Monthly Archives: März 2025

CfP: Zeitgeschichte des Haushalts (07/2025, Bern); bis: 15.04.2025

Anna Baumann, Sibylle Marti und Matthias Ruoss, Univ. Bern (Web)

Zeit: 04.07.2025
Ort: Univ. Bern
Einreichfrist: 15.04.2025

Blickt man in die historische Forschungsliteratur zu europäischen Gesellschaften in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts, so scheint der Haushalt kaum mehr Bedeutung zu haben. Entweder mutierte er zu einer statistischen Grösse oder er wird nur noch im Globalen Süden lokalisiert. Der Workshop nimmt diesen angeblichen Bedeutungsverlust in Europa zum Anlass, um über den Haushalt als Ort der Vergesellschaftung nach 1945 in der Schweiz nachzudenken. Denn „household matters“, wie Eileen Boris und Kirsten Swinth jüngst mit Blick auf feministische Analysen der sozialen Reproduktion, die historische Familienforschung, die Geschichte der Sexualität und die Geschichte der Frauenarbeit klarstellten.[1]
Der Workshop geht von einer breiten Definition des Haushalts aus und versteht ihn als sozialen Raum, der sowohl Arbeitsverhältnisse als auch Beziehungsgeflechte prägt. Ausgehend hiervon interessieren sich die Organisator:innen insbesondere für die Frage, ob die Zeitgeschichte des Haushalts etablierte historische Narrative des Wandels und der Kontinuität bestätigt oder widerlegt (Nachkriegszeit, 68, „nach dem Boom“, Deindustrialisierung, Globalisierung, Rationalisierung, Massenkonsum, Wissensgesellschaft, etc.). Im Mittelpunkt stehen unter anderem folgenden Fragen: Wie entwickelten sich die Arbeit und geschlechtsspezifische Arbeitsteilung im Haushalt in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts? Wie wandelte sich die im Haushalt ausgeübte Lohnarbeit? Welchen Einfluss hatten Architektur und (neue) Technologien auf den Haushaltsalltag? Welche Rolle kam dem Haushalt als Konsumeinheit zu und welche Wohnformen etablierten sich? Wie veränderte sich die familiäre und generationelle Zusammensetzung und die im Haushalt geleistete Sorgearbeit? Welche Diskurse rund um den Haushalt und die Haushaltsführung entfalteten sich und auf welchen Wissensbeständen basierten diese? Welchen Einfluss hatten dabei feministische Politisierungsweisen? Und wie regulierten Politik und Gesetzgebung den Haushalt und die darin getätigte Arbeit?

Mit diesen Fragen adressiert der Workshop vor allem Historiker:innen, interdisziplinäre Beiträge mit historischen Bezügen sind willkommen. Continue reading →

CfP: Contingency, Precarity, and Jeopardy: Labor in the Space Between (Publication); by: 01.04.2025

Journal „The Space Between: Literature & Culture 1914-1945“; Layne Craig and Alexandra Edwards (Web)

Proposals by: 01.04.2025

It has become a cliché in academic spaces to acknowledge the increasing precarity of work in our field. University and government austerity, state censorship of LGBTQ+ and DEI-related learning, and the increasing ubiquity of AI replacements for intellectual labor produce interlocking crises that motivate us to hand-wringing commentary, but also to active response. Working in an environment of economic and existential uncertainty about our jobs and our fields, academic laborers have exited their roles, made do within limitations, adapted creatively, rebelled, and found new modes of solidarity—and sometimes all of these within the span of an academic year.
This special issue calls for a response to our own precarity that draws out the lineages, theoretical structures, and persistent historical inequities that tie our experiences to those of laborers in „the space between.“ Not unlike our era, the years from 1918-1940 were marked by shifts in technology, changes in understandings of gender, racist rhetoric and violence, and the rise of fascist movements, all of which impacted workspaces in the home, the factory, the farm, and the office. The editors hope that this issue will illuminate the ways in which the uncertainties and dangers of labor under capitalism shift and persist, unite and divide workers, pressure identities differentially, and self-perpetuate over time.
The editors welcome papers across disciplines that expand our ideas of labor, question the value of labor, point to alternate economic systems, and commemorate laborers who resisted and who succumbed to labor’s precarities. Essays on artistic work and the artist as laborer in the modern period are appreciated, but they hope to publish these alongside essays that call attention to the domestic, industrial, academic, and agricultural labor that made art possible. While Marxist engagements with the conditions of labor are part of this conversation, the frameworks we envision may move far beyond Marx in their theoretical orientations.
Accordingly, the editors seek to make space in this issue for contingent and/or precarious academic laborers to theorize contingently. As la paperson writes in A Third University is Possible, „A recognition of impossibility means to theorize contingently—that is, my thinking is temporary; my right to think aloud is contingent on the apparatus of legitimated colonial knowledge production that ought to be abolished.“ Continue reading →

