Europe from the Margins
As many refugees continue to cross the Mediterranean and are becoming a visible phenomenon of our everyday lives, the margins of Europe are currently moving to the centre of public attention. It is precisely at these margins that the process of negotiating what Europe is occurs. The Leibniz Institute of European History researches such processes of negotiation from the historical perspective and will do so in greater depth with its focus topic for 2016/2017: “Europe from the Margins”. With this focus, the IEG continues its work on an expanded concept of Europe, and investigates the meaning of supposedly backward spaces and the processes of inclusion and exclusion connected with them from the early modern period to contemporary history.
All too often, Europe is understood as a space which extends out from a supposed centre. When seen “from the margins”, however, the ambiguous and changing border spaces of Europe become visible. A perspective of this kind enables us to consciously integrate those “others”, who are otherwise pushed to the margins, into the history of Europe and to illustrate how they have contributed to the construction of Europe through their thinking and actions. In this way, the polyphonic shape of Europe as a politically, socially, culturally and religiously constructed communication space and its dynamic and ambivalent boundary markings become visible.
The focus topic approaches this ambiguity from different perspectives. A series of lectures delivered as part of the IEG research colloquium discusses the perspective on and of Europe for example from external geographical regions, specifically the perception of Europe among American Jews and among Protestant settlers in the “New World”. Exclusion within Europe is examined taking the example of the Sinti and Roma, as well as the way poverty is dealt with in different societies and Europe as a whole. Other lectures will discuss the margins from the perspective of the history of ideas, for example the meaning of the “Third Rome” in Orthodox Christianity’s concept of Europe, of emancipation as a protest movement of “marginal” groups, such as women in the nineteenth century, and of secular Europe as seen from the margins of the Iberian peninsula.
Additionally, as part of its focus topic the IEG aims at organizing a conference on “Shared Sacred Places and Multi-Religious Space”, a masterclass for PhD students on the topic of “Eurocentrism” and a series of films for the interested public.
The focus topic 2016/17 is based on a concept developed by a team of research associates: Gregor Feindt, Denise Klein, Sarah Panter and Manfred Sing.
The focus topic approaches this ambiguity from different perspectives. A series of lectures delivered as part of the IEG research colloquium discusses the perspective on and of Europe for example from external geographical regions, specifically the perception of Europe among American Jews and among Protestant settlers in the “New World”. Exclusion within Europe is examined taking the example of the Sinti and Roma, as well as the way poverty is dealt with in different societies and Europe as a whole. Other lectures will discuss the margins from the perspective of the history of ideas, for example the meaning of the “Third Rome” in Orthodox Christianity’s concept of Europe, of emancipation as a protest movement of “marginal” groups, such as women in the nineteenth century, and of secular Europe as seen from the margins of the Iberian peninsula.
Additionally, as part of its focus topic the IEG aims at organizing a conference on “Shared Sacred Places and Multi-Religious Space”, a masterclass for PhD students on the topic of “Eurocentrism” and a series of films for the interested public.
The focus topic 2016/17 is based on a concept developed by a team of research associates: Gregor Feindt, Denise Klein, Sarah Panter and Manfred Sing.