Digital History Position at IEG – Coordinator for Developing a National Research Data Infrastructure

Infrastructure at the Leibniz Institute of European History

Zur Beantragung und Implementierung des NFDI4Memory-Konsortiums ist zum nächstmöglichen Zeitpunkt, frühestens ab 1. Oktober 2019, am Leibniz-Institut für Europäische Geschichte (IEG) in Mainz

eine Vollzeitstelle (TV-L EG 13) als
wissenschaftliche/r Koordinator/in (m/w/div)

zu besetzen. Die Stelle ist zunächst bis zum 30.06.2021 befristet. Eine Weiterbeschäftigung im Rahmen eines erfolgreich etablierten NFDI-Konsortiums wird angestrebt.

In der von Bund und Ländern geförderten Nationalen Forschungsdateninfrastruktur (NFDI) werden Datenbestände in einem aus der Wissenschaft getriebenen Prozess systematisch erschlossen, langfristig gesichert und über Disziplinen- und Ländergrenzen hinaus zugänglich gemacht. In diesem Rahmen soll mit NFDI4Memory ein Konsortium für die historisch arbeitenden Geisteswissenschaften aufgebaut werden, in dem Universitäten und außeruniversitären Institute, Archiven, Museen und Bibliotheken sowie Infrastruktur- und Forschungseinrichtungen zusammenwirken (vgl. http://bit.ly/NDFI4Memory_LoI).

Tätigkeitsprofil: Sie koordinieren die arbeitsteilige, überregional vernetzte Erstellung des Förderantrags für das NFDI4Memory-Konsortium (bis Oktober 2020) und bereiten dessen betriebsfähige Einrichtung vor (bis Juni 2021), unter anderem durch

  • Konzeption und Aufbau einer Governance-Struktur
  • Steuerung der konzeptionellen Arbeit und der Entscheidungsprozesse im Konsortium
  • Organisation von Videokonferenzen und Workshops
  • Redaktion des Förderantrags
  • Kommunikation mit Zuwendungsgebern/-innen und der wissenschaftlichen Community
  • Abstimmung mit den weiteren geistes- und kulturwissenschaftlichen NFDI-Initiativen in Deutschland.

Anforderungsprofil

  • abgeschlossenes wissenschaftliches Hochschulstudium
  • Erfahrung in der Beantragung von drittmittelgestützten Verbundprojekten
  • ausgesprägte organisatorische und kommunikative Fähigkeiten, nachgewiesen durch einschlägige Berufserfahrung im Projektmanagement
  • Kenntnisse der rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen für Forschungsdaten
  • Vertrautheit mit geisteswissenschaftlichen Methoden und den Digital Humanities
  • sehr gute Englischkenntnisse.

Das IEG fördert die berufliche Gleichstellung von Frauen und Männern und setzt sich für die Vereinbarkeit von Beruf und Familie ein. Frauen werden besonders zur Bewerbung aufgefordert. Die Stelle ist grundsätzlich teilbar. Schwerbehinderte werden bei gleicher Eignung bevorzugt berücksichtigt. Fragen richten Sie bitte an den Forschungskoordinator des IEG, Dr. Joachim Berger (berger@ieg-mainz.de).

Ihre Bewerbung senden Sie bitte (mit CV, Zeugnissen und ggf. Arbeitsproben) unter Angabe der Kenn.-Nr. NFDI4Memory-2019 bis zum 15.09.2019 (keine Ausschlussfrist) per E-Mail an die Personalabteilung des Leibniz-Instituts für Europäische Geschichte (bewerbung@ieg-mainz.de); bitte fassen Sie alle Unterlagen in einem PDF zusammen.

Oxford – Mainz PhD Workshop 2020

Call for Papers: Joint Mainz-Oxford-Graduate Workshop: “European History across Boundaries from the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Century”

2019 PhD Workshop – Participants in the Oriel College Library, Oxford

Academy Conveners: Sarah Panter (Leibniz Institute of European History, Mainz), Johannes Paulmann (Leibniz Institute of European History, Mainz) and Lyndal Roper (University of Oxford)

Venue: Leibniz Institute of European History, Mainz

Date: 1–3 April 2020

Deadline for Applications: 15 October 2019

The Leibniz Institute of European History at Mainz, Germany, and the University of Oxford, Faculty of History, invite international Ph.D. students to a workshop on European history across boundaries from the 16th to the 20th century, including Europe’s relations with the world. We encourage researchers working in this field to present their Ph.D. projects and to discuss the transcultural and transnational scope of their findings in a stimulating environment. Topics that aim to cross and reflect boundaries and borders are of particular interest. Projects can employ a variety of methodical approaches such as comparative studies, the study of transfer processes and entanglements, or the histoire croisée. The location of the joint workshop alternates annually between Mainz and Oxford. In 2020, the workshop will take place in Mainz.

