Call for papers: Entanglements of Scale and Spheres in History

 Call for papers: Entanglements of Scale and Spheres in History: Between the Local, Regional, Global, and Planetary. University of Bielefeld, 14.11.2025 - 5.11.2025, Deadline 31.08.2025

With this conference, we invite researchers at all career stages to reflect critically on the conceptual and methodological entanglements of scales and spheres in global and entangled history. The conference deals with conceptual and methodological questions of how to write global and entangled history and cross-area-studies. In particular, it will focus on the challenge to decentralise the human gaze and world-historical time of humans, to include more-than-human perspectives. This is of special importance in times in which the planet overwrites the globe(Spivak), or in a new epoch framed as the Anthropocene.

Thinking and writing about the past and present, be it from a sociological, geographical, historical, or political perspective, is undergoing a 'planetary turn'. This turn captures how the planet — as a humanist category and as a natural space for interactions between humans, non-humans and physical processes of the Earth — is becoming the referential dimension in which scholars think and write about global and entangled history, by asking how including landscapes, climate changes, histories of oceans and volcanoes, animals, the cosmological phenomena of space and time as well as the geobiological time of the planet change our understanding of global and crossarea flows and interconnections.

The planetary turn points us to the idea of nested systems in vast timeframes and vast distances. Building on this, we are interested in the multiscalarity of historical processes, i.e., in relational, interpenetrating processes that belong to different temporal and territorial orders but are interconnected through networked relationships and persistent leverage effects. By embracing the planetary turn, we aim to critically examine it, questioning the extent to which it actually represents a new dimension of historical understanding or merely a new label for conventional ways of looking at global interconnections, non-human actors, and their interwovenness. By doing so, we invite a discussion on the historical understanding and framing of global human and anthropogenic processes and multiscalar and multicentric approaches to global and entangled history as well as their interplay. The conference aims to foster an interdisciplinary discussion on planetary thinking, materiality, human as praxis, and related topics, as they inform these methodological considerations. Theoretically oriented or case study-based papers that would speak to one or more of the following questions would be especially welcome:

- Does global/globe thinking dissolve into planetary thinking? What is the locus of encunciation of planetary thinking?

- How can (trans-)area studies relate and/or correct planetary thinking? Is it necessary to regionalize planetary thinking?

- How can non-human-centred thinking help us sharpen our multiscalar view and make it fruitful for approaches to global history?

- What forms of otherness and diverse fluid world orders does the planetary perspective make us more aware of?

- How does the local scale reflect the planetary scale?

- How are the local, regional, and global dimensions tied to the planetary scale, and how do local or regional cultural, political, and societal practices (re-)shape a 'common consciousness' (Mbembe) or at least a co-habitation of the world and deal with the multiple planetary crisis?

What does planetary responsibility and thinking in planetary dimensions mean for familiar narratives of globalisation and transregional interconnections?

We especially encourage contributions from Early Career Researchers and scholars working at disciplinary intersections: As part of the conference, an Early Career Researcher panel will be held, dedicated to showcasing new and emerging research in area studies, featuring the work of early-career scholars (defined as PhD students or post-doctoral scholars who have received their PhD since 2022). As CrossArea brings together leading scholars of area studies from throughout Germany, this is an excellent opportunity for scholars looking to make an impression and identify potential hosts for their next professional move. Those selected to present on their research will be provided with travel grants, as well as accommodation for up to two nights.

Format and Submission Guidelines:

We welcome proposals for 15-minute presentations from researchers of various disciplines engaged in conceptual and methodological dialogue on how to write multiscalar global history between the local, regional, global, and planetary. Proposals of no more than 300 words (in English or German) along with a short CV (1 page) should be sent as a single PDF to the following address by the 30th August 2025: justynaturkowska@me.com & reka.krizmanics@uni-bielefeld.de.

The conference will be held in person at Bielefeld University (hybrid participation possible on request; please indicate in your proposal). Travel and accommodation support for early career scholars and unfunded presenters may be available; please indicate your need in your application.

Important Dates:

- Deadline for submission of the papers: 30th August, 2025

- Notification of Selection: 30th September, 2025

Kontakt

Dr. Justyna Aniceta Turkowska: justynaturkowska@me.com;

Dr Réka Krizmanics: reka.krizmanics@uni-bielefeld.de;