CfP: Feminism and the making of the built environment: from past to present (Yearbook of Women’s History); by: 01.05.2025

Yearbook of Women’s History; Guest editors: Lidewij Tummers and María Novas (Web)

Proposals by: 01.05.2025

Gender theorists and activists often highlight the historical notion that “cities are made by men.” But is this entirely true? Or does this perspective omit and erase critical aspects of history? The scarcity of women in the architectural canon compels us to ask: why is this the case? What were – and are – the institutional gatekeepers that systematically excluded women, people of colour, and other marginalized groups from the proverbial drawing board, nowadays and in the past? Recent research into these questions has uncovered a wealth of historical information that challenges the supposed absence of women and other marginalized groups from architectural history and theory. Feminist critiques of urban planning and development from the 1980s and 1990s exposed how the built environment often failed to accommodate everyday practices tied to female roles. This failure was largely attributed to the lack of female representation in planning structures. But feminism is about more than simply the presence of women. It is a critical lens and theoretical framework through which the nature and impact of gender inequality can be explored. As such, feminist architecture challenges entrenched norms and reimagines how spaces are designed and inhabited. Starting from this premise, the Yearbook of Women’s History aims to examine how the built environment was shaped within and beyond the confines of architects‘ offices. How have local authorities, clients, building firms, activist organizations, and knowledge institutions been influenced by feminist ideas, intersectional perspectives, or decolonial thought on architecture? How have feminist contributions influenced the development of buildings, districts, and entire cities? And in what ways were such perspectives excluded or ignored?
For the 44th issue of the Yearbook of Women’s History, guest editors Lidewij Tummers and María Novas invite contributions that explore feminist architectural practices in past and present – whether through built projects, design approaches, or biographies. How have feminist frameworks (re)shaped our understanding of architecture and urban planning? How were women involved in the making of houses, institutional buildings such as asylums, schools, prisons, monasteries, shops, markets, governmental buildings? Whose stories remain untold, and what can we learn from them? Read more … (Web)

CfP: Historical Perspectives on Infant Care and Child Education. Emmi Pikler, Infant Homes, and the Politics of Child Welfare in 20th Century Hungary (10/2025, Budapest); by: 01.05.2025

CEU Democracy Institut, Budapest (Web) und Österreichisches Kulturforum Budapest (Web)

Time: 06.-08.10.2025
Venue: Budapest
Proposals by: 01.05.2025

This conference aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue on the historical and political dimensions of infant care, child welfare, and family policies in 20th-century Hungary. The conference will examine the political, social, cultural, and gender dynamics that shaped child-rearing practices and state interventions in family life. Understanding the professionalization of childcare requires examining developments from WWI to the present day. This allows for an examination of the diverse political and ideological regimes that have shaped the childcare field, as well as the memory politics that continue to influence its trajectory. In this way, particular emphasis is placed on the life and work of Emmi Pikler (1902–1984), a doctor and childcare specialist who influenced the evolution of infant care in post-WWII Hungary and established a highly successful international organization. Although Pikler was one of the most influential childcare experts in socialist Hungary, her life and work remain largely unexplored from an interdisciplinary perspective.
The organisers invite researchers, historians, sociologists, psychologists, child welfare and care professionals to examine the historical development of infant and child care in Hungary, with a particular focus on Emmi Pikler’s work and the role of infant homes (csecsemőotthonok) in shaping child protection policies and the care of young children by families. The objective is to illuminate how child protection systems were shaped by social necessities and political aspirations, offering invaluable insights into the contemporary challenges in child welfare policy. Presentations that explore the political implications of child welfare policies, the interplay between government and society in child welfare, care, and protection, and the impact of ideologies on childcare systems are highly encouraged. Read more and source … (Web)

Proposals can address, but are not limited to, the following topics: Emmi Pikler’s Contributions and Political Context | The Functioning of Infant Homes and State Intervention | Child-Rearing Ideologies | Health and Welfare Policies in a Political Lens | Nation-Building and Childcare | Women’s Roles and Gender Politics | The Politics of Poverty and Child Neglect | Comparative Political Perspectives

CfP: Wenn der Tag zu Ende geht. Nachtarbeit seit dem 19. Jahrhundert (11/2025, Bielefeld); bis: 01.05.2025