At the workshop, we will discuss pre-circulated papers based on archival research (max. 8,000 words, written in English, to be submitted by 1 March 2020). Accommodation for the duration of the workshop and a contribution to travel expenses within Europe will be provided.

Proposals should include an abstract of the overall project and its archival sources (500 words) plus a brief biographical note. Please combine all of your application documents into a single PDF except for the application form. You can download the application form here: http://bit.ly/GW_MainzOxford. Applications should be sent to gw@ieg-mainz.de by no later than 15 October 2019. For any questions, please contact the organisers.

Contact: Dr. Sarah Panter, Leibniz Institute of European History, Alte Universitätsstraße 19, D-55116 Mainz, Germany, +49 (0)6131 – 39 393 63, gw@ieg-mainz.de

Download call for papers here CFP_Doktorandenworkshop_2020_final

Richard von Weizsäcker Fellowship 2020-21, St Antony’s College, Oxford

The European Studies Centre of St Antony’s College, Oxford invites applications for the Richard von Weizsäcker Visiting Fellowship, funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. The fellowship is tenable for nine months (1 October-30 June).  Applicants should be scholars in the field of post-1850 history or the historical social sciences, and with an outstanding record of publication. They must be employed at a German university at the time of application.

The deadline for all applications is 15 June 2019.

Fellows will be expected to be resident at St Antony’s College for the nine months of the Oxford academic year (October-June); to conduct their research; to give the annual Richard von Weizsäcker lecture; to organize a conference or seminar series on a topic of their choice, bringing recent German scholarship to an English-speaking audience; and to edit an English-language volume of essays based on this.

WeizsäckerFullParticulars20-21

European History Across Boundaries: PhD Workshop Oxford – Mainz

From 13 – 15 March 2019, the graduate workshop “European History Across Boundaries” took place for the first time in Oxford. The event was jointly organised by the Faculty of History at Oxford University and the Leibniz Institute of European HistoryLeibniz Institute of European History at Mainz.

Outstanding young researchers from universities all over Europe, the USA and Israel discussed their research projects. Topics ranged from Early Modern to Contemporary History. Participants analysed a variety of European boundary crossings, including imperial and colonial, gender, disciplinary and religious borders. Geographically, the projects dealt with connections, for example, in Brazil during the Hispanic monarchy, port cities like Hamburg, Switzerland and the Dutch colonial empire, St. Peterburg and Paris, the Soviet Union and Congo, Germany and Afghanistan as well as Tirol and Tuscany. The projects illustrated the challenges as well as the benefits of researching history across boundaries. It was fascinating to learn that this kind of scholarship attracts and creates early career scholars who are in practical terms as cosmopolitan as the historical subjects they are studying. For full programm click here.

Visit to Oriel College library by partiticpants of PhD workshop European History Across Boundaries

CfP: The Aftermath of the First World War – Humanitarianism in the Mediterranean

Convenors: Silvia Salvatici (University of Milan) and Johannes Paulmann (Leibniz Institute of European History Mainz) in  co-operation with the German Historical Institute Rome and the Villa Vigoni – German Italian Centre for European Excellence

Date: 3 – 4 December 2019

Venue: University of Milan, Italy

Download CFP Humanitarianism_postwar_mediterranean_def

In the memory of 1919, the signing of the peace treaties and the foundation of the League of Nations figure prominently. The year also saw the birth of the Third International and ushered in a turbulent post-war period of revolutions and counter-revolutions, which drastically changed the international balance of power and incubated the fascist movements that in 1922 subverted the fragile democracy in Italy. As a result, the attention of scholarly and public debate focus on post-war political, diplomatic and institutional history and on Central and Eastern Europe. The conference proposes a dual shift of perspective: thematic and geographical.

