CfP: Political Culture and the History of Knowledge: Actors, Institutions, Practices
Conference at the German Historical Institute Washington DC, June 6-8, 2019
Conveners:
German Historical Institute Washington DC: Kerstin von der Krone, Simone Lässig
Center “History of Knowledge” at the University Zurich and the ETH Zurich: Kijan Espahangizi, Nils Güttler, Monika Wulz
Institute of the Formation of Knowledge at the University of Chicago: Shadi Bartsch-Zimmer
Knowledge
is omnipresent yet its value is increasingly being called into
question. Amid the flood of information disseminated by social media,
amid talk of “fake news” and “alternative facts,” expertise is subject
to challenges from many directions. These developments make
the historyof knowledge especially relevant today. They also make
politics and political culture an ideal test case for assessing the
potential and limits of the history of knowledge. Knowledge plays an
important role in political activities from voter mobilization to
governmental decision-making. As recent historical research on the role
of expert knowledge has shown, the political realm functions as a
knowledge space – a space where knowledge is gathered, produced,
disseminated, manipulated, and regulated. By investigating the role of
knowledge in politics, the proposed conference will seek to foster a
transatlantic debate on the merits of using knowledge as a category of
historical analysis; in particular, it aims to initiate a productive
conversation between scholars working in the “history of knowledge”
paradigm and scholars in other fields – such as political history,
cultural history, and intellectual history – who are open to and curious
about using knowledge as a category of analysis.
The conference
will explore the role of knowledge in different sectors, institutions,
and agents of political life, including the state, the economy, the
legal system, the public and the media, political parties, social
movements, universities and think tanks. Possible subjects to be
investigated from a knowledge perspective include: classic topics of
political history (including ethno-nationalism, populism, elections and
the electorate); the role of political culture and cultural policy;
political symbols and languages; public opinion and the media;
biopolitics, medicine, and environmental policy; migration and mobility.
However, themes and topics are by no means restricted to these
examples.
To foster a broad dialogue on the merits of knowledge as
an analytical category we would like to invite scholars from political
history, intellectual history, cultural history, media studies,
anthropology, the history of science and technology, political science,
sociology, or related fields to submit proposals. We aim for an
empirically informed dialogue and prefer historical case studies that
speak to knowledge as a category of historical analysis. Focused
theoretical contributions discussing or comparing the approach, however,
are also welcome especially if they are grounded in empirical work.
While the conference seeks to bring into conversation the different
historiographical approaches prevalent in Europe and North America, the
thematic scope of the conference is not limited to these regions and
will range from early modern to contemporary history. In order to leave
plenty of time for comment and discussion, we are asking participants to
prepare papers not exceeding twenty minutes.
Please send your
one-page abstract of no more than 400 words and a short CV of no more
than 2 pages in one combined PDF-file to the GHI’s event coordinator
Susanne Fabricius (fabricius@ghi-dc.org) by June 30th, 2018. For questions regarding possible contributions, please contact Dr. Kerstin von der Krone (krone@ghi-dc.org).
We will notify applicants by the end of October 2018 and expect to be
able to cover the transportation and accommodation costs of the
conference participants.