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Conferences of the Bavarian American Academy (BAA)

Since 1999 the Bavarian American Academy offers conferences on comparative and interdisciplinary questions on the general topic Formations of American Cultures in a Global Context.

Call for Papers:

Representations and Uses of the American Revolution in Past and Present

BAA Annual Conference 2022, July 7-9

The American Revolution is, obviously, the founding moment of the United States of America that continues to be present in the U.S. and beyond. From the late eighteenth-century on, it has been and continues to be an inspiration for social movements and both, state- and nation-building in multiple contexts. One could think of struggles for civil rights, constitutions, institutions such as parliaments or courts of justice. The American Revolution functioned as a usable past justifying political change, the organization of resistance, and revolutionary action. The independence movements in Haiti and Spanish America, the Italian Risorgimento, decolonization in Africa in the mid-20th century, and sovereignty claims of the Haudenosaunee who hold that the US constitution is based on their, the Iroquois nations', centuries old confederation, is what comes to mind.

With this call, we invite papers from all disciplines that explore the actors, media, representations, and uses of the American Revolution for different historical contexts and against the background of concepts such as cultural transfer, transculturation, the transnational national, travelling concepts, or fractured continuities.

Our aim is not only to show the multitude of interpretations of the American Revolution and its very diverse effects, how interpretations change mutatis mutandis across time and space. We will also discuss how much a "past event" such as the American Revolution continues to be present, and how it is subject to change. Which narratives relating to the American Revolution were utilized, forgotten and (re-)discovered when, where, by whom and for which reasons. Where are the limits of these diverse perspectives? When, where, and why do these narratives serve as a means to gloss over / overwrite / hide deeply rooted historical, political, and cultural contradictions. When do they become counter factual? And who decides on the factual?

Please send your proposal by 31 October 2021 to volker.depkat@ur.de, karsten.fitz@uni-passau.de, and susanne.lachenicht@uni-bayreuth.de.

BAA Conference 2021:

Rethinking Solidarity

Thursday, 8 July - Friday, 9 July 2021

Over the last decades, U.S. society has witnessed dramatic clashes between the claims of individualism and the values of community and citizenry. Despite social movements such as Occupy Wallstreet, Black Lives Matter, and Fridays for Future, the idea of solidarity – relying on republican ideals of social cohesion, religious traditions, and the notion of the public good – appears to have lost traction in the U.S. and beyond.

In light of these developments, the conference sets out to “rethink solidarity.” This entails interrogating the political, cultural, economic, and environmental dimensions of solidarity as well as addressing solidarity in the context of democracy, including current crisis scenarios and the recurrence of populist imaginaries. In a transnational context, it involves asking how far discourses of globalization undermine bonds of solidarity. Can there be a “global solidarity”? Finally, it implies re-examining the mechanisms and ideological operations that interpellate individuals into subject positions marked by solidarity attachments or obligations.

The conference expands the existing research on solidarity from theoretical vantage points such as affect studies and ecocriticism as it brings together scholars from the social sciences and from literary and cultural studies. It seeks to contribute to a nuanced theoretical understanding of solidarity and its genealogies and to discuss how solidarity can be imagined, conceptualized, and practiced within and beyond national settings.

No conference fee - please register for participation at info@amerika-akademie.de

Conference format: the 20th conference will be held online.

Fon: +49 89 55 25 37-42

Downloads

Conference Program (631 KB)

Abstract & Bios (514KB)

Conference Program

Thursday, 8 July 2021

14.00: Warm-up and Welcome

14.30: Conference Opening by Heike Paul (Bavarian American Academy, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg)

15.00: Panel 1: Theories of Solidarity in Democratic Societies

Chair: Christof Decker (LMU Munich)

Sally J. Scholz (Villanova University)

Solidarity's Research

Dietmar Süß (University of Augsburg)

History, Anticapitalism and the Social Practice of Solidarity

16.00: Coffee Break

16.15: Panel 2: Traditions of Solidarity

Chair: Michael Hochgeschwender (LMU Munich)

Janine Giordano Drake (Indiana University Bloomington)

The Industrial Workers of the World and the Churches: The Unexpected History of "Solidarity" in the United States

André Habisch (KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt)

The Catholic Social Thought Tradition: How Entrepreneurs Contributed to its Emergence

17.15: Coffee Break

17.30: Award Ceremony

BAA Dissertation Award

19.00: Keynote Address

Chair: Heike Paul (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg)

Pippa Norris (Harvard University)

The Challenge of Authoritarian Populism

Friday, 9 July 2021

15.00: Panel 3: Global Representations of Solidarity

Chair: Nathalie Aghoro (KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt)

Clemens Spahr (University of Mainz)

Bayani: Class and International Solidarity in Contemporary Rap Music

Quynh Nhu Le (University of South Florida)

Envisioning Asian/Indigenous Solidarity through Time and Tense

16.00: Coffee Break

16.15: Panel 4: Cultural Practices of Solidarity

Chair: Katharina Gerund (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg)

Chandra Russo (Colgate University)

Embodied Experience and Social Movement Study

Silvia Schultermandl (WWU Münster)

Intimate Archives and Experimental Narratives of Transnational Kinship

17.15: Coffee Break

17.30: Panel 5: Solidarity in the Anthropocene

Chair: Sylvia Mayer (University of Bayreuth

Lisa Garforth (Newcastle University)

Utopia, Solidarity, and the Anthropocene: Hope after Human-Centeredness

Solvejg Nitzke (TU Dresden)

Green Companions/Making Kin with Trees: Interspecies Solidarity and the Future of Humanity

18.30: Coffee Break

19.00: Closing Keynote

Chair: Heike Paul (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg)

Aleida Assmann (University of Konstanz)

Repairing the Past: Divided Narratives and National Solidarity

20.00: Wrap-Up and End of the Conference

The 20^th International Academy Conference is organized by the Bavarian American Academy (BAA). The organizers wish to thank the following institution for their generous support:

DFG - Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft