Sunday, 21 September 2025

CFP: Manuscript Practices and the Making of Exile Communities in the Early Modern Period

CFP: Manuscript Practices and the Making of Exile Communities in the Early Modern Period

The international conference Manuscript Practices and the Making of Exile Communities  in the Early Modern Period, organised by the Institute of Philosophy of the CAS in collaboration with the Institute of History of the CAS, will take place on 15 and 16 April 2026 at the Academic Conference Centre, Husova 4a, Prague 1.


The conference will focus on the role of manuscript culture in exile communities of diverse religious backgrounds during the early modern period, with a particular emphasis on the 1620s and 1630s. Specifically, it will examine how the written word was used to sustain, transmit, and reshape collective and individual identities amid the pressures of displacement and religious conflict. The discussion will cover the various forms of manuscript production, such as personal notebooks and records, collections of sermons, prophetic and chiliastic writings, polemical tracts and historical compilations, all situated within institutional frameworks and domestic contexts. Particular attention will be given to the act of copying, which will be considered not only as a practical means for the transmission of texts in environments with limited access to print, but also as a practice with symbolic significance and economic value. Copies could serve as a reaffirmation of tradition, a means and strategy for coping with the loss of home and faith. Furthermore, commissioning copies could function as a form of social support, providing employment and sustenance for those in exile who had lost their livelihoods. By examining these practices, the conference aims to shed light on the specific textual corpora of exile and broader issues of communication, such as memory, authorship and textual identity in forced migration situations.


We invite proposals which engage, among others, with the following themes:


The manuscript as a medium of exile experience and identity: manuscripts written under conditions of repression, displacement, and the loss of institutional frameworks; handwritten texts as an alternative to print, serving both practical and symbolic functions; the transmission and preservation of confessional identity through scribal practices.

Rewriting and copying as cultural practices: the purposes, methods, and strategies of textual reproduction; the role of manuscript collections in shaping and sustaining memory practices; rewriting and copying as forms of spiritual resilience and solidarity.

The typology of manuscript production by content: parenetic, chiliastic, prophetic, and polemical writings; sermon transcripts; chronicles and historical compilations; ego-documents and personal testimonies in manuscript form.

Exile centres and their manuscript cultures: local hubs of manuscript production; institutional and private initiatives in the formation of collections; patrons and commissioners of texts; the circulation of manuscripts within exile communities and their connections to the homeland – networks of manuscript authors, copiers, and recipients.

Between manuscript and print: the transition of manuscript texts into print – when and why it occurred; printing as an affirmation of newly negotiated identities; the interplay of manuscript and print cultures in exile; the encouragement and supervision of writing and copying practices.


Please submit a proposal consisting of an abstract (100–200 words) and a brief curriculum vitae to Tomáš Havelka (havelka@flu.cas.cz) by 30 October 2025.


This conference is a part of the research project Manuscript Practices and Textuality of Exile Communities from the Czech Lands in the 1620s and 1630s, supported by the Czech Science Foundation (reg. nr. 25-15529S).


REMINDER: CFP: STAND (Historical Commission on Science, Technology and Diplomacy) Early Career Research Seminars 2025-2026,

STAND (Historical Commission on Science, Technology and Diplomacy)

Early Career Research Seminars 2025-2026,

Call for Participants


This is an open call for participants for the STAND (Commission on Science, Technology and Diplomacy) Early Career Researchers Seminar series for 2025-2026. The commission and its members examine the broad history of science, technology and diplomacy and are looking for post-grads and early career researchers to present during next year's online seminar series.

We are looking for researchers who address the history of science, technology and medicine in their broad international contexts. Topics include but are not limited to: science diplomacy, international cooperation in fields related to science, technology and medicine, and the transnational circulation of technoscientific and medical knowledge, materials and expertise. Please see our website for more information on previous presenters, and the work we do: https://sciencediplomacyhistory.org/postgraduate-early-career-initiatives/  

The seminars will run from October 2025 to ca. May 2026 usually on the first Thursday of the month - dates tbc with organisers - and will be held on Microsoft Teams.

