Location: Meerscheinschlössl, Festsaal (Mozartgasse 3, 8010 Graz)
On May 4-6, 2018, the Center for Inter-American Studies at the University of Graz is hosting a student conference with the aim of gathering students from different disciplines and backgrounds to exchange their research from an interdisciplinary, interregional and transnational perspective. Due to contemporary developments, such as migration and flight movements as well as consequent political debates that demand stricter border policies and surveillance, the topic of borders has recently (re-)gained political momentum.
We, however, want to transcend these narrow political definitions associated with the term and understand ‘borders’ in a broader sense as encompassing several meanings or layers of meaning. Thus, we encourage participants to develop new associations with and understandings of the term. ‘Borders’ can refer to any dividing line, including national, political, and geographical borders as well as boundaries between ethnic, gender, national, class, or age identities. In order to transcend these borders, we will address the following questions: Why do borders exist? Why and how are they drawn? Who do they include and exclude? When, how, and why are borders transgressed, dissolved, or transformed? Additionally, our focus lies on the human actors involved, drawing attention to those who are affected by these processes as well as to those who have initiated them.
Keynote lectures are held by Cheryl Lester (American Studies, University of Kansas) and Mirko Petrić (Cultural Sociology, University of Zadar). Additionally, a roundtable discussion will gather the expertise of Roberta Maierhofer (Center for Inter-American Studies, University of Graz), Romedio Schmitz-Esser (Medieval History, University of Graz), Machteld Venken (Association of Borderlands Studies, University of Vienna) and Markus Wurzer (International Research Center for Cultural Studies Vienna, University of Graz) on the broader topic of the conference and it will also provide advice for student researchers on how to deal with borders within academia.
For further information, please contact Marlene Fößl at marlene.foessl(at)uni-graz.at