Call for Participants
The Tensions of Europe Early Career Scholars Committee is looking forward to seeing you at the summer school “Transformations in/of the History of Technology,” organized in connection to the 11th Tensions of Europe Conference “Transformations. Fundamental Change and Technology.” The summer school will take place at European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), September 16-19, 2024. It will be followed by the Tensions of Europe Conference (September 19-21, 2024).
The summer school aims at introducing PhD’s and early career scholars to the Tensions of Europe network as well as to facilitate and encourage networking between young scholars across borders, while building their academic skills.
The summer school will also explore the main conference theme (transformations) in relation to East/West transformative encounters (or lack thereof), and to the methodologies we can use to understand and describe them.
We will critically explore past and contemporary meanings of the categories “East” and “West” in the history of technology, from a European as well as global perspective. How did our understanding of these terms change over time? Which processes of inclusion and exclusion are implied in these categories? Which transformative encounters between West and East underline the blurred and unfixed nature of this divide? Which encounters (or missed encounters) contributed instead to materialize East/West divisions?
In order to promote network building, the summer school is organized to a large extent around workshops and group discussions. Participants will be asked to do some preparatory readings (3 to 5 papers); to write a short text on their research which will be circulated before the summer school (300-500 words); and to prepare a very brief presentation on it (2-3 minutes). Additional information and materials will be provided after the notification of acceptance (Spring 2024).
We invite applicants to submit a short bio and a short text (300-500 words each) explaining their interest in the topics of the summer school and providing an example from their research which connects to the theme of East/West transformative encounters (or lack thereof, in the sense of “missed encounters”).
Applications should be sent by February 4, 2024, through this form: https://framaforms.org/tensions-of-europe-summer-school-2024-participation-form-1700572249
Applicants will be notified of the results by March 15, 2024. If you have questions, you can reach out to Ginevra Sanvitale (sanvitag@tcd.ie)
The participants of the summer school are expected to be on-site. Due to the highly interactive nature of most summer school sessions, we are unable to provide online participation.
The participation fee is 50 euros. It includes accommodation in the university dorms (single room with private toilet), the welcome dinner, summer school lunches and coffee breaks, transport to/from Berlin on the field visit day. A limited number of travel grants will be available for participants without institutional funding. The grant will consist of a waiver of the participation fee and support for covering travel and accommodation expenses. If you need a travel grant, please indicate so in your application.
The summer school is organised by Tensions of Europe’s Early Career Scholars Committee: Ginevra Sanvitale (Trinity College Dublin, postdoc); Michal Durco (Slovak Academy of Science, postdoc); Siegfried Evens (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, PhD); Tijana Rupčić (Central European University, PhD).
This Tensions of Europe Summer School is sponsored by the European University Viadrina and the ToE network, alongside its institutional partners, including Eindhoven University of Technology; Foundation for the History of Technology; KTH Royal Institute of Technology; Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH); National and Kapodistrian University of Athens; Norsk Teknisk Museum.
Programme outline
The detailed programme with the complete list of guests will be published in 2024.
- On Day 0 (September 16), we meet for a welcome dinner and informal conviviality.
With: ToE ECS Committee. - On Day 1 (September 17), we discuss transformative East/West encounters from a multidisciplinary perspective. We begin with a round of presentations by participants, focusing on how the summer school theme intersects with our own research. Then, we learn about East/West encounters. In the last session, we start exploring concrete avenues for collaboration among the participants.
With: (guests to be announced); ToE ECS Committee. - On Day 2 (September 18), we go to Berlin to explore connections and perspectives on ‘transformation’ from outside academia. We start with a session about jobs beyond academia, focusing on cultural institutions and science communication. Then, we visit the Futurium science museum where we will see different ways to envision, investigate and materialize our technological futures.
With: dr. Karena Kalmbach (Futurium Berlin); ToE ECS Committee. - On Day 3 (September 19), we further discuss East/West transformative encounters with historians of technology. We look at methodologies to investigate ‘transformation’ in the history of technology, and further discuss our ideas for collaborative projects. We conclude the summer school with a conversation on future directions in the field. During the day, we also hear about the activities organized for early career scholars by the ToE network, and we have the opportunity to discuss research challenges and opportunities with colleagues joining for the main conference program.
With: prof. Valérie Schafer (Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History; University of Luxembourg); prof. Anna Åberg (Chalmers University of Technology); dr. Tirza Mayer (KTH Royal Institute of Technology); ToE ECS Committee.