Seminars last one hour and usually consist of a brief presentation followed by Q&A. Possible formats include: 

A pre-circulated work-in-progress paper (journal article draft, thesis chapter, book chapter etc) of 10-20 pages, using the seminar as an opportunity to gain feedback or suggestions for improvement.

A 20-30 minute presentation on your current research, followed by Q&A, discussion and feedback.

An ‘in conversation with’ session where you are paired with someone with similar research interests, to have a discussion on a particular topic. You can also use this time to raise questions to experts or individuals working on similar topics to you.

We welcome inquiries regarding alternative seminar formats, and encourage you to get in touch if you are interested! 

Please send any expressions of interest to STAND.ECR@gmail.com, in an email which includes your name, short bio and a brief summary of your research as it pertains to the seminar. We don’t need anything further at this stage, but please indicate what format of session you would prefer. We also encourage you to email us if you have any questions, queries or would like to be included in the mailing list for the seminars if you are not already.

We’re particularly looking for someone to fill our October (Thurs Oct 9th) session - so if you have some work you want feedback on soon, please let us know!

Kind regards,

Alice and Kat


Friday, 19 September 2025

Call for conference papers Cold altitudes: knowledge, imagination, and experiences of mountain ice

 Call for conference papers


Cold altitudes: knowledge, imagination, and experiences of mountain ice


Date: 11-12.05.2026


Venue: University of Fribourg, Switzerland


Organisers: Christine Bichsel (University of Fribourg), Katja Doose (University Lyon 2)


From glaciological expeditions to snow myths, from avalanche laws to mountain poetics, ice has shaped how humans engage with high-altitude environments. This conference explores how societies have known, represented, and inhabited mountain ice—broadly understood to include glaciers, snowfields and avalanches —through empirical and conceptual lenses across the humanities and social sciences. Recent advances in the ice humanities and related fields explored the manifold relationships between humans and ice mainly focusing on examining polar and circumpolar contexts. A systematic account on mountain ice is missing in the social sciences and humanities. This conference seeks to examine human-ice relations as part of the cultural, political, ecological, spiritual and scientific dimensions of mountains. 


We invite contributions that investigate mountain ice as a medium of knowledge, cultural meaning, and social life. How have glaciers and snow been imagined in literature and art? How have they been measured, inhabited, feared, celebrated, or transformed into resources? What epistemologies, cosmologies, infrastructures, or legal regimes have crystallized around frozen heights? We particularly welcome papers that address: 


• Histories of mountain glaciology, avalanche science, and snow observation 


• Scientific, local, and indigenous knowledge practices related to mountain ice 


• The cultural imagination of glaciers, snow, and avalanches in literature, film, or visual arts 


• Ice as a legal, political, or territorial entity in mountain regions 


• Aesthetic, emotional, or sensorial engagements with mountain ice 


• Ice as archive: materiality, memory, and temporality in frozen mountainous environments 


While grounded in mountain regions, we also welcome conceptual reflections that connect mountain ice to broader discussions in environmental humanities, environmental history, historical geography, or science and technology studies.


We welcome submissions from junior and senior scholars. The format of the conference will be interactive. Conference papers will be pre-circulated, and participants’ commentaries will guide the discussions. We expect participants to submit their full draft conference papers by 01.05.2026. We aim to produce an edited volume from this conference.


Abstracts of up to 300 words, with an indication of the sources the research is based on, and a short biography (max. 100 words) should be sent by 31.10.2025 to christine.bichsel@unifr.ch AND katja.doose@univ-lyon2.fr. 


Accommodation and transport will be partially covered by the organisers, with priority given to financial support for junior scholars. 


