: Sina Fabian, Humboldt University of Berlin; Florian Greiner, University of Giessen; Jan Vermeiren, University of East Anglia

Opening the archives, strengthening the movement

1 day 2 hours ago

We are pleased to invite you to the launch of Labour’s Memory. This new international initiative opens up the rich archival heritage of the labour movement, funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.

The project brings together trade union reports of activities from the 1880s to the present, digitised from archives in Sweden, Germany, and the Netherlands, and developed in collaboration with researchers at Uppsala University. These annual reports come in many forms: handwritten, typed, printed, and digital. And they all document the everyday life, struggles, and achievements of workers’ organisations at local, regional, national, and international levels.

Through innovative tools such as handwriting recognition and advanced linguistic search, Labour’s Memory enables the exploration of this material in new ways, allowing users to trace words, themes, and debates across time and place. The project is not only a resource for historians, archivists, and trade unionists, but also a model for preserving and making accessible the shared memory of working people worldwide.

Join us in celebrating this release, discovering the platform, and reflecting on the future of labour archives and research on

7 November 2025, 9.00-14.00 at Landsorganisationen, Barnhusgatan 18, 111 23 Stockholm

Please participate online using this link >>

If you have any more questions, please feel free to contact silke.neunsinger[at]arbark.se

Program

9.00 Welcome

We are delighted to begin this seminar with words of welcome from Johan Lindholm, chairman of the Landssorganisationen (LO) and  Joakim Johansson, Head of Arbetarrörelsens arkiv och bibliotek (ARAB).

Following this, Silke Neunsinger, Coordinator of Research at ARAB, will guide you through the program.

9.15 Unlocking Labour’s Memory

In this 30-minute session, Jonas Söderqvist, Project Leader at ARAB, will demonstrate how the Labour’s Memory platform works and how to search across more than a century of trade union reports. A practical introduction to the tools that make the movement’s history newly accessible.

9.50 Panel I: From Paper to Power

Why Annual Reports Matter for Trade Unions

Annual reports may seem like routine documents, but in reality, they capture the pulse of the labour movement — its priorities, its challenges, and its victories. They show how unions give voice to workers and hold themselves accountable, and how even decades-old reports can still inspire and guide the struggles we face today. This panel brings together trade unionists to share why these reports matter, how they are prepared, and how they remain powerful tools for organising and solidarity.

We are proud to welcome a panel of distinguished trade unionists and representatives from the labour movement, chaired by  Ella Niia, Chairwoman of ARAB’s Research Committee, who brings long-standing experience in strengthening the links between trade union practice, archives, and research.

Fredrik Jansson, Press Secretary at the Stockholm County Municipal Workers’ Union, offers insights into communication and the importance of documenting the union’s work for members and the public.

Maria Lefoy, Registrar at the Swedish Transport Workers’ Federation, provides first-hand knowledge of how annual reports are created and preserved within a union organisation.

Stefan Carlén, is Chief Economist at the Swedish Commercial Employees’ Union (Handelsanställdas förbund) and a well-known voice on wage formation, working conditions, and the transformation of the retail sector.

Together, they will discuss how annual reports are prepared, why they are vital to unions, and how even historical reports remain a living resource for today’s trade union work.

10.45 Coffee break

11.05 Panel II: Scholarship in Solidarity

Using digital tools to connect past struggles with future research.

This panel brings together scholars from history, political science, and literature who study trade unions at local, national, and global levels. They will explore how Labour’s Memory can be used in research today — and debate how this new digital infrastructure might reshape the way we study the labour movement in the future.

The panel will be chaired by Inger Jonsson, a member of ARAB’s Research Committee, and former FORTe, who brings extensive experience in connecting infrastructure for research with research initiatives.

The panellists represent a wide range of disciplinary and international perspectives on trade union history:

Jenny Jansson, Department of Government, Uppsala University, specialises in political science approaches to trade unionism, collective action, and the role of unions in shaping democracy.

Johanna Wolf, Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory, Frankfurt am Main, contributes expertise on the legal and institutional dimensions of labour history in comparative perspective.

Magnus Nilsson, School of Arts and Communication, Malmö University, brings a cultural and literary perspective on trade unions.

Larissa Rosa Correa, Department of History, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), offers a global and Latin American perspective on labour history, with particular attention to social movements and transnational connections.

12:00 Lunch

Sandwiches will be provided

12.30 From Preservation to Participation

Lessons from Labour’s Memory

Örjan Simonson, project leader and head of the Popular Movement Archives Uppsala, discusses  Labour’s Memory as a model for other archives and collections, highlighting both the opportunities for access and collaboration and the challenges of sustainability, digitisation, and AI.

12.45 Panel III: Archiving Labour’s Memory: From Local Voices to Global Access

From the local archive to the international repository, archivists are at the heart of making Labour’s Memory possible. This panel brings together archivists who will reflect on how the platform can serve as a model for other archival initiatives, and on the growing role of AI in their daily work. They will discuss both the opportunities and challenges of digitisation, including how annual reports can be added to the platform, and how these new tools can support the preservation and accessibility of the labour movement’s history for generations to come.

The panel will be chaired by Anja Kruke, Head of the Archiv der sozialen Demokratie at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Bonn, and president of the International Association of Labour History Institutes. She brings deep expertise in connecting archival work with international labour history.

Donald Weber, Research Coordinator at Amsab-ISG in Ghent, represents IALHI (International Association of Labour History Institutions) and contributes a European and international perspective on archival cooperation and research.

Karin Åström Iko, Director General of the National Archives of Sweden, brings a national perspective on archival policy and the leading role of national archives in advancing sustainable digitization.

Anna Sténs, Head of the Archive of Popular Movements in Västerbotten, Umeå, brings experience from a regional archive that preserves local voices and grassroots initiatives, including those of trade unions.

Ole Martin Rönning, Head of the Arbeiderbevegelsens arkiv og bibliotek in Oslo, adds a Nordic perspective on the challenges and opportunities of preserving the memory of the labour movement.

Together, the panel will explore how Labour’s Memory can serve as a model for archives at every level — from the local to the international — and how AI and sustainable digitisation are reshaping archival practice, from incorporating annual reports to ensuring long-term access for future generations.

13.40 Carrying Labour’s Memory Forward

A closing reflection on the day’s insights and how they can guide future research, archiving, and trade union work

14:00 Thank You for Sharing Labour’s Memory

Seminar "Migrations Est et Sud-Est asiatiques en France depuis 1860" (French)

1 day 2 hours ago

Deuxième année du séminaire organisé par le réseau « Migrations asiatiques en France », co-animé par Simeng Wang, Miyako Hayakawa et Julien Le Hoangan. En puisant dans les méthodes diverses des sciences sociales, ce séminaire vise avant tout à introduire les étudiant·es aux histoires, connaissances clefs et travaux incontournables dans les études de migrations de l’Asie de l’Est et du Sud-Est en France. En mobilisant les recherches historiques et les enquêtes empiriques récemment menées sur le sol français, ce séminaire se propose de mettre en valeur plus d’un siècle de migrations asiatiques en France, jusqu’ici relativement peu racontées, dans une perspective comparative.

Argumentaire

La France, pays de migration depuis plus d’un siècle, compte aujourd’hui un tiers de sa population avec au moins un parent ou grand-parent immigré (Le Minez, 2023). Ce sont le cas de 37 000 descendants d’immigrés chinois et 153 000 descendants d’immigrés cambodgiens, laotiens ou vietnamiens en 2019 (INSEE, 2020). De plus, en 2022, 13,5 % d’immigrés vivant en France sont nés en Asie (Insee, 2024). Ces différents groupes – immigrés asiatiques et descendants d'immigrés asiatiques — subissent, dans la société française, un processus relativement similaire de racialisation par l’amalgame et la confusion de l’origine « asiatique » à celle « chinoise » et les stéréotypes homogènes qui l’accompagnent (Gandon et Wang, 2023). Cette vision simpliste est en partie due à une méconnaissance de l’histoire comme le montre un sondage sur la perception et la connaissance d’immigrations d'Asie de l'Est et du Sud-Est en France, mené en 2023 par l'Institut d'études Occurrence et le Palais de la Porte Dorée à l’occasion de l’ouverture de l’exposition « Immigrations est et sud-est asiatiques depuis 1860 », pour lequel seules neuf personnes sur mille ont répondu correctement aux trois questions de connaissance (MNHI, 2023). Bien que les différentes régions de l’Asie de l’Est et du Sud-Est partagent des influences civilisationnelles et culturelles communes, et que les flux migratoires intra-asiatiques soient très anciens, il est impératif de déconstruire les regards monolithiques de ces populations immigrées en France, en démontrant les nuances et les diversités des contextes historiques et sociaux de différentes vagues migratoires asiatiques. Ces hétérogénéités sont marquées par l’histoire coloniale, des motifs et trajectoires migratoires distincts, et des dynamiques générationnelles propres aux multiples origines sociales, appartenances ethniques, et contextes politiques.

En puisant dans les méthodes diverses des sciences sociales (histoire, sociologie, anthropologie, science politique, ethnologie, géographie), ce séminaire vise avant tout à introduire les étudiant.es aux histoires, connaissances clefs et travaux incontournables dans les études de migrations de l’Asie de l’Est et du Sud-Est en France. Jusqu’ici, les recherches sur ces phénomènes migratoires constituent un champ très varié, voire éclaté, entre périodes historiques et pays d’origine. En mobilisant les recherches historiques et les enquêtes empiriques récemment menées sur le sol français, ce séminaire se propose de mettre en valeur plus d’un siècle de migrations asiatiques en France, jusqu’ici relativement peu racontées, dans une perspective comparative. Les efforts d’analyses fines et du comparatisme – entre les pays de l’ancienne Indochine : le Vietnam, le Cambodge, le Laos jusqu’au Japon, en passant par la Chine – devront permettre de saisir avec finesse la diversité de migrations asiatiques en France, ainsi que de dégager une vision plus claire, des migrations coloniales et des études postcoloniales. À une autre échelle du comparatisme, nous tâcherons de situer les travaux et enquêtes portant sur des immigrations asiatiques en France dans le paysage global des mobilités notamment à l’échelle européenne.

Participation

L'accès est autorisé pour les auditeur.ices libres, sur inscription obligatoire.

Programme des séances Mardi 2 décembre 2025
  • Introduction

Cycle « Histoire»

Mardi 16 décembre 2025 
  • Thaïs Dabadie (programmatrice et médiatrice culturelle, diplômée du Master Arts, littératures et langages, EHESS), « La Porte chinoise du Jardin d'agronomie tropicale : des expositions coloniales à l’investissement mémoriel vietnamien »
Mardi 6 janvier 2026 
  • Laurent Dornel (professeur d'histoire contemporaine à l'Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour, laboratoire ITEM), « Les travailleurs coloniaux de la Grande Guerre, le cas des Chinois et Indochinois »
Mardi 20 janvier 2026
  • Isabelle Wilhelm (docteure en sciences sociales, collaboratrice scientifique du Laboratoire d’Anthropologie des Mondes Contemporains, Université Libre de Bruxelles), « Engagement humanitaire des personnes françaises d’origine laotienne au Laos. ­؜­­»

Cycle « Intersectionnalité des rapports de domination »

Mardi 3 février 2026
  • Jiyoung Kim (doctorante en sociologie, Université Paris Nanterre, Laboratoire Institutions et dynamiques historiques de l’économie et de la société - IDHES), « Comment les relations d'enquête sont-elles racialisées ? Intersectionnalité et ses effets dans une enquête sur la gentrification parisienne »
Mardi 17 février 2026 
  • Julie Rodo (doctorante en sociologie des arts et de la culture, ED267 Université Sorbonne Nouvelle,  UMR8070 Cerlis), « Du stigmate au fétiche : expériences intersectionnelles des amateur·ices de K-pop d'origine asiatique en France »
Mardi 3 mars 2026 
  • Isabelle Debost (maîtresse de conférences d’anthropologie, Université des Antilles), « Chinois et descendants chinois à la Martinique et en Guyane : un entrelacs de migrations entre injonction coloniale et circulation caribéenne »
Mardi 17 mars 2026 
  • Yong Li (docteur en sociologie, ingénieur d'études au Dysolab, Université de Rouen Normandie) et Miyako Hayakawa (postdoctoral fellow, anthropologue, Université libre de Bruxelles), « Les jeunes d'origine asiatique face au racisme et aux discriminations : entre le déni et la politisation, à propos de l’enquête REACTAsie »

