Processes of Spatialization – Spatial Formats – Spatial Orders

Matthias Middell (SFB 1199 & Leipzig U) & Katja Naumann (GWZO)

Overview

Collaborative Research Centers (SFBs) are characterized by a three-ways relationship between the overall goals of the centre and the individual sub-projects, dissertations included. Since such a center is based upon an application that has to be explicit about its theoretical assumptions and hypothesis in a first period the main question is how the individual dissertations may fit with the overall framework, the major goals and the collaborative character of the center. We therefore had offered a research seminar at the beginning of the current phase of funding that was trying to answer such questions.

Now, two years later and with the experience of fieldwork, further reading, specialized workshops organized by the sub-projects, we come to the second part of the above mentioned relationship. The question here is, how the findings from the various sub-projects inspire further development of the common theoretical framework, where do they fit completely and where do they challenge the original assumptions. To close the triangle, a third question is of course, how the results from very different disciplines, from projects targeting different historical periods and different world regions, may tie together.

Our research seminar therefore is not the classical reading exercise where we discuss texts produced by people from outside the SFB but we focus this time on our own production. Since some have already reported in the thesis committee that they are now writing chapters it might be a good idea to take these chapters as point of departure for a session’s debate, while in other cases it might be more appropriate that participants submit a short paper that contains the overall explanation of their dissertation. Everyone should feel free to choose the format he or she likes most. Of course, the seminar is open to all members of the Graduate School and we encourage in particular those who are willing to share their research findings with the other participants of the seminar.

To organize the research seminar properly, we invite all those who like to participate for enrolment till the 10 October indicating at the same time how they would like to contribute to the seminar (with an email to phd@uni-leipzig.de).

As a general reading for the seminar we propose a working paper just under publication which summarizes some of the experiences with the SFB and an article by Jessop to be published in the volume from our first annual conference. Both will be made available on moodle.

Due to overlapping commitments, the research seminar will start on the 14 November only with a session where we discuss with a visiting scholar and will make use of the last part of that session to debate the organization from 21 November onwards. This, however, presumes that all participants have already submitted their ideas about their possible contributions – see above.

Literature

Middell, Matthias. ”Raumformate – Überlegungen zu einer unvollständigen Liste historischer Phänomene”. SFB 1199 Working Paper, Leipzig (2018). – English version also available.

Jessop, Bob. “Spatiotemporal fixes and multispatial metagovernance: the TPSN scheme revisited”, In Spatial formats in modern history, eds. Steffi Marung and Matthias Middell (Berlin, 2019) (forthcoming).

Biographical Notes

Prof. Dr. Matthias Middell (SFB 1199 & Global and European Studies Institute, Leipzig University, Germany)
Matthias Middell is a professor of cultural history at Leipzig University as well as a speaker of the SFB 1199 and director of the Global and European Studies Institute at Leipzig University. He studied history earning his PhD from Leipzig University with his research focusing on the French Revolution. Since 2013, he has served as the director of the Graduate School Global and Area Studies in Leipzig and is currently the head of the Erasmus Mundus Global Studies Consortium. He teaches regularly at partner universities and co-supervises PhD candidates with colleagues from France, South Africa, and Ethiopia. His current research interests include the history of the French Revolution from a global perspective, history of cultural transfers around the world, and the role of space in the understanding of the current world being the result of long-lasting global connections.

Dr. Katja Naumann (Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO), Leipzig University, Germany)
Katja Naumann is a historian specializing in the history of international organizations, the history of world history writing, and the history of transnational entanglements of and in East Central Europe. Since 2008, she has been a senior researcher at the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO) in Leipzig and teaches global history at the Global and European Studies Institute at Leipzig University. She is the editor for the electronic journal Connections. A Journal for Historians and Area Specialists and an editorial assistant for Comparativ. Zeitschrift für Globalgeschichte und Vergleichende Gesellschaftsforschung as well as chairperson of the European Network in Universal and Global History.