Wednesday, 17 September 2025

Melanie Arndt. Chernobyl Children: A Transnational History of a Nuclear Disaster

Melanie Arndt. Chernobyl Children: A Transnational History of a Nuclear Disaster. Translated by Alastair Matthews. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025. ISBN: 978-1-009-45776-7


In the wake of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, more than a million Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Russian children were sent abroad. Aided by the unprecedented efforts of transnational NGOs and private individuals, these children were meant to escape and recover from radiation exposure, but also from the increasing hardships of everyday life in post-Soviet society. Through this opening of the Soviet Union, hundreds of thousands of people in over forty countries witnessed the ecological, medical, social and political consequences of the disaster for the human beings involved. This awareness transformed the accident into a global catastrophe which could happen anywhere and have widespread impact. In this brilliantly insightful work, Melanie Arndt demonstrates that the Chernobyl children were both witness to and representative of a vanishing bipolar world order and the future of life in the Anthropocene, an age in which the human impact on the planet is increasingly borderless.


Sunday, 14 September 2025

Jan Piskurewicz, Sylwia Szarejko: Instytut Kultury Polskiej im. Attilia Begeya w Turynie i jego wybitni animatorzy

Jan Piskurewicz, Sylwia Szarejko: Instytut Kultury Polskiej im. Attilia Begeya w Turynie i jego wybitni animatorzy [The Attilio Begey Institute of Polish Culture in Turin and its outstanding animators]. Warszawa: Aspra 2025. ISBN 978-83-8209-344-5



Publikacja stanowi kompleksowe studium Instytutu Kultury Polskiej im Attilia Begeya w Turynie, będącego kamieniem węgielnym polsko-włoskich relacji kulturalnych. Podczas gdy wcześniejsze prace na ten temat ograniczały się do krótkich artykułów lub wzmianek, niniejsze opracowanie przyjmuje szersze podejście, nie tylko szczegółowo opisując działalność Instytutu, ale także podkreślając znaczący wkład osób, które go stworzyły, wspierały i utrzymywały. Z recenzji dr hab. prof. IFiS PAN Valentiny Lepri Praca posiada niezwykle przejrzysty układ, który został ukształtowany przez dwa czynniki: dobór rozpraw oraz chronologię działalności przedstawionej w książce instytucji. Choć praca "Instytut Kultury Polskiej im. Attilia Begeya w Turynie i jego wybitni animatorzy" składa się z ośmiu rozpraw, których Autorami są głównie Pan Profesor Piskurewicz oraz Pani Doktor Szarejko, to nie stanowi dzieła zbiorowego, a monografię koherentną i w swoim wywodzie konsekwentną, przemyślaną, poprawnie zaprojektowaną. […] Choć praca ta zgrabnie łączy rozmaite dziedziny wiedzy, np. historię nauki, historię literatury, dzieje instytucji kultury oraz socjologię, to naczelną kategorią jaką się posługuje, jest polonofilia, wprowadzona i rozwijana na tym polu przez Krystynę Jaworską. Oznacza niepowtarzalny dla kultury polskiej splot literatury i polityki, stąd dwa ciągi rozważań w książce, czasami ukrywane pod zbiorczą kategorią włoskiej polonistyki. Pozwala nie tylko uchwycić dokonania twórców Instytutu na polu krzewienia kultury polskiej we Włoszech, lecz również wykazać intelektualne, osobiste podstawy decyzji o poświęceniu swojego życia właśnie współpracy z Polakami. […] Autorzy wyszli od słusznego przekonania, iż historia instytucji jest w dużej mierze dziejami tworzących ją ludzi. Dlatego główną periodyzację funkcjonowania Instytutu, wyznaczyli biografi ami jego członków. […] W ten sposób praca "Instytut Kultury Polskiej im. Attilia Begeya w Turynie i jego wybitni animatorzy" wpisuje się w nowoczesną ego-historię. Nie uniknęli przy tym Autorzy podjęcia się tematów trudnych, jak np. faszyzm, dzięki czemu nie generowali przy tym kolejnych białych plam. Recenzowana praca jest rzadkim w humanistyce przykładem porządnej współpracy badaczy na cztery ręce. Z recenzji prof. dr hab. Mikołaja Sokołowskiego


Vyacheslav Bryukhovetsky: Viktor Petrov in a duel with Leviathan: Biographical explorations and literary observations.