Cycle « Santé et soin »

Mardi 31 mars 2026 
  • Marie-Ève Samson (doctorante en anthropologie à l'Université de Montréal et cofondatrice du Collectif Super Boat People) et Rémy Chhem (chercheur en sciences sociales et cofondateur du Collectif Super Boat People), « L'exposition citoyenne “Plus que des bons réfugiés! 50 ans de présence cambodgienne, laotienne et vietnamienne à Montréal” : soigner en créant un pont entre les générations »
Mardi 7 avril 2026 
  • Simeng Wang, « Étudier la santé et la santé mentale en migration internationale : réflexions à partir d’enquêtes menées auprès de personnes d’origine est et sud-est asiatique en France »
Mardi 5 mai 2026 
  • Stéphanie Nann (docteure en psychologie sociale et diplômée en psychologie clinique, Université Paris-Ouest Nanterre), « Les Cambodgiens de France : état des lieux de la psychologie sociale »
Mardi 19 mai 2026 

Conclusion 

CfP: “Colonial Communities” in the Mediterranean between Italian Unification and the Occupation of Libya (English, Italian and French)

1 day 2 hours ago

Turin/Italy

The trilingual conference “Colonial Communities” in the Mediterranean between Italian Unification and the Occupation of Libya seeks to address a still relatively unexplored topic: the study of Italian communities abroad, with particular attention to the Mediterranean world in the period between national unification (1861) and the occupation of Libya (1911). At the core of this reflection lies the close, and not merely chronological, relationship between the migratory dynamics that characterized the early decades of unified Italy and the rise of colonial expansionism. The seminar therefore aims to investigate this connection through the specific lens offered by the Italian presence in North Africa and in the Ottoman Empire before the occupation of Libya. 

Università di Torino, Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società 12-13/03/2026

Argument

The seminar “Colonial Communities” in the Mediterranean between Italian Unification and the Occupation of Libya seeks to address a still relatively unexplored topic: the study of Italian communities abroad, with particular attention to the Mediterranean world in the period between national unification (1861) and the occupation of Libya (1911). At the core of this reflection lies the close, and not merely chronological, relationship between the migratory dynamics that characterized the early decades of unified Italy and the rise of colonial expansionism. The seminar therefore aims to investigate this connection through the specific lens offered by the Italian presence in North Africa and in the Ottoman Empire before the occupation of Libya.

While historiography has devoted considerable attention to the military, political, and cultural history of formal colonialism, less emphasis has been placed on the dynamics linking migration, informal colonial practices, and the presence of Italian communities in the Mediterranean—not only consuls and ambassadors, but also workers and political exiles.

A key starting point will be a critical reflection on the meaning of the term colony. In official documents and contemporary publications, it was commonly used to designate communities of expatriates (Italian or European) settled beyond the homeland; yet, in the specific historical and geographical context of the Mediterranean, its semantic boundaries expanded and, to some extent, shifted. The progressive European commercial, diplomatic, and military expansion, combined with the weakness of local national and supranational governments from the mid-nineteenth century onward, transformed these settlements into something more complex than mere communities culturally tied to the mother country.

In the Italian case, three factors contributed to this transformation. The first, legal in nature, concerns the regime of extraterritoriality stemming from the Capitulations; the second, ideological, is reflected in the expansionist projects advanced by Risorgimento-era political and intellectual figures—from both the pre-unification states and the Kingdom of Italy—toward Tunisia and, to a lesser extent, Egypt. Finally, the third, political, relates to the role played by consuls and colonial elites in shaping the metropolitan government’s decisions in the Mediterranean.

Two main axes of inquiry will therefore be privileged. The first aims to understand the role—both cultural and political—that the metropolis assigned to its Mediterranean “colonies” within its regional expansion policy and in the broader competition among European powers for influence over the Mediterranean and Africa. The second focuses on the self-perception of Italians—men and women, citizens and individuals under consular protection, members of elites and popular classes alike—and on how they understood their own presence, particularly in relation to local populations. These aspects will be framed within a comparative perspective encompassing the wider Italian presence in Africa and the Americas, in order to highlight both convergences and divergences.

The objective of the conference is to systematize research that remains fragmented across different disciplines and historiographical traditions, while foregrounding the specificities of the Italian historical trajectory and, at the same time, situating it within a broader international dialogue. By focusing on these “Mediterranean colonies,” the conference seeks to open new avenues of research at the crossroads of Italian history, migration studies, colonial and postcolonial studies, and Mediterranean and global history. Bringing together diverse disciplinary approaches, heterogeneous sources, and comparative methodologies, it aims to foster the development of new scholarship on migration, colonialism, and transnationalism—stimulating international research on Italy’s role in global and colonial history and offering an interdisciplinary perspective that resonates strongly with contemporary debates on mobility, identity, and cultural encounters.

Keynote

Keynote speech by Nicola Labanca (Università di Siena)

Submission guidelines

To apply as a speaker, candidates are required to submit a proposal including title, affiliation, abstract (maximum 400 words), and a short bio (maximum 100 words) by 1/12/2026 to the following email address: comunitacoloniali@gmail.com

Grants

SISSCO will provide a number of grants of €150 each, intended to cover fully or partially the expenses of scholars under the age of 40 who are not in permanent academic positions and do not have access to other sources of funding, in order to facilitate their participation in the seminar as speakers. Applicants wishing to be considered for this support are asked to include a short explanatory note (maximum 200 words) outlining the reasons for their request and specifying how the funds would be used. Reimbursement will be made after the conference upon submission of receipts.

Seminar

The seminar is organized with the support of the Italian Society for the Study of Contemporary History (SISSCO), the Association for the Study of Modern Italy (ASMI), and the University of Turin, Department of Cultures, Politics and Society.

The event is open to all.

Organizing Committee

Beatrice Falcucci (Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona – Università degli Studi di Firenze) and Costantino Paonessa (Università di Torino).

Orte

  • University of Turin
    Turin, Italien
Event format

Event in person

Date: 1 December 2025

Kontakt: Beatrice Falcucci
beatrice [dot] falcucci [at] upf [dot] edu

CfP: Arbeiter:innen in den postsozialistischen Transformationen (German and English)

1 day 2 hours ago

Mit dem Zusammenbruch der Sowjetunion um 1989/90 und der anschließenden Transformation der meisten staatssozialistischen Gesellschaften schien der Kapitalismus seinen globalen Siegeszug angetreten zu haben. Mehr als 35 Jahre später zeichnet sich jedoch ab, dass dieser keineswegs in dem von Francis Fukuyama postulierten „Ende der Geschichte“ gipfelte, also der endgültigen Durchsetzung einer liberalen Weltordnung. Stattdessen lässt sich in vielen der ehemals staatssozialistischen Gesellschaften, nach einer Phase ungezügelter Deregulierung und Privatisierung, oft begleitet von einer verheerenden Deindustrialisierung, die Etablierung nationalistisch-autoritärer Regimes beobachten, teilweise mit revanchistischen Zügen, etwa im Falle Russlands. Einige Beobachter sprechen von einem neuen Modell des Staatskapitalismus oder eines „politischen Kapitalismus“ (Branko Milanović), der neoliberale Umverteilung mit Formen der Kommandowirtschaft kombiniert. Zugleich bestand die postsozialistische Transformation nicht nur im Abbau alter Staatsindustrien, sondern auch in der Etablierung neuer Produktionsstätten, die in transnationale Lieferketten eingebettet wurden und auf gut ausgebildete und billige Arbeitskräfte zurückgreifen konnten. Am prominentesten ist hier sicherlich das Beispiel der chinesischen Sonderwirtschaftszonen. Aber auch so unterschiedliche Länder wie Vietnam, Kasachstan oder die Slowakei sind heute hochindustrialisierte Produktionsstandorte des globalen Kapitalismus.
Die Arbeiterklasse in postsozialistischen Gesellschaften ist daher keinesfalls verschwunden, sie gilt aber meist als unorganisiert, atomisiert und passiv – vor allem im Vergleich mit den „westlichen“ Wohlfahrtsstaaten, in denen Gewerkschaften eine größere Rolle spielen. Dagegen stellen Wissenschaftler:innen immer wieder Formen des „Eigensinns“ und oft verdeckte Praktiken des Alltagswiderstands in den postsozialistischen Gesellschaften fest. Ein wichtiges Element bildet dabei eine Form der „moralischen Ökonomie“, die sich aus der Erinnerung und nostalgischen Verklärung der sozialistischen Vergangenheit speist. Diese stellt daher ein umkämpftes Erbe dar, dass nicht nur von herrschenden Eliten zur eigenen Legitimation in Abgrenzung zum „Westen“ im Rahmen geopolitischer Konkurrenz genutzt wird, sondern auch widerständiges Verhalten nähren kann.
Ziel des Schwerpunktheftes ist es daher, die Erfahrungen von Arbeiterinnen und Arbeitern während der Transformation postsozialistischer Gesellschaften in den Blick zu nehmen. Wir streben dabei einen möglichst globalen Überblick an. Der behandelte Zeitraum kann bereits vor 1989 ansetzen, wenn er den Wandel in der Transformationsperiode danach in den Blick nimmt. Mögliche Themen können sein:

- Der Wandel der Arbeitswelt, insbesondere im Betrieb als einst zentralem Ort des sozialistischen „Gesellschaftsvertrags“
- Die Veränderung der Reproduktion im Haushalt unter den Bedingungen niedriger Löhne und des Wegbrechens sozialstaatlicher Absicherung
- Die Artikulation von Klassenkonflikten und die Rolle von Gewerkschaften
- Die Rolle der Erinnerung und des sozialistischen Erbes, insbesondere mit Blick auf Selbstbilder, Motivationen und Handlungen
- Die Erfahrung und Konstituierung von Arbeiter:innen als Klasse, sowohl in klassischen Industriebranchen, als auch im Dienstleistungssektor und der Landwirtschaft, insbesondere mit Blick auf Geschlechterverhältnisse, die Rolle der Jugend und von Migrant:innen

- Der Wandel der sozialen Mobilität, etwa im Vergleich zur Zeit des Staatssozialismus, und der Aufstieg neuer sozialer Schichten Formen und Fristen

Wir bitten um die Einreichung aussagekräftiger Exposés bis zum 15. Januar 2026, auf Deutsch oder Englisch (andere Sprachen sind auf Anfrage möglich), im Umfang von 2500 Zeichen, aus denen Thema, Methode und Quellenbasis des geplanten Artikels hervorgehen. Auf Grundlage der Exposés werden wir gezielt Beiträge anfordern. Die Abgabefrist für die ausgearbeiteten Artikel ist der 30. Juni 2026. Alle Beiträge durchlaufen vor der Veröffentlichung ein mehrstufiges internes Begutachtungsverfahren (review). Erst nach Einreichung und Begutachtung der Endfassung erfolgt die Publikationszusage. Wir veröffentlichen nur Originalbeiträge, mit Ausnahme von zuerst nicht auf Deutsch erschienenen Artikeln. Beiträge für „Arbeit – Bewegung – Geschichte“ werden nicht honoriert. Manuskripte bitte per E-Mail als docx-Datei einsenden. Die ausgearbeiteten Beiträge sollen 50 000 Zeichen inkl. Leerzeichen nicht überschreiten. Bitte beachten unsere Hinweise für Autor:innen beachten.
Kontakt und Abgabe: cfp@arbeit-bewegung-geschichte.de
Der Zeitplan in Kürze:
• Einreichung der Exposés: 15. Januar 2026
• Einreichung der fertigen Beiträge: 30. Juni 2026
• Veröffentlichung des Schwerpunktheftes: Voraussichtlich Januar 2027

Workshop "Figures, Types, and Images of the Social in the 19th and 20th Century: Practices of Social Imagining in the History of Knowledge and the Sciences"

1 day 5 hours ago
Organiser: University of Erfurt and Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Cluster of Excellence “Imaginamics. Practices and Dynamics of Social Imagining” Location: International Meeting Center Erfurt, Michaelisstraße 38 Postcode: 99084 City: Erfurt Country: Deutschland Takes place: In person Dates: 20.11.2025 - 21.11.2025 Website: https://www.gw.uni-jena.de/phifakmedia/175527/figures-types-and-images-of-the-social-workshop-program-erfurt-20-21-11-2025.pdf?suffix=pdf  

"It is no easy matter [...] to arrange the several varieties of work into 'orders', and to group the manifold species of arts under few comprehensive genera, so that the mind may grasp the whole at one effort - it is a task of most perplexing character", wrote Henry Mayhew in London Labour and the London poor (1849-1851). Mayhew's early social research in London is well known - but far less so that he lived in Paris at the end of the 1830s, when the new medium of illustrated journals and collective publications experienced its heyday there, bringing together images and texts, artistic-literary and scientific circles in a new, creative way.

