Bartłomiej Perlak, Grzegorz Strauchold, Jerzy Korczak, Rafał Nowakowski: Od izolacji do resocjalizacji. 100 lat historii więziennictwa w niepodległej Polsce [From isolation to rehabilitation. 100 years of prison history in independent Poland]

 Bartłomiej Perlak, Grzegorz Strauchold, Jerzy Korczak, Rafał Nowakowski: Od izolacji do resocjalizacji. 100 lat historii więziennictwa w niepodległej Polsce [From isolation to rehabilitation. 100 years of prison history in independent Poland]. Wroclaw: WUW 2025. ISBN 9788322939130

Więzienia i kara pozbawienia wolności towarzyszą społeczeństwom od starożytności, jednak sposób ich wykonywania zmieniał się z upływem czasu. Polski system penitencjarny przeszedł fundamentalne zmiany po odzyskaniu przez Rzeczpospolitą niepodległości po zaborach.

7 i 8 lutego 1919 roku Naczelnik Państwa Józef Piłsudski wydał dwa dekrety o organizacji więziennictwa w odrodzonej  Polsce. Na ich podstawie określono kompetencje Służby Więziennej, która została poddana rygorom wojskowym, a więzienia trafiły pod zarząd Ministerstwa Sprawiedliwości. Od tego momentu system penitencjarny przeszedł długą drogę, podlegając zmianom wynikającym z przemian ustrojowych przed i po drugiej wojnie światowej.

Od izolacji do resocjalizacji. 100 lat historii więziennictwa w niepodległej Polsce to książka, która szczegółowo ukazuje tę transformację. Autorzy analizują zmiany w przepisach prawa oraz ideologiczne przekształcenia, które wpływały na funkcjonowanie instytucji penitencjarnych. Opisują stosowany pierwotnie, tradycyjny model izolacyjno-represyjny oraz rosnącą stopniowo rolę resocjalizacji.

Dzięki interdyscyplinarnemu podejściu, łączącemu historię, prawo i socjologię, powstało studium, które kompleksowo omawia problematykę więziennictwa i wykonywania kary pozbawienia wolności w Polsce w XX wieku. Jest ono także próbą znalezienia odpowiedzi na pytanie o przyszłość polskiego więziennictwa, dążącego do równowagi między karą a resocjalizacją.

Książka Od izolacji do resocjalizacji. 100 lat historii więziennictwa w niepodległej Polsce. Wybrane aspekty to zestaw artykułów naukowych poświęconych różnym aspektom funkcjonowania systemu więziennictwa w Polsce po roku 1918. Jest to udany zbiór, przybliżający meandry funkcjonowania więziennictwa na ziemiach polskich w XX wieku. Każdy z tekstów przyczynia się do poszerzenia stanu wiedzy o uwarunkowaniach polityki penitencjarnej w omawianym okresie oraz czynnikach wpływających na jej formułę. Od prezentacji warunków architektoniczno-urbanistycznych do praktycznego funkcjonowania systemu więziennictwa w okresie II wojny światowej i w latach Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej.

Z recenzji prof. dr. hab. Piotra Mickiewicza,

Uniwersytet Gdański

Monografia pod redakcją J. Korczaka, R. Nowakowskiego, B. Perlaka i G. Straucholda nie jest jedynie kolejną publikacją na temat historii więziennictwa w Polsce w ciągu ostatnich 100 lat. Ma ona szczególny walor poznawczy, gdyż prezentuje w ujęciu interdyscyplinarnym zarówno historyczny, jak i polityczny, społeczny, kulturowy oraz prawny wymiar polityki penitencjarnej na ziemiach polskich. Publikacja, która prezentuje dorobek teoretyków i praktyków, doskonale oddaje dynamikę zmian wywołanych kolejnymi transformacjami ustrojowymi i wydarzeniami wojennymi, ilustrując jednocześnie potężne wyzwania, jakie procesy te postawiły przed służbą więzienną i samymi osadzonymi. Jest to wciągająca lektura nie tylko dla historyków, ale również prawników, socjologów i wszystkich czytelników zainteresowanych problematyką polskiego więziennictwa.

