Tuesday, January 28, 2014

CfP: Living Europe, Writing Europe: Literary Perceptions of Urbanization and ‹Provincializing› European Identities

April 15-17, 2014. Europa-Kolleg of the University of Münster.
Dipesh Chakrabarty’s notion of ‹provincializing› Europe is a dissection of the perception of Europe as a cradle of modernity. Its value lies with the production of innovative concepts in a debate of European future(s) after globalization. But the act of ‹provincializing› is just one example from a larger repertoire of critical methods used to identify cultural parameters that shape regional identities (which, in an expansion of Chakrabarty’s concept, can also be localized within Europe). These serve as model identities for larger communities, such as provinces or even states. Similar parameters exist for urban identities, allowing for a comparative approach between urbanization in Europe and similar processes which, according Benedict Anderson, are constitutive for the emergence of “imagined communities”. These include, for example, the development of an institutionalized nexus between religious belief and territory or the increasing centralization of political systems. Whether cities or regions gain in importance due to this development (or whether they are just perceived differently) remains one of the questions to be clarified. In terms of the “spatial turn”, cities and regions are not only to be perceived as geographical entities. Instead, processes of urbanization and ‹provincializing› should be considered for the social practices and medial procedures that inform them. This conference aims to explore how urban and regional literatures reflect Europe as a semantic space and how these concepts of Europe can be evaluated.
Possible topics may include:

What is the significance of urbanism and regionalism in historical and literary debates on Europe and how are they made useful in the current discourse, e.g. how are they taken up in literature?

To what extent do urbanization and ‹provincializing› create spaces of imagination that go beyond geographical places and what are the consequences for European literature and for European history and historiography? Why and in which contexts do urban or regional communities engage with Europe as a spatial and geographical entity? Which cultural or literary practices did become established strategies over time?

In how far do European cities and regions try to evade mere geographical positioning and how do social practices and medial (especially literary) procedures come into play?

Are there cities or regions with a special prominence in literary figurations or constructions of Europe? Is there a structural affinity of urbanization andtowards a pattern of centre and periphery, or possibly a tendency to subvert this dichotomy?

We invite papers of 20 minutes duration in German or English that focus on urban and regional spaces in Europe and the corresponding (European) identities forming in these spaces.

Please send your title and abstract (max. 350 words) and a short biographical note (max. 150 words) until January 31, 2014 to:
europe.conference@uni-muenster.de




Monday, January 20, 2014

Künstlerische Migration in Ostmitteleuropa in der Frühen Neuzeit - PhD Stipendium

Das Institut für Kunstwissenschaft und Historische Urbanistik an der Technischen Universität Berlin vergibt im Rahmen der durch den Beauftragen der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien gestifteten Juniorprofessur für die Kunstgeschichte Ostmitteleuropas mit dem Schwerpunkt Regionen des gemeinsamen Kulturerbes voraussichtlich zum 15. Februar 2014 ein Doktorandenstipendium.
Voraussetzungen sind ein erfolgreicher Studienabschluss inKunstgeschichte sowie ein Dissertationsentwurf aus dem Themenbereich: Künstlerische Migration in Ostmitteleuropa in der Frühen Neuzeit.
Die Mobilität von Künstlern ist einer der wichtigsten Faktoren, der das Kunstschaffen in Ostmitteleuropa über die Jahrhunderte hinweg mitgestaltete. Losgelöst von der jahrzehntelang wirksamen nationalen Instrumentalisierung entwickelte sich die Erforschung der Künstlermigration zu einem wichtigen Ansatz der ostmitteleuropäischen Kunsthistoriographie, dessen Potential noch lange nicht ausgeschöpft ist. So ist die Erforschung der Künstlermobilität nicht nur von Interesse in Hinblick auf die damit verbundenen Auswirkungen auf das künstlerische Schaffen und den Transfer von Wissen, sondern fördert auch Erkenntnisse über die kulturelle Bedeutung und Attraktivität bestimmter Städte, die ästhetische, motivische und ideologische Positionierung von Künstlern und Kunstrezipienten, über die Finanzkraft potenzieller Auftraggeber und die Strategien der eigenen Vermarktung der Künstler.
Am Institut für Kunstwissenschaft und Historische Urbanistik der TU Berlin ist die Künstlermigrationsforschung fest verankert. Dem Stipendiaten/der Stipendiatin bietet sich deshalb nicht nur ein hervorragendes Forschungsumfeld, sehr gute fachliche Betreuung durch ausgewiesene Expert_innen im Fachbereich sowie die Möglichkeit der Vernetzung mit anderen auf dem Gebiet arbeitenden internationalen Wissenschaftler_innen.
Willkommen sind engagierte Bewerber_innen, die bereit sind, ein eigenes Teilprojekt im Rahmen eines größeren Forschungsvorhabens zum obengenannten Themenbereich zu entwickeln. Grundkenntnisse einer der ostmitteleuropäischen Sprachen (Ungarisch, Tschechisch, Slowakisch, Ukrainisch, Rumänisch, Polnisch u.a.) sind erwünscht.
Das Stipendium beträgt 1.500 Euro pro Monat und ist zunächst auf 20 Monate befristet. Vorbehaltlich der Zuweisung der Mittel und einer positiven Evaluierung ist eine Verlängerung des Stipendiums bis maximal 3 Jahre möglich. Der Erhalt des Stipendiums ist mit einer Residenzpflicht in Berlin verbunden.
Bewerber_innen sind gebeten bis zum 31. Januar 2014 folgende Bewerbungsunterlagen per E-Mail an Frau Prof. Dr. Aleksandra Lipinska (aleksandra.lipinska@tu-berlin.de) zu schicken: - Lebenslauf mit akademischem Werdegang - Nachweis des Hochschulabschlusses - Exposé für ein Forschungsvorhaben (max. 1 Seite) - eine Leseprobe (Masterarbeitsfragment, Aufsatz).
Weitere Informationen erteilt Ihnen Ilka Waßewitz M.A.
ilka.wassewitz@tu-berlin.de: Tel.: +49 (0)30 314 - 29564

