A group of PhD students from the Centre for Global History at Free University Berlin and the Institute of African and Asian Studies at Humboldt University of Berlin would like to invite interested doctoral researchers to apply for a workshop on ‘Internationalism in the (long) Twentieth Century’. The workshop will take place from 21-23 October in Berlin. Application details can be found below.
This workshop will bring together doctoral students working on the history of internationalism in the (long) 20th century. The idea to hold this workshop emerged from discussions we had during our monthly PhD support group meetings in Berlin, in which we circulate and read each other’s work, and found commonalities in the internationalist dimensions of our respective research projects. Jointly, we started asking more general questions such as: how have different ideas about and actors of internationalism travelled across time and space? What mediums – from mass media over literature, image and music, to transportation technologies – allowed for the dissemination of concepts beyond national and imperial confines? And through what identities, groups, and networks did internationalist thinking emerge in the 20th century? These questions became especially pressing considering that we live in times in which liberal internationalist norms seem increasingly under threat.
At our upcoming workshop at re:work Berlin from 21-23 October, we would like to expand on these themes together with interested PhD researchers from other institutions and disciplines. Together, we want to look more closely at competing internationalist ideas and unearth some of their inherent tensions: How inclusive or exclusive were different internationalist visions in the (long) 20th century? And what kinds of knowledge have internationalists created or reconfigured?
Our workshop particularly welcomes proposals with a focus on the following topics:
- State-sponsored internationalism / internationalism as diplomacy
- Non-liberal ideas of internationalism
- Mediatization, communication, and the spread of internationalist ideas
- Relationship between internationalism and refuge / exile
- Activist / non-state forms of internationalism (e.g. anti-colonial, feminist, religious)
- Circulation of (visual) knowledge about internationalism
- Mobile / sedentary actors and groups of internationalism
- Intergovernmental / institutionalized internationalism
Proposals for papers should include the title, an abstract of maximum 300 words, and a short CV of the applicant. Please send proposals to internationalism2020@gmail.com by 30 April 2020. Notification of acceptance will be announced by mid-May. Participants are expected to submit a 3,000 – 5,000 word paper ahead of the workshop in October. An amount of funding is available for travel reimbursements. We particularly encourage PhD students from the Global South to send their contributions. For further information and questions, please contact us at internationalism2020@gmail.com.
Organizers
Alina Oswald, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
Ana Carolina Schveitzer, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
Lea Börgerding, Freie Universität Berlin
Oscar Broughton, Freie Universität Berlin
Tristan Oestermann, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
William Lyon, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