Z recenzji dr. hab. Macieja Cesarza,

Uniwersytet Wrocławski

Call for Papers: Masterclass "Truth Politics between Science and Society (1960s– today)"

  Call for Papers: Masterclass "Truth Politics between Science and Society (1960s– today)"

Where: University of Erfurt, Germany

When: July 10, 2025

Deadline for submissions: April 30, 2025

In light of a dwindling public trust in science (Oreskes 2019) and ambiguous calls for a ‘return to truth’ (Cain et al. 2019), understanding the relationship between science and a democratic public, the delineation of appropriate scientific practices, and how to reconcile conflicting interpretations of reality seems to be more relevant than ever. From 1960s counterculture to the 1990s Science Wars and up to todays’ (sometimes even official governmental) anti-intellectualism, academic, political, and epistemological debates have been closely interlinked. With a focus on the Science Wars, the masterclass aims to map and historicize the shifting epistemological landscapes from an international perspective informed by methods of Historical and Political Epistemology.

The masterclass is part of the workshop “Truth Politics between Science and Society. Political Epistemologies of the 1990s Science Wars” (July 8-9, 2025). It will be led by Jamie Cohen-Cole (George Washington University), Bernhard Kleeberg (Erfurt University), and Anja Laukötter (Friedrich Schiller University Jena). We invite early career researchers (Master and PhD students) to explore historical debates at the nexus of truth, science, and society.

In line with the perspective of Historical and Political Epistemology, the following questions might be worth considering:

- What were the socio-political effects of deploying scientific concepts, rhetorics, and arguments (e.g. truth, objectivity, rationalism, the scientific method, academic freedom) in particular historical contexts?

- What kind of political and social imaginations about the future of science and the (democratic) public informed these different positions?

- What kinds of subjectivities and narratives about science and society were re-/asserted?

In particular, we invite paper proposals with an international and transnational perspective on the reception of the Science Wars and related debates, as well as similar struggles that played out in different academic cultures and national contexts. Moreover, the role of new channels of communication and media, and how they shaped debates in public-academic arenas represent an important topic to explore.

We invite early career researchers to send a short CV, and a 300-word abstract of their research to forschungsstelle.wahrheit@uni-erfurt.de. The deadline for submission is April 30, 2025. Applicants will be notified of the acceptance of their proposal by mid-May. Accepted participants are required to send in their full paper (about 20 pages) by June 16, 2025. All papers will be pre-circulated and constitute compulsory reading for the masterclass.

The masterclass is jointly organized by the research center “Politics of Truth/Political Epistemologies” at the University of Erfurt, the Lumina Quaeruntur project "'Images of science' in Czechoslovakia 1918-1945-1968”, Masaryk Institute and Archives of the CAS Prague, and the GWMT-working group “Political Epistemologies of Central and Eastern Europe” (PECEE). The masterclass will take place at the University of Erfurt, Germany. We will cover travel and accommodation costs for accepted participants.

Organizing Committee:

Martin Babička, D.Phil., Institute of Contemporary History, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague

Johanna Hügel, History of Science, University of Erfurt

Erik Kaiser, M.A., History of Science, University of Erfurt

Meike Katzek, M.A., History of Science, University of Erfurt

Prof. Dr. Bernhard Kleeberg, History of Science, University of Erfurt

Dr. Jan Surman, Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague

Call for papers: Gender, nature and ecology. (Re)thinking the trajectories of ecofeminism from a transnational European perspective

 Call for papers: Gender, nature and ecology. (Re)thinking the trajectories of ecofeminism from a transnational European perspective, for European Journal of Women's Studies

Ecofeminism, which emerged in the mid-1970s and 1980s as a field of transnational thought and activism, seems to have been redeveloped over the last decade in response to the ecological crisis. France has witnessed a kind of ‘ecofeminism boom’ to which the publication of Émilie Hache’s anthology Reclaim, recueil de textes écoféministes (2016) made a prominent contribution. Ecofeminist approaches have also (re)gained attention in Germany (Gottschlich/Hackfort/Schmitt/von Winterfeld 2022; Holland-Cunz 2014), in Belgium (Zitouni, 2019; Grandjean, 2024), in Spain (Mediavilla and Echavarren, 2021; Puelo, 2017), as well as in Southeastern Europe (Đurđević and Marjanić, 2024). This non-exhaustive overview reveals that despite this spread of literature, which has undoubtedly enabled Anglophone traditions to be historicised and discussed, the transnational and micro-regional circuits of the production and reception of European ecofeminism are still relatively undocumented.

This issue is an invitation to rethink ecofeminism from European perspectives and perspectives from ‘Europe Otherwise’ or ‘Europe as a creolized space’ (Boatcă, 2020). We invite submissions that examine the ways in which ecofeminist theory is currently discussed in Europe, and how, in this pluralistic context, the respective traditions of ecofeminist thought, and politics are constituted, re-articulated, criticised and transformed.