Back in London, Mayhew also worked between popular journalism and social statistics, consciously drawing on pictorial representations of social types for the latter, with which he fundamentally helped to shape ideas of the social.

We look forward to receiving abstracts (max. 400 words, in pdf format) with proposals for approx. 25-minute presentations together with a short CV by 2 May 2025 to adriana.markantonatos@uni-jena.de. The presentations will be in English, the discussions bilingual English / German. The workshop will take place in Erfurt. Travel and accommodation costs will be covered by the organisers

Programm

Thursday 20 November

13:15–13:45 Welcome & Introduction
Bernhard Kleeberg (Erfurt), Adriana Markantonatos (Jena), Jasmin Köhler (Jena)

13:45–15:00 Session I
Chair: Adriana Markantonatos (Jena)

Tobias Schlechtriemen (Freiburg)
Social Figures as Articulations of the Social: Between Literature, the Public, and Sociology

Kathrin Yacavone (Marburg)
Types and Series: On the Photographic Construction of Writers as Public Figures

15:00–15:30 Coffee Break

15:30–17:30 Session II
Chair: Bernhard Kleeberg (Erfurt)

Hannah Goetze (Paris)
L’Éducation sociale ? Learning to Read as Political Instruction in the mid-1800s in France

Jessica Resvick (Oberlin)
Character and Type in the Realist Novel

Kevin Kempke (Stuttgart)
Literary Model Cases – Social Figures in the Works of Siegfried Kracauer and Early 20th-century Sociography

17:30–17:45 Coffee Break

17:45–19:00 Session III
Chair: Maxim Braun (Jena)

Sarah Goeth (Aachen)
Common Sense and Observance: Statistical Narration of the Social in the 19th Century

Christoph Streb (Paris)
From Infrastructure Networks to Social Networks: Complicating the Relationship between Technological and Social Images in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

19:30 Dinner

Friday 21 November

9:00–10:15 Session IV
Chair: John Norrman (Jena)

Dirk Schuck (Erfurt)
Early Social-Scientific Reflections on Servant Girls and Fashion Objects

Miray Eroglu (Philadelphia)
Affairs of the Heart: Representations of Foreigners in Late-Ottoman Exotica

10:15–10:45 Coffee Break

10:45–12:45 Session V
Chair: Jasmin Köhler (Jena)

Annelie Ramsbrock (Greifswald)
The Addict: On the Social Cartography of a Global Figure in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Ya’ara Gil-Glazer (Tel-Hai)
Reframing the Erotic: Art Nouveau and the Shaping of Sexual Typologies in Suck Magazine

Manuel Bolz (Göttingen)
Urban Crisis Figures in the Entertainment History of Hamburg St. Pauli after the Second World War – Ethnographic Perspectives

12:45–13:15 Final Discussion

Kontakt

adriana.markantonatos@uni-jena.de

CfP: Über Grenzen verbunden: Schweizerische Frauenbewegungen und ihre transnationalen Verflechtungen (German, English and French)

1 day 5 hours ago
Zurich/Switzerland   Organiser: Gosteli-Archiv Geschichte schweizerischer Frauenbewegungen in Kooperation mit dem Schweizerischen Sozialarchiv Location: Universität Zürich Postcode: 8000 City: Zurich Country: Switzerland Takes place:In person Dates: 04.06.2026 - 05.06.2026 Deadline: 31.01.2026 Website: https://www.gosteli-archiv.ch/de  

Feministische Bewegungen in der Schweiz sind nicht einzig nationale Phänomene (gewesen). Schon die frühen Kämpfe um Rechte, Bildung und Arbeit waren von transnationalen Debatten beeinflusst und mit ihnen vernetzt. Schweizer Aktivist:innen nahmen an internationalen Konferenzen teil, gründeten Organisationen, die über Grenzen hinweg wirkten, und knüpften an feministische Kämpfe in anderen Regionen an. Dabei wurde nicht nur transnationales Wissen rezipiert, sondern auch eigenständige Impulse in internationale Diskurse eingebracht und der Austausch von Erfahrungen, Ideen sowie Strategien gepflegt.

Wir laden Wissenschaftler:innen, insbesondere auch Nachwuchsforscher:innen, und Aktivist:innen ein, die Verflechtungen, Übersetzungsprozesse und Spannungen zwischen schweizerischen Frauenbewegungen und transnationalen Feminismen genauer zu betrachten. Gefragt sind Beiträge, die historische wie gegenwärtige Aspekte beleuchten und dabei die Rolle von Akteur:innen, Netzwerken, Ideen und Orten herausstellen. Uns interessiert, wie die Schweiz sowohl ein Resonanzraum als auch eine Ausgangsbasis feministischer Transformationen war – und wie feministische Anliegen hier in globale Zusammenhänge gestellt wurden. Ziel ist es, transnationale Dimensionen feministischer Geschichte(n) und Gegenwart(en) im schweizerischen Kontext sichtbar zu machen und zugleich kritisch zu reflektieren.

Wir freuen uns über Vorschläge aus den Geschichts-, Sozial- und Kulturwissenschaften ebenso wie aus Rechtswissenschaft oder verwandten Disziplinen. Auch Beiträge, die künstlerische oder aktivistische Perspektiven einbringen, sind ausdrücklich erwünscht.

Themenfelder
Die folgenden, beispielhaften Themenfelder sind als Anregung für Eingaben zu verstehen. Über zusätzliche Vorschläge freuen wir uns.

– Netzwerke, Zirkulationen und Übersetzungen:
Hier interessieren uns Beiträge zu transnationalen Allianzen, Austauschprozessen und der Zirkulation feministischer Ideen, Strategien, Praktiken und Symbole. Wie wurden Impulse aus der Schweiz ins Ausland getragen – und umgekehrt? Welche Übersetzungsleistungen waren notwendig, um Feminismus über Grenzen hinweg anschlussfähig zu machen? Welche Netzwerke von Frauenorganisationen verbanden die Schweiz mit anderen Regionen, und wie veränderten Übersetzungen und Anpassungen die Inhalte?
– Themen – Kämpfe – Biografien:
Dieses Panel rückt zentrale Themen feministischer Bewegungen in den Vordergrund wie etwa reproduktive Gerechtigkeit, sexuelle Selbstbestimmung, Bedingungen von Arbeit, Migration, rechtliche Gleichstellung oder politische Teilhabe. Im Fokus stehen thematische Verflechtungen und Auseinandersetzungen im transnationalen Kontext. Wo lassen sich Verbindungen finden, wo kam es zu Differenzen und Abgrenzungen? Beiträge können untersuchen, wie transnationale feministische Impulse lokal verhandelt, weiterentwickelt oder abgelehnt wurden und welche Rolle dabei einzelne Akteur:innen spielten.
– Solidarität, Kritik, Intersektionalität:
Feministische Bewegungen mussten sich stets mit Differenz auseinandersetzen, innerhalb eigener Gruppen und Bewegungen und im Austausch mit anderen. Dieses Panel fragt nach den Möglichkeiten und Grenzen solidarischer Allianzen: Wie prägten transnationale Debatten um Klasse, Ethnizität, Sexualität oder Religion die feministische Praxis in der Schweiz? Wie verhandelten Aktivist:innen Differenz, Ausschluss und Zugehörigkeit?
– Orte des Transnationalen Feminismus:
Feministische Kämpfe fanden und finden an konkreten Orten statt – in Versammlungshäusern, in Konferenzsälen, in migrantischen Vereinen, bei Protestmärschen, an Universitäten, in internationalen Organisationen oder in virtuellen Räumen. Dieses Panel interessiert sich für die räumliche Dimension: Wo verdichteten sich transnationale feministische Verflechtungen? Welche Rolle spielten Städte, Grenzräume, Institutionen oder digitale Plattformen bei der Vernetzung von Aktivistinnen in und aus der Schweiz?

Einreichung
Bitte senden Sie ein Abstract von maximal 300 Wörtern sowie eine Kurzbiografie (max. 150 Wörter). Abstracts sind auf Deutsch, Französisch oder Englisch möglich.
Die Konferenz findet am 4./5. Juni 2026 in Zürich statt.
Einsendeschluss ist der 31. Januar 2026. Beiträge bitte an: fabienne.amlinger@gosteli-archiv.ch. Eine Benachrichtigung über die Auswahl erfolgt bis zum 15. März 2026.

Kontakt

fabienne.amlinger@gosteli-archiv.ch

Lecture "Gesprächsreihe "In Gesellschaft" - Rechts neben uns? Antidemokratische Entwicklungen erfassen" (German)

1 day 5 hours ago
Eichstätt/Germany   Organiser: Zentrum Flucht und Migration der Katholischen Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt / Lehrstuhl für Flucht- und Migrationsforschung, Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt Postcode: 85072 City: Eichstätt Country: Germany Takes place: Digital Dates: 04.11.2025 - 20.01.2026 Website: https://www.ku.de/forschung/forschungsinfrastruktur/forschende-institutionen/zentrum-flucht-und-migration/veranstaltungen/reihe-in-gesellschaft  

1. Termin: 4. November 2025 von 18:00 Uhr bis 19:30 Uhr online

David Begrich zum Thema "Gewalt und Wahlerfolg. Rechtsextremismus in Magdeburg"

Die diesjährige Vortragsreihe knüpft an vorangegangene Reihen wie "Bedrohungen von Rechten“ an wie auch an die Forschungsfelder des Zentrums Flucht und Migration Eichstätt. Gewidmet wird sich konkreten lokalen Gegebenheiten in Stadtgesellschaften. Die Vorträge fragen sowohl nach den Dynamiken, die rechte Strömungen stärkten und stärken, als auch nach Handlungsmöglichkeiten von Gegenwehr bis hin zur Erinnerung an rechtsmotivierte Gewalttaten. Besonders beleuchtet werden Aspekte von Geschlecht und Sozialisation.

 

Gesprächsreihe "In Gesellschaft" - Rechts neben uns? Antidemokratische Entwicklungen erfassen // Zentrum Flucht und Migration Eichstätt

1. Termin: 4. November 2025 von 18:00 Uhr bis 19:30 Uhr online

David Begrich (Arbeitsstelle Rechtsextremismmus bei Miteinander e.V. Magdeburg): Gewalt und Wahlerfolg. Rechtsextremismus in Magdeburg

Moderation: Benedict Bazyar-Gudrich

Zum Inhalt des Vortrags:

Wie weit ist die Normalisierung von rechtsextremer Politik fortgeschritten? Das wird eine der Grundfragen im Gespräch mit dem Theologen und Soziologen David Begrich sein. In Sachsen-Anhalt könne die Normalisierung der AfD als „abgeschlossen“ betrachtet werden, so Begrich. Prognosen erwarten, dass die als rechtsextrem eingestufte Partei aus den Landtagswahlen im kommenden Jahr als stärkste Kraft hervorgehen wird. Doch weist David Begrich auch darauf hin, dass die AfD nicht nur Erfolge zeitigt, insbesondere bei Kommunalwahlen verliere sie (noch) in Serie: „Denn offenbar ist es so, dass Wähler*innen, die bei Landtags- und Bundestagswahlen ihre Stimme der AfD geben, die Partei nicht wählen, wenn es darum geht, die politische Verantwortung für ihr unmittelbares Lebensumfeld in die Hände von AfD-Politikern zu legen“, so Begrich in der taz.

