The Leibniz Institute of European History (IEG) awards research scholarships and fellowships to young academics (doctoral and postdoctoral researchers) from Germany and abroad.

Funding is provided for both doctoral and postdoctoral research dealing with the religious, political, social and cultural history of Europe from the early modern period to 1989/90. Comparative, transnational and transfer-historical research projects are particularly welcome, as are projects which deal with topics of intellectual, church or theological history.

If they wish, scholarship holders and fellows can collaborate with the academic staff of the IEG in the Institute’s research areas. Each scholarship holder is assigned a contact person from among the academic staff of the IEG who can offer them advice and mentoring.
Research projects must be at least six months in duration in order to avail of IEG funding. Fellowship holders and fellows reside and work in the Institute building in Mainz. The specialist library of the Institute and the other infrastructure that Mainz has to offer as an academic centre are available to the fellowship holders and fellows to conduct their research. The duty to reside at the Institute does not preclude short trips to archives, libraries, specialist researchers and conferences elsewhere. The linguae academicae at the IEG are German and English; fellows must have a passive command of both and an active command of at least one of the two languages so as to participate in the discussions at the Institute.

Запрошуємо подавати заявки на участь у Другій міжнародній конференції «Модерністки. Насилля в архітектурі і міському просторі», яка проходитиме 15-16 вересня 2017 року у Києві.

Національний університет «Києво-Могилянська академія» оголошує прийом на перший рік навчання на здобуття ступеня освіти «Магістр» у 2017–2018 навчальному році.

Winter Academy
26 Feb – 7 Mar 2018
NEC, Bucharest

Call for applications

Revisiting the Nation

Transcultural Contact Zones in Eastern Europe

Prisma Ukraïna – Research Network Eastern Europe, Berlin and the Center for Governance and Culture in Europe, Universität St. Gallen, in cooperation with the New Europe College, Bucharest cordially invite doctoral and postdoctoral scholars from the fields of anthropology, economics, geography, history, literature, political sciences, social psychology, sociology and other disciplines to apply for an international Winter Academy titled: “Revisiting the Nation: Transcultural Contact Zones in Eastern Europe”. The Academy will be convened from 26 February to 7 March 2018 in Bucharest, Romania.

Application deadline: 30 August 2017

Winter Academy
“Revisiting the Nation: Transcultural Contact Zones in Eastern Europe”

26 Feb–7 Mar, New Europe College (NEC), Bucharest (Romania)

Rationale

Ever since Mark von Hagen asked “Does Ukraine Have a History?” in 1995, there has been much debate about what constitutes Ukraine as a nation. In the  light of recent developments, it might seem that in Ukraine, this question is of particular significance. Still, it is important to understand that in the European context, Ukraine is not an exceptional case in its nation building effort. Instead, it is exemplary in terms of its multiculturality, entangled histories, and the everchanging relation between state and society.

With regard to Eastern Europe, the preoccupation with ‘the nation’, its history and identity, and with similar categories that imply monolithic entities (state, culture, language) in political, social and even academic discourse has been prevalent at least since the final years and collapse of the Eastern bloc. It has been visible in a search for homogeneity and ‘essences’ in cultural, historical or political terms – a search thwarted by the realities in situ. It is not only that the newly found sovereignty of those nation states coincides with greater alignment  with international legal, economic and military standards – what has been termed ‘voluntary imperialism’ (Cooper). Concepts like Mary Louise Pratt’s ‘contact zones’ (with their emphasis on transculturation, hybridity, and mediation) likewise draw attention away from monolithic concepts of nation and culture.

Instead, they point to how cultural practices permeate and inform each other at the local level, how they are being (re)negotiated and hegemonic discourses and power relations subverted by overt or implicit alternatives.

The ongoing transformations and cultural and political processes in Ukraine as well as in many places in Eastern Europe take place in this field of unresolved tension that causes constant frictions and renegotiations. This poses a very specific and potentially very productive challenge to Eastern European Studies – one that can benefit from the integration of various concepts and highly different disciplinary approaches.

The Academy’s rationale is to gather young scholars from diverse disciplines and with different approaches. We want to facilitate exchange and contribute to a fuller picture of current transformations in the region that goes beyond the national narratives and takes into account conditions and current processes of the renegotiation of identity, history, and political practices. The aim is to challenge assumptions; to overcome simplifying categories and explanations; and to open discussion on new perspectives and research questions. In this, Ukraine may be the main focus, but research on other countries and regions is welcome as well.