 В’ячеслав Брюховецький: Віктор Петров у двобої з Левіафаном: Біоґрафічні розвідки й літературознавчі констатації. Дух і Літера 2025. ISBN 978-617-8445-44-7 // Vyacheslav Bryukhovetsky: Viktor Petrov in a duel with Leviathan: Biographical explorations and literary observations. Dukh i litera 2025. ISBN 978-617-8445-44-7


Монографія презентує результат багаторічної історико-фактологічної студії життєтворчості Віктора Платоновича Петрова (1894–1969), письменника, історика-археолога, антрополога і літературознавця (друкувався під псевдонімами ‘В. Домонтович’, ‘Віктор Бер’, інші), який є найзагадковішою постаттю української гуманітаристики Новітньої доби.

У серії нарисів, об’єднаних магістральним прагненням виявити стрижневі моменти біографії Віктора Петрова, автор пропонує хронологічно розгорнутий сюжет формування рис світогляду і літераторських пріоритетів персонажа, через каверзи і примхи – штучні і природні – життєвої еволюції на майже епічний (чи детективний) кшталт розкриває подробиці його позалітературного буття, стверджує діяльнісні й мисленнєві засновки, висловлює переконливі дослідницькі припущення, які дозволяють читачеві перевірити правильність вербальної реконструкції портрета. Побудована на міцній джерельній базі, оздоблена академічним апаратом, що охоплює відомий на сьогодні обшир відомостей про Віктора Петрова, книжка є важливою складовою цілісного знання про його еластичний життєвий шлях, чітку письменницьку і повчальну наукову долю на тлі різноскерованих суспільно-політичних процесів європейської історії ХХ століття.

Видання ілюстроване фотопортретами Віктора Петрова та іншими матеріалами.

MEDEP research seminar on Tuesday, September 16, Irina Nastasa-Matei,

 Don't miss the next MEDEP research seminar on Tuesday, September 16, on Zoom! Irina Nastasa-Matei, Principal Investigator of the Romanian team, will discuss the public management of influenza epidemics and the reorganization of Romania's healthcare system, medical infrastructure, and pharmaceutical industry during the communist era, using the Polidin vaccine as a case study.


URL: https://qrfy.io/tg4crT21zf


Wednesday, 10 September 2025

Hybrid Seminar: Scholars between Science and Practice Histories of Science, Natural Resources & Power

Scholars between Science and Practice Histories of Science, Natural Resources & Power 

Hybrid Seminar

  

25–26 September, 2025

Anastasia Fedotova & Natalia Nikiforova


25 September, 14:30–16:15 (MSK, UTC+2)

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88924324864?pwd=FsGWnSUCfneEId1x5jbTEgYqg3KHKa.1


Short intro: Natalia Nikiforova & Anastasia Fedotova


Chair: Anastasia Fedotova, SPbB IHST RAS

Andrey Vinogradov  “The White Birch Grew, and the White Tsar Came”: Economy, Power, and Climate Change in the Greater Altai, 1950–2020

Elena Kochetkova Rationality, Planning, and Natural Resources in the Soviet Political Economy

 

25 September, 16:30–18:00 (MSK, UTC+2)

Chair: Tatiana Borisova, HSE University St Petersburg

Anna Graber, University of Minnesota

Making Mineralogy Russian: Bashkirs, Mining Administrators, and Earth Knowledges of the Urals, 1700-1819

Marina Loskutova, HSE University St Petersburg 

“No King Can Master God’s Own Elements”: the Flood of 1824 and the 19th Century Anti-Flood Protection Projects for St. Petersburg


26 September, 14:30–16:00 (MSK, UTC+2)

Zoom link: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81476792707?pwd=vZ8HN7H2LzKO2Maoy3AyXgNyLpNAPh.1