Der Rechtsextremismusexperte verbindet einen analytischen Blick mit lokalen Kenntnissen und Beobachtungen aus praktischer Arbeit. Begrich nimmt sowohl lang- als auch kurzfristige Perspektiven ein, spricht über Jugendliche, die in der dritten Generation rechtsextrem sozialisiert sind und über Gründe für aktuelle Neuzuwächse der AfD.

Dass mediale Präsentation – auch in sozialen Medien – unmittelbar Folgen zeitigt, konnte man in Magdeburg direkt nachverfolgen. Nach dem Autoanschlag auf einen Weihnachtsmarkt am 20. Dezember 2024 kam es zu einem deutlichen Anwachsen von rassistischen Gewalttaten und Bedrohungen.

Zur Person:

David Begrich arbeitet bei der Arbeitsstelle Rechtsextremismus bei Miteinander e.V. in Magdeburg. Er ist Theologe und Soziologe und Autor diverser Artikel und Rundfunkbeiträge zum Thema.

Anmeldung per E-Mail an zfm-sekretariat(at)ku.de unter Angabe "Begrich" im Betreff

Zur ganzen Gesprächsreihe "Rechts neben uns? Antidemokratische Entwicklungen erfassen – Das ZFM in Gesellschaft", Wintersemester 25/26

Mit der Reihe "In Gesellschaft" bietet das Zentrum Flucht und Migration Eichstätt (ZFM) Gelegenheit zum Austausch mit namhaften Persönlichkeiten, diskutiert mit ihnen in Gesellschaft einer interessierten Öffentlichkeit und bringt nicht zuletzt das wissenschaftliche Interesse des ZFM zum Ausdruck: einen an Flucht und Migration orientierten, analytischen Blick in die Gesellschaft zu werfen.

Rechtsextreme Strömungen haben sich konsolidiert. Meldungen über Gewalttaten, Skandale und Tabubrüche folgen aufeinander. Rechtsextreme Ideologien normalisieren sich in zahlreichen gesellschaftlichen Sphären, sei es in Klassenzimmern, Parlamenten oder Onlineforen. So fällt es schwer, die verschiedenen – schleichenden wie rasanten – antidemokratischen Entwicklungen zu erfassen und einheitlich zu verorten. Stehen sie nicht (mehr) Rechtsaußen, sondern sind sie bereits "Rechts neben uns“?

Die diesjährige Vortragsreihe knüpft an vorangegangene Reihen wie "Bedrohungen von Rechten“ an wie auch an die Forschungsfelder des Zentrums Flucht und Migration. Gewidmet wird sich konkreten lokalen Gegebenheiten in Stadtgesellschaften. Die Vorträge fragen sowohl nach den Dynamiken, die rechte Strömungen stärkten und stärken, als auch nach Handlungsmöglichkeiten von Gegenwehr bis hin zur Erinnerung an rechtsmotivierte Gewalttaten. Besonders beleuchtet werden Aspekte von Geschlecht und Sozialisation.

Rechts neben uns? Antidemokratische Entwicklungen erfassen – Das ZFM in Gesellschaft jeweils 18:00 bis 19:30 Uhr

Vorträge: online via Zoom

Programm

Weitere Termine:

19.11.25

Heike Radvan: Handlungsoptionen und Gegenwehr von Betroffenengruppen in einer Stadt mit extrem rechten Dominanzbestrebungen.

Referent:in: Prof.:in Dr.:in Heike Radvan (Universität Tübingen)

Moderation: Dr. Angelika Laumer (ZFM)

Termin: 19.11.2025 18:00 Uhr
Ort: Zoom (online)

2.12.25

Gabriele Fischer: „Niemand wird vergessen“ – Erinnern an Todesopfer rechter Gewalt als Praxis der Kritik an gesellschaftlichen Verhältnissen.

Referentin: Prof. Dr. Gabriele Fischer (Hochschule München)

Moderation: Marina Mayer (ZFM)

Termin: 02.12.2025 18:00 Uhr
Ort: Zoom (online)

20.1.2026

Birgit Sauer: Autoritarisierung und Männlichkeit. Rechte Diskurse über Geschlecht.

Referentin: Prof. Dr. Birgit Sauer (Universität Wien)

Moderation: Prof. Dr. Karin Scherschel (ZFM)

Termin: 20.01.2026 18:00 Uhr
Ort: Zoom (online)

Kontakt

zfm-sekretariat(at)ku.de

Conference "Exil, Medien und Erinnerung im Deutschland des 20. Jahrhunderts" (German)

1 day 5 hours ago
Berlin/Germany   Organiser: Deborah Barton, CCEAE; Fabien Théofilakis, CMB (Centre Marc Bloch, Berlin) Location: Centre Marc Bloch, Germaine-Tillion-Saal Postcode: 10117 City: Berlin Country: Germany Takes place: In person Date: 12.11.2025 Website: https://cmb.hu-berlin.de/events/exil-medien-und-erinnerung-im-deutschland-des-20-jahrhunderts/  

Der Workshop, organisiert vom Canadian Centre for German and European Studies (DAAD) und dem Centre Marc Bloch, erkundet neue Perspektiven auf Exilerfahrungen und deren Darstellung in der deutschen Moderne. Im Fokus stehen Fragen danach, wie Geschichten von Vertreibung und Transit – innerhalb, aus oder nach Deutschland – erzählt und erinnert werden, und deren Politisierung über verschiedene Medien und Zeitlichkeiten hinweg.

 

Exil, Medien und Erinnerung im Deutschland des 20. Jahrhunderts

Ein besonderes Augenmerk liegt auf der Rolle der Medien: Wie prägen sie nicht nur die Sichtbarkeit von Exilerfahrungen, sondern auch deren narrative und politische Deutung? Gibt es eine spezifisch deutsche Form, Exil zu erleben oder zu erzählen?

Der Workshop vereint zunächst Geisteswissenschaftler:innen, gefolgt von einem musikalischen Intermezzo und dem Hauptvortrag des Fotografen Mahmoud Dabdoub. Die Veranstaltung findet auf Deutsch und Englisch statt.

Anmeldelink: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/centremarcblochev/1858036

Programm

Panel (14:00-15:30, in Präzenz)

Einführung & Moderation: Deborah Barton (CCEAE) & Fabien Théofilakis (CMB)

Aurélie Denoyer (Centre Marc Bloch), „Von antifaschistischer Solidarität zu politischer Instrumentalisierung: spanische kommunistische Flüchtlinge in der DDR“

Jennifer Lynn (Montana State University Billings), „Solidarity in Exile: Agnes Smedley, China, and the Arbeiter Illustrierte Zeitung“

Sonja Klocke (University of Wisconsin – Madison), „Vertragsarbeiter:innen in der Textilindustrie der DDR: Zur Darstellung neokolonialer Strukturen der Ausbeutung in Kunst und Film“

Nazan Maksudyan (Centre Marc Bloch / Freie Universität), „Isolation, Mediation, and Audible Refuge: Gerhard Kessler’s Radio Days in Exile in Istanbul“

Pause: 15:30pm-16:00

Musical Intermezzo (16:00-16:30)

Musikerinnen und Musiker der Barenboim-Said Akademie (Berlin)
Key note (16:30-18:00, in hybrider Form)

Mahmoud Dabdoub (freelance photographer, Leipzig), „Erinnerung verdrängen heiß nicht vergessen!“

Moderation: Jacob Eder (Barenboim-Said Akademie, Berlin)

Kontakt

deborah.barton@umontreal.ca

fabien.theofilakis@cmb.hu-berlin.de

CfP: The British General Strike of 1926: New Directions of Research

1 day 5 hours ago
Organiser: Labour & Society Research Group Newcastle University Funded by: Leverhulme Trust; Newcastle University; Labour & Society Research Group Postcode: NE1 7RU Location: Newcastle upon Tyne Country: United Kingdom Takes place: In person Dates: 07.05.2026 - 08.05.2026 Deadline: 06.02.2026 Website: https://blogs.ncl.ac.uk/labourandsociety/  

To commemorate the centenary of the British General Strike and miners lock-out, Newcastle University’s Labour & Society Research Group (LSRG) are organising a conference that revisits the historical experience of 1926 through the lens of new scholarship that is concerned with the global, spatial and maritime turns in labour history.

 

The British General Strike of 1926: New Directions of Research

What has emerged from these histories is a better understanding of how labour movements and political groups of various kinds have interrupted or redirected the flows of materials, capital, and people.

While there is a vast and thriving literature on the General Strike of 1926, there is still a lack of research that investigates concretely how, under what conditions, the spatial-temporal dynamics of this event disrupted the carboniferous commodity chains and wider circulation of capital during the dispute.

This conference aims to bring together papers that focus on concrete histories of solidarity and the General Strike, whether at sites of coal extraction, transportation, distribution, and everywhere inbetween.

Moreover, the conference also welcomes papers that do not exclusively focus on Britain as it seeks to address the General Strike’s global entanglements, to further understand the extent transnational networks, unions and activists participated in the labour stoppage. In view of the diverse character of labour history, the conference aims to highlight 1926’s eclectic mix of voices, namely its racial, ethnic and gender diversity.

Questions that can be addressed include:
- Contentious politics. Does global, spatial and maritime contention change our understanding of the General Strike: its chronology, spatiality, and legacy?
- Mobility. How did contested mobility over coal, commodities, water, vessels, coal staithes, ports, docks, road, railways, mines shape power relations?
- Geographies of resistance. How do these geographies of extraction, transport, and distribution shape common struggles during the strike? How did workers and communities in both rural- and urban- environments interact?
- Spatial Agency. What self-organization, spatial agency and repertoires of action did worker networks and organisations develop? What effect did this have on the government’s strike-breaking machinery? How was solidarity practiced in the distinctive spaces at the everyday and experiential level? What factors undermined this solidarity?
- Class, gender, race, and ethnicity. Did everyday experience and solidarity transcend racial, gender, and status-based fault lines in distinctive ways to stop the mobility of coal and the circulation of capital?
- Global and transnationalism. What were the strike’s global entanglements? What role did global events and transnational activism play in strengthening or restraining cooperation from below during the strike’s trajectory?
- Memory and postmemory. How has the labour movement remembered and represented their historical entanglements with the General Strike? What role have narratives of the General Strike played in shaping local, regional, and global identities? What are the legacies of the General Strike and how may they affect contemporary politics?

Please send in proposals for papers consisting of an abstract of 150-250 words, plus a short bio by 6 February 2026 to: joe.redmayne@newcastle.ac.uk. Papers should focus on 1926 and can focus on any geographic location. The organisers will promote the publication of the papers in a ‘new directions’ collection in a journal of the field (more details TBA).

As the recent General Strikes in Italy and Greece exemplified (during September-October 2025), a general stoppage of labour by workers in all or most industries remains a powerful strategy of the working-class movement. This action has coincided with a global wave of blockades, port disruptions, strikes, and slowdowns, particularly at critical nodes like transport hubs and arms manufacturing sites of Israeli militarism.

While we intend this to be a scholarly conference, we also wish to make space for an active dialogue between people studying protest and industrial disputes in the past and practitioners of solidarity in the present (including, for example, present day activists and trade unionists, and more). We are convinced that such mutual learning can generate insights that will enrich both scholarship and activism.

For this reason, we hope to include one round table, open to a public audience, where activists involved in solidarity today reflect on connections to solidarity in the past during the General Strike, based on the presentations at the conference.

People who would be interested in joining the conference based on their involvement in present-day solidarity are invited to write a short e-mail to the conference organisers explaining the nature of their work.

For more information about the Labour & Society Research Group (LSRG) and its activities, please visit: https://blogs.ncl.ac.uk/labourandsociety/.

Limited travel/accommodation support will be available, meant to support early career scholars or participants who cannot draw on institutional funding.

For enquiries, feel free to contact organisers: Joe Redmayne, joe.redmayne@newcastle.ac.uk.

Kontakt

Joe Redmayne, joe.redmayne@newcastle.ac.uk

CfP: Working Nature – Exploring Intersections of Labour History and Political Ecology

1 day 5 hours ago
Organiser: International Conference of Labour and Social History (ITH) Postcode: 4020 City: Linz Country: Austria Takes place: In person Dates: 17.09.2026 - 19.09.2026 Deadline: 30.01.2026  

The 6st International Conference of Labour and Social History (ITH) will explore the theme “Working Nature – Exploring Intersections of Labour History and Political Ecology.” The conference seeks to open a dialogue between global labour history and historical political ecology, to review existing research at their intersection, and to identify new directions for future studies.