Monday, January 13, 2014

CfP: Artists and the challenges of contemporary urban development

International Geographical Union Regional Conference in Kraków, Poland, 18-22 August 2014 
Thematic session: 
Artists and the challenges of contemporary urban development
[The deadline for abstract submission is January 15, 2014] 

Chairpersons: 
Jarosław Działek – Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Institute of Geography and Spatial Management, jarek.dzialek@uj.edu.pl
Monika Murzyn-Kupisz – Krakow University of Economics, UNESCO Chair for Heritage and Urban Studies, murzynm@uek.krakow.pl 

Confirmed speakers:
Tatiana Debroux (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium): Pioneers or tools? Artists and urban redevelopment in Brussels
Niamh Moore-Cherry (University College Dublin, Ireland): Beyond art in meanwhile spaces: the role of creatives in urban citizenship and sustainability 

Session outline: 
As an ambiguous yet specific professional group, artists are often mentioned in the contemporary debate on the inspirations and causes of urban transformations (Zukin, 1989; Landry, 2000; Montgomery, 2003; Markusen, Gadwa, 2010). On the other hand, since the publication of Florida’s (2002) influential but also controversial thesis (Peck, 2005; Hansen et al., 2009; Krätke, 2010), artists have been relatively rarely singled out in the discussions on the creative class, its spatial choices and impact on urban development (Markusen, 2006; Young, Borén, 2012). 
Similarly, although representatives of artistic professions are readily included in the discussions on cultural quarters, gentrification and urban regeneration (Zukin 1989; Ley, 2003, 2010; Cameron, Coafee, 2005; Clerval, 2008; Vivant, 2009; Makagon, 2010; Roodhouse, 2010), studies including references to them most often focus on the outcome of their spatial choices and observed processes or implementation of particular policy measures and not on the motivations and patterns of artists’ choices as such (Drake, 2003; Lloyd, 2004; Markusen, 2006; Bennett, 2010; Hracks, 2010; Young, Borén, 2012). In addition, the inter-urban rather than intra-urban perspective has so far tended to dominate the discourse, while most concepts developed and case studies pertained to few major cities in selected Anglo-Saxon countries (Dellbrügge, de Moll, 2005; Hansen et al. 2009; Debroux, 2009; Musterd, Murie, 2010; Stryjakiewicz, Męczyński, 2010). 
Moreover, artists are often by definition attributed the positive role of agents or catalysts of urban change, while their role in urban transformations may also be ambiguous and controversial (Cameron, Coafee, 2005; Hracs, 2007, 2009; Clerval, 2008; Zukin, Braslow, 2011; Harris, 2012; Ryberg et al., 2012; Gornostaeva, Campbell, 2012). 
There is thus still a need to precisely and critically theorise and assess the role of artists in urban transformations, especially taking a broader perspective including different cultural, geographic and spatial contexts (Young, Borén, 2012; Silver, Miller, 2012). As follows, the aim of the session is to contribute to and further the discussion on the presence of artists in contemporary cities by focusing on the multidimensionality of their potential and actually observed impacts on urban space, form and function as well as economic, social and cultural milieu. Departing from the viewpoint that a more nuanced geography of artists is still needed to fully conceptualise and visualise the diversity of roles artists play in urban transformations, we invite paper proposals which: 
1. distinguish artists as a unique group within the creative class; 
2. show different geographic contexts in which artists function and undertake decisions with respect to places of residence, creative activity and leisure; 
3. present a diversity of artists’ impacts on the contemporary urban centres. 