The program will focus mainly, but not exclusively on the following, overlapping themes:

The (re)production of community

identity claims and multiple belongings; the (re)production of memory and legitimacy; conflict and coexistence; nationalist mobilization and its limits; historical figures of the nation; history and nation building; populism and new authoritarianism

Legacies of empires

post-imperial infrastructures and the political and social life of its successors; inert geographies; shifting economic, political and cultural orientations; voluntary and involuntary imperialism; old and new elites; shadow economies; regionalisms and nationalism

Hegemonic and alternative discourses

sources of resistance; myths of pluralism; art, literature and the creation of (alternative) vernaculars; critical thinking and its institutional impact; subcultures; the fate of the left; diversity of memory and narratives; the role of mass media

Performing imagination

cultural production of the present; rhetoric of/as emotion; creative communities, common places for specific experiences; key images; interventions into the public space; mass culture as industry of imagination; transformation of literary cosmopolises; networks and islands in cultural mapping; experiences and performances of the Other

We invite scholars of anthropology, economics, geography, history, literature, political sciences, social psychology, sociology and other disciplines whose research relates to these questions and who would like to present and discuss their work in an international and multi-disciplinary context.

The Winter Academy is chaired by a group of scholars that includes Pascal Bonnard (Jean Monnet University, Saint Etienne), Rory Finnin (University of Cambridge), Susanne Frank (Humboldt University, Berlin), Olena Haleta (Ivan Franko University, Lviv; Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv), Andrii Portnov (Prisma Ukraïna; Forum Transregionale Studien, Berlin), Ulrich Schmid (Centre for Governance and Culture in Europe, University of St. Gallen), Mihai Varga (Free University Berlin) and Annette Werberger (Europa University Viadrina Frankfurt/Oder).

Winter Academy format

The Academy will gather up to 20 doctoral and postdoctoral scholars from different countries and academic backgrounds. It promotes intensive peer-to-peer debates and encourages new perspectives grown from debates in small discussion groups. Participants contribute actively to the program’s structure and content. They present their individual research in working groups, co-design thematic discussion groups and are involved in the organization of workshops. While most of the intensive work is conducted in a small-group atmosphere, the Winter Academy also presents its work to the public through general lectures and open panel discussions. It builds on previous academies conducted by Prisma Ukraïna and is designed to support scholarly networks and contribute to closer ties among research activities in and outside of Europe. The working language is English.

The Academy will take place from 26 February to 7 March 2018 at the New Europe College in Bucharest. Travel, accommodation, insurance and visa matters will be covered and arranged by the organizers.

How to apply

The program addresses doctoral and postdoctoral researchers who wish to present their ongoing projects in a comparative perspective in relation to the questions raised above. Their work should be clearly relevant to the themes of the Winter Academy. While the focus of the Winter Academy will be on Ukraine and Eastern Europe, comparative perspectives on the themes mentioned above are welcome, transregional approaches being especially encouraged.

The application should be in English and consist of:

1. a curriculum vitae;
2. a three- to five-page outline of the project the applicant is currently working on, with a brief introductory summary thereof;
3. a suggestion of two readings relevant for the Winter Academy that you would like to discuss with other participants (please provide bibliographical data only, no copies required at this stage);
4. the names of two university faculty members who can serve as referees (no letters of recommendation required).

PLEASE SEND YOUR APPLICATION BY EMAIL as ONE PDF FILE to

prisma@trafo-berlin.de. Deadline for applications is 30 August 2017.