 

Working Nature – Exploring Intersections of Labour History and Political Ecology

Ever since the 19th century, the “social question” has been the fundamental cornerstone of labour and many other social movements. While the “social question” has by no means been conclusively solved – to the contrary, recent years have seen a return of its urgency (Breman et al. 2019) – the “ecological question” has arisen as an equally fundamental predicament from the 1970s on. Social movements have responded quickly to this new challenge, although those representing labour retained an ambivalent position, often adhering to the imperatives of “growth”. Meanwhile, official acknowledgement by states and other institutional actors of the ecological question has been much slower, more uneven and fluctuating (at best). By now, the bundle of human-made ecological crises have reached a point where most earth scientist see an actual breaching of ecological thresholds, not only in relation to climate change but also six of nine processes for which “planetary boundaries” have been defined.

In this context, the interdisciplinary field of political ecology (which dates to at least the 1970s) has experienced a spectacular boom. In a certain sense, it has become the interdisciplinary critical social science of our days, a field in which both academic and political concerns converge. In the English-speaking world, political ecology has proved to be strongly inflected by historical reasoning, with authors such as Timothy Mitchell, Jason Moore, or Andreas Malm highlighting the entanglements between material extraction, energy carriers (particularly fossil ones), ecological over-use, capitalist economic development, and exploitation.

While the history of work and labour relations have a place in these studies, many commentators have noticed an ongoing non-communication between labour history and political ecology. Indeed, the relationship between labour and ecological perspectives reveals several tensions. One of the reasons for this complicated relation is the long-standing reservation that has seen studies related to “labour” as fraught with an undue nature–society dualism and an obsession with “the industrial” and “production”. Nevertheless, substantial scholarship has emerged at the intersection of “labour” and “environmental history” as well as “political ecology”: Recently, for instance, the unintended consequences of focussing the ecological question on “consumption” was criticized, calling for re-centering the analysis on the interplay of the use of nature (including animals) and the exploitation of workers with both converging in (and creating resistance around) the work-process (Schaupp 2024). Others called for the need to include unpaid reproductive and care work in any analysis of the ecological implications of labour, and at the same time suggested to pay more attention to those moments in which labour activism has brought up ecological concerns, thus creating a kind of “labour environmentalism” (Barca 2024). The “commodity frontier” approach, in turn, has called for merging the perspective of global labour history with those of ecological economics, commodity chain analysis and other fields to pinpoint the complex interplay of factors at the sites of (mainly) agrarian commodity production (Beckert et al. 2021).

It thus seems both timely and necessary to bring global labour history and historical political ecology into a more structured and fruitful dialogue, to assess existing research at the intersection of both and to explore further avenues of research. This conference will insist on a differential, and thus politicized view of the major referents of past and current ecological predicaments (such as “global warming”) with “labour” appearing as one major category of differentiation. We welcome proposals on all historical periods and all world-regions as long as they relate historical labour studies to recent concerns of political ecology (and vice versa). While no definite list of possible topics can be established, papers might explore one of the following themes:

- Conceptual and theoretical discussions about the ways of bringing labour history and the different strands of political ecology into dialogue, including the debates about “anthropocene vs. capitalocene” (or “plantationocene”), social metabolism, climate and earth science vs. the humanities, differential time-scales, unequal ecological exchange, yet also “energy” as a foundational “connceptual connector” that has, from the 19th century, allowed translating work, heat, and (fossil-fuelled) into one another.
- The bio-physical properties of primary or semi-processed materials – from bio-mass through ores and non-metallic minerals to fossil and other energy carriers – and their implications for work processes and logics of labour resistance.
- Animals and/as "workers": Papers might explore conceptual and historical intersections between animal labour and human labour, and the role of animals in production processes. Contributions might address theoretical questions about the boundaries of "work," historical transformations in animal-human work relationships, or contemporary debates about animal labour rights in the context of ecological crisis.
- Labour relations and labour struggles in the first transition towards fossil fuels (19th century), both in local constellations and in relation to unequal relations between world-regions. The role of labour relations and labour struggles in subsequent shifts in primary energy provision (from coal to oil to atomic energy to alternative energy carriers) and the primary technology of propulsion (combustion, electricity).
- The interplay between labour relations and labour struggles, on the one hand, and ecological factors, on the other, in the extraction of energy carriers like coal, oil/gas, and radioactive ore. This can include both localized studies and perspectives that focus on the inter-regional and colonial entanglements in the extraction and production of energy carriers.
- The effects of environmental degradation and ecological crises on work and workers’ activism. This includes: the impact of “climate” and its concrete experimental dimension (heat, cold, extreme weather events) on work and workers; and “Labour environmentalism” and other instances in which labour and environmental struggles have intersected, including contention over issues of health hazards in workplaces and workers’ communities as well as struggles for urban renewal vis-à-vis the impact of industrial production. Here again, a focus on experiences with a transnational aspect as well as on the scalar tensions between the planetary, the global, the regional, and the local are particularly welcome.
- Discussions of temporality and futurity that examine notions like "energy/green transition" or timelines of projected catastrophe, analyzing how workers and labour movements orient themselves toward these horizons of expectation or contest them. This includes investigating intersections between planetary futures and discussions about the future of work, both conceptually and materially.
- Ecological changes and labour migration: examining the carbon footprint of labour migration patterns and the connection between the geopolitics of remittance economies and environmental degradation. Papers might explore historical and contemporary cases of environmentally-induced migration, the ecological consequences of remittance-based development, and the uneven distribution of environmental harms along migration corridors. Contributions addressing the intersection of climate justice and migrant labour rights are particularly welcome.
- The interplay of work and ecology in agrarian production both in localized subsistence agriculture, regionalized peasant production and globally connected cash crop production in the context of dynamic “commodity frontiers”. Beyond the classical cash crops such as stimulants (coffee, tea), sugar, tropical fruits, or grains, this may also include studies about livestock farming, forestry, drugs, flowers, etc. Also, studies about labour and labour struggles in the further processing of agrarian produce are welcome, for instance about meat processing.
- Intersections of species extinction/biodiversity loss and work, as evidenced in occupations like beekeeping or changes in rice, coffee, and other agricultural production systems. Papers might examine how biodiversity loss transforms labour processes, how workers adapt to or resist these transformations, and how labour movements engage with broader biodiversity conservation efforts.
- The work of geoengineering (intentional or not) as a field of ecological intervention with significant implications for labour. Papers might address the labour requirements of proposed large-scale geoengineering projects, the forms of expertise and manual labour involved, etc. Contributions that situate geoengineering within longer histories of human attempts to engineer environments through labour are especially encouraged.
- Following the French approach of collapsologie (Servigne/Stevens 2020), the potential of a future civilizational devolution through an unfettered ecological crisis and its implications from a labour history perspective, e.g. in terms of workers coping with situations of extreme environmental precarity. In a similar vein, papers could explore the labour-related dimensions of either “mitigation” or “adaptation” as well as the labour politics of “environmental emergency”.

SUBMISSION

Proposed papers should include:
- Abstract (max. 300 words)
- Biographical note (continuous text, max. 200 words)
- Full address and Email address

The abstract of the suggested paper should contain a separate paragraph explaining how and (if applicable) to which element(s) or question(s) of the Call for Papers the submitted paper refers. The short CV should give information on the applicant’s contributions to the field of labour history, broadly defined, and specify (if applicable) relevant publications. For the purpose of information, applicants are invited to attach a copy of one of these publications to their application.

Proposals to be sent to our conference manager Laurin Blecha: conference@ith.or.at

TIME SCHEDULE

Submission of proposals: 30 January 2026
Notification of acceptance: 2 March 2026
Full papers or presentation version: 14 August 2026

PREPARATORY GROUP

David Mayer, Marcel van der Linden, On Barak, Therese Garstenauer, and Laurin Blecha.

Kontakt

conference@ith.or.at

CfP: Objects in Transit: Dutch Trading Companies and the Circulation of Things as Knowledge Practice (17th-19th Centuries)

1 day 5 hours ago
Organiser: Susanne Friedrich, FU Berlin Philip Hahn / Alexander Stoeger, Saarland University Location: Saarland University Postcode: 66123 Ciry: Saarbrücken Country: Germany Takes place: In person Dates: 25.02.2026 - 26.02.2026 Deadline: 01.12.2025

In this discussion-oriented workshop, we aim to explore how traded objects in Dutch long-distance commerce, from the VOC to its 19th-century successors, acted as agents in communicative and epistemic processes. Building on James Secord’s Knowledge in Transit, we invite contributions on how objects moved between commercial and intellectual contexts, gained new meanings through exchange, and shaped relations between traders, collectors, curators, and scholars. Works in progress are highly welcome.

 

Objects in Transit: Dutch Trading Companies and the Circulation of Things as Knowledge Practice (17th-19th Centuries)

The early modern Dutch long-distance companies such as the East India Company (VOC) and their 19th-century successors were not only economic enterprises but also key actors in the circulation of knowledge with and through objects from the 17th to the 19th century. Their trade networks facilitated the movement of goods that transcended their immediate economic value without negating their commercial roots: things collected were traded goods but gained epistemic value not only because of their rarity or curiosity, but also as tokens of Dutch trading, European and non-European epistemic-commercial interactions, and negotiation of value. The companies maintained a specific way of circulating objects that shaped discourses on value, collecting practices, and knowledge formations embedded in pre-national forms of epistemic identity-building.

In line with James Secord’s concept of Knowledge in Transit, this workshop will consider objects not merely as static entities but as integral part of larger communicative processes acting out in parallel, in combination, or in conflict. We will focus specifically on objects traded or otherwise transported by the VOC and other Dutch companies from their domains from the 17th to the 19th century, which acquired meanings beyond their collective or economic value. We are particularly interested in how this dual identity — both commercial and epistemic — was shaped by actors within the long-distance trading companies and acknowledged by their business partners and other stakeholders. In addition to negotiations within the companies, we also aim to explore how these objects gained new significance through interactions between the companies and their agents or customers, including collectors, curators, and scholars.

We aim to explore these dynamics by focusing on three interrelated issues:

Negotiating Value

Objects in trade and collections were not static commodities but actively shaped by processes of valuation, discourse, and negotiation. How and at which point of their itinerary were different meanings ascribed to goods? How were price-making mechanisms and labelling practices influenced by knowledge about materials, origins, or intended uses and vice versa? How did institutions and individuals reframe the status of objects as epistemic capital and what consequences did this have for the objects? Can changes in value attribution practices be recognised over time? We also invite contributions that examine how capitalist and institutional knowledge systems maintained and transformed these value structures and explore the ways knowledge about value was communicated, translated, and recontextualized across different settings.

Using Things

The material handling of objects was a crucial aspect of knowledge-making within a commercial context. While objects in collections were integrated into a system that recognised and treated them as epistemic artefacts, trading companies and their agents primarily dealt with objects as commercial items. Transferring these heterogeneous objects meant to transport, trade and use them within a different framework. We invite contributions that examine practices of collecting, cataloging, classifying, exhibiting, or representing objects specifically in negotiation or cooperation with Dutch trading companies. How did objects acquire new meanings through their integration into collections or auctions? How did they differ or were labelled as different from objects obtained by other means? How did these processes shape the distinction between commodity and cultural object, particularly in relation to VOC and post-VOC institutions? Did companies use such objects for their ‘image building’? Here, we particularly encourage perspectives that consider how knowledge about objects was embedded in communicative acts, whether verbally, in written form or through visual displays.

Identifying Actors

Who were the key agents involved in these processes? Beyond the VOC and similar institutions, we are interested in European as well as indigenous individuals and groups — merchants, brokers, collectors, scholars, artisans — who facilitated the movement of objects in the context of intercontinental trade. How did their practices shape the global itineraries of goods and the identity of long-distance trading companies in the Netherlands in relation to knowledge-gaining and epistemic developments? How did physical locations, such as trading hubs, company (head-)quarters or storage facilities as well as institutes and museums, contribute to these processes? We encourage discussions on how these actors functioned within broader political, scientific and economic systems and how their roles transformed in the transition from the 18th to the 19th century. We particularly welcome contributions that examine how knowledge through and about objects was not merely produced, but transported, translated, and repurposed by different actors within and in collaboration with these trade companies.

