CfP: Online Talk Series “The Human–Animal Bond in Eastern and East-Central Europe” (19th ct.)

Animals have long occupied an ambivalent place in human societies, serving as sources of food, labor, and material resources while also becoming central objects of scientific experimentation and cultural inspiration. At the same time, they have increasingly become subjects of ethical consideration, raising questions about agency, suffering, and dignity. As inhabitants of a shared world, animals have been shaped by humans and have, in turn, played a crucial role in defining the human itself. By positing a sharp distinction between mind and matter, Cartesian dualism grounded the identification of the human in opposition to the non-human—a process that, as Giorgio Agamben argues with his concept of the anthropological machine, continues to this day. Consequently, to speak about animals in the broadest sense is also to speak about humans.

Scientific research on animals, as well as the origins of zoology, can in part be traced back to Aristotle. The long nineteenth century, from the late eighteenth century to the outbreak of the First World War, witnessed profound transformations in the understanding of animals. Developments in physiology, medicine, and the natural sciences made animals indispensable to experimental research and contributed to advances in zoology. At the same time, literary, philosophical, and public debates increasingly addressed the moral implications of their treatment. Animals thus emerged as crucial figures in discussions of life, consciousness, morality, and the place of human beings within the natural world.

Within the culturally diverse contexts of Eastern and Eastern-Central Europe, including the territories of the Romanov (Russian) Empire, the Habsburg Monarchy, and the Ottoman Empire, these developments intersected with broader intellectual transformations. Religious traditions encountered emerging scientific and philosophical perspectives that redefined the relationship between humans and animals. Influenced by evolutionary thought and modern science, humans were increasingly understood not as separate from nature, but as its most highly developed animals.

Aims of the Lecture Series

This lecture series explores discourses and knowledge about animals and the human–animal relationship throughout the long nineteenth century in Eastern- and Eastern-Central Europe. Key questions include: What ideas and concepts regarding animals and the human–animal relationship were prevalent in the natural and social sciences, the humanities, and religion? How were scientific findings adapted and reinterpreted in literature and culture? What imaginative or counter-concepts of animals emerged in literary and cultural contexts? Finally, the series examines how practices of dealing with animals shaped ethical reflections on their treatment.

We invite contributions that explore how animals and the human-animal relationship were represented, conceptualized, and contested within the intellectual, literary, and scientific cultures of the period. By bringing together perspectives from literary studies, philosophy, the history of science, and cultural history, the seminar aims to illuminate the role of animals in shaping modern debates about nature, knowledge, and humanity in Eastern- and Eastern-Central Europe.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

·    Animals in scientific experimentation, particularly in physiology, medicine, and psychology

·    Historical case studies of experimental practices involving animals, including ethical and epistemological implications

·    Literary representations of animals and their role in moral, philosophical, or social debates

·    Animals in public culture: zoos, exhibitions, popular science, and visual representation

·    Early vegetarian movements and other refusals to consume animal products, including their theoretical foundations and motivations

·    Discourses on animal suffering, compassion, and early animal protection movements

·    Religious perspectives on animals in interaction with scientific and modernist discourses

·    Changing conceptions of the human–animal relationship in the context of evolutionary thought and modern science

The online talk series forms part of a broader initiative to establish a research network and prepare a series of publications.

Submission Guidelines

·    Abstract: 250–300 words

·    Short Bio: 100 words

·    Deadline for Submission: 15.06.2026

·    Notification of Acceptance: July 2026

·    Submission Email: humanimalbond@gmail.com

Seminar Details

·    Format: Online

·    Duration: 1h30

·    Presentation Length: 30 minutes, followed by discussion

·    Monthly October 2026 – February 2027 every third Friday

Organizers

Dr. Nadine Menzel (Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, nadine.menzel@uni-bamberg.de)

Dr. Maxim Demin (Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Maksim.Demin@ruhr-uni-bochum.de) 

Contact Information

Dr. Nadine Menzel (Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, Germany)

 

Contact Email

nadine.menzel@uni-bamberg.de

URL

https://www.uni-bamberg.de/slavart/personen/dr-nadine-menzel/

Central European History Convention (CEH-C)

 In July 2027 the University of Vienna, the Institute of Austrian Historical Research, and the Wirth Institute of Austrian and Central European Studies will host a second Central European History Convention (CEH-C). This event is, again, dedicated to providing a platform for dynamic and convivial exchange on Central European History across specialties, national/language traditions, generations of scholarship, and periods — from the Middle Ages until World War II.