Chair: Grigorii Isachenko, St Petersburg State University

Paul Josephson, Colby College, Waterville, Maine, USA 

What are Radioactive Brown Fields? Nuclear Legacies of the American West

Natalia Nikiforova, SPbB IHST RAS 

“Useless Fossils”, Precious Waste and Streams of Energy. Soviet Electrification and Natural Resources for the Socialist Future (1920s–1930s)  

 

26 September, 16:15–17:45 (MSK, UTC+2)

Chair: Natalia Nikiforova, SPbB IHST RAS 

Anastasia Fedotova, S.I. Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology

Useful Entomology: a Case of Imperial Court Estates in the Early 20th Century

Alejandro Martinez, Universidad Nacional de La Plata

Bacilli, Locusts, and Scientific Controversies: Félix d’Herelle (1873–1949) and the First Attempts at Biological Control of Insect Pests in Argentina


Bader Award for the History of Science and Technology

 Call for Applications: Bader Award for the History of Science and Technology


 


The award is given for an excellent scientific work (master's thesis, dissertation, publication) on research questions in the field of the history of science and technology that was completed or published no more than two years before the submission deadline.


Researchers (pre- and post-doc, max. five years after completion of the doctorate/PhD) are invited to apply who have been continuously active in research in one of the following countries during the last three years prior to the application (deadline: submission deadline):


Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Ukraine or Austria.


 


The application deadline for the award is October 1, 2025.


 


Please find all Information here:


https://stipendien.oeaw.ac.at/en/awards/interdisciplinary-awards/bader-award-for-the-history-of-science-and-technology


Sunday, 7 September 2025

Alma Mater Leopoliensis. History of the Lviv humanities 1661─1946

Alma Mater Leopoliensis : dzieje humanistyki lwowskiej 1661-1946 (z dwoma interaktywnymi inwentarzami), t. 1─3 [Alma Mater Leopoliensis. History of the Lviv humanities 1661─1946 (with two interactive inventories), v. 1─3]. ed. by Anna Dąbrowska and Helena Sojka-Masztalerz, Wroclaw 2025. OPEN ACCESS


OA: https://kolekcjalwowska.uwr.edu.pl/materialy/monografia/

Introductions in English: https://kolekcjalwowska.uwr.edu.pl/en/virtual-library/introductions-to-the-individual-volumes-of-the-monograph/

ВСТУПИ ДО ОКРЕМИХ РОЗДІЛІВ МОНОГРАФІЇ: https://kolekcjalwowska.uwr.edu.pl/uk/віртуальна-бібліотека/вступи-до-окремих-розділів-монографі/



Balkan Historiographical Wars: The Middle Ages, eds. Diana Mishkova, Roumen Daskalov

Balkan Historiographical Wars: The Middle Ages, eds. Diana Mishkova, Roumen Daskalov  (Palgrave Macmillan, August 2025)

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-90113-3


The studies in this volume present some of the major “historiographical wars” over the medieval Balkan past fought by the historians of competing nation states in the region. Еthnic origins and “national” makeup of medieval states and disputed regions; ownership of the historical heritage located in or associated with that territory; provenance or “national” consciousness of important historical personalities; the boundaries of a certain medieval state and its political, religious, and cultural influence on others – these are some of the issues around which major clashes between the modern Balkan historiographies recurred. The book is valuable to all those interested in how the medieval past becomes instrumentalized by the “national historians” in the service of constructing the national canons of history.

CONTENTS:

Legacy, Tradition, Heritage and the History Writing in the Balkans -- Diana Mishkova

Controversies Over Samuеl’s State -- Roumen Daskalov

Skanderbeg: Figures of Paper, Figures of Stone -- Nathalie Clayer

Art Wars: The Creation of Bulgarian Art History and the Balkan Controversies Over the Medieval Heritage of Macedonia -- Tchavdar Marinov

Defending Our Lands in Ancient and Medieval Studies: The Albanian Case -- Alexander Vezenkov

In Search of an Acceptable Past: The Bosnian Middle Ages and National Ideologies -- Nedim Rabić


Jan Boháček (ed.) Blahoslav Šeplavý: Vzpomínky prezidiálního ředitele a pěstitele mecenášů České akademie věd a umění