The session’s academic discussion will also by carried ‘outdoors’ as following the session all speakers (as well as other session participants within a set limit of persons) will be invited by the convenors to a short study tour of selected artistic quarters in Krakow. 
If you are interested in submitting a paper (oral or poster presentation) to this session,
please follow the instructions on the IGU 2014 website: www.igu2014.org
More information about IGU 2014 Regional Conference in Kraków: 

Friday, January 3, 2014

New Year ... new chances ...

13 Early Stage Researchers and 3 Experienced Researcher positions
(Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde, Leipzig, Germany)

13 Early Stage Researcher (ESR, PhD) and 3 Experienced Researcher (ER, PostDoc) positions open in the Marie Curie ITN project "Socio-economic and Political Responses to Regional Polarisation in Central and Eastern Europe" (RegPol²). 
The project RegPol² coordinated by the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography focuses on new patterns of regional disparities between metropolitan core regions and the remaining parts of Central and Eastern European countries (CEE). 16 subprojects will be dealing with the socio-economic forms of regional polarisation, their wider impacts on society as well as the responses conveyed by social, economic and political actors. RegPol² trains 16 young researchers for careers in academia, public administration, NGOs and the private sector. It aims (1) to educate self-reflexive specialists in complex multi-agent decision making for regional policy under uncertain framework conditions; (2) to train young researchers in better understanding regional polarisation and interrelated policymaking processes in different contexts and in communicating relevant information for decision making; (3) to raise the employability of trained researchers due to better knowledge of different disciplinary and cultural planning and policy traditions in the EU. All fellows will have the unique opportunity to work in interdisciplinary and multinational teams with excellent links to national and international research networks. 
Applications are invited for the following topics: 

ESR, PhD-projects:
1. Territorial mobility and socio-spatial polarisation in Romania and Hungary (Cluj-Napoca, Romania) 2. Fuzziness and softness in spatial patterns of regional policies. The example of the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic and Germany (Bratislava, Slovakia) 3. European and national regional and innovation policies reproducing peripheries? - A critical analysis (Tartu, Estonia) 4. Production of core-periphery relations through the social nexuses of economic agents settled in backward regions (Békéscsaba, Hungary) 5. Development perspectives of village communities in rural Estonia (Tartu, Estonia) 6. Leadership and institutional change in peripheralised municipalities (Tartu, Estonia) 7. Path-contingency and path-innovation of regional policies in old and new economy locations. The examples of Czech Republic, Hungary and Estonia (Prague, Czech Republic) 8. The role of policy paradigms for the governance of core-periphery relations in Germany and Romania (Leipzig, Germany) 9. Multilevel governance for balanced development between core and peripheral spaces. A regional comparison between the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany (Bratislava, Slovakia) 10. Everyday practices of adaption and resistance to peripheralisation at household scale (Békéscsaba, Hungary) 11. The role of social innovation, social entrepreneurship and social business in regional development. A comparative study between Germany and Hungary (Potsdam, Germany) 12. The role of business innovation in the development of "peripheral" and "backward" regions" in East Germany and peripheral Estonia (Leipzig, Germany) 13. The role of renewable energy in the development of peripheral rural areas in North-West Romania (Cluj-Napoca, Romania) 

ER, PostDoc projects
1. The formation and (re-)production of spatial social and economic polarisation (Békéscsaba, Hungary) 2. Theoretical foundations for transnational comparative research on the governance of core-periphery relations (Tartu, Estonia) 3. Theoretical and conceptual thoughts around the ways of adaptation, the formation of strategies and the potentials for new developments (Leipzig, Germany) 

We are now looking for highly motivated candidates for 13 ESR positions (36 months) with the starting date of 1 September 2014 and 3 ER positions (10 months) with the starting date of 1 July 2014. Full information about the RegPol² project, the individual positions available and the eligibility criteria of Marie Curie ITN actions can be found by visiting our project website http://www.regpol2.eu. We only accept online-applications via the website from 07 January 2014. The first closing date for receipt of applications will be 18 February 2014. Further available positions might be advertised at the end of March. In case of any questions regarding the project, eligibility or the jobs available please contact Ms. Franziska Görmar at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (f_goermar@ifl-leipzig.de).