On the one hand, it focuses on international relief and rehabilitation programs during and in the aftermath of war. This will direct attention to international projects for political and social stabilization and the transformation processes that took place in post-war societies. It will allow us to examine the effects the war had on international relations in peacetime from a different perspective than the better-known diplomatic history. On the other hand, the conference specifically concerns the Mediterranean area thereby shifting our attention away from the well-studied Northern European and Transatlantic region. It investigates the post-war rise of humanitarianism in the countries of Southern Europe, in the colonial territories of North Africa, in the Balkans and in the Middle East. The Mediterranean saw the redrawing of the geopolitical map after the disintegration of the old empires, while at the same time a challenge to European colonialism began to rise in several places. Humanitarian projects took different forms and meanings in these contexts, but they were usually conceived as instruments that would have an impact on the long term, not simply as an immediate response to temporary crises.

Research has begun to show the relevance that humanitarian affairs had for the League of Nations, which also operated in the Balkans and the Middle East. However, the League programs are only one chapter in the history of post-war relief, which saw the mobilization of national states, large and small private agencies, religious groups, societies founded on a common political ideology, experts in sectors such as medicine, public health, or education. The purpose of the conference is to study the way in which these different actors cooperated, interacted, and came into conflict, both in designing aid programs at the headquarters and in implementing them on the spot and within local communities. Specific case studies have shown that the historical development of humanitarianism came about through extensive transnational networks based on religious affiliation, on institutional relations among states, and on professional skills. With reference to the specific post-war context, the conference intends above all to highlight the way in which these networks, usually studied separately, came intersected and how the configuration in the Mediterranean area, including responses from within the societies concerned, shaped the development of humanitarianism at large.

We invite proposals for papers on any of the themes, topics and areas mentioned above. The time period covered may reach from the First World War into the 1930s discussing the aftermath and effects of continued or renewed war in the regions studied. The proposal should highlight the colonial and national contexts, the contemporary ideas on political and social stabilisation and the effects of the measures taken.

Please send an abstract of no more than 300 words and a short CV by April 8, 2019 to

Silvia Salvatici (silvia.salvatici@unimi.it) & Johannes Paulmann (paulmann@ieg-mainz.de)

The conference will take place from 3 – 4 December 2019, at the University of Milan, Italy. Travel and accommodation will be covered.

Download CFP Humanitarianism_postwar_mediterranean_def

The Other Side of Terrorism

Out Now – Open Access

New issue of the European History Yearbook published on “Victimhood and Acknowledgment: The Other Side of Terrorism”

 

ed. by Petra Terhoeven, with contributions by:

The history of terrorism has been largely a history of perpetrators, their motives and actions. The open access volume anaylses the other side of terrorism, which has always seemed to be of secondary importance. But terrorism is communication by violence, and its efficiency depends significantly on the selection and the treatment of the victims by the perpetrators, on the one hand, and the perception and acknowledgement of victimhood by the public, on the other. How does it affect our picture of the history of terrorism then, if the victims are moved centre stage? If the focus is put on their suffering, their agency, their helplessness, or on how they are acknowledged or exploited by society, politics and media? If the central role is taken into account which they play in terrorist propaganda as well as in the emotional response of the public? The contributions to this edition of the European History Yearbook will examine such questions in a broad range of historical case studies and methods, including visual history. Not least, they aim at historicizing the roles of survivors and relatives in the social process of coming to terms with terrorist violence, a question highly relevant up to the present day.

Table of Contents EHY 19, 2018 pdfDownload


					

Call for Application GHRA 2019

Academy Conveners:

Johannes Paulmann (Leibniz Institute of European History Mainz)

Andrew Thompson (University of Exeter)         

in co-operation with the International Committee of the Red Cross (Geneva)

Venues:                     

Leibniz Institute of European History Mainz & Archives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva

Dates:                         8-19 July 2019

Deadline:                    31 December 2018

Information at:         http://ghra.ieg-mainz.de/, http://hhr.hypotheses.org/ and http://imperialglobalexeter.com/

The international Global Humanitarianism | Research Academy (GHRA) offers research training to PhD candidates and early postdocs. It combines academic sessions at the Imperial and Global History Centre at the University of Exeter and the Leibniz Institute of European History in Mainz with archival sessions at the Archives of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva. The Research Academy is for early career researchers who are working in the related fields of humanitarianism, international humanitarian law, peace and conflict studies, human rights covering the period from the 18th to the 20th century as well as the institutional history of the ICRC and the development of its fundamental principles. It supports scholarship on the ideas and practices of humanitarianism in the context of international, imperial and global history thus advancing our understanding of global governance in humanitarian crises of the present.