Anna Horstmann und Martin Lutz, Univ. Bielefeld (Web); Marcel Bois, Forschungsstelle für Zeitgeschichte in Hamburg (Web) in Koop. mit der German Labour History Association (Web)

Zeit: 24.-25.11.2025
Ort: Univ. Bielefeld
Einreichfrist: 01.05.2025

Ob Pflegerin im Krankenhaus, Portier im Hotel, Stahlarbeiter am Abstich oder Ingenieurin im Kraftwerk: Sie alle vereint die Notwendigkeit, nachts arbeiten zu müssen. Nachtarbeit gilt als eine Form atypischer Arbeitszeiten. Die Gründe für diese Form des Arbeitens sind vielfältig und basieren auf technischen, wirtschaftlichen, sozialen oder kulturellen Anforderungen. Letztere betreffen meist Berufe, die mit dem großstädtischen „Nachtleben“ verbunden sind wie Barkeeper:innen, Türsteher:innen oder auch Sexarbeiter:innen. Technisch bedingt ist kontinuierliche Schichtarbeit dann, wenn Produktions- oder Arbeitsprozesse nicht unterbrochen werden können, wie etwa in der Chemieindustrie. Sozial notwendig ist Nachtarbeit etwa in Krankenhäusern und anderen Einrichtungen der öffentlichen Versorgung. Wirtschaftliche Ursachen finden sich in der Gewinnmaximierung, etwa durch längere Maschinenlaufzeiten.
Nachtarbeit tritt also in den unterschiedlichsten Branchen auf, dementsprechend viele Menschen müssen in den Abendstunden ihrem Beruf nachgehen. Betroffen sind nicht nur die Nachtarbeitenden selbst, auch das Umfeld ist gezwungen, sich dem Arbeitsrhythmus anzupassen. Gleichzeitig ist unser Zusammenleben auf diese Nacharbeit angewiesen. Trotzdem ist sie nach wie vor ein wenig erforschtes Feld der Labour History. Ob und in welcher Weise die Arbeit „gegen die Uhr“ thematisiert wird, hängt stark von Faktoren wie Branche, gewerkschaftlicher Repräsentation, politischem System und sozioökonomischen Status der Betroffenen ab. So war es etwa in der Bundesrepublik gesellschaftlich akzeptiert, dass Kellnerinnen bis spät in die Nacht arbeiteten. Industriearbeiterinnen war genau dieses hingegen bis 1992 verboten. In der DDR war zeitgleich die Nacharbeit von Frauen politisch wie wirtschaftlich erwünscht.

Die Veranstalter:innen laden dazu ein, Beitragsvorschläge zu sozialen, kulturellen und wirtschaftlichen Aspekten der Nachtarbeit einzusenden. Es bieten sich eine ganze Reihe von Komplexen an, die auf der Tagung behandelt werden können:
– Fallbeispiele für unterschiedliche Formen von Nachtarbeit
– Organisation und Regulierung von Nachtarbeit in unterschiedlichen Staaten und/oder Branchen Continue reading →

Vortrag: Rychèl Thérin Scott: MANA WĀHINE MĀORI AND THE MATAAHO COLLECTIVE: The Power of Collectivity and How We Feed Our Roots, 25.03.2025, Vienna

Österreichisch-Südpazifische Gesellschaft (OSPG) (Web)

Zeit: 25.03.2025, 18:00 Uhr
Ort: Institut für Kultur- & Sozialanthropologie, Univ. Wien, NIG, Universitätsstr. 7, 4. Stock

Indigenous Feminisms are not new. Mana wāhine Māori envelops concepts of female empowerment, strength and integrity. This lecture discusses the work and practice of Māori artists Mataaho Collective as a holistic embodying of mana wāhine in action. For many, the idea of feminism might feel like a western notion, but upon analysis it becomes clear that feminist principles are inherent to Maori and other Indigenous cultures. Mana Wāhine, meaning female empowerment, strength and integrity, is interwoven in various forms throughout Maori culture and society. When Māori women act, we are already moving forward from a place of respect and equality within our community. It is the interaction with western and colonial constructs that make us need to rewind and reiterate that our position as women is not suppressed from within our own communities, rather from the constructs and prejudices of the overriding (western, colonial, christian) majority.
The artwork of Mata Aho Collective is firmly based in Te Ao Māori, and purposefully holds Mana Wāhine at the core of the work they produce. In their own words: „Mana wāhine, namely the empowerment and integrity of Māori women, is the mātauranga Māori that forms the basis of our work, including processes of research, development, and wānanga. We employ it as a philosophy through which to view our histories” (Mata Aho Collective, 2018). Taking the process, practice and artistic works of the Mata Aho Collective, and the writings of Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Leonie Pihama, Huia Jahnke and others, this paper will discuss and show how contemporary indigenous art practices operating from a transcultural position can reverberate out and beyond their communities of origin; how indigenous feminisms, such as Mana Wāhine are intrinsically different in priority and aim to western feminism, and how decolonised and decentralised thinking is a crucial component to moving beyond essentialist, binary understandings of what contemporary feminism can be in a interconnected world.

