Wednesday, April 20, 2016

The Undesirable: How Parasites, Diseases, and Pests Shape Our Environments ” Summer School in Environmental History

The Working Group for Czech and Slovak Environmental History in cooperation with the Faculty of Science at Charles University in Prague and the Institute for Contemporary History of the
Czech Academy of Sciences and with the support of European Society for Environmental History are pleased to announce a four-day graduate summer school in environmental history which will take place in Prague in late August 2016.
 
Location: Prague, Czech Republic
Time: August 28-31, 2016
Application deadline: May 20, 2016
Working language: English
 

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

European Summer School on Cold War History 2016

The partner institutions of the European Summer School on Cold War History are jointly convening the eighth edition of the school at University of Vienna, Austria
8-10 September 2016.
The Summer School is a unique conference specifically for PhD students and early career researchers to discuss the effects of the Cold War in the fields of politics, culture, and diplomacy, to name only a few.
The School consists of workshops and panel sessions focused on submitted research papers, debates on historiographical and methodology, as well as practical sessions on publishing and academic careers. The school offers an informal atmosphere in which new ideas and research directions can be shared and debated, be it in panel sessions, or over coffee and meals.  
The school has a very high student to faculty ratio (2:1) allowing participants to have in depth discussions about their research with established scholars in the field. The faculty includes prominent scholars, among others:
  • Sara Lorenzini (Università di Trento)
  • Kaeten Mistry (University of East Anglia)
  • Piers Ludlow (LSE)
  • Leopoldo Nuti (Università Roma Tre)
  • Mario Del Pero (Sciences Po)
  • Silvio Pons (Università di Roma Tor Vergata)
  • Oliver Rathkolb (Universität Wien)
  • Federico Romero (EUI)
  • Antonio Varsori (Università di Padova)
  • Vladislav Zubok (LSE)
PhD students and early career researchers (no more than 3 years from PhD completion) are invited to submit proposals. We encourage submissions on any aspect of the Cold War, broadly defined. Of particular interest are papers that make use of newly available primary sources and innovative methodologies. 
hD students and early career researchers (no more than three years from PhD completion) are invited to submit proposals. We encourage submissions on any aspect of the Cold War, broadly defined. Of particular interest are papers that make use of newly available primary sources and innovative methodologies.
Papers should not exceed 7,000 words (including citations in Chicago style).
At the School, each participant will give a 15-minute presentation (in English) followed by discussion with the faculty and students.
The best paper will be given the opportunity to publish in the Cold War History journal.

Applicants should submit a 300 word abstract and a brief academic CV in a single PDF document and in English, with the file titled as your surname. The CV must make clear the applicants' nationality and stage of PhD or research.
Please send these to coldwarsummerschool@gmail.com by 30 April 2016.
Please note in the subject line of your email "CW Summer School 2016-YourLastName".
Please note that preference is given to those who have not previously attended.
Please note that there is a €200 euro registration fee, which will cover accommodation and meals for the duration of the conference. 
 Sumer-School

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

CfP:THE KNOWLEDGE FACTOR : Refugees in Central and Eastern Europe, 1912-2001


The 2016 Annual Convention of the Leibniz Graduate School at the
Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe.
Deadline: 20 June 2016
Date: 8-9 December 2016
Location: Gisonenweg 5-7, 35037 Marburg, Germany.
In arguments about the current refugee crisis, East European heads of state have repeatedly claimed that their countries have never been perceived as desirable destinations; therefore, they shall never be such. We would like to take the occasion of the 2016 Annual Convention of the Leibniz Graduate School at the Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe to investigate this claim.
“The Knowledge Factor” offers an opportunity to discuss the history of refugees in, not from, Eastern Europe and the role knowledge inherent to or associated with refugees has played in the interaction with host societies. The focus lies on the twentieth century from the Balkan Wars of 1912 until its ultimate end in 2001.
For the purpose of this convention, we consider a refugee a person who
involuntarily had to leave home due to political persecution, war, violence,
breakdown of a political and social order as well as natural catastrophes. We are interested in the region that was once considered the Eastern bloc, i.e. East Central Europe and the successor states of the Soviet Union. Papers should interrogate the perception, integration, and adaptation of professional, scholarly, scientific, artistic and cultural knowledge and skills. They are not limited to but should seek answers to such questions as:
• When and why is knowledge specific to refugees appreciated, adapted or
dismissed? Under which circumstances are refugees recognized – formally and informally – as professionals and experts? Which policies are enacted to deal with such recognition? In how far do these policies reflect geopolitical, ilogical and cultural concept
How do relations and interactions with the majority society impact the
knowledge of refugees? How did the understanding of knowledge of and by refugees change between their departure and arrival in the host country? To what extent, for instance, were intellectuals seen as ‘native informants’ about their countries and regions of origin, disregarding the professional knowledge and expertise they had brought with them?
• What strategies do refugees pursue to integrate their knowledge into, adopt practices from or guard it against the majority society? How does knowledge allow refugees to maintain or advance their social status? And, by the same token, when does their refugee status disadvantage them regardless of level of skills and knowledge?
• What are the trajectories of interaction of the refugee knowledge with the knowledge of different groups in the host countries? Does this interaction take place in preexisting spaces or produce new ones?
• Under which circumstances does the refugee knowledge challenge accepted norms, stereotypes and prejudices in their host society? What does the interaction between the majority and refugees say about preexisting knowledge and its norms?
Critical analyzes should emphasize the historical dimension of this topic; the conference aspires to contribute to the history of science, post-colonial studies, and the socio-political as well as cultural history of the twentieth century. Whereas case studies should focus on Eastern Europe as destination and host country, we explicitly welcome papers on the global entanglements of the region and the inherent interdependence of its composing parts.
PhD students and Post-doctoral scholars are encouraged to apply. 
Please submit an abstract of no more than 350 words and a one-page-CV by 20 June 2016to jan.surman@herder-institut.de and victoria.harms@herder-institut.de
The Herder Institute provides accommodation; travel expenses will be partially or fully reimbursed. Participants, particularly from North America, are encouraged to seek additional funding.
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