The focus of our discussions will be on the lands of the former Habsburg Empire and its neighbors (including the territories of the former Ottoman empire). Our goal is to facilitate international dialogue about the history of this region, with a special focus on building networks and frameworks for comparative research.

We invite scholars from all historically oriented fields at any point in their academic career to submit a paper proposal. Priority will be given to learning about the fascinating new research coming from early career scholars (including PhD students). Submissions should be done on an individual basis only. The Program Committee will organize the panels with an eye toward fostering new networks and conversations.

The three-day convention will, again, feature a highly attractive set of panels based on your submissions and, in addition, two stimulating keynotes one for the early modern, a second for the modern period by inspiring intellectuals. Another highlight of the convention will be a workshop with invited speakers (2 panels and 1 roundtable) reflecting on common intellectual problems, i.e. the temporal, spatial, and political features of Central European History making.

We count on our mid-career and senior colleagues to share their analytical skills and their experience in the field by providing panel commentaries and chairships. This will foster broader discussions and networking opportunities, as last year’s convention has shown. If you want to support us in this manner, please sign up here to indicate your availability.

The program will be complemented by research labs with a focus on new media, gaming and their uses of Central European history. New to the CEHC 2027 will be a mentoring program, aimed at providing emerging scholars with feedback on their research challenges by senior scholars with a well-established record in the field. If you are interested to become a CEH-C mentor, click here.

This convention requires no participation fees and offers extremely economically viable housing costs, with financial support for travel and housing available for those in need. 

English will be the spoken language of conference presentations, but scholars from all linguistic backgrounds are welcome to participate.

The conference format will be in person (not hybrid).

Proposals should be no more than 300 words + the name of the participant, affiliation, contact information, projected paper title plus a short cv of one page. They should be uploaded here not later than September 13, 2026. (Please type in your name and affiliation as you would like it to appear on the final program). You will be notified about acceptance by December 4, 2026.

Abstracts will be published online ahead of the conference, and participants will be asked to provide panel discussants with a draft of their talk to serve as a basis for comments.

Contact Information

Professor Peter Becker, Institute of Austrian Historical Research, University of Vienna

Professor Dominique Reill, Wirth Institute, University of Alberta 

CFP: Global Connections – Central and Eastern Europe in the Early Modern World (ca. 1500–1800)

Global Connections – Central and Eastern Europe in the Early Modern World (ca. 1500–1800)

The conference explores Central and Eastern Europe as an integral part of the early modern world, focusing on its global connections, circulations, and entanglements from the 16th to the 18th century.

📍 Warsaw

🔜 We accept proposals by 15 June

📅 28–30 September

Global Connections – Central and Eastern Europe in the Early Modern World (ca. 1500-1800)

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE

We invite scholars to submit paper proposals for the international conference Global Connections – Central and Eastern Europe in the Early Modern World, to be held in Warsaw on 28-30.09.2026. The conference explores Central and Eastern Europe as an integral part of the early modern world, foregrounding its global connections, circulations, and entanglements from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Challenging the persistent marginalisation of the region in global history scholarship, it brings together researchers working across national and disciplinary boundaries to examine how Central and Eastern European states and communities participated in (and were shaped by) processes of exchange spanning continents.

The keynote lecture will be delivered by Tomasz Grusiecki, Associate Professor, Bader Chair in Northern Baroque Art, at Queen’s University. A post-conference publication is planned.

ELIGIBILITY

The conference welcomes proposals from early-career researchers (PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers) and senior scholars working in early modern history and related disciplines. Participation is particularly encouraged from researchers based at universities and research institutions in WEP countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine).

