Europa-Forum

Europe forum

Activities

26 June 2025
Viele Vorstellungen von Europa. Geschichte, Zugehörigkeit und das Europäische Projekt in der Krise
Book discussion and panel discussion featuring Gregor Feindt (IEG), a co-author of the book "Shades of Blue", as part of the series "Reden wir über Europa!" (Let's Talk About Europe!) in collaboration with the Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Rheinland-Pfalz.
Flyer

10–13 June 2025
The Spirit of Helsinki then and now
Conference marking the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act of 1975 and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe held in Helsinki. Organized by Johannes Paulmann and Gregor Feindt (IEG) in collaboration with Katharina Kunter (University of Helsinki). This initiative represents a partnership between IEG, the University of Helsinki, the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship in Berlin, the European Network for Remembrance and Solidarity in Warsaw, Historians Without Borders, and the Aue Foundation in Helsinki.
Programme

14 May 2025
Camps/Prisons, Freedom and States of Exception: Reflections on an Uneasy Relationship
Masterclass with IEG Senior Research Fellow Jasper Heinzen (University of York) and this year's IEG fellow Guillaume Minea-Pic (Universität Konstanz).

12 May 2025
Rechte Christen: Religion und Rechtsextremismus in den USA, Deutschland und Polen
Workshop at the IEG with Friedensakademie Rheinland-Pfalz at Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern Landau (RPTU), the Evangelische Akademie der Pfalz, the Arbeitsstelle Frieden und Umwelt der Evangelischen Kirche der Pfalz and the Evangelische Akademie Frankfurt.
Flyer

8 May 2025
Geschichte in der postkolonialen Demokratie
Discussion panel as part of the nationwide action week "Demokratie stärken," initiated by the newly established network "Historiker*innen für eine demokratische Gesellschaft." The event will feature contributions from Aline Meyenberg (Historisches Seminar JGU Mainz), Anne Brandstetter (Stadtrundgang Mainz-Postkolonial), Kilian Harrer (IEG), Bernhard Gißibl (IEG Mainz; involved in "Mannheim postkolonial") and FC Ente Bagdad.
Article on the event

23 October 2024
USA und Europa. Eine Beziehung vor der Wahl
Discussion panel with Mita Banerjee (Obama Institute of JGU Mainz), Philipp Gassert (Universität Mannheim), Andrew Hammel (US-amerikanischer Anwalt) and John C. Wood (IEG) as part of the series "Reden wir über Europa!" in collaboration with Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Rheinland-Pfalz.
Flyer

8 July 2024
Wer darf mitspielen? Diversität und Differenz auf dem Fußballplatz
Discussion panel with Michael Ebling (Minister of the Interior and Sports in Rhineland-Palatinate), Stefan Bell (1. FSV Mainz 05), Nils Havemann (Universität Stuttgart), Malin Wilckens and Gregor Feindt (beide IEG) as part of the series "Reden wir über Europa!" in collaboration with Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Rheinland-Pfalz.
Flyer

18 January 2024
Transimperial History
Masterclass with IEG Senior Research Fellow Cyrus Schayegh (Geneva Graduate Institute)

IEG contributions to the Leibniz Research Alliance “Value of the Past”, including

2–4 April 2025: Deutsche Geschichte, europäische Zukunft? Vom Wert einer umstrittenen Vergangenheit für die außeruniversitäre Forschung nach 1949 und 1989
Conference in the framework of Leibniz Research Alliance "Value of the Past”, organized by Gregor Feindt and Joachim Berger (IEG), in cooperation with Steffen Sammler and Marcus Otto (GEI Braunschweig).
Programme

19–21 March 2025
Rewilding in Europe: Genealogies, Imaginaries and Practices of Conservation in the Anthropocene
Interdisciplinary conference at Museum Koenig Bonn, Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse der Biodiversität, co-organized by Bernhard Gißibl (IEG).
Programme

10–11 February 2025
Dynamische Räume
Bilancing workshop by Lab 2.1 at Leibniz Research Alliance "Value of the Past”.

25–27 September 2024
Raum-Zeitenwende des Anthropozäns
Annual conference of the Leibniz Research Alliance "Value of the Past", Museum Koenig Bonn, co-organized by Bernhard Gißibl (IEG) and the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change Museum Koenig Bonn.
Programme

15–16 February 2024
Europäische Geschichte(n) der Ukraine. Vom Wert und den Werten einer europäischen Vergangenheit
Workshop in the framework of Leibniz Research Alliance "Value of the Past", organized by Gregor Feindt and Joachim Berger (IEG), in cooperation with Steffen Sammler and Marcus Otto (GEI Braunschweig).
Programme

25–26 January 2024
Legacies of Conquest: Interconnections and Memories of the Ottoman and Spanish Empires
Two-day conference in the framework of Leibniz Research Alliance "Value of the Past" co-organized by Denise Klein and Thomas Weller (IEG), Barbara Henning (JGU Mainz), and Richard Herzog (Philipps Universität Marburg) at the IEG Mainz.
Programme
Conference report
Third workshop in the series “After the Conquest: A Comparison of the Ottoman and Spanish Empires (History and Memory)”

Aims

In the Europe forum, the IEG combines reflection on overarching research perspectives with discussion of topical issues in academia and society. As a space for thought and communication that crosses institutional boundaries, the Europe forum facilitates networking among scholars working at the IEG and conceptualises the transfer of their research findings within the Institute, in the international academic community and in society at large.

The focus is on fundamental questions of historical research on Europe and how that research relates to society. In the Europe forum, the IEG interrogates the values and characteristics that are normatively inscribed in Europe and regularly universalised, as well as the European “special paths” (e.g. in the development of plurality and pluralism). This is associated with a de-essentialising perspective on “religion”, which poses the question of the significance of religion – as a construction and mobilisation – in different contexts of action afresh in each case rather than presupposing or excluding it. In this way, the IEG historicises both the connection between Europe and religion and the concept of a “Christian Europe”. A further fundamental question is the relationship between temporality and spatiality in the histor(iograph)ical construction of Europe, for example by examining the epochal designations relevant to the research foci – such as modernity, modernity or the Anthropocene – for their normative, teleological and Eurocentric connotations. One way to do so would be to compare intra- and non-European periodisations and spatial orders. Following on from this, the Europe forum can address the spatial-categorical delimitations and delimitations of Europe as they become visible, for example, in the Anthropocene debate and in the course of digitalisation.

In discussing these and other fundamental questions, the IEG reflects and formulates its historical and scholarly contribution to Europe’s position and role in the world in the Europa forum. In a diachronic comparison, the participants determine the proximity and distance between current social debates and the manifold historical problem constellations that are analysed in the research foci – with regard to social inequality and resilience, the image of humanity and the basis of values, or knowledge production and distribution in European societies. In so doing, the Europe forum connects the different approaches of the three research foci – society, religion and the environment – as well as the overarching methodological question of the digital transformation of historical research. At the same time, the Europe forum will host a comparative discussion of how the ideas of what constitutes “society”, “religion” and “environment” changed historically and how these fields were intertwined in the respective contexts of action – for example, how concepts of social orders or human-“environment” relationships interacted with religious categories.