In July 2019, the Global Humanitarianism | Research Academy will first meet for one week in Mainz for academic sessions of lectures, class meetings and discussions, including study time (the academic meetings rotate annually between Mainz and Exeter; in the previous year this meeting took place in Exeter). PhD students will have the chance to sharpen the methodological and theoretical focus of their thesis through an intense exchange with peers, postdocs, and established scholars working in the same or related field of humanitarianism. The postdocs will benefit from discussing their research design and publication strategy with established scholars.

The academic session at Exeter or Mainz is each year followed by a one week archival session at Geneva. Here the archives of the ICRC offer a unique insight into humanitarian action during the past 150 years. The holdings provide rich material, including visual material, for the history of international affairs in the ages of nation states, empires and global governance, particularly the study of humanitarianism, humanitarian law, conflicts studies as well as related issues such as human rights. Under the guidance of experienced archive staff, the members of the Research Academy will study primary sources related to the previous discussions at Exeter as well as to their own research projects if applicable.  Opportunities may also be provided for intensive discussions with active members of the ICRC staff and other Geneva based humanitarian organisations.

Each selected academy fellow receives the cost of travel to Mainz and accommodation in Mainz and Geneva. Academy fellows will be asked to purchase their travel to Geneva as proof of their commitment to attending the Academy.

The Research Academy invites applications for the 2019 Global Humanitarianism | Research Academy (GHRA) from PhD students and early postdocs. The Steering Committee will select up to 12 participants. Applicants must be able to certify that they are fluent in both written and spoken English, the Academy’s working language. Participants of the international Global Humanitarianism | Research Academy will be chosen by the Steering Committee on the basis of

  1. a cover letter (maximum 350 words) setting out the applicant’s motivation for participating in the academy and indicating the anticipated outcome of their research;
  2. a statement (maximum 1,000 words) summarizing their research project;
  3. a brief curriculum vitae (maximum 2 pages);
  4. two supporting letters from appropriate referees.

This application should be compiled by the applicant and the whole set of papers including reference letters should be submitted as a single PDF, with the file saved as ‘LASTNAME_FIRSTNAME.PDF’. To apply, please send your application consisting of one pdf-document with the Subject “Global Humanitarianism | Research Academy” to the organisers at ghra@ieg-mainz.de by December 31, 2018.

Present Threats to Democracy – Resolution by the German Historical Association (VHD)

The German Historical Association (Verband der Historiker und Historikerinnen Deutschlands) passed a resolution on present threats to democracy at its bi-annual meeting in Münster

The German Historical Association (VHD) held its bi-annual meeting, the Historikertag, from 25-28 September in Münster, Westphalia. The 3.700 visitors debated the theme “Divided Societies” (“Gespaltene Gesellschaften”) in almost 100 sessions and panels ranging from ancient to contemporary history. The topic was also intensively discussed with regard to historians’ role in the present. Initiated by Dirk Schumann and Petra Terhoeven from Göttingen and supported by a group of a dozen historians, the General Meeting on 27 September passed a resolution on the present threats to democracy (“Resolution des Verbandes der Historiker und Historikerinnen Deutschlands zu gegenwärtigen Gefährdungen der Demokratie”). An overwhelming majority of the several hundred members present voted in favour of the Münster declaration (pdf german) (pdf english)

The resolution defends key principles against present-day threats posed by populists’ voices and activities. It argues amongst others for a historically sensitive language against discriminatory cries like “Volksverräter” or “Lügenpresse” reminiscent of the anti-democratic rhetoric in Germany during the first half of the twentieth century. It further appeals to hold up humanitarian principles and international law with regard to asylum seekers and refugees calling to mind past German deeds and experiences. The declaration also mentions the search for European cooperation that emerged from the bitter strife and conflicts during period of two world wars as well as the principles of debating in pluralist democracies. The resolution concludes with an appeal to study the past critically so that political abuse in the form of fake history can be rejected based on scholarship.

