Call for papers

Graduate Conference:
“Complexities of ‘Europe’: Between knowledge, power, citizenship and
identity”
Date: 20-21 November 2009

Place: Centre for research in the Social Sciences and the humanities
(CRASSH), University of Cambridge, UK.

Organized by: CRASSH Post-graduate research group “European Identities and
encounters” (http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/page/188/european-identities.htm)
Deadline for abstracts: 1 September 2009
Notification of speakers: 20 September 2009

The theoretical approaches to “Europe” often suggest a teleological
narrative, which portrays the establishment of the European Union as the
consummation of every cultural and political project of “Europeanness”.
This conference aims at bringing together different viewpoints of “Europe”
lying beyond the political narratives of accession and integration.
Priority will be given to papers that address the complexities of the way
in which “Europe” as a concept, a label, a place, an institution or a
union is turned into a locus of contestation. We are particularly
interested in comparative studies as well as in exploring transfers of
knowledge and power across the region(s) described as “Europe”. We are
also eager to examine how “Europe” interacts, constructs and is
constructed by its “Others” or its “margins– whether in immigration,
integration or development policies.

The areas of particular interest are:

Theme 1: Knowledge and power
• Periodizing “Europe”
Exploring the debates over the origins of “Europe” and the political use
of history, archeology and historical education.
• “Europe” and the Academy
Projects, Framework programmes, funding and the creation of a “European”
sphere of research.
• “Europe” outside Europe
“Europe” as an exporter of normative discourses on human rights, gender
and peace though the funding of NGOs, establishment of offices,
neighboring policies, organization of projects, exporting of know-how, etc
outside the EU borders or in EU’s so called “periphery”.

Theme 2: Citizenship and identity
• “Europe” and borders
Migration, integration, asylum policies, citizenship, frontiers: What can
make up for a “European experience”?
• A “European” Public Sphere?
Thinking the possibilities post-national, grass-roots, transnational
politics.
• “Europe” and material cultures
Technologies and artifacts, which partake in the construction of a
“European” imagination. Is there a distinctively “European” popular
culture? Memories of the World War and of colonialism in relation to
European identities.

The purpose of the conference is to promote an interdisciplinary dialogue.
Thus, we aim at attracting scholars from the entire range of social
sciences and humanities, including political science, history,
social/cultural anthropology, archaeology, media studies, history of art,
linguistics, discourse theory, literature, sociology and geography. The
organizing committee welcomes applications from graduate students but will
gladly consider abstracts from post-doctoral researchers and early stage
academics too.

Abstracts not exceeding 400 words should be submitted by 1 September 2009,
to the following email [log in to unmask]

For any enquiry you can contact one of the organizers: Eirini Avramopoulou
([log in to unmask]), Katherine Cooper ([log in to unmask]), Leonidas
Karakatsanis ([log in to unmask]), Nikolaos Papadogiannis
([log in to unmask]), Thomas Stammers ([log in to unmask]) and Amr Abdelrahman
([log in to unmask])


Additional Information:

Registration
Registration fee (including paper givers): £ 25 full institutional fee
£ 15 for Students depending on own funding
NOTE: On line registration will open in September.

Catering offered:
Coffee and tea with nibbles, 2 buffet lunches, Conference material
One dinner offered to paper givers, discussants and invited speakers only
(listeners can register and join by paying for a set-course meal).

Accommodation:
Accommodation is not provided to paper givers, but subsidized college
accommodation might be available. Paper givers that will send their
abstracts early, since these are accepted, they will gain priority for
this offer. In any case however, the organizers will help paper givers to
locate affordable accommodation.

Travel expenses:
There can be no coverage/subsidization of travel expenses. Paper givers
are advised to seek funding or cover their own travel expenses.

Bursaries:
We have limited funds available to partially reimburse the travel and
accommodation costs of no more than three PhD students, who will be
selected to present a paper, but their attendance is put in jeopardy due
to economic difficulties they face. Applicants are strongly advised not to
rely on these bursaries and to seek alternative sources of funding,
instead.tute for Research in the Humanities
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University of Wisconsin - Madison
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