2008
The World and the Nations
New Methodological and Theoretical Approaches
Three seminars at the Helsinki University, Renvall Institute (CENS) 8, 10 and 11 December 2008
Convenor: Bo Stråth
Political, social and economic processes involve increasingly the whole world. The globalisation narrative that emerged with convincing power in the early 1990s described a world beyond the nation states. Today it has lost mobilising power. The assumption of the disappearance of the nation states has proved to be premature. Key questions today deal with the connections between the world and the nations, and also with the position and role of Europe in these relationships. Another key issue is the role of the social, which disappeared in the globalisation rhetoric in the 1990s, although it had been a core dimension of the 19th and 20th century construction of the nation states and today is reappearing as a counter-narrative to the globalisation language. Nationalism and protectionism flourish in the framework of economic globalisation. A third issue deals with historical analogies to the global entanglement of the world under concepts like empire, colony and civilisation.
The crucial question is how academic work can conceptualise these contradictory trends in the wake of the erosion of the globalisation narrative, and at the same time transgress methodological nationalism which has determined social and human sciences since the 19th century.
In order to shed light on this question a series of three seminars will be organised by the Centre for Nordic Studies (CENS) at the Renvall Institute on 8, 10 and 11 December 2008. We are not thinking in terms of one conceptualisation or one counter-alternative to the globalisation theory but of a plurality of methodological and theoretical approaches.
Programme
8 December 10-16 with a buffet lunch
Tieteiden talo, Kirkkokatu 6, Lecture Room 405
Historical Sociology in New Ways: World History from a Civilisational Perspective
Co-organised with Risto Alapuro, Professor of Sociology, University of Helsinki.
Johann Arnason - Locating civilizations in history - how to avoid the Spenglerian fallacy
Almut Höfert - Europe and the Near East: the Transcultural Comparison in the Premodern Time and the Master Narrative on Islam
Mikako Iwatake - The Postcolonial Turn in Japan in the 1990s
Willfried Spohn - Historical and Comparative Sociology in a Globalizing World
10 December 10-16 with a buffet lunch
Tieteidentalo, Kirkkokatu 6, Lecture Room 401
New Approaches to the Conceptualisation of the Nation
Miroslav Hroch - The European Diversity of Nations and Nationalism
Mikako Iwatake - Monster called Nation; Nagao Nishikawa's Critique of the Nation State
Willfried Spohn - Europeanization. Religion and Nationalism - Report on a Volkswagen Research Project at University of Göttingen
11 December 10-15 with a buffet lunch
Tieteidentalo, Kirkkokatu 6, Lecture Room 401
Social History as World History. Alternatives to the Globalisation Theory. Preliminary Thoughts for a Panel at the World History Congress in Amsterdam in 2010
Co-organised with Pauli Kettunen, Professor of Social Science History, University of Helsinki
Hartmut Kaelble - European History in a Global Perspective
Hans-Jürgen Puhle - Towards a World History? Social Policies and Politics in a Globalised World
Constitutions and Geopolitics in Post-Napoleonic Europe
A series of seminars organised by the Centre for Nordic Studies and the research project Constitutions and Geopolitics - Social Protest and Search for Stability: An Alternative Historical Perspective on Europe.
Convener: Dr Bo Stråth, Professor in Nordic, European and Global History
The colloquium is open for researchers in the field. Registration is however required. Frequent and active participation appreciated.
For more information and registration contact Veera Nisonen, coordinator (tel. +358-40-7382817, E-mail: veera.nisonen@helsinki.fi)
Seminar Programme for the Spring Term 2008
The seminar assembles on Tuesdays in the meeting room 10 in Metsätalo (Unionkatu 40, 3rd floor).
Tuesday 5th February
15.00 - 17.00
The North in the Post-Napoleonic Restauration
Bo Stråth, University of Helsinki
Jussi Kurunmäki, University of Stockholm
Tuesday 12th February
13.00 - 17.00
Meternicht's European Concert and Alexander's Holy Alliance: the Post-Napoleonic heritage and the Deutsche Bund
Volker Sellin, Univeristy of Heidelberg
Finland and Norway. Small States in the Period of the Holy Alliance
Max Engman, Åbo Akademi
Tuesday 26th February
13.00-17.00
Political Radicalism and Constitutions: Russia and Congress-Poland
Johannes Remy, University of Helsinki
The Finnish Constitutional Debate
Jani Marjanen, University of Helsinki
Tuesday 11th March
14.00 - 17.00
The Myth of 1648 as Foundation of Europe
Benno Teschke, University of Sussex
Discussants:
Risto Alapuro, University of Helsinki
Peter Haldén, University of Stockholm
Tuesday 8th April
11.00 - 17.00 (lunch break 13.00-14.00)
(please note that the time has changed)
Mazzini's Young Europe and 1848
Hagen Schulz-Forsberg, Århus University
The European Peace Congress 1843-1879
Thomas Hippler, University of Lyon
The Nordic Peace Activists and Their European Connections
Norbert Götz, University of Helsinki
Tuesday 22nd April
10.00-17.00 (lunch break 13.00-14.00)
Geopolitical thoughts: Some Introductory Remarks
Bo Stråth, University of Helsinki
Article: Mitteleuropa, From List to Naumann
Geopolitical Balance or International Law: two Alternatives
Martti Koskenniemi, University of Helsinki
Norway 1814. Between Popular Sovereignty and Monarchical Power
Dag Michalsen, University of Oslo
Liberalism and constitutionalism in nineteenth century Spain: the
relevance of 1812
Jose Portillo, Universidad del Pais Vasco and Universidad de Santiago de
Compostela
Conceptual History and Global Translations:
The Euro-Asian and African Semantics of the Social and the Economic
A series of seminars organised by the Centre for Nordic Studies and the research project Conceptual History and Global Translations:
The Euro-Asian and African Semantics of the Social and the Economic
Convener: Dr Bo Stråth, Professor in Nordic, European and Global History
The colloquium is open for researchers in the field. Registration is however required. Frequent and active participation appreciated.
For more information and registration contact Veera Nisonen, coordinator (tel. +358-40-7382817, veera.nisonen@helsinki.fi)
Seminar Programme for the Spring Term 2008
The seminar assembles in the Russian Room at the Renvall Institute (Unioninkatu 38 A).
Tuesday 4th March
3 pm - 5 pm
The Conceptualisation of the Social in Norden
Pauli Kettunen, University of Helsinki
Cancelled
Tuesday 1st April
3 pm - 6 pm
New Discourses in Contemporary China: The Conceptualisation of the Social
Hailong Tian, University of Lancaster
Abstract
Colonial Modernity and the Social in Japan
Mikako Iwatake, University of Helsinki
Tuesday 15th April
3 pm - 5 pm
World Histories and Cosmopolitan Perspectives
Gerard Delanty, University of Sussex
Paper: Cosmopolitan Perspectives on European and Asian Transnationalism
Gerard Delanty and Baogang He (PDF)
Tuesday 29th April
3 pm - 5 pm Please note that the time has been changed.
Creating a language for global history - conceptual history's contribution
Margrit Pernau, Max Planck Institute for Human Development
The presentation of Professor Arnason is cancelled.
3.-4.10.2008 Workshop on Conceptual History and Global Translations:
The Euro-Asian and African Semantics of the Social and the Economic