We welcome abstracts that address any of the following, or other related questions:

1.

Articulations of the concepts of nature and gender

● What are the theoretical challenges and reformulations of the concept of nature? How do they avoid the naturalisation of social structures while accounting for an adequate understanding of the materiality of the non-human world?

● Does ecofeminism renew existing theoretical debates on the concepts of nature, gender and ecology? Conversely, what are the debates and tensions brought to light by the theoretical categories employed in ecofeminist writings?

● How are colonial dimensions of the ecological disaster reflected in various ecofeminist traditions and what are the remaining open questions and blind spots?

2.

Inter-/transnational trajectories

● Can we observe and investigate interests in ecofeminism in differentiated ways across European contexts?

● In what ways and via which trajectories have local forms of ecofeminism been construed?

● How does the production, circulation and reception of ecofeminism in different contexts shape or transform ecofeminist theorisations? And, on the other hand, how can we understand the absence of ecofeminist circulation in some other contexts?

● How is ecofeminism theorised, conceptualised and discussed in academic fields such as gender studies, philosophy or political science and in various national and linguistic traditions?

3.

Practices and strategies of translation

● Does ecofeminism engage in specific translation practices and strategies? And if so, what do translations do to ecofeminism? Are there selections, absences, misunderstandings (Bourdieu, 2002) or even ‘betrayals’?

● Beyond textual translations, are there any circulations or transfers of debates, theories, concepts between academics, civil society activists and practitioners, and policy makers?

Abstracts should be submitted no later than Monday, 14 April 2025 to: gender.nature.ecology@gmail.com

Authors of the selected abstracts will be notified by Monday, 5 May 2025.

Full articles should be submitted online to https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ejw no later than Friday, 31 October 2025.

All articles will be subject to the Journal’s customary peer review process. Articles should be prepared according to the guidelines for submission on the inside back cover of the print journal or at https://journals.sagepub.com/author-instructions/EJW.

Occupations and the occupied: Agency, expertise, and patronage in wartime and postwar political cartographies. Thematic issue of Geografiska Annaler

Occupations and the occupied: Agency, expertise, and patronage in wartime and postwar political cartographies. Thematic issue of Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, Volume 107, Issue 1 (2025). Edited by Steven Seegel.

Full issue: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rgab20/107/1?nav=tocList

Seegel, S. (2025). Introduction: ‘Occupations and the occupied: agency, expertise, and patronage in wartime and postwar political cartographies’. Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, 107(1), 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1080/04353684.2025.2458905

Seegel, S. (2025). ‘Rescuing Ukrainian agency, expertise, and patronage: on the historical cartography of Ukraine and maps in times of war’. Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, 107(1), 4–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/04353684.2025.2458907

Megginson, T. (2025). ‘What belongs to the Czechoslovak nation’: geographers’ and mapmakers’ visions of Czechoslovakia before the Paris Peace Conference. Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, 107(1), 16–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/04353684.2025.2461778

Nekola, P. (2025). Genuine inquiry and human agency under occupation: lessons from the history of geographic and cartographic reasoning. Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, 107(1), 29–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/04353684.2025.2462290

Svatek, P. (2025). Academic cartography in Vienna 1939–1945: actors, funders and political context. Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, 107(1), 45–59. https://doi.org/10.1080/04353684.2025.2461772

Call for papers: Historical Perspectives on Infant Care and Child Education

Call for papers:  Historical Perspectives on Infant Care and Child Education. Emmi Pikler, Infant Homes, and the Politics of Child Welfare in 20th Century Hungary

The Conference is organized in collaboration with CEU Democracy Institute,

Österreichische Kulturforum Budapest and Ludwig Boltzmann Institute, Kriegsforschung.

This conference aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue on the historical and political

dimensions of infant care, child welfare, and family policies in 20th-century Hungary. The

conference will examine the political, social, cultural, and gender dynamics that shaped child-

rearing practices and state interventions in family life. Understanding the professionalization

of childcare requires examining developments from WWI to the present day. This allows for

an examination of the diverse political and ideological regimes that have shaped the childcare

field, as well as the memory politics that continue to influence its trajectory. In this way,

particular emphasis is placed on the life and work of Emmi Pikler (1902–1984), a doctor and

childcare specialist who influenced the evolution of infant care in post-WWII Hungary and

established a highly successful international organization. Although Pikler was one of the most

influential childcare experts in socialist Hungary, her life and work remain largely unexplored

from an interdisciplinary perspective.