The resolutions has already attracted comments in the press. See for example

https://www.welt.de/kultur/article181717830/Vergangenheitsforscher-vs-AfD-Wie-politisch-darf-ein-Historikerverband-sein.html

https://www.welt.de/kultur/history/article181702310/Deutscher-Historikertag-Als-Japan-den-Islam-einfuehren-wollte.html

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/historikertag-stellt-sich-gegen-die-afd-15812149.html

https://www.bild.de/politik/inland/politik-inland/52-historikertag-ist-unsere-gesellschaft-wieder-so-gespalten-57539680.bild.html

https://www.tagesspiegel.de/wissen/deutscher-historikertag-in-muenster-raus-aus-der-komfortzone/23123400.html

During the General Assembly and in a panel discussion on the previous evening, members of the German Historical Association discussed not so much the detailed points in the draft resolution, nor did they question the exact wording. A large majority appeared to support the key principles. The foremost question was whether and how historians should intervene in political debates. Some argued against a resolution on particular political issues although they generally supported the ideas and values of the text. They preferred to focus on threats to freedom of research and the democratic conditions necessary to maintain that freedom. Few saw the resolution as a party political statement or pointed out that a rhetoric of crisis might fuel the danger. That the declaration was also directed against the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) was plain without that party being explicitly mentioned. Nevertheless, most recognized that the text was on the defence of principles rather than policies and does not support positions of any single political party.

Those in favour agreed that historians should give guidance based on their scholarly expertise. Historical guidance for the public usually takes the form of analysis and historical explanations. However, it seemed to the majority that present threats called also for normative statements. One speaker reminded the assembled historians of Theodor Mommsen’s intervention in the anti-Semitism debate in 1880 and declared that Mommsen’s principled stance may serve as a positive reference for today’s German Historical Association. Distinguishing between the historian as scholar and expert on the one side and the historian as citizens on the other was described as a moot and artificial point under present circumstances. It was felt that historians should explicitly defend those principles of pluralist society under attack from populism at present. One speaker from Chemnitz and another one from a memorial site (Gedenkstätte) in Lower Saxony strongly urged those present to pass the resolution because they needed this kind of support by the professional organisation against the current, sometimes daily threats to their freedom of research. The final vote by showing of hand demonstrated that German historians as an organised profession overwhelmingly recognized the present threats and saw the need to defend key principles of pluralist and democratic society.

Position in Jewish History

The Leibniz Institute of European History in Mainz, Germany seeks a new Research Fellow (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter*in) for five years

Deadline: 15 October 2018

The successful candidate pursues an individual research project within the frame of the IEG research agenda “Negotiating differences in Modern Europe” . The innovative project contributes to one of the three research areas of the IEG (research program). The position is open to Early Modern and 19th or 20th century applications.

The Leibniz Institute of European History (IEG) in Mainz is an independent research institute and a member of the Leibniz Association. It conducts research on the political, social, cultural and religious foundations of Europe from the early modern period to contemporary history and has an international fellowship programme for PhD candidates (www.ieg-mainz.de/en).

Download announcement in English or German

Violence and Leisure in Camps: Sport in 20th Century Camps

Open Access Publication in the Series of the Leibniz Institute of European History

Gregor Feindt, Anke Hilbrenner and Dittmar Dahlmann (eds.), Sport under Unexpected Circumstances. Violence, Discipline, and Leisure in Penal and Internment Camps (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht) 2018.

Sport was an integral part of life in camps during the twentieth century, even in Nazi concentrations camps or in the Soviet Gulag. Traditionally perceived as a symbol of equality, play, and peacefulness, sport under such unexpected circumstances irritates most observers, back then and today.

Thomas Geve, Sport (Auschwitz I), 1945. Thomas Geve was deported to Auschwitz in 1943 as a 13-year-old. He survived. See his memoirs “Geraubte Kindheit: Ein Junge überlebt den Holocaust” (Bremen 2013; first pb. as “Youth in chains”. Jerusalem 1958).

This volume studies the irritating fact of sport in penal and internment camps as an important insight into the history of camps. The authors enquire into case studies of sport being played in different forms of camps around the globe and throughout the twentieth century. They challenge our understanding of camps, question the dichotomy of insiders and outsiders, inner-camp hierarchies, and the everyday experience of violence. This fresh perspective complements the existing camp studies and gives way for the subjectivity of camp inmates and their action. Read or download the introduction “Why the History of Sport in Penal and Internment Camps Matters” here.

