idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Think about Europe (Call for Papers)
International conference "Ideas of Europe / Ideas for Europe" The conference will take place in Chemnitz, 6-8 May 2009, under the patronage of the President of the European Commission - The deadline for submitting abstracts is 31 October 2008
The notion of Europe is associated with a vast range of intellectual, cultural, and political possibilities. Research on Europe tends to invoke biases and a high degree of ideological reductionism that undermines efforts to pursue nuanced and productive forms of reflection.
The conference organisers ask whether there is a way of approaching the essence of the European character without reducing the discussion to essentialism. Is there a way of navigating the mazes that separate questions from answers when we think about Europe?
The aim of the international conference "Ideas of Europe / Ideas for Europe" is precisely to map a better and deeper understanding of Europe, without relinquishing reasoned discourse and ethical dialogue. The conference will take place in Chemnitz, 6-8 May 2009, under the patronage of the President of the European Commission, Mr José Manuel Barroso. Mr Barroso will officially close this conference.
The conference will address the double meaning of its title, bearing in mind that the object of reflection intersects with multiple fields of theoretical representation. We thus ask the speakers to centre their analyses on the following five panel topics.
1 - Europe before Europe
What was the conceptual status of "Europe" prior to modernity - i.e. during Antiquity and the Middle Ages? How were ideas about Europe shaped and what was the geographical understanding of Europe's place on the globe?
2 - Early modern Europe
How did the thinkers of modernity conceive of their own European identity and of the historical and spiritual implications of such a profound shift in the European mentality?
3 - Europe between Enlightenment and the Holocaust
What were the implications for European identity and for the future during the period that stretched from the hopeful Enlightenment and the twilight of rationality to the planned hubris of the Holocaust?
4 - Europe as seen by others
For centuries, Europe was dominated by an internalised law of expansion, aiming to replicate itself in vast areas of the world. How has Europe tended to be seen by peoples on other continents?
5 - Europe and its future prospects
Vacillating between constitutional designs, along the lines of long envisioned European Federalism, and demands for devolution and national identity - what are the prospects for the European future in a world subject to global hopes and even more widespread fears and imminent dangers?
You are invited to submit abstracts of your presentation at "Ideas of/for Europe". Papers will be allocated a maximum of 20 minutes of presentation time. Candidates should submit abstracts by email to:
europe@phil.tu-chemnitz.de
The deadline for submitting abstracts is 31 October 2008. Please forward this message to potential interested academics.
contact:
Technische Universität Chemnitz
Juniorprofessur Kultureller und Sozialer Wandel
Teresa Pinheiro
0049 371 531-35014
0049 371 531-27729
teresa.pinheiro@phil.tu-chemnitz-de
http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/ideaseurope - Homepage conference "Ideas of Europe / Ideas for Europe"
Criteria of this press release:
Economics / business administration, History / archaeology, Politics, Religion, Social studies
transregional, national
Organisational matters, Scientific conferences
English
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