Summer School: Regions of Culture - Regions of Identity

Fri Dec 14 14:42:20 UTC 2007

Regions of Culture - Regions of Identity

Date: 13-Jul-2008 - 23-Jul-2008
Location: Giessen and Marburg, Germany
Contact Person: Dorothea Walter
Meeting Email: dorothea.waltergcsc.uni-giessen.de
Web Site:
http://www.uni-giessen.de/cms/fbz/zentren/ggk/gcsc/news-und-events-sammlung/news-red/international-summer-school-201cregions-of-culture-2013-regions-of-identity201c

Call Deadline: 15-Jan-2008

Meeting Description

The objective of the International Summer School 2008 is to draw together the
current debates about regional identity and the structural elements of culture
upon which regions are based.

Regional Identity has long been a dynamic branch of research, to which more and
more interdisciplinary approaches are finding access. Against this
backdrop, the
question arises whether and how regions can be described from a cultural
perspective and distinguished from each other. Are region defined by certain
parameters, such as state or administrative borders, the prevalence of elements
of a particular material or intellectual culture, or the realms of certain
linguistic interactions or other social practices? What role is played by
perception and attribution, both from the outside and from within the region in
question, in the process of rooting a regional identity in the collective
consciousness? How can the various levels of scale be brought to bear in the
comparison of regions?

The objective of the International Summer School is to draw together
the current
debates about regional identity and the structural elements of culture upon
which regions are based. This discussion will provide a starting point for the
interdisciplinary comparison of innovative PhD projects. The centre of
reflection will by no means be a functional analysis of administrative or
strategic regions, but rather a perspective that could best be captured in the
coupling of the concepts "Region of Culture" and "Region of Identity". Which
phenomena and concepts, from history, language, academia as well as popular and
high culture, can make regions tangible? And does this attempt to define
correlate with the diverse aspects of identification and identity management
connected to regions? Accordingly, we particularly welcome PhD projects that
address the following issues:

- the structural persistence of "Regions of History", regions as sites of
memory, regional historiography and the regional politics of history
and the past;
- the genesis of cultural identities in linguistic contact regions and
phenomena
of linguistic standardization on a regional level;
- identity formation through regional literatures and the stylization
of regions
in literary works, music and the fine arts;
- the identity-forming effect of practices of popular culture within a
particular local and regional space

On which level of scale to approach these issue is a question deliberately left
open to candidates so that the example regions they use can range in scale from
local to medium-sized regions (e.g. the Basque region, Alsace, Silesia or
Transylvania), over trans-border regions, to European sub-regions (like
Scandinavia or the Balkans).

The International Summer School 2008 is interdisciplinary but does place
emphasis on the study of culture. From the perspective of various academic
disciplines, high-ranking scholars from Germany and abroad will shed light on
current debate and lay open questions for further discussion. Proposals for PhD
projects should stem from the academic fields of history, linguistics and
literary studies, art history, musicology, ethnology and anthropology, but
projects informed by the study of culture from other disciplines (such as
Geography, Sociology and Political Science) are very welcome.

The International Summer School is hosted jointly by the International Graduate
Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC), the Centre for Eastern European Studies
(Giessener Zentrum Östliches Europa - GiZo) at the University in
Giessen and the
Herder Institute in Marburg. The involvement of the Herder Institute (which
holds unique collections about Eastern European history and culture) and the
Centre for Eastern European Studies in Giessen (GiZo) are reflected in the
emphasis of the Summer School on Eastern Europe. The Herder Institute also
offers participants the opportunity to pursue their studies on relevant topics
at the Herder Institute after the Summer School has ended. However,
the aim is a
far broader, pan-European comparative perspective, which can also
include papers
on German regions.

The International Summer School will take place from 13th to 23rd July
2008. The
first five days in the castle of Rauischholzhausen (close to Marburg) will be
dedicated to the discussion of central concepts and the differing approaches of
various disciplines. Then, the participants will be divided into groups working
in three parallel sections, where prevailing methodological and theoretical
questions will be examined more closely and individual PhD projects will be
presented (in talks of 20-25 minutes) and discussed. An excursion offering
concrete examples for the interconnection of regional identities and cultural
management will also be part of the International Summer School that will,
finally, be rounded up by a practical course of one and a half days to be
completed optionally at the Herder Institute, the GiZo or the GCSC.

Confirmed keynote speakers for the castle of Rauischholzhausen: Prof. Dr.
Christian Prunitsch (Dresden), Ana Pizarro (Santiago de Chile).

The conference languages are English and German. About a month prior to the
International Summer School, a reader will be made available as a basis for
discussion. The hosts will as a rule bear the expenses for travel and
accommodation, as well as much of the maintenance costs. PhD students from
abroad are particularly encouraged to apply. If you have any further questions,
please feel free to contact:

Dorothea Walter
Justus Liebig University Giessen
International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC)
Alter Steinbacher Weg 38
D-35394 Giessen
Germany
e-mail: dorothea.waltergcsc.uni-giessen.de
tel: +49 641 99 300 43.

Applications, accompanied by a short CV (with address, telephone,
email-address) and an exposé of the PhD project (up to two pages), are
to be submitted by 15th January 2008 via e-mail to:
dorothea.waltergcsc.uni-giessen.de. The selection of suitable projects
will be completed by 31st March 2008.

http://linguistlist.org/issues/18/18-3725.html#1

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