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

We welcome proposals engaging with – but not limited to – the following themes and research areas:

- Material culture: means of transport and modes of travel; sites and spaces of encounter; exchange of objects and commodities;

- Economic interconnectedness: the role of trans-regional commerce, mercantile communities and long-distance trade, the entanglements of Central and Eastern European economies with African, American and Asian markets;

- Labor regimes: gendered divisions of labor, serfdom, and slavery;

- Decentering the Atlantic: the role of the Baltic, Black, and Mediterranean Seas, and the lands between them, in early modern connections;

- Religious networks across borders: Christian, Jewish, and Muslim connections;

- People in motion: merchants, artisans, diplomats, refugees, and captives;

- Marginalized groups: gender, ethnic, and linguistic minorities, and non-elite actors;

- Cultural and intellectual exchanges: the transfer of ideas, inventions, art inspirations, and forms of knowledge, the early modern conceptualizations of the "global" world;

- The role of formal and informal networks in establishing transregional contacts;

- Writing Central and Eastern Europe into global history: sources, archives, translations, and other methodological challenges.

Proposals should be submitted as a single PDF document and include the following:

- Title of the paper;

- An abstract of no more than 300 words, outlining the research question, main sources, methodology, and argument;

- A short biographical note of no more than 150 words, including current institutional affiliation and field of specialization;

- An indication of whether you would like to participate in the post-conference publication.

Paper presentations will be 20 minutes in length. All proposals must be submitted in English. The working language of the conference is English.

Please send your proposal to globalconnections.waw26@gmail.com with the subject line "CfP Submission – Global Connections Warsaw 2026" by 15 June 2026.

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE AND ORGANISERS

Prof. Giancarlo Casale, Department of History, European University Institute

Prof. Igor Chabrowski, Faculty of History, University of Warsaw

Dr Jan Błoński, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences

Dr Klaudia Kuchno, Faculty of Culture and Arts, University of Warsaw

Natalia Woszczyk, Department of History, European University Institute

There is no conference fee, and lunches and coffee breaks will be covered by the organizers. Funding may also be available to support accommodation costs, particularly for early-career researchers. Please indicate in your application whether you would require assistance with accommodation.

Call for Papers: Historické vědy v čase přelomu (1914–1924). Osudy badatelů, disciplín a institucí za první světové války a při vzniku Československa

 Call for Papers: Historické vědy v čase přelomu (1914–1924). Osudy badatelů, disciplín a institucí za první světové války a při vzniku Československa - Historical Sciences at a Turning Point (1914–1924): The Fates of Scholars, Disciplines, and Institutions During World War I and the Founding of Czechoslovakia

Datum konání: 26.–28. května 2026

Místo: Archeologický ústav AV ČR, Brno, v. v. i.  (Čechyňská 363, 602 00 Brno-střed)

 

Konference si klade za cíl přispět k hlubšímu porozumění tomu, jak historické vědy – historie, archeologie, pomocné vědy historické, dějiny umění – reagovaly na zásadní politické a společenské proměny spojené s první světovou válkou, rozpadem habsburské monarchie a vznikem samostatné Československé republiky.

 

Vítány jsou zejména příspěvky, které se věnují otázce, jak tyto převratné děje ovlivňovaly praktickou práci badatelů a badatelek, jejich profesní identitu i vnímání smyslu vlastního oboru. Současně konference nabízí prostor pro širší reflexi otázky, zda a případně jakou roli sehráli představitelé historických věd v procesu zániku Rakouska-Uherska a při zakládání a legitimizaci Československé republiky. Pozornost může být věnována i tomu, jak soudobé politické a společenské okolnosti ovlivňovaly témata, metodologii, teoretická východiska a paradigmata historickovědních disciplín, a jaké měly vliv na institucionální zázemí jednotlivých oborů.

 

Výzva k zasílání příspěvků:

 

Návrhy příspěvků zasílejte do 30. dubna 2026 na adresu: masa@mua.cas.cz Přihláška by měla obsahovat: jméno autora/autorů, titul a institucionální afiliaci, název příspěvku, krátký abstrakt v rozsahu max. 600 znaků.

 

Autoři budou o přijetí příspěvků informováni počátkem května. Délka konferenčního vystoupení by neměla přesáhnout 20 minut.

