Complexities of ‘Europe’: Between knowledge, power, citizenship and identity

Description

Graduate Conference organized by the CRASSH Post-graduate research group European Identities and Encounters

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.

For any enquiry you can contact one of the organizers:
eu_id_encounters_conf@yahoogroups.co.uk 

Eirini Avramopoulou         avrarini@yahoo.gr
Katherine Cooper             kmc34@cam.ac.uk
Leonidas Karakatsanis   lkarak@essex.ac.uk
Nikolaos Papadogiannis np308@cam.ac.uk
Thomas Stammers          tes27@cam.ac.uk
Amr Abdelrahman            amremran@gmail.com

Additional Information:

Registration
Registration fee (including paper givers):    £ 25 full institutional fee
                                                                             £ 15 for Students depending on own funding

Registration is now closed

Catering offered:
Coffee and tea, 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:

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.

Deadline for proposed papers has now passed, accepted speakers will be contacted by the end of September 2009

Registration Online in now closed

Open to all. Registration required. Limited places

   Administrative contact Esther Lamb (Grad/Fac Programme Manager)