The workshop topic spans two periods, one focusing on the VOC and Dutch long-distance trade during the 17th and 18th centuries, and the other on the re-negotiation of Dutch trading companies and their role in Dutch efforts to remain competitive in international epistemic developments of the 19th century. We welcome contributions focusing on either period, as well as contributions bridging both. Our workshop can only cover a small section of the topic, but we also encourage general considerations on the possibilities and limitations inherent in this historical approach.

Please note that this workshop is designed as an open exchange and debate, based on short ten-minute introductory presentations followed by guided discussion. Works in progress are therefore highly welcome. When submitting your abstract, please provide us with the topic of your intended short presentation as well as with some remarks on your broader project and its connection to the themes outlined in the above workshop description. After evaluating all submissions, we will send a brief catalogue of preparatory questions to all participants, which will serve as the basis for the roundtable discussion.

We aim to provide feedback on the selection results in the week of 15 December.

Programm

Date: 25 & 26 February, 2026

Location: Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany

Workshop format: 1.5 days, with a keynote lecture on 25 February and discussion-oriented sessions the day after (10-minute input presentations followed by a chaired discussion)

Keynote: Dániel Margócsy, Cambridge (confirmed)

Language: English

Submission: Please send an abstract of your related project (ca. 250 words) and a short CV by 1 December 2025 to Alexander Stoeger (alexander.stoeger@uni-saarland.de)

Funding: We will cover the travel and accommodation costs

Organisers: Susanne Friedrich (FU Berlin), Philip Hahn (Saarland University), Alexander Stoeger (Saarland University)

Kontakt

alexander.stoeger@uni-saarland.de

CfP: Zwei Kulturen? – Der Umgang mit der NS-Vergangenheit in den Geistes- und den Naturwissenschaften (German)

1 day 5 hours ago
Munich/Germany   Organiser: Peter Hoeres / Susan Splinter / Stefan Jordan, Abt. NDB-online, Historische Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, München (Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften) Location: Alfons-Goppel-Str. 11, Munich Postcode: 80539 City: München Country: Germany Takes place: In person Dates: 21.10.2026 - 22.10.2026 Deadline: 15.12.2025  

1959 veröffentlichte C. P. Snow seinen Artikel „Two Cultures“, in dem er die These aufstellte, dass sich Geistes- und Naturwissenschaften bzw. nomothetisch und idiografisch verfahrende Wissenschaften diametral gegenüberstehen und eine Verständigung angesichts unterschiedlicher Denkstile kaum möglich sei. Diese These wird seit Jahrzehnten diskutiert, historisiert und problematisiert (Fabian Krämer; Otto Gerhard Oexle; Helmut Bachmeier/Ernst Peter Fischer).

 

Zwei Kulturen? – Der Umgang mit der NS-Vergangenheit in den Geistes- und den Naturwissenschaften

Am Beispiel des Umgangs mit der disziplinären NS-Vergangenheit soll – mit besonderem Blick auf Artikel in biografischen Lexika – der Frage nachgegangen werden, welche Spezifika es in der Historisierung der Disziplinen zwischen den Geistes- und den Naturwissenschaften gibt. Die Naturwissenschafts-, Technik- und Medizingeschichte untersucht seit Ende der 1970er Jahre Forschungsinhalte und -praktiken, das disziplinäre Handeln von Personen(gruppen) und Institutionen sowie die Geschichte von Strukturen und Denkweisen während der NS-Zeit. Herbert Mehrtens‘ und Alan Beyerchens Publikationen gelten als Ausgangspunkt für eine sich zunehmend differenzierende und breitenwirksame Auseinandersetzung der Geschichte von Naturwissenschaften, Technik und Medizin vor, während und nach der nationalsozialistischen Zeit.

In der Geschichtswissenschaft gaben die von Winfried Schulze und Otto Gerhard Oexle als Aufsätze publizierten Beiträge auf dem Deutschen Historikertag in Frankfurt am Main 1998 der Erforschung der Disziplin und ihrer Vertreter während der NS-Zeit starke Impulse. In der Folge erschienen mehrere Dissertationen und Handbücher. Ähnliches lässt sich zu gleicher Zeit für die Literaturwissenschaft und Philosophie beobachten. Auch hier bildet die Zeit um das Jahr 2000 einen Ausgangspunkt für die kritische Auseinandersetzung mit der Geschichte der eigenen Wissenschaft, wie der Band „Literaturwissenschaft und Nationalsozialismus“, 2003 herausgegeben von Holger Dainat und Lutz Danneberg belegt.

Im Rahmen des Workshops soll geklärt werden, ob sich der Umgang mit der NS-Vergangenheit in den einzelnen Fachdisziplinen unterscheidet. Lassen sich zeitlich, inhaltlich und sozial Unterschiede oder Gemeinsamkeiten feststellen?

Dabei soll ein besonderes Augenmerk auf biografische Lexika und die Frage gelegt werden, wann Forschungen zur NS-Vergangenheit von Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftlern in die entsprechenden Lexikonartikel eingingen bzw. ob von solchen Artikeln Impulse für die Forschung ausgingen. Dass biografische Nachschlagewerke Debatten auslösen können, zeigte die Veröffentlichung des „Internationalen Germanistenlexikons 1800–1950“ (2003) eindrücklich, die durch den Nachweis einer Mitgliedschaft in der NSDAP Diskussionen um bis dahin als politisch unbescholten geltende Persönlichkeiten wie Walter Jens, Walter Höllerer und Peter Wapnewski verursachten.

Diesen und weiteren Fragen wird bei dem Workshop „Zwei Kulturen? – Der Umgang mit der NS-Vergangenheit in den Geistes- und Naturwissenschaften“ nachgegangen, der am 21. und 22. Oktober 2026 von der Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften in München veranstaltet wird. Für die Diskussionsbeiträge sind jeweils rund 20 Minuten Zeit vorgesehen, damit ausreichend Raum für den interdisziplinären Austausch bleibt. Geplant ist im Anschluss ein Sammelband mit den Beiträgen der Tagung.

Bitte senden Sie Beitragsvorschläge bis zum 15. Dezember 2025 an susan.splinter@ndb.badw-muenchen.de und/oder stefan.jordan@ndb.badw-muenchen.de. Reisekosten (Übernachtung und Fahrtkosten im üblichen Umfang) können übernommen werden.

Kontakt

susan.splinter@ndb.badw-muenchen.de
stefan.jordan@ndb.badw-muenchen.de

CfP: Transition and Renewal: Progressive Utopias and Leftist Reorientation, 1970s–1990s

1 day 5 hours ago
Organiser: Knud Andresen, Hamburg; Detlef Siegfried / Mads Jedzini, Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen, Forschungsstelle für Zeitgeschichte in Hamburg) Location: University of Copenhagen Postcode: 1172 City: Copenhagen Country: Denmark Takes place: In person Dates: 12.05.2027 - 14.05.2027 Deadline: 15.01.2026  

The conference will examine how utopias and visions of the future have changed within the European Left. between the 1970s and the 1990s.

 

Transition and Renewal: Progressive Utopias and Leftist Reorientation, 1970s–1990s

The pervasive sense of ongoing economic, political and everyday crises in contemporary Western societies has prompted attempts at reorientation within the political left. While the Left has traditionally drawn its legitimacy from the promise of progress, the visions of the contemporary Left today seem largely informed by and rooted in the past. What has become of the labour movement's once-radiant future?

To contextualise the transformation of the European Left's visions of the future, it is worthwhile examining the long 1970s. Following the end of the Trente Glorieuses (Jean Fourastié), whose consequences for the party system were encapsulated in Andrei S. Markovits's and Philip S. Gorski’s study Red, Green, and Beyond, utopian visions of the future and perspectives of social progress lost much of their appeal, and the 'utopian energies' (Jürgen Habermas) were exhausted. Whether interpreted as the emergence of a 'presentist present' (Hans-Ulrich Gumbrecht) or a time when 'the world fell out of joint' (Aleida Assmann), the political left became increasingly characterised not by hope for a radiant future society, but by a desire to preserve the status quo. This conference will explore the strategies and practices through which the European left responded to the loss of its social utopia, and the extent to which comparable attempts at reorientation can be observed during this period.

We proceed from the assumption that scepticism about the future did not entirely replace the progressive utopia; rather, reorientations varied across social domains and milieus. Our focus encompasses the entire spectrum of the left, including left-liberal currents, social democracy, trade unions, communism and the radical left. As well as Western European countries, we also consider reorientation processes within state socialism. The temporal scope extends from the 1970s to the 1990s.

We invite scholars interested in the history and present of the Left to exchange ideas on this significant yet underexplored transnational phenomenon. We welcome national case studies as well as broader comparative and analytical contributions from transnational and European perspectives. Relevant approaches include inter alia intellectual history, the history of social movements as well as economic, social, and cultural history.

Contributions could address (while not being limited to) the following thematic areas:
- The influence of the new social movements on the formation of left-wing political fields since the 1970s is unmistakable. What visions of the future were represented in these movements, for example in the women’s movement? Were overarching societal utopias formed, and how widespread were they? How did left-wing parties respond to these new challenges?
- How did the semantics of the term “progressive” change since the 1970s?
- In the 1990s, a resurgence of nationalism can be observed. How did left-wing groups react to this development? Was a left-wing nationalism strengthened? To what extent can anti-national counter-reactions be observed?
- How did the developments of the 1990s – the collapse of state socialism and the dominance of neoliberalism – influence left-wing conceptions of progress?
- In 1979, the first European Parliament was elected, and the European integration process was intensified after the collapse of the socialist states. To what extent were demands for a “social Europe” implemented, and was the integration process generally welcomed or rejected?
- Technological progress in the form of automation and computerization, which had promised of a future without physical toil, lost its appeal during the long 1970s. Instead, scepticism towards technology prevailed, especially on the Left. To what extent did this coincide with nostalgic tendencies and “Heimat” discourses?
- Was the emergence of history workshops (“Geschichtswerkstätten”), that emerged primarily from the Left and dealt with the history of the labor movement, resistance against National Socialism, Jewish history, etc., a reaction to the erosion of the utopia of progress, or did it reinforce it?
- The Left fundamentally understood itself as internationalist. European labour migration as well as refugee migration influenced societies in their own countries. What conceptions of the future arose from this? How did, for example, trade unions react to the increasing relocation of production sites to non-European countries?
- To what extent can solidarity with liberation movements in countries of the Global South (e.g. Nicaragua, El Salvador, South Africa etc.) be seen as compensation for the loss of utopias in European countries?
- On these and other thematic areas, the earlier semantics of progress of the labour movement seem to have been redefined. What forms and variations can be observed? How did the balance shift between the “old” and the “new” Left?

We kindly request the submission of abstracts of up to 2,400 characters by January 15, 2026, to Knud Andresen (andresen@zeitgeschichte-hamburg.de) and Mads Jedzini (mje@hum.ku.dk).
Submitters will be informed of the results by mid-February 2026.
We will seek external funding for the conference to cover travel and accommodation costs.
In case of any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the organizers via email.

Programm

Overview:
Deadline for abstracts: January 15, 2026
Length of abstract: max. 2,400 characters
Decisions by: Mid-February, 2026
Conference date: 12–14 May, 2027
Conference venue: University of Copenhagen
Contact: Knud Andresen (andresen@zeitgeschichte-hamburg.de) & Mads Jedzini (mje@hum.ku.dk)

Kontakt

Knud Andresen (andresen@zeitgeschichte-hamburg.de) & Mads Jedzini (mje@hum.ku.dk)

CfP: Gender and Environment (English and French)

1 day 5 hours ago
Aix-en-Provence/France   Organiser: RUCHE - Réseau universitaire de chercheur.es en histoire environnementale (UMR 7303 TELEMMe; UMR 8529 IRHiS; UMR 1048 SADAPT) Location: UMR 7303 TELEMMe – Maison méditerranéenne des sciences de l’homme Aix-en-Provence (France). 5 rue du Château de l'Horloge, CS 90412 Postcode: 13097 City: Aix-en-Provence Cedex 2 Country: France Takes place: In person Dates: 11.06.2026 - 12.06.2026 Deadline: 15.12.2025 Website: https://leruche.hypotheses.org/quest-ce-que-le-ruche   This conference integrates gender history and environmental history to achieve two objectives. Firstly, it aims to highlight approaches that have remained relatively marginal in France, despite having been debated for several decades elsewhere, particularly in the English-speaking world. Secondly, it aims to empirically investigate these approaches through case studies ranging from antiquity to the present day, given that contemporary history still dominates the historiography of gender–environment relations.  