Rychèl Thérin Scott is a Māori/Jèrriais artist and researcher based in Vienna. Continue reading →

CfP: Queer Histories of East Central Europe in the 20th Century (08/2025, Marburg); by: 30.04.2025

Herder-Institut Marburg: Jaromír Mrňka and Denisa Nešťáková (Web)

Time: 26.-27.08-2025
Venue: Herder-Institut Marburg
Proposals by: 30.04.2025

The Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe, Institute of the Leibniz Association, in collaboration with the Max Weber Foundation, the German Historical Institute (GHI) Warsaw with its Prague Branch, and the Faculty of Humanities at Charles University in Prague, warmly invites scholars, including early-career researchers such as PhD candidates and postdoctoral fellows, to contribute to the starting-point conference “Queer Histories of East Central Europe in the 20th Century.”
This meeting will serve as an initial platform for participants to conceptualize their research papers. A follow-up event, organized in partnership with the Herder Institute, the Faculty of Humanities at Charles University, and GHI in Prague or Warsaw, will provide an opportunity to present developed papers and contextualize them alongside additional contributions. The outcome of these two events will be a special issue edited by Jaromír Mrňka and Denisa Nešťáková.

Scope and Objectives
While queer histories have been increasingly studied in Western contexts, gender and sexual diversity in East Central Europe remain underexplored, often marginalized by dominant national narratives and shaped by intersecting forces of ideology, repression, and resistance. This event aims to amplify research on the experiences, identities, and activism of LGBTQ+ individuals and communities within the historical and political landscapes of East Central Europe. We wish to examine queer lives and identities in relation to broader socio-political transformations in East Central Europe:
– The late Habsburg, Russian, and Ottoman Empires: The regulation of gender and sexuality in imperial legal and medical discourses, and the lived experiences of queer individuals in multi-ethnic imperial societies.
– Interwar sexual modernity and nationalisms: The interplay between legal reforms, sexology, and the growth of urban queer subcultures alongside the rise of authoritarian nationalisms and eugenic discourses. Read more … (Web)

CfP: (Queere) Erinnerungskultur: Jahrestagung 2025 des Fachverbandes Homosexualität und Geschichte (FHG) (10/2025, Graz); bis: 30.04.2025

Vorstand Fachverband Homosexualität und Geschichte e.V., Elena Barta, Michael Schön, Martin Sölle, Karl-Heinz Steinle (Web)

Zeit: 11.10.2025
Ort: Pavillon der Sozialdemokrat*innen im Grazer Volksgarten, Graz
Einreichfrist: 30.04.2025

Zur Jahrestagung des Fachverbands Homosexualität und Geschichte (FHG) laden die Veranstalter:innen in diesem Jahr nach Graz/Österreich ein und freuen sich sehr, dass sie dabei von der Stadt Graz unterstützt werden. Der öffentliche Teil der Jahrestagung wird als ganztägige Fachtagung stattfinden. Die Veranstalter:innen möchten die diesjährige Jahrestagung erneut dem Themenfeld der (queeren) Erinnerungskultur widmen. Als Vortragsdauer sind 30 Minuten mit anschließender Diskussion vorgesehen. Für die Vortragenden sind Honorarzahlungen und die Erstattung von Hotel- und Fahrkosten vorgesehen. Die Vortragstexte werden als Beiträge für die vereinseigene Fachzeitschrift „invertito. Jahrbuch für die Geschichte der Homosexualitäten“ angefragt werden.

