Spaces and Borders in Modern German History:
Negotiations, Conflicts, Cooperation
Berlin, 8 – 10 January 2015
A German-British Workshop
to be held at: The Center for Research on Antisemitism, Berlin Institute of Technology

Conveners:
Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung der Technischen Universität Berlin,
in cooperation with
University of Cambridge
Birkbeck (University of London)
The Wiener Library
Freie Universität Berlin
Universität Freiburg
Universität Konstanz.

Call for Papers
The spatial turn in the humanities and social sciences has made historians aware and sensitive of how historical developments are shaped by and embedded in categories of space that are results of complex social interactions. In Germany the study of spaces and borders became first prominent since the mid-19thcentury and then discredited after the Nationalist Socialist quest for “Lebensraum” because it constituted itself as a tool for German power politics. This workshop will discuss the importance and changing understanding of spaces and borders in 19th and 20th century Germany and its neighbouring regions. The categories of “space” and “borders” are understood in a broad sense and are not limited to geographical spaces but include for example political, social, and cultural spaces.

The workshop organisers aim to bring together current research projects conducted by postgraduates and academics preferably from the United Kingdom and Germany. We welcome proposals from all fields of history and neighbouring disciplines and encourage a wide variety of theoretical and methodological approaches.
Topics might include but are not limited to:

- Imagination, construction and conception of spaces and spatial orders in historical perspective

- Politics of space

- Central European regionalism and regional landscapes

- Central European regionalism and regional landscapes

- Centre-periphery relations

- Borders, borderlands and border crossings

- Transnational political, social, and cultural movements

Travel expenses, accommodation and meals will be funded. Papers will be pre-circulated. The workshop is open to academic staff and to postgraduate students. The conference languages are German and English. Proposals of about 300 words, accompanied by a short CV, should be sent by 10 December 2014 to <m.funck@tu-berlin.de>.