We invite researchers, historians, sociologists, psychologists, child welfare and care

professionals to examine the historical development of infant and child care in Hungary, with

a particular focus on Emmi Pikler’s work and the role of infant homes (csecsemőotthonok) in

shaping child protection policies and the care of young children by families. The objective is

to illuminate how child protection systems were shaped by social necessities and political

aspirations, offering invaluable insights into the contemporary challenges in child welfare

policy. Presentations that explore the political implications of child welfare policies, the

interplay between government and society in child welfare, care, and protection, and the impact

of ideologies on childcare systems are highly encouraged.

We welcome proposals that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

Emmi Pikler’s Contributions and Political Context

Examination of Emmi Pikler’s work in the broader political and social context of 20th-century

Hungary, including her influence on national child welfare and child protection policies and

the support or resistance from political actors. The role of the „Lóczy” in sheltering the hidden

infants of political prisoners in the 1950s.

The Functioning of Infant Homes and State Intervention

Historical analysis of how infant homes (csecsemőotthonok) were established and operated,

focusing on the political motivations behind state intervention in family and child welfare,

including the role of public institutions and the changing structure of out-of-home care of

children from dominantly family-based foster care to institutional care.

Child-Rearing Ideologies

Exploration of how political ideologies (such as nationalism, socialism, or conservatism),

traditions, and beliefs shaped child-rearing practices, especially concerning state-supported

institutions for infant care and family-based care of young children.

Health and Welfare Policies in a Political Lens

Investigating the intersection between child health policies, welfare programs, and broader

political agendas. How have political regimes from post-WWI Hungary to the present

influenced healthcare, education, and welfare reforms for children and families?

Nation-Building and Childcare

The role of child-rearing practices and child protection policies in nation-building efforts,

including how children were seen as future citizens and how infant care became part of political

discourse on national strength and identity.

Women’s Roles and Gender Politics

The role of women, particularly mothers and caregivers, in the political discourse surrounding

family and childcare. How did gender politics intersect with state policies on child welfare, and

what have been the expectations placed on women influencing current policies and practices?

How have professional and academic women influenced perceptions, policies, and practices,

with particular attention to research and programs related to children, families, and women's

roles?

The Politics of Poverty and Child Neglect

The state’s approach to dealing with child poverty and neglect including political debates

around state, community versus family, and parental responsibility for children’s welfare and

well-being. How did social class and political ideologies shape policies towards impoverished

families and orphaned or abandoned children?

Comparative Political Perspectives

Comparative studies of how political regimes in Hungary and other European countries

influenced establishing and managing infant homes and broader childcare policies.

Submission Guidelines

We invite individual papers or panel discussions. Proposals should include:

● Full name, institutional affiliation, and contact information of the presenter(s)

● Title of the presentation or panel

● Language of submission: Hungarian OR English

● A 300-word abstract outlining the research topic, methodology, and key findings or

arguments

● Any specific AV or other technical requirements

All proposals should be sent to Mária Herczog (herczogmaria@me.com), Andrea Pető

(petoa@ceu.edu) and Fanni Svégel (svegelfanni@gmail.com) as one Word (doc) or PDF file.

Panel proposals should be sent as one merged file.

Deadline for abstract submission: 1 May, 2025

Notification of acceptance: 15 June, 2025

Submission of papers: September 15, 2025

Conference dates: October 6-8, 2025, at CEU DI

For more information, see the project page (https://democracyinstitute.ceu.edu/emmi-pikler).

workshop for emerging scholars (M.A. students, Ph.D. students, and postdoctoral researchers) focusing on the study of contemporary East-Central and Southeastern Europe

 The Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is pleased to invite you to submit paper proposals for a workshop for emerging scholars (M.A. students, Ph.D. students, and postdoctoral researchers) focusing on the study of contemporary East-Central and Southeastern Europe. We are interested in novel sources and approaches that reinterpret traditional historical narratives of these regions.

We welcome submissions related to East-Central and Southeastern Europe from history and other historically-informed disciplines, such as political science, anthropology, sociology, and film and literary studies. Scholars from the regions of inquiry are especially encouraged to apply. We hope to create panels of scholars from diverse national and temporal subfields to discuss shared challenges and insights related to the use of different sources – including, but not limited to, oral histories, literary sources, government documents, photography, video, or material culture. We will accept papers on any topic. In their presentations, panelists will address the source base of their papers and their interpretations thereof.

