Thursday, October 16, 2014

Conference: Cultures of Violence from the colonial wars to the present

Location: Germany
Call for Papers Date: 2014-11-11 (in 27 days)
A conference by the German Historical Institute Warsaw with the German Committee for the History of the Second World War and the Chairs for Eastern European History and German History of the Twentieth Century
4-6 June 2015, Senate Hall of the Humboldt University of Berlin.
Organisers: Dr. Stephan Lehnstaedt (DHI Warsaw), Prof. Dr. Sönke Neitzel (London School of Economics).
Are there specific national characteristics for the waging of war, or even national cultures of violence? And are there “spaces of violence” in which war is conducted in a particularly criminal or “chivalrous” way? This joint conference of the German Historical Institute Warsaw with the German Committee for the History of the Second World War and the Chairs for Eastern European History and German History of the Twentieth Century with a Focus on National Socialism at the Humboldt University of Berlin seeks answers to these questions.
Four periods will be assessed:
  • Imperialist wars since the end of the nineteenth century in Europe and in the colonies,
  • The First World War, including its post-history, especially in Eastern Europe (e.g., the Polish-Soviet War, the Russian Civil War, the Freikorps “wars”),
  • The Second World War,
  • The colonial wars for independence after 1945.
The case studies should fall within these periods, yet explicitly cover a broad geographical, thematic, and methodological spectrum. The following list of conceivable topics is meant to be illustrative, not exclusive:
  • Protagonists of violence, structures of command, and their consequences;
  • Perceptions of the self and others, images of men and women, stereotypes and ideologies;
  • Dealing with civilian and military casualties / adversaries, the methods and aims of occupation;
  • Specific military operations, meaning strategies, practices, and techniques of violence in their situational effects.
These perspectives should be explored particularly within armies and paramilitary formations in England, Germany, France, Russia / Soviet Union, and the USA, as well as spaces in Poland and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Africa, Western Europe, and Asian spaces of violence such as China. Contributions that adopt a new perspective, or include spaces and groups that have previously received little or no attention, are particularly welcome. Presentations should be based on the applicant’s own current research.
In the individual panels, proven researchers will compare the presentations in summary remarks. At the panel discussion at the end of the conference, invited experts will then comment on the presentations in a diachronic manner, once again returning to our guiding questions regarding national cultures and spaces of violence.
The languages of the conference are German and English. The organisers will reimburse travel costs (second-class railway travel within Germany; economy class flights outside of Germany) and provide accommodations.
Proposals for twenty-minute talks must be submitted by 30 November 2014. Please include a brief curriculum vita as well as an explanation of how your presentation fits the temporal and content-based premises noted above (100-200 words). Send your proposal to: lehnstaedt@dhi.waw.pl;s.neitzel@lse.ac.uk, who will also respond to enquiries. Participants will be notified in early December 2014. We intend to publish the results of the conference.
Professor Soenke Neitzel
London School of Economics
Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE
Email: s.neitzel@lse.ac.uk

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