call for articles: The People and their Universities

 call for articles: The People and their Universities: Academic Knowledge Communities in Europe in the aftermaths of empires, war, and socialism

For the book series New Europes (transcript, Bielefeld), we are seeking contributions for a new volume dealing with the histories of academic knowledge communities and their institutions in Europe, with a special focus on Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe (CESEE).

THE PEOPLE AND THEIR UNIVERSITIES: ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITIES IN EUROPE IN THE AFTERMATHS OF EMPIRES, WAR, AND SOCIALISM

For the book series New Europes (transcript, Bielefeld), we are seeking contributions for a new volume dealing with the histories of academic knowledge communities and their institutions in Europe, with a special focus on Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe (CESEE).

We understand academic knowledge communities broadly as social groups who are in one way or another connected to the production of knowledge – as researchers, lecturers, laboratory and teaching assistants, as technical and administrative staff, as ministerial supervisors or (private) benefactors, as spouses, children, friends, or otherwise related to this sphere. The most common institution of these communities is the university. Understood as complex effects of epistemic practices, social distinction, built structures and administrative interaction, they are formed by knowledge communities that cultivate specific material, bodily, and intellectual practices within distinct generations, epochs and environments. As key places of truth, expertise, and authority in all aspects of learning. They represent epistemic order, but at the same time they serve as epistemic laboratories and sites of revolution or political control. Throughout history, they have stabilized political orders and caused upheaval.

The societies in CESEE have experienced the twentieth century as a history reaching from imperial disintegration to the disintegration of the socialist bloc, and, thus, academic knowledge communities in these regions seem to share a histories of political transformation processes between imperial projects, nation-building processes and a long phase of socialist transformation after 1989. However, these developments may not all follow the same big caesurae, ethno-national or generational logics, and migration or political and ideological movements.

The ambition of the volume is to understand how formal and informal communities of academic knowledge experience the end of the continental empires, two World Wars and the rise and fall of different socialist regimes. However, more than a history of universities in times of political upheaval, we hope to cover the way processes and movements such as nationalisation, mobilisation, resistance, Sovietization, Thaw, 1968, Solidarność, Postsocialist Transformation, Neoliberalism, affect communities of knowledge within and around these institutions.

The volume seeks to collect transitional and stable aspects between the many different historical layers and, in the sense of a "thinking between the posts" (Chary/Verdery), asks about the agency and role of universities and academic communities in the transformation processes in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe.

For our volume, we invite proposals which could consist of the following:

a) Articles of approx. 8.000 words exploring case studies such as

- the histories of universities from Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe,

- knowledge communities in transitional periods from the region otherwise defined,

- conceptualization of the links between epistemic orders and social and political histories.

b) We also welcome shorter pieces (up to 3.000 words) which focus on a primary document which helps understand significant ruptures in the history of a particular academic community from the region.

c) A third format we welcome are conversational pieces (up to 3.000 words) which cover the topic through a more personal angle.

New Europes book series:

The book series New Europes aims to provide a new understanding of Europe's past and present in the face of current crises such as Russia's war against Ukraine, climate change, the post-pandemic recovery, and the rise of new forms of authoritarianism. These challenges call for multidisciplinary, transnational, historical and critical approaches to existing paradigms for thinking about Europe. The editors encourage authors to revisit established narratives of European, national and subnational histories, to correct the neglect of geographical areas such as Eastern Europe in general studies of Europe, and to seek out new methodologies for interpreting documentary evidence. Books in the series are accompanied by richly commented selections of primary sources for independent study, alongside co-authored as well as single-authored books on topical issues. Edited by a group of scholars from History, Political Science, Gender Studies, and Literary Studies, the series aims to serve three sets of readers: the general public interested in contextualising present conflicts; readers seeking to deepen their expertise of modern European society in global contexts; and those involved in education at the level of schools as well as higher education, looking for inspirations and approaches in research and teaching of European history.

Timeframe:

- Please send us an abstract of 200 words by 30 June 2024

- The final contribution must be submitted by 15 October 2024 and will then go into peer review

- Possible genres: research articles, commentary pieces; annotated documentary sources

- Publication of the volume is planned for Winter 2025

For questions, please inquire with the editors Dina Gusejnova (d.gusejnova@lse.ac.uk), and Friedrich Cain (friedrich.cain@univie.ac.at).