CfP: Early Career Researcher Panel “Practices of Distribution and the Reconfiguration of Culture”
Call for Papers for an Early Career Researcher Panel at
“Practices of Distribution and the Reconfiguration of Culture”
Frankfurt, 28-29 November 2024
Deadline for applications 31 August 2024
CrossArea e.V. was founded in Leipzig in 2014 as a result of an initiative for stronger and long-term cooperation between BMBF-funded area studies centers and networks with corresponding university and non-university institutes. This association sees itself as an umbrella organization of research institutions, projects, and undertakings active in Area Studies. Together with the Forum Transregionale Studien (Berlin) and the Max Weber Stiftung (Bonn), it curates the discussion platform Trafo https://trafo.hypotheses.org/, on which news, contributions, and event announcements as well as research results from the field of transregional studies are published. The goal of CrossArea e.V. is to give a voice to the common concerns of Area Studies, which are organized in such diverse ways, in order to expand the radius of action and intensify networking. The Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Afrikastudien (ZIAF), the Interdisziplinäre Zentrum für Ostasienstudien (IZO), the research initiative “ConTrust – Trust and Conflict. Political Life under Conditions of Uncertainty” at the research center Normative Orders, and “CEDITRAA – Cultural Entrepreneurship and Digital Transformation in Africa and Asia (www.ceditraa.net)” at Goethe Universität Frankfurt together with the Georg Foster Zentrum at Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz are hosting the 2024 CrossArea conference in Frankfurt. Titled Practices of Distribution and the Reconfiguration of Culture the conference will take place on 28-29 November at Normative Orders, Max-Horkheimer-Straße 2, 60486 Frankfurt am Main. A central part of the conference will be a panel devoted to highlighting new and upcoming research in area studies, featuring the work of early career scholars. As such, we are soliciting applications from early career researchers (defined as PhD students or post-doctoral scholars who have received their PhD since 2020) who are interested in presenting their research at the conference. As CrossArea brings together leading scholars of area studies from throughout Germany, this is an excellent opportunity for scholars looking to make an impression and identify potential hosts for their next professional move. For this early career scholars panel, we hope to highlight outstanding work in area studies and adjacent fields like history, anthropology, sociology, political science, and literary studies. We particularly welcome contributions focusing on the following themes:
- The transformation of cultural production through digital networks
- Logistics of culture and the political economy of global trade networks
- Transregional and/or comparative approaches to area studies
- Diasporas and their cultural production
- Urbanization, infrastructure, and creative and other industrial clusters in global megacities
- Transnational regulation and global cultural flows
- New methodological approaches to cultural transformation
Beyond these topics, we also welcome early career scholars working on transregional or comparative approaches to area studies. We also hope to encourage creative formats for scientific communication. We encourage applicants to propose creative presentation formats, such as Turbo Talks, Pecha Kucha, Ignite, or Lightning Talks. We welcome presentations revolving around digital media like podcasts, YouTube videos, or TikTok. If you have an idea for a format that you would like to propose to us, whether it is related to your research, modes of research communication, or other transfer activities, we are open to creative proposals.
Those selected to present on their research will be provided with a support to their round-trip travel costs to Frankfurt, as well as accommodation in Frankfurt for up to two nights. Participants of the CrossArea conference (including presenters) will also be provided with meals.
We expect to award up to 5 grants for early career scholars, and we particularly welcome applications from qualified female scholars as well as applicants with a disability. We encourage applicants from both within Germany as well as internationally, especially those who do not have access to institutional funding; however, we may not be able to fund all travel costs for those hoping to come to Frankfurt from further afield. We look forward to receiving your application, which you should send as one PDF file by 31 August 2024 to Stefan Schmid, coordinator of ZIAF, at s.schmid[at]em.uni-frankfurt.de Applications should include the following documents:
- Your CV (maximum 2 pages)
- An abstract of your current research project (maximum 1 page)
- A short description of the presentation format you propose for your talk (maximum 300 words)
- An estimate of your travel costs
We expect to make a decision on applications no later than the beginning of October 2024. For questions regarding this opportunity, please contact Prof. Dr. Vinzenz Hediger (e-mail: hediger[at]tfm.uni-frankfurt.de phone: +49 69 798 32077) or Dr. Stefan Schmid (e-mail: s.schmid[at]em.uni-frankfurt.de phone: +49 69/798-32097). www.ceditraa.net , https://afrikaforschung-rheinmain.de/