Both environmental history and women’s history, along with gender history later on, were institutionalised in the United States in the early 1970s. Paradoxically, however, there has been little dialogue between these two fields until recently, as has been pointed out more generally with regard to environmental history and social history (Mosley 2006). Yet these two fields of historical scholarship have shared a common goal from the outset: giving a voice and agency to those forgotten by official history. Their aim was to take on new subjects of study (women, non-humans) or, more ambitiously, to re-interpret the past in terms of gender power relations or environmental issues (Fressoz et al. 2014; Quenet 2014; Mathis 2018). Against the backdrop of struggles for civil rights and gender equality, as well as the development of environmental movements, a sometimes militant academic commitment was another feature these two currents had in common. Some 30 years later, environmental historians sought to provide their field with a theoretical framework to demonstrate its centrality to history as a discipline and to the social sciences more broadly. Gender history then provided a template for those who wanted to treat the environment as a category of analysis comparable to race, class and gender in order to uncover power relations and asymmetries (Scott 1986; Steinberg 2002; Stroud 2003; Quenet 2014).

However, the intersection between gender history and environmental history has remained relatively limited to date, particularly outside the English-speaking world and beyond Indian historiography, despite repeated calls to integrate gender perspectives into the conceptual apparatus of environmental history (Guha 1989, 2000; Merchant 1990; Leach and Green 1997; Scharff 2003; Unger 2014; Holmes and Morgan 2021; Morgan and Cook 2021). Work in this area over the past 20 years has mainly focused on North America, reflecting the dual American tradition in these two fields of history, and on India, where the convergence of social and environmental issues has been central to subaltern studies. This research has largely prioritised the contemporary era. Furthermore, in the English-speaking world, a significant proportion of these studies have centred on the experiences and concerns of the Western male elite in line with the specificities of US history (e.g. the conquest of the American West, masculinity and wilderness), to the detriment of considering the roles of women, Indigenous peoples and enslaved populations. Concerning the latter, academic accounts have often focused on environmental struggles (Unger 2012; Barca and Guidi 2013) and the preservation of botanical or agricultural knowledge that colonisation would have dispossessed them of (Carney 2001; Morgan 2004; Carney and Rosomoff 2009; O’Leary 2024).

Beyond the historical discipline, the use of gender as an analytical tool cannot be considered in isolation from other relationships of domination (social or cultural) and other modes of assignment (such as race or class). Research on environmental injustices has amply demonstrated the intersections and convergences between environmental and social inequalities, including gender discrimination (Massard-Guilbaud and Rodger 2011), and has highlighted discrepancies in access to and control of natural resources, as well as related environmental changes, in various contexts (Elmhirst 2015).

Numerous studies in the humanities and social sciences have also revealed antagonistic forms of relationship with the environment, based on different conceptions of nature (Haraway 1989). The following opposition has been particularly emphasised: on the one hand, white Western male elites tend to view nature as an appropriable resource and/or an enclosed space in need of protection; on the other hand, exploited minorities, especially women in poorer countries, see it as a common good and an integrated whole of which the human species is merely a part (Laugier, Falquet and Molinier 2015). At the crossroads of ecological struggles and the fight for women’s rights, ecofeminism has, for half a century, sought to deconstruct the interconnected dominations of women and nature (d’Eaubonne 1974; Merchant 1980; Warren 1990; Plumwood 1993; Federici 2004; MacGregor 2017; Benquet and Pruvost 2019; Larrère 2023; Hache 2024, 2026), while seeking to avoid the pitfall of essentialism (Shiva 1988; Agarwal 1992, 1994; Mies and Shiva 1993; Leach and Green 1997). Recent gendered re-interpretations of the Anthropocene encourage us to make visible marginalised groups, including women, excluded from positions of power and therefore often reduced, at best, to mere victims of environmental damage. Another approach is to examine the causes of the environmental crisis to highlight the patriarchal determinants of the degradation of the living world (Ruault et al. 2021).

This conference integrates gender history and environmental history to achieve two objectives. Firstly, it aims to highlight approaches that have remained relatively marginal in France, despite having been debated for several decades elsewhere, particularly in the English-speaking world. Secondly, it aims to empirically investigate these approaches through case studies ranging from antiquity to the present day, given that contemporary history still dominates the historiography of gender–environment relations.

The value of such an approach lies not only in reintegrating women as environmental actors in their own right into historical analysis. It also raises the issue of the sources required to access silenced voices and to bring to light forms of knowledge and practices that have been largely overlooked. Most importantly, it involves considering gender as an essential lens – composed of habits, social norms and behaviours related to sex, which vary across time and space – through which individuals’ relationships with the rest of nature are constructed (Scharff 2003; Morgan and Cook 2021). At the same time, it is crucial not to ignore the diversity of gender categories and the complex interweaving of elements that make up identity.

Mobilising concepts that are important to both fields, such as agency (both human and non-human) (Thomas 2016), allows us to question, in a dialectical way, the impact of gender – understood as the social construction of sex differences and the associated power relations – on the environment. It also enables us to consider the reverse: the effect of the relationship with ‘nature’ on social gender relations. From this perspective, gender history can inform environmental history, encouraging us to re-examine, from the margins, grand narratives such as those concerning domestication, slavery, colonisation, scientific ‘revolutions’, the rise of capitalism and industrialisation. This approach also invites us to take a fresh look at classic themes that have recently been revisited, such as labour, the commons, or environmental protection, and even to explore new areas of research. Reflections will focus on both the materiality of the relationships that historical actors maintain with their environment (e.g. access to natural resources and the effects of their actions on environments and socio-environmental dynamics) and the gender norms that shape these relationships or that these relationships, in turn, help to construct or transform.

Conference Themes

1. Labour, (Re)production, Subsistence

Since at least the Middle Ages (Charpentier and Lett 2024), the gendered division of labour (whether described as ‘subsistence’ or professional labour) has been accompanied by disparities in access to land (Agarwal 1994), tools (Tabet 1979; Cockburn 2004), resources (water, minerals, forest products, animals etc.), as well as to environmental knowledge and governance (Morera and Le Roux 2018). Contributions may consider these inequalities in the light of broader historical dynamics of resource commodification and appropriation, notably the enclosure of the commons (Elmhirst 2015), and in relation to the rise of industrial capitalism and colonial expansion. Contributions may also address differentiated responsibilities in the management, exploitation and protection of the environment, along with the resulting ecological consequences. Case studies might serve to historicise or critically reassess concepts introduced by ecofeminist perspectives, such as ‘subsistence work’ and the process of ‘housewifization’ (Mies and Bennholdt-Thomsen 1997), or to propose narratives that reconceptualise categories of labour and reproduction (Barca 2024) by integrating activities related to care and environmental restoration, which are still often overlooked.

2. Vernacular Knowledge, Expertise and Professionalisation

Carolyn Merchant has analysed the impact of the scientific ‘revolution’ and the resulting nature/culture divide through the lens of the (mechanistic) understanding of living beings and (utilitarian) conception of resources (Merchant 1980). Numerous studies have highlighted how, from the early modern period onwards, processes of professionalisation and the scientification of disciplines contributed to the marginalisation of feminine, vernacular knowledge (Pépy 2018; Benharrech 2020). These works also shed light on the strategies women developed to preserve or gain access to environmental knowledge, including in colonial contexts (Schiebinger 2004). These strategies included autodidactic learning, participation in public and private education, involvement in amateur, learned and agricultural societies, the production of natural history publications, the development of networks and intellectual circles and the founding of institutions and enterprises.
Women’s marginal positions also enable them to develop critical perspectives on dominant epistemologies and scientific practices, from challenging the centrality of botanical extraction and hunting in natural history culture (Beinart and Hughes 2007) to opposing vivisection, which became increasingly central to physiology from the 19th century onwards (Finn 2012). This section seeks to explore both these critiques and the alternative epistemologies and human–nature relations advocated by women. It will also examine the growing role of women in institutionalised environmental sciences from the 20th century, as well as their role in shaping and transforming these disciplines (Haraway 1989).

3. Nature(s) and Gender Categories: Femininities, Masculinities and Queer Ecologies

Nature plays a symbolic role in the construction of gender identities, from the naturalisation and animalisation of women to the association of so-called natural’ attributes, such as physical strength, with masculinity. Simultaneously, nature itself is metaphorically feminised: from Gaia to ‘Mother Nature’ (Gaard 1993). This section explores the cultural construction of gender identities, their material and symbolic implications in specific contexts (Girault 2022), and their strategic instrumentalisation, from so-called ‘fertility goddesses’ to contemporary narratives.
It also considers how feminist movements have reclaimed, reworked or subverted historical associations between gender and nature: as seen, for example, in the analogies drawn between women and (laboratory) animals by 19th-century anti-vivisectionist activists (Carrié 2018) or in the ways environmentalist activists have invoked a gendered disposition towards care and consideration for others (Engels 2002; Porhel 2018).
Furthermore, echoing the growing body of work on queer ecologies in the humanities and social sciences, which interrogate how non-heteronormative spaces challenge dominant (bio)power structures (Mortimer-Sandilands and Erickson 2010; Rimlinger 2024), this section aims to highlight the historical intersections between queer–environmental struggles (Unger 2021), as well as how they challenge binary categorisations of both gender and nature.

4. Environmental Exploitation and Gender Inequalities
Intersections between environmental, racial, social and gender inequalities have been widely studied. Scholarship has shown, across varied historical contexts, an increased burden of women’s domestic labour in polluted environments (Mosley 2001) and in economies based on the intensive exploitation of wildlife (Isenberg 2000). It has also documented women’s differential exposure to pollutants and, since the first third of the 20th century, to agrochemicals (Elmhirst 2015; Van Melkebeke 2020). Conversely, certain groups of women have been targeted for their involvement in environmentally destructive practices linked to appearance-focused consumer habits, such as the use of feathers or fur (Kean 1998). This section aims to analyse the intersections of gender, resource control and environmental exploitation, with particular attention to their impact on health and bodies.

5. Activism, Emancipation, Politicisation
Research has highlighted the central role played by women in animal and wildlife protection, as well as environmental advocacy, all of which gained momentum from the 19th century onwards. Their involvement took various forms, including the founding of environmental organisations (Winiwarter 2017), participation in environmental movements (Guha 2000) and whistleblowing, as exemplified by the work of Rachel Carson (Silent Spring, 1962) and Ruth Harrison (Animal Machines, 1964), as well as the theorisation of ecofeminism (Cambourakis 2018). These engagements often – though not always – coincided with broader aspirations towards emancipation, public participation, and even political influence (Unger 2012; Mathis 2018).
In connection with section 4, this section investigates the intersections between environmentalism, social reform, civil rights movements and political activism (Guha 2000). It further seeks to explore how women’s commitments were shaped by, and at times challenged, socially constructed gender norms, such as the defence of sentient beings, domestic spaces and family health (Engels 2002) while also recognising the specificities of activist struggles.

6. Sources, Methodologies, Historiography
Since antiquity, women, especially from lower social backgrounds, have left behind few written records. Modes of appropriation and preservation of writing have reproduced and amplified their invisibility in human–environment interactions. For instance, normative and statistical sources in both European and colonial contexts often fail to account for women’s agricultural labour and its economic significance (Gubin 1996; Likaka 1997; Benharrech 2020). However, recent research drawing on judicial, literary and practical sources has proposed methodological strategies to circumvent this invisibility (Montenach 2017).
This conference welcomes contributions that address the challenges and opportunities offered by historical sources in the context of gender and environmental history. It seeks to foster reflexive debate on the impact of source-related biases and gendered constructions on historical scholarship. For instance, as several historians have noted, the idealisation of women as custodians of rural life and key actors in (proto-)ecological practices has contributed to obscuring their role in agricultural and industrial modernisation (Gubin 1996). Finally, while scholars in political ecology have drawn attention to the pitfalls of gendered approaches that lead to the essentialisation of binary perspectives and, in practice, place the burden of environmental repair on women (Elmhirst 2015), this section also aims to explore the historical construction, mobilisation, transformation and potential transcendence of gender categories in relation to environmental issues.