TOC Sports in Camps

with contributions by Alan Kramer (Dublin), Floris van der Merwe (Stellenbosch), Panikos Panayi (Leicester), Christoph Jahr (Berlin), Doriane Gomet (Rennes), Felicitas Fischer von Weikersthal (Heidelberg), Kim Wünschmann (München), Veronika Springmann (Berlin), Mathias Beer (Tübingen), Marcus Velke (Bonn), Dieter Reinisch (Florenz), and Manfred Zeller (Bremen).

 

Graduate Workshop: Oxford University and Leibniz Institute of European History

European History across Boundaries from the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Century

Conveners: Sarah Panter, Johannes Paulmann (Mainz) and Lyndal Roper (Oxford)
Venue: University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Date: 13 – 15 March 2019
Deadline for Applications: 15 October 2018

CFP_Doktorandenworkshop_2019

The Leibniz Institute of European History at Mainz and the University of Oxford Faculty of History invite international PhD students to a workshop on European history across boundaries from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, including Europe’s relations with the world. We encourage researchers working in this field to present their dissertation projects and to discuss the transcultural and transnational scope of their findings in a stimulating environment. Topics that aim to cross and reflect boundaries and borders are of particular interest. Projects can employ a variety of methodical approaches such as comparative studies, the study of transfer processes and entanglements, or the histoire croisée.

The Leibniz Institute of European History (IEG), an independent research institution in Mainz (Germany), fosters research on the social, religous and political dynamics in Europe from the early modern period into the twentieth century. The Faculty of History at Oxford is one of the key research centres for history in the UK. Its acadamics have a wide range of interests and specialisms which smirror its excellence in teaching history,  with centres working on the history of the Europe, Asia, the United States as well as global history more generally.

At the workshop, we will discuss pre-circulated papers based on archival research (max. 8,000 words, written in English, to be submitted by 15 February 2019). Accommodation for the duration of the workshop and a contribution to travel expenses within Europe will be provided.

Proposals should include an abstract of the overall project and its archival sources (500 words) plus a brief biographical note (including institutional affiliation, thesis supervisors, and contact details). These documents should be sent in one pdf-file to Sarah Panterpanter@ieg-mainz.de – by no later than 15 October 2018. For any questions, please contact the organisers.

CFP_Doktorandenworkshop_2019

Changing our understanding of migration and social spaces – new historical approach

Special issue on “Migration, Mobility and Sedentariness” in Geschichte and Gesellschaft, ed. by Anne Friedrichs (IEG Mainz)

“Disembarkation platforms”, “transit zones”, “transit procedures”, “detention camps in a no man’s land” – the question of how to govern migration has become a topic central to the political agendas of many European states again during the previous weeks. At the same time, filmmakers such as Christian Petzold have drawn our attention to the extreme predicaments that refugees in transit often face: Such migrants often have to decide whether to survive or to preserve relationships to close persons who are not permitted to move along with them. By transposing characters from Anna Seghers’ novel “Transit” (1947) to today’s Marseille, Petzold’s Transit (2018) uses surprising references to the present time hinting at the fact that neither the restriction of mobility nor the experiences of people in transit are new. What seems to be new, however, is the aggravation of the political tone in Germany – at least as compared to a time in 2015 when rights of migrants and asylum seemed to be given a more important consideration in German politics.

Globe designed by Peter Wagener and Anne Friedrichs

Anne Friedrichs (Leibniz Institute of EuropeanHistory, IEG Mainz) has edited a special issue on “migration, mobility and sedentariness” in Geschichte und Gesellschaft. She brings together contributions that explore transits between mobility and immobility in different historical contexts. Examining migration from a relational perspective enables new insights into the boundaries of the societal. Analyzing transitions between mobile and sedentary life phases and life worlds not only allows us to identify interpretative ambivalences and changes in how mobility is differentiated and evaluated. As we grasp that human movement and immobility are mutually constituted, we also gain insights into the different dynamics involved in shaping social life and societal order, as well as into the ways in which these processes intersect with one another. This new research perspective helps to achieve a better understanding of conflicts over the norms and values that define a collective or society, and thus contributes to a historiography that is sensitive to the historical variability of what is perceived as “distance” or “nearness”, and that considers different actors’ perspectives in its analytical categories. Table of contents TOC GG 44/2 (2018)