Aufruf zur Einreichung von Beiträgen (PDF)
Gedenken hat einen hohen Stellenwert im öffentlichen Diskurs und Handeln. Erst in den letzten Jahrzehnten haben sexuelle und geschlechtliche Identitäten jenseits der Heterosexualität einen Raum und festen Ort in der Gedenkkultur gefunden. Oft wurden diese angeregt und/oder erstritten von lokalen Geschichts-Initiativen und häufig erst nach langen Diskussionen umgesetzt.
Für die Vortragsthemen der Jahrestagung können konkrete Gedenk-Projekte in den Blick genommen werden: Solche, die umgesetzt wurden wie z.B. 1994 der „Frankfurter Engel“ in Frankfurt/Main, 1995 das „Mahnmal für die lesbischen und schwulen Opfer des Nationalsozialismus“ in Köln, 2008 das „Mahnmal für die im Nationalsozialismus verfolgten Homosexuellen“ in Berlin oder die „Gedenkkugel“ der Initiative „Autonome feministische Frauen und Lesben aus Deutschland und Österreich“ als Gedenkzeichen an lesbische Frauen im KZ Ravensbrück im Jahr 2022 oder das jüngste „Denkmal für Männer und Frauen, die Opfer der Homosexuellen-Verfolgung in der NS-Zeit wurden“ 2023 in Wien. Insbesondere interessiert auch die Auseinandersetzung mit Projekten in Planung wie das „Projekt Gedenkzeichen in Graz“. Continue reading →

CfP: Always Here: Non-Binary Gender, Trans Identities, and Queerness in the Global Middle Ages (c. 250–1650) (10/2025, New York); by: 15.04.2025

Binghamton University’s Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (CEMERS) (Web)

Time: 24.-25.10.2025
Venue: Binghamton Univ.
Proposals by: 15.04.2025

Queer, trans, intersex, non-binary, genderfluid, and gender-nonconforming people and sources are abundant in the premodern textual, artistic, and artifactual record, and studies of gender and sexuality in the medieval period are flourishing as never before. Yet, work on the LGBTQIA+ Middle Ages remains limited—especially in our classrooms and in sharing our work with nonacademic queer and trans communities. Many important sources remain out of reach for students, and an alarming amount of queer and trans medieval and early-modern history is not available—and its existence routinely denied—to LGBTQIA+ people beyond academia. Even researchers and teachers dedicated to pre- and early-modern gender and sexuality frequently remain siloed according to language and region: Latinists speak primarily to Latinists, Arabists to Arabists, and so on, while scholars of the Americas are often absent from conversations among scholars of premodern Africa and Eurasia. Thus, despite recent growth and successes, the study of the queer and trans pre- and early modern remains disturbingly fragmented and vital sources inaccessible to many.
In our own historical moment, members of the LGBTQIA+ community face frightening and rising levels of violence and oppression. So what are we, as scholars of the medieval and earlymodern periods, to do? CEMERS seeks to bring together researchers dedicated to the study of non-binary gender, trans identities, and queerness during the premodern period broadly defined, to share research and discuss the challenges of LGBTQIA+ scholarship. The organisers invite proposals for papers and panels for CEMERS’ 2025 conference. The conference will include plenary lectures by Leah DeVun (Rutgers Univ.) and Pernilla Myrne (Univ. of Gothenburg), as well as plenary roundtables dedicated to translation and pedagogy. The organiseres hope to facilitate conversations between scholars across disciplines and geographic and linguistic boundaries, with the purpose of moving beyond academic silos to build a broad, truly global, and ideally collaborative textual and theoretical basis for future research. They are particularly eager for papers that examine regions beyond Western Europe, but Europeanists are welcome and encouraged to submit proposals. Read more … (Web)

Workshop: Encounters with the Photographic Archives, 08.-09.04.2025, Vienna

Vida Bakondy and Maria Six-Hohenbalken: Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Web)

Time: 08.-09.04.2025
Venue: Austrian Academy of Sciences, Johannessaal, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Pl. 2, 1010 Vienna
Registration (Web)

08.04.20205: Public Lecture (PDF)
Elizabeth Edwards: Making Paths and Clearing Tracks. From ‚colonial‘ photographs to historical presences

09.04.2025: Workshop: Encounters with the Photographic Archives (PDF)

This workshop examines critical approaches to engaging with visual archives in the 21st century, emphasizing processes of reinterpretation and rediscovery. It focuses on photographic archives created across various historical periods, regions and contexts, shaped by different production histories and socio-political conditions. Through a series of case studies, the workshop will explore how photographs – be they private, un/sighted, or official – have been produced, archived, collected, used and exhibited. The focus is on the uncovering and critical engagement with existing private and public photographic archives.

Panels: Out of the Boxes: (Un)sighted Photo Archives and Collections | Counter Narratives: Reframing Archival Collections through Research and Exhibitions | From Analogue to Digital | Reconnecting Photographs – Participatory Approaches

Contributions by: Vida Bakondy (Vienna), Radovan Cukić (Belgrade), Elizabeth Edwards (Leicester), Katarina Matiasek (Vienna), Susan Meiselas (New York), Robert Pichler (Vienna), Maria Six-Hohenbalken (Vienna), Martina Trognitz (Vienna), and Eva Tropper (Graz)