Practical Information
Paper proposals (including a title, a summary of no more than 2,000 characters and a short CV) should be sent to genre.environnement@gmail.com by 15 December 2025.
Notification of acceptance will be given by 15 February 2026.
The working languages of the conference are French and English. Submissions from early-career researchers are particularly encouraged. Travel and accommodation expenses will be covered in line with the available budget.

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Organising Committee
Anne Montenach (Aix-Marseille Université, TELEMMe)
Céline Pessis (Université Paris–Saclay, SADAPT)
Violette Pouillard (CNRS, IRHiS)

Scientific Committee
Fabien Bartolotti (Aix-Marseille Université, UMR 7303 TELEMMe)
Cécile Beghin (INSPÉ de l’académie de Versailles, UMR 8264 ECHELLES)
Laurent Brassart (Université de Lille, UMR 8529 IRHiS)
Katja Doose (Université Lumière-Lyon 2, UMR 5190 LARHRA)
Christopher Fletcher (Université de Lille, UMR 8529 IRHiS)
Clémentine Girault (Université Paris Cité - EHESS)
Romain Grancher (CNRS, UMR 5136 FRAMESPA)
Adeline Grand Clément (Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès, PLH)
Rémi Grisal (Aix-Marseille Université, UMR 7303 TELEMMe)
Pauline Guéna (CNRS, UMR 7303 TELEMMe)
Ulrike Krampl (Université de Tours, UR 6298 CETHIS)
Matti Leprêtre (Sciences Po Paris/EHESS, UMR 8211 Cermes3/CAK)
Charles-François Mathis (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, UMR 8066 IHMC)
Bibia Pavard (Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas, EA 2293 CARISM)
Émilie-Anne Pépy (Université Savoie-Mont Blanc, EA 3706 LLSETI)
Iva Peša (University of Groningen)
Dominique Picco (Université Bordeaux-Montaigne, UR 2958 CEMMC)
Vincent Porhel (INSPÉ Université Lyon 1, UMR 5190 LARHRA)
Tiphaine Robert (FNS, Université de Berne)
Marguerite Ronin (CNRS, UMR 7041 ArScAn)
Lucile Ruault (CNRS, UMR 8211 Cermes3)
Benedikte Zitouni (Université catholique de Louvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles, CESIR)

Kontakt

genre.environnement@gmail.com

CfP: Between Practice and Research: Democratization of Work in the Realm of Transfer Research

5 days 2 hours ago

EuroDem Conference
Location: Ruhr-University Bochum, Institute for Social Movements, Clemensstraße 17-19, 44789 Bochum
Date: 26-27 February 2026

The production of discourses around workplace democracy has historically oscillated between hopes for radical transformation and cynical diagnoses of symbolic politics. One could argue, reality often unfolded somewhere in between. In the wake of current debates on the digital transformation of work, automation, AI-driven reorganization of production, and a declared polycrisis (Reckwitz & Rosa 2021, William & Erickson 2024) - i.e. the perception of social crises as overlapping, mutually reinforcing structural phenomena - similar tensions are re-emerging, frequently perceived as entirely novel, though they are deeply rooted in past experiences. Looking back at earlier waves of structural change and transformation – especially since the 1980s – and the industrial-sociological debates they triggered, reveals patterns of friction between institutional, academic, and workplace-level understandings of democratization. Whether under the label of “Humanisation of Work” in Germany, post-Fordism, or lean production, democratic aspirations have often confronted complex realities of economic restructuring, managerial resistance, and changing labor relations. While diagnoses of current transformations in work and production abound, they often focus on isolated phenomena – such as digitalization, AI, or economic restructuring – and address them as singular crises or disruptions. This fragmentation overlooks the historical entanglements and systemic continuities that shape today’s challenges. What remains underexplored is how these developments intersect, reinforce, or contradict one another within broader trajectories of workplace democratization. By bridging past and present, theory and practice, and singular diagnoses with structural analysis, this conference aims to address this gap and foster a more integrated understanding of democratic potentials and limitations in the evolving world of work. This conference seeks to revisit these past and present contradictions through the lens of research that not only observes but aims to shape practice and vice versa to ultimately explore how democratic concepts of work have been transferred, translated and transformed across contexts: from theory to application, from one workplace or country to another, and from one era of change to the next. We are pleased to invite submissions for an interdisciplinary conference exploring the evolving and contested terrain of workplace democracy – between visionary renewal and practical contradiction, between academic discourse and labor experimentation. This on-site conference is organised in the framework of the research project Workplace democracy: a European ideal? Discourses and practices about the democratization of work after 1945 (EURO-DEM) funded by the ANR and DFG.

We welcome contributions that engage with, but are not limited to, the following themes:
Conceptual and Methodological:
• Methods and methodological challenges of transfer research in the field of work and labor.
• Forms and conceptions of transfer research: What does it mean to “transfer” democratic ideals into practice? What are the possibilities and pitfalls?
• Theoretical contributions exploring multi-level or systemic understandings of democracy at work.
Empirical Approaches:
• Case studies exploring how democratic forms of work organization have been imagined, implemented, or resisted.
• Tensions between participatory and representative models of workplace democracy.
• The role of academic discourse in shaping labor policy, union strategies, and workplace reforms.
• Critical analyses of failed, partial, or co-opted democratization processes.
Historical Comparisons:
• Historical reconstructions of labor policy debates and democratization initiatives in times of transformation (e.g. post-Fordism, digitalization, deindustrialization). Comparative perspectives on democratization efforts across sectors or national contexts.
Future Challenges:
•New forms of workplace participation in the digital age: hype or real empowerment?

Submission Guidelines:
We welcome contributions from scholars, practitioners, unionists, and early-career researchers across disciplines including (but not limited to) sociology, labor studies, history, political science, organization studies, and industrial relations. Please submit an abstract of no more than 300 words, along with a short biographical note by 30 November 2025 to Sophia.friedel@rub.de. Accepted contributors will be notified early December 2025. Selected papers may be considered for inclusion in an edited volume or special journal issue following the conference.

Contact: Sophia Friedel, Sophia.friedel@rub.de Institute for Social Movements and Joint Research Centre Ruhr-University Bochum / IG Metall Suttner-Nobel-Allee 4, 44803 Bochum

CfP: Transition and Renewal: Progressive Utopias and Leftist Reorientation, 1970s–1990s

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Call for Papers
Conference: “Transition and Renewal: Progressive Utopias and Leftist Reorientation, 1970s–1990s”
Date: 12–14 May, 2027, Venue: University of Copenhagen
Organizers: Knud Andresen (Forschungsstelle für Zeitgeschichte in Hamburg), Mads Jedzini (University of Copenhagen), Detlef Siegfried (University of Copenhagen)

The pervasive sense of ongoing economic, political and everyday crises in contemporary Western societies has prompted attempts at reorientation within the political left. While the Left has traditionally drawn its legitimacy from the promise of progress, the visions of the contemporary Left today seem largely informed by and rooted in the past. What has become of the labour movement's once-radiant future?

To contextualise the transformation of the European Left's visions of the future, it is worthwhile examining the long 1970s. Following the end of the Trente Glorieuses (Jean Fourastié), whose consequences for the party system were encapsulated in Andrei S. Markovits's and Philip S. Gorski’s study Red, Green, and Beyond, utopian visions of the future and perspectives of social progress lost much of their appeal, and the 'utopian energies' (Jürgen Habermas) were exhausted. Whether interpreted as the emergence of a 'presentist present' (Hans-Ulrich Gumbrecht) or a time when 'the world fell out of joint' (Aleida Assmann), the political left became increasingly characterised not by hope for a radiant future society, but by a desire to preserve the status quo. This conference will explore the strategies and practices through which the European left responded to the loss of its social utopia, and the extent to which comparable attempts at reorientation can be observed during this period.

We proceed from the assumption that scepticism about the future did not entirely replace the progressive utopia; rather, reorientations varied across social domains and milieus. Our focus encompasses the entire spectrum of the left, including left-liberal currents, social democracy, trade unions, communism and the radical left. As well as Western European countries, we also consider reorientation processes within state socialism. The temporal scope extends from the 1970s to the 1990s.

We invite scholars interested in the history and present of the Left to exchange ideas on this significant yet underexplored transnational phenomenon. We welcome national case studies as well as broader comparative and analytical contributions from transnational and European perspectives. Relevant approaches include inter alia intellectual history, the history of social movements as well as economic, social, and cultural history.

Contributions could address (while not being limited to) the following thematic areas:

  • The influence of the new social movements on the formation of left-wing political fields since the 1970s is unmistakable. What visions of the future were represented in these movements, for example in the women’s movement? Were overarching societal utopias formed, and how widespread were they? How did left-wing parties respond to these new challenges?
  • How did the semantics of the term “progressive” change since the 1970s?
  • In the 1990s, a resurgence of nationalism can be observed. How did left-wing groups react to this development? Was a left-wing nationalism strengthened? To what extent can anti-national counter-reactions be observed?
  • How did the developments of the 1990s – the collapse of state socialism and the dominance of neoliberalism – influence left-wing conceptions of progress?
  • In 1979, the first European Parliament was elected, and the European integration process was intensified after the collapse of the socialist states. To what extent were demands for a “social Europe” implemented, and was the integration process generally welcomed or rejected?
  • Technological progress in the form of automation and computerization, which had promised of a future without physical toil, lost its appeal during the long 1970s. Instead, scepticism towards technology prevailed, especially on the Left. To what extent did this coincide with nostalgic tendencies and “Heimat” discourses?
  • Was the emergence of  history workshops (“Geschichtswerkstätten”), that emerged primarily from the Left and dealt with the history of the labor movement, resistance against National Socialism, Jewish history, etc., a reaction to the erosion of the utopia of progress, or did it reinforce it?
  • The Left fundamentally understood itself as internationalist. European labour migration as well as refugee migration influenced societies in their own countries. What conceptions of the future arose from this? How did, for example, trade unions react to the increasing relocation of production sites to non-European countries?
  • To what extent can solidarity with liberation movements in countries of the Global South (e.g. Nicaragua, El Salvador, South Africa etc.) be seen as compensation for the loss of utopias in European countries?
  • On these and other thematic areas, the earlier semantics of progress of the labour movement seem to have been redefined. What forms and variations can be observed? How did the balance shift between the “old” and the “new” Left?

We kindly request the submission of abstracts of up to 2,400 characters by January 15, 2026, to Knud Andresen (andresen@zeitgeschichte-hamburg.de) and Mads Jedzini (mje@hum.ku.dk).
Submitters will be informed of the results by mid-February 2026. 
We will seek external funding for the conference to cover travel and accommodation costs.
In case of any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the organizers via email.

Overview:
Deadline for abstracts: January 15, 2026
Length of abstract: max. 2,400 characters 
Decisions by: Mid-February, 2026
Conference date: 12–14 May, 2027, Conference venue: University of Copenhagen 
Contact: Knud Andresen (andresen@zeitgeschichte-hamburg.de) & Mads Jedzini (mje@hum.ku.dk)

Recent project of the ABMO (Genoa): Biographical dictionary of the participants of the 1921-1922 Congress of Communist and Revolutionary Organizations of the Far East in Russia

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The Biographical Archive of the Workers' Movement from Genoa, Italy (www.abmo.it) is working on a biographical dictionary of the representatives who attended the Congress of Communists and Revolutionary Organizations of the Far East in Russia in December 1921. This Congress, which began in Irkutsk in December, continued in Moscow and Petrograd in January and February of the following year. We have not yet compiled a definitive list of participants; for now, we have about 200 names; for this reason, we are asking all scholars for information on the event and, especially, on the individuals who participated.

If you have any information, please contact Massimo Repetto at mr.abmo@abmo.it

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