Masarykův ústav a Archiv AV ČR a Archeologický ústav AV ČR, Brno pořádají konferenci v rámci Strategie AV21: Výzkumný program Identity ve světě válek a krizí.

Call for abstracts: Theorizing Science Studies from Central and Eastern Europe

 Call for abstracts: Theorizing Science Studies from Central and Eastern Europe

Deadline: April 30th, 2026 (https://sc.amu.edu.pl/cfp-theorizing-science-studies-from-central-and-eastern-europe/)

We invite contributions to the edited volume Theorizing Science Studies from Central and Eastern Europe, to appear in Palgrave’s Transnationalizing Theory in Science and Technology Studies series, which is in line with the transnationalization initiatives of the Society for Social Studies of Science.

The volume is dedicated to developing theory, understood not as abstract universalism but as the production of concepts, categories, and analytical frameworks capable of intervening in contemporary debates on science and knowledge from the situated standpoint of Central and Eastern Europe.

Where discussions of center–periphery dynamics in science studies have largely been articulated through a Global North–South axis, less attention has been paid to the semi-peripheral positions of regions such as Central and Eastern Europe. We understand this region not as a geographical container but as an epistemic formation shaped by socialist and post-socialist trajectories, by projects of science-based modernization, and by unequal integration into global academic capitalism.

These experiences furnish distinctive resources for conceptual work that remain insufficiently articulated within dominant frameworks of science studies. Historically, the region produced notable contributions to the social studies of science–from Fleck’s historical epistemology to the “science of science” of Znaniecki and Ossowskis, from Marxist theories of knowledge by Lukács and Bogdanov to Soviet scientometrics developed in the USSR. Some elements of this legacy have entered Western canons, while others have been forgotten or provincialized. Meanwhile, the post-1990 reconfiguration of knowledge production in the region fostered increasing epistemic dependence, in which imported categories replaced local theoretical invention.

Our wager is that theorizing from Central and Eastern Europe is not a matter of adding new regional content to an existing conceptual map, but of unsettling the categories through which science and knowledge are commonly understood. Concepts are not neutral: they inherit the political ontologies of the worlds that produced them. Rather than relying on categories shaped by particular histories of capitalism, state formation, and scientific autonomy, this volume seeks forms of conceptual innovation that emerge from different historical experiences and epistemic conditions. Such work may both provincialize dominant assumptions within science studies and generate alternative problem-spaces and analytical lenses capable of reframing how science is understood globally.

We therefore welcome contributions that treat historical materials, (post-)socialist experiences, and regional epistemic conditions as resources for theory-building rather than as objects of documentation. To theorize “from” the region does not mean producing regional theory for its own sake, but using situated experiences to think with, and to challenge, prevailing categories in science studies.

Authors might engage, for example, with (post-)socialist approaches to science and its organisation; with notions of autonomy and dependency in knowledge production; with semi-periphery and “Global East” as analytical positions; with Marxist theories of knowledge and technology; or with attempts to conceptualize alternatives to academic dependency. These suggestions are illustrative rather than exhaustive. What matters is conceptual ambition and the orientation toward theory as situated practice.

Abstracts (max. 1000 words): April 30, 2026; Decisions: May 15, 2026; Full chapters: November 30, 2026.

Editors: Jakub Krzeski (Nicolaus Copernicus University), Ivan Kislenko (Adam Mickiewicz University), Emanuel Kulczycki (Humboldt University / DZHW), and Krystian Szadkowski (Adam Mickiewicz University).

Please submit abstracts to Jakub Krzeski (j.krzeski@umk.pl) and Ivan Kislenko (ivan.kislenko@amu.edu.pl)

CfP: (Pro)Creating a Socialist Future. Knowledge, Politics, and Practices of Reproduction in Eastern Europe and the (post)-Soviet Space

 CfP: (Pro)Creating a Socialist Future. Knowledge, Politics, and Practices of Reproduction in Eastern Europe and the (post)-Soviet Space - International Workshop

📅 October 1st-2nd, 2026

📍Helsinki

🏁 May 30th, 2026

Organizer: Birte Kohtz (MWNO Helsinki)

📌 The workshop seeks to bring together scholars working on reproduction in Eastern Europe, the (post)Soviet space, and (former) socialist countries across the Global South to explore how (post)socialist societies negotiated their identities and futures through reproductive politics and practices. The aim is to analyze knowledge production, connections between government policies and individual reproductive choices as well as differences, entanglements and conflicting positions among the countries of the socialist bloc.