Continue reading

Humanitarianism: New Research Field in European History

Atelier de recherche à Sorbonne Université

The international workshop discusses recent historiography on humanitarianism, concepts and issues. It is organised by LabEx Ecrire une histoire nouvelle de l’Europe (EHNE), the Laboratoire Temps, Mondes, Sociétés (TEMOS), the Leibniz Institute of European History (IEG), and the international network “Engaging Europe in the Arab World” (Leiden University, NWO).

Programme: Affiche_Atelier_Humanitaire 2018-06-09

Inscription: labex.ehne2@gmail.com

Wednesday, 13 June, 14-18.30

Venue: Maison de la Recherche de Sorbonne Université, 28 rue Serpente, 75006 Paris

Les acteurs européens du “printemps du peuples” en 1848

Colloque international du cent soixante-dixième anniversaire
Organisé par le Centre d’histoire du XIXe siècle et l’axe politique du LabEx EHNE

ProgrammeColloque1848

International Conference organised by the Centre d’histoire du XIXe siècle et l’axe politique du LabEx EHNE “Ecrire une histoire nouvelle de l’Europe”

31 MAI – 2 JUIN 2018 | 9H – 17H30

SORBONNE | AMPHI GUIZOT | 17 RUE DE LA SORBONNE 75005 PARIS

Inscription obligatoire jusqu’au 28 mai 2018 sur http://printempsdespeuples.evenium.net

Partenaires:
Institut historique allemand de Paris, Institut Leibniz d’Histoire européenne à Mayence (Allemagne), Centre interuniversitaire d’histoire culturelle de l’Université de Padoue (Italie), ANR AsilEuropeXIX, École doctorale « Histoire moderne et contemporaine » de Sorbonne Université (ED 188), Société d’histoire de la révolution de 1848 et des révolutions du XIXe siècle, Comité d’histoire parlementaire et politique.

‘We will not have a Berlin Wall or anything like that’: The ‘Peace Lines’ in Belfast, 1969 to the present

From the new IEG open access publication “On site, in time” (Ortstermine) here is an article on the “Peace Lines” in Belfast by Fabian Klose.

Cross-posted from:http://en.ieg-differences.eu/on-site-in-time/fabian-klose-belfast/

Negotiating Differences in Europe: Belfast

Beginning of “the Troubles” and the erection of the “Peace Lines”
Over the course of 1969, domestic tensions in Northern Ireland, which had been growing for decades between the Protestant and Catholic parts of the population, escalated to the point of open violence. In August, various cities experienced several days of civil-war-like unrest. In Belfast, the hostile confessional groups engaged in veritable street battles in which residential districts were attacked and entire streets lined with houses were burned down. Nine people were killed, over 700 civilians and police were injured, and in Belfast alone nearly 400 houses were damaged by arson attacks.
Northern Ireland was an integral part of the United Kingdom. When the situation came to a head, the prime minister of Northern Ireland called on the central government in London for help. In response, British army units were sent to separate the parties to the conflict and bring the situation back under control. After arriving, the British soldiers began to put up barbed wire fences and checkpoints around the neighbourhoods controlled by the battling groups – first at the hot spot between the Catholic Falls Road and the Protestant Shankill Road. The idea was to prevent further attacks between Protestants and Catholics. General Sir Ian Freeland, the British troops’ general officer commanding, called these peace lines a “very, very temporary affair”, underscoring his position thus: “We will not have a Berlin Wall or anything like that in this city”.[1]

The Peace Line on Springmartin Road in Belfast-West

Yet over the course of the nearly thirty-year conflict in Northern Ireland, which is often referred to as “the Troubles”, the provisional fences were indeed replaced with permanent barriers: walls of concrete and steel, up to eight meters high and reinforced at the top with fencing, whose various sections ran for a total of 34 kilometres through front yards and residential streets. These so-called “peace lines” or “peace walls” put their stamp on the cityscape of Belfast, as they did in other Northern Irish cities like Derry/Londonderry, Portadown and Lurgan.[2] They became a visible expression of Northern Ireland’s population, divided by civil war.

Continue reading