Contact:

Dr. Ulrike Gatzemeier
Prisma Ukraïna – Research Network Eastern Europe
Wallotstr. 14
14193 Berlin

T: +49 (0)30 89 001-428
F: +49 (0)30 89 001-440

About us

Located at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, the Center for Governance and Culture in Europe (GCE) collaborates with researchers in Germany, Vienna, the U.S., and the Black Sea region since its establishment in 2011. Affiliated members collaborate on a range of interdisciplinary projects, including State Capture and Corruption in Russia, and Transcultural Contact Zones in Ukraine. The GCE seeks to foster cooperation between humanities and social science researchers in Switzerland and individual states in the Black Sea region.

http://www.gce.unisg.ch

The New Europe College (NEC) Bucharest is an independent Romanian institute for advanced study in the humanities and social sciences founded in 1994 by Professor Andrei Pleşu. NEC aims to contribute to the development of research and higher education in Romania and in South-Eastern and Eastern Europe by: a) supporting individual research at an advanced level through national, regional and international fellowship programs; and b) hosting research teams and focus groups working on innovative and cooperative projects. NEC also aims to foster the development and strengthening of the civil society in the post-communist countries of South-Eastern and Eastern Europe.

Революційні події 1917 р. призвели до великих політичних та соціально-економічних змін на просторах Східної Європи. Регіональні виміри цих подій мали свої особливості та продовження на найближчі роки. Простір Слобожанщини (Харківської та частин Курської та Воронезької губерній) виявився досить вагомим полем політичних баталій та соціальних експериментів. Вивчення цих знакових подій насьогодні є досить важливою ділянкою історичних студій.

Trump, BREXIT, Russian-European crisis and the rise of populist parties in Europe and Turkey came as an existential challenge to regionalism in Europe, Eurasia and worldwide. The conference organised by Centre for International Relations Studies of the University of Liège in collaboration with Cambridge Ukrainian Studies and Columbia University and co-funded by the European Union, seeks to address broad sets of questions about the effects of the above phenomena on the regions, broadly conceived.

Soviet nationalities policy—Stalin’s policy towards one of the minorities living on the territory of the USSR, the Jews—has generated and continues to engender growing interest among researchers, including historians and political scientists.  Research into the period of the Second World War enjoys particular popularity.  That interest includes not just Jews who were Soviet citizens but likewise those who, prior to 1939, were citizens of other countries but as a result of the turmoil of the war found themselves on the territory of the USSR.
    We wish to invite speakers to the conference who are involved with various aspects of Soviet nationality policy, who come from academic centers in Poland, Israel, Germany, Ukraine, and Lithuania, in order to present a view spectrum of research on the complex problem of the fate of the Jews inhabiting lands that came under Soviet rule. 

The following fields and research themes should be covered in the conference:
1. Jews and the Revolution of 1917
2. The Influence of Jews on the Development of Education and the Economy in the USSR
3. The Policies of Repression towards Jewish Activists, Members of Political Groups (Communists, Bundists, Zionists), and Representatives of the Intellectual Elite
4. "A Plan for Creating a Jewish Autonomous Region: Birobidzhan."  
5.  The Complexity of the Fate of Polish Jews on Soviet Territory during World War II (Exiles, Political Prisoners)
6. The Jewish Antifascist Committee (1952)
7. Soviet Jews and Jewish fugitives on the Territory of the USSR (Identity, Religion)
8. The Jewish Question in the USSR and the Emergence of the State of Israel
9. Jewish Culture at the Service of the Ruling Powers.

Place of the Conference: The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Lublin, Poland.    Dates: October 19-20, 2017
The organizers of the conference will provide overnight lodging and meals during the time of the conference.  The organizers also assure the publication of post-conference proceedings.

The International Association for Humanities (MAG) offers four travel grants for participation in the 49th Annual Convention of Association for Slavic, East European, & Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) which will be held in Chicago (USA) on November 9-12, 2017.

Offered grants will cover travel costs and accommodation in Chicago for 9 – 12 November, as well as daily expenses for four days of Convention for two participants from Ukraine and for two participants from Belarus.

Dear Sir or Madam,

The spread of nationalist and authoritarian movements have prompted debates about a return of global fascism. At the same time, many countries are witnessing civil society activities opposing such movements.

 In order to discuss these developments, the bpb and its partners organize the international conference "Fascism And Antifascism In Our Time: Critical Investigations" in Hamburg, 1–3 November 2017.

 The conference addresses scholars, practitioners of civic education, artists, and activists involved in projects dealing with fascism, antifascism, authoritarianism, and the advancement of democracy. Projects on politics and practices of remembrance are especially welcome. Your involvement can be professional or voluntary / non-professional. We look forward to applications from all countries, especially from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine.

There is no conference fee. Successful applicants’ accommodation will be provided and travel costs will be reimbursed.