The workshop is remote and will take place via Zoom on May 16, 2025. Participants will have 15–20 minutes to present their papers in English. Each presentation will be followed by comments from a discussant and questions from the audience.

Please send a short abstract (300 words) and a CV in English via this form. Proposals should briefly explain the paper’s source base and argument, as well as its contribution to the fields of East-Central and Southeastern European history. The deadline for submission is 11:59 pm EST on March 31, 2025.

Applicants will be informed of their status by April 7. Those accepted into the workshop will be asked to submit a complete paper by 11:59 p.m. EST on May 2, 2025. Please direct questions regarding the workshop to myself (ahuselja@email.unc.edu) and Mira Markham (miram@live.unc.edu).

CfP: Mobilizing Nature: The Environmental History of the Ottoman Danubian Frontier, Vienna, 12-13 March 2026

Call for papers: Mobilizing Nature: The Environmental History of the Ottoman Danubian Frontier, Vienna, 12-13 March 2026

The Danube, “le roi des fleuves de l’Europe” (the king of European rivers), as Napoleon Bonaparte called it, is the second longest river in Europe, surpassed by the Volga in Russia only. Originating from the Black Forests in Germany, it flows through or past ten Central and Southeastern European countries before it flows into the Black Sea. The Danube was a vital commercial and military shipping channel for the Ottomans. From the fourteenth century, they increasingly used the Danube as a waterway to move supplies and munition between the Black Sea and the Hungarian plains. Especially in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Danube was an inseparable part of Ottoman campaign logistics. It enabled the Ottomans to apply their military projections to Europe and contributed to their success in their military operations against the Habsburgs. 

Scholars have tracked the political, social, and economic consequences of the Ottoman military presence on the Danube, but less attention has been paid to its environmental repercussions. To fill this gap, the Department of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Vienna will host the “Mobilizing Nature: The Environmental History of the Danubian Frontier” workshop from 12 to 13 March 2026. Focusing on the Middle and Lower Danubian frontiers in the early modern period, it will explore the Danube River’s place and role in Ottoman warfare. The workshop aims to shed light on the relationship between the riverine environment, war and military in the early modern Ottoman Danube. It aims to bring together researchers working on the river’s military and environmental histories and those with a broader focus on river history. In this respect, it seeks to foster a cross-disciplinary conversation to build connections across fields and bring different perspectives to understand the establishment and maintenance of the Ottoman Danubian frontier in connection with the natural environment.

The participants are encouraged to engage in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary topics that deal with questions including, but not limited to, the following:

▪ How did the Ottomans expand their rule and establish and maintain their military frontier on the Danube River? 

▪ How did the Ottoman military engage with the Danubian environment? In what ways did environmental conditions, such as climate, landscape, flora, fauna, soil, and water, shape the character of Ottoman warfare? 

▪ How did military ideas, strategies, bodies, and institutions interact with nature in the Ottoman Danube? 

▪ How did they cope with the challenges posed by the Danube, such as shallows, whirlpools, and shifting islands? 

▪ How did the Ottoman military mobilize natural resources, such as timber, stone, sand, and ores, for their military ends? 

▪ What were the environmental consequences of the Ottoman military presence on the Danube? How did the militarization of Danubian landscapes affect human beings and other species? 

▪ What are the specificities of the militarized environments along the Ottoman Danube? How similar or different are they from other militarized environments in the Ottoman Empire and beyond? 

▪ How are the environmental histories of Ottoman battlefields linked? 

▪ How can methods and tools used in the digital and spatial humanities, such as historical GIS and creative geovisualization, offer alternative ways of telling stories about the Ottoman Danubian Frontier?

For the “Mobilizing Nature” workshop, we invite submissions that align with the workshop aims mentioned above. Please send your proposals of max. 300 words and short bios to Onur İnal (onur.inal@univie.ac.at) and Deniz Armağan Akto (deniz.armagan.akto@univie.ac.at) until 31 May 2025. 

Limited funding will be available to help cover travelling costs for individuals without institutional support. 

The workshop is part of the project “DANFront: An Environmental History of the EarlyModern Ottoman Military Frontier in the Middle and Lower Danube,” funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) (PAT2459324). 

https://danfront.univie.ac.at/

In the spirit of continuing the rich dialogue and scholarly exchange from the Mobilizing Nature workshop, we intend to publish an edited collection on the innovative research presented at the workshop. The edited collection will seek to consolidate and extend the theoretical and conceptual insights generated by the workshop, providing a significant contribution to Ottoman military environmental history.

URL

https://danfront.univie.ac.at/workshop/