Jan Boháček  (ed.) Blahoslav Šeplavý: Vzpomínky prezidiálního ředitele a pěstitele mecenášů České akademie věd a umění [Blahoslav Šeplavý: Memoirs of the Presidium Director and Patron of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts.]. Praha:  NLN, s.r.o. a Masarykův ústav a Archiv AV ČR v.v.i. 2025. ISBN : 978-80-7422-875-9


Blahoslav Šeplavý (1897–1960), dlouholetý ředitel kanceláře České akademie věd a umění, zanechal ve svých zápiscích cenný a jedinečný pramen k dějinám této instituce. Nejde o souvislý text. Jednotlivé části vznikaly postupně, převážně v padesátých letech, po vzniku Československé akademie věd. Šeplavý v nich líčí některé události z dějin „staré akademie“, věnuje se jednotlivým vedoucím funkcionářům ČAVU a problematice sídla akademie. Popisuje činnost administrativního aparátu, zajímavé informace přináší k obtížím spojeným s realizací některých fondů odkázaných akademii, na nelehkých počátcích Archivu ČSAV přibližuje, jak neslavně zanikaly v letech 1952/1953 starší vědecké společnosti. Hodnota textu spočívá v dobré informovanosti pisatele, v trefné charakteristice aktérů popisovaných událostí a v řadě detailů a souvislostí, které jsou z pramenů jiného druhu jen obtížně vysledovatelné.



Wednesday, 3 September 2025

Błażej Kaucz (ed.) Polish Contributions to Criminology.

 Błażej Kaucz (ed.) Polish Contributions to Criminology. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan 2025. ISBN 978-3-031-94141-2


About this book

This collection brings together academics and practitioners currently researching topics relevant to Polish criminology. It showcases the breadth and depth of criminological research in Poland. Furthermore, it places the volume within its post-Soviet past and global context, alongside the international literature, outlining its many contributions to the field. It encompasses a broad range of criminological interests, such as critical criminology and social control, policing, penitentiary and post-penitentiary systems, restorative justice, crimes of the powerful, white-collar crime etc. The edited collection serves as an invaluable resource for scholars, students, policymakers, and practitioners seeking a comprehensive understanding of crime and justice in Poland, as well as those interested in comparative criminology and the broader European context.


Monday, 1 September 2025

Seminar Series: Global Knowledge Production and Academic (Semi)Peripheries

 Seminar Series by Scholarly Communication Research Group, Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan: Global Knowledge Production and Academic (Semi)Peripheries

Our seminar series examines the changing role of science in the semi-peripheries—spaces historically mediating between scientific centers and peripheries—whose bridging function is waning in a networked, globalized world. We resist narrowing semi-peripheries to mere conduits for others’ agendas. Instead, we foreground their creative capacity to generate alternative pathways of modernization in and through science (“alter-modernization”). Because both pathways have long histories in semi-peripheral contexts, we ask how their potential can be renewed today. Across sessions we will address: alternative routes to modernization via science; the politics and practices of measuring science; and lived experiences of doing science at the margins. Emphasizing the materiality of semi-peripheral scientific enterprise—its institutions, infrastructures, and everyday epistemic projects—we invite participants and speakers to move beyond reductive neither/nor dichotomies and to engage the alter-modern character of semi-peripheral science as a source of positive, tangible transformation.


4 September 2025 (Thursday) 04:00 PM (CET)

George Steinmetz - Marginality, Domination, and Strangeness in Social Science 

Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/d3orLrjhS9Kejn0kHgxSmg


18 September 2025 (Thursday) 12:00 PM (CET)

Raewyn Connell - The global economy of knowledge and its dynamics

Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/GgjdO3tZRk-WxDwNCYPlAg


us06web.zoom.us

CFP: Manuscript Practices and the Making of Exile Communities in the Early Modern Period

CFP: Manuscript Practices and the Making of Exile Communities in the Early Modern Period The international conference Manuscript Practices a...