For the full CfP go to: 🔗 https://mwseasteurope.hypotheses.org/9793 

📷 Industriesalon Schöneweide. “KS-6-BZ_0726: 2i Säuglingsschwestern auf der Säuglingsstation, Oktober 1967. SW-Foto © Kurt Schwarz.”. https://berlin.museum-digital.de/object/103556

Call for abstracts: Theorizing Science Studies from Central and Eastern Europe

 Call for abstracts: Theorizing Science Studies from Central and Eastern Europe

Deadline: April 30th, 2026 (https://sc.amu.edu.pl/cfp-theorizing-science-studies-from-central-and-eastern-europe/)

We invite contributions to the edited volume Theorizing Science Studies from Central and Eastern Europe, to appear in Palgrave’s Transnationalizing Theory in Science and Technology Studies series, which is in line with the transnationalization initiatives of the Society for Social Studies of Science.

The volume is dedicated to developing theory, understood not as abstract universalism but as the production of concepts, categories, and analytical frameworks capable of intervening in contemporary debates on science and knowledge from the situated standpoint of Central and Eastern Europe.

Where discussions of center–periphery dynamics in science studies have largely been articulated through a Global North–South axis, less attention has been paid to the semi-peripheral positions of regions such as Central and Eastern Europe. We understand this region not as a geographical container but as an epistemic formation shaped by socialist and post-socialist trajectories, by projects of science-based modernization, and by unequal integration into global academic capitalism.

These experiences furnish distinctive resources for conceptual work that remain insufficiently articulated within dominant frameworks of science studies. Historically, the region produced notable contributions to the social studies of science–from Fleck’s historical epistemology to the “science of science” of Znaniecki and Ossowskis, from Marxist theories of knowledge by Lukács and Bogdanov to Soviet scientometrics developed in the USSR. Some elements of this legacy have entered Western canons, while others have been forgotten or provincialized. Meanwhile, the post-1990 reconfiguration of knowledge production in the region fostered increasing epistemic dependence, in which imported categories replaced local theoretical invention.

Our wager is that theorizing from Central and Eastern Europe is not a matter of adding new regional content to an existing conceptual map, but of unsettling the categories through which science and knowledge are commonly understood. Concepts are not neutral: they inherit the political ontologies of the worlds that produced them. Rather than relying on categories shaped by particular histories of capitalism, state formation, and scientific autonomy, this volume seeks forms of conceptual innovation that emerge from different historical experiences and epistemic conditions. Such work may both provincialize dominant assumptions within science studies and generate alternative problem-spaces and analytical lenses capable of reframing how science is understood globally.

We therefore welcome contributions that treat historical materials, (post-)socialist experiences, and regional epistemic conditions as resources for theory-building rather than as objects of documentation. To theorize “from” the region does not mean producing regional theory for its own sake, but using situated experiences to think with, and to challenge, prevailing categories in science studies.

Authors might engage, for example, with (post-)socialist approaches to science and its organisation; with notions of autonomy and dependency in knowledge production; with semi-periphery and “Global East” as analytical positions; with Marxist theories of knowledge and technology; or with attempts to conceptualize alternatives to academic dependency. These suggestions are illustrative rather than exhaustive. What matters is conceptual ambition and the orientation toward theory as situated practice.

Abstracts (max. 1000 words): April 30, 2026; Decisions: May 15, 2026; Full chapters: November 30, 2026.

Editors: Jakub Krzeski (Nicolaus Copernicus University), Ivan Kislenko (Adam Mickiewicz University), Emanuel Kulczycki (Humboldt University / DZHW), and Krystian Szadkowski (Adam Mickiewicz University).

Please submit abstracts to Jakub Krzeski (j.krzeski@umk.pl) and Ivan Kislenko (ivan.kislenko@amu.edu.pl)