Social and Labour History News

Organizer: mdw – Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien Venue: mdw – Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien ZIP: 1030 Location: Wien Country: Austria Takes place: In Attendance From - Until: 22.07.2026 - 25.07.2026 Deadline: 30.04.2026 Website: https://www.mdw.ac.at/forschungsfoerderung/isaresearch/   In 2026, the isaResearch summer school in the framework of isa – International Summer Academy invites contributions that rethink the entanglements of the global and the local though postmigrant, decolonial, and intersectional perspectives and how they relate to music, sound, and the performing arts.

Experiences of mobility, displacement, migration, and exile are not exceptional but constitutive of cultural and artistic histories. From touring performers and diasporic communities to digital circulation and forced displacement, music and performing arts have long been shaped by movement across borders. In recent decades, scholarly debates on these dynamics have introduced key concepts such as cosmopolitanism, translocality, and postmigration. When studying music, sound, and performing arts today, how might we reconsider the relationship between the global and the local? Which conceptual tools enable us to grasp contemporary mobilities without flattening their historical and political ambiguities?

In 2026, the isaResearch summer school in the framework of isa - International Summer Academy invites contributions that rethink the entanglements of the global and the local though postmigrant, decolonial, and intersectional perspectives and how they relate to music, sound, and the performing arts. We also welcome reflections on how worlding as a concept and artistic practice can can illuminate the creation of worlds beyond the binary logics of the local and the global.

Taking place in parallel to the isa masterclasses and workshops at the mdw campus in Vienna - a city both historically diasporic and currently postmigrant - the four-day workshop is open to Ph.D. students and other early-stage researchers in the humanities and artistic research, specifically those immersed in the study of music, sound, dance, and film. Participants will be able to present and discuss their research in an interdisciplinary framework. Experts in respective fields at the mdw and beyond will engage in conversations and act as respondents. The programme will also include a lecture by an international expert and site-visits in the cultural landscape of Vienna. The summer school thus sets out to provide participants with an intimate interdisciplinary experience that fosters new networks and perspectives.

Submissions may address, but are not limited to, the following themes:

- Postmigration as concept, method, and critique
- Translocality and digital networks of cultural production
- Exile, diaspora, and historical continuities of displacement
- Climate crisis: ecological displacement and artistic responses
- Cosmopolitanism revisited: class, race, and cultural capital
- Decolonial perspectives on global music history and canon formation
- Worlding and musical world-making: epistemologies and aesthetics
- Translation as method
- Sound, film, performance, and the politics of positioning
- Methodological innovations: How can traveling concepts and critical term analysis offer new analytical tools? (How) can travel, mobility, and movement themselves become (integrated into) methodological premises?

We invite applications from Ph.D. students and other early-stage researchers from disciplines including (but not limited to) Musicology, Dance and Performance Studies, Artistic Research, Queer Theory, Cultural Studies, Music Theory, Indigenous Studies, Music Sociology, Critical Race Studies, Ethnomusicology, Popular Music Studies, Post-Colonial Studies, Art History, and Film and Media Studies. Presentation proposals must be connected to the topic of the participant’s thesis or current research project.

Attendance at the summer school is free of charge, with lunch and refreshments provided on-site by the mdw. Limited funding to help with travel and accommodation expenses is available. The exact amount of funding will be decided according to the requirements of the participant. Application is possible after the acceptance of your proposal with a short description of your situation and academic affiliation (or lack thereof). We are happy to organize childcare for researchers travelling with children of any age and kindly ask to be informed of any such needs as soon as possible after acceptance.

Applications including a title, a presentation abstract, keywords, a statement of motivation, and a short bio must be uploaded via our website. The deadline for applying is 30 April 2026.
Decisions on the acceptance of proposals will be announced by the end of May.

The isa comprises masterclasses, workshops and lectures as well as isaOnStage with public concerts, the music education program isaCommunity and the interdisciplinary academic summer school isaResearch. The mdw campus provides an ideal setting that promotes exchange between disciplines as well as the interplay of artistic excellence, social responsibility, and intercultural community.

Contact: Kathrin Heinrich isaresearch@mdw.ac.at

Websites:
https://www.isa-music.org/de/isaresearch/
https://www.mdw.ac.at/forschungsfoerderung/isaresearch/

Organization: Kathrin Heinrich, Therese Kaufmann, mdw Research Support

Academic Advisory Board:
Ass.-Prof.in Dr.in Anja Brunner, Institute for Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology (ivE)
Ass.-Prof. Scott L. Edwards, PhD, Institute for Musicology and Performance Studies (IMI)
Dr. in Magdalena Fürnkranz, Senior Scientist, Theory and History of Popular Music, Department for Popular Music (iPOP)
Mag. Dr. Juri Giannini, Senior Scientist, Institute for Musicology and Performance Studies (IMI)
Ass.-Prof.in Dr.in Marie-Anne Kohl, Institute for Musicology and Performance Studies (IMI)

Contact (announcement)

Kathrin Heinrich
isaresearch@mdw.ac.at

Organizer: Arbeitskreis Großbritannien-Forschung (German Association for British Studies) und Institut für soziale Bewegungen, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Institute for Social Movements, Ruhr University Bochum) Venue: Institut für soziale Bewegungen, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Clemensstraße 17-19 ZIP: 44789 Location: Bochum Country: Germany Takes place: In Attendance From - Until: 16.07.2026 - 17.07.2026 Deadline: 30.04.2026 Website: https://www.hgr.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/hgr/isb/   The German Association for British Studies and the Institute for Social Movements at Ruhr-University Bochum are pleased to invite applications for a joint conference, Concepts of Freedom and the Development of Democracy in Great Britain in Historical Comparison, scheduled for July 16 – July 17, 2026 in Bochum, Germany.

This joint conference, organised by the German Association for British Studies (AGF) and the Institute for Social Movements (ISB/ISM) at Ruhr University Bochum, seeks to explore and discuss the emergence and development of freedom and democracy in Great Britain over several centuries, from the Magna Carta in the thirteenth century to the diverse forms of democracy found in the twenty-first century. It considers related political ideas and concepts, social movements and emancipatory aspirations, as well as interpretations and horizons of historical memory as received in different parts of the European continent. These discussions are intended to lay the groundwork for sustained comparisons of the reception of British ideas of freedom and democracy in continental Europe. Since the British Empire and the subsequent Commonwealth are essential to understanding large parts of British history, the conference also welcomes submissions that examine freedom and democracy in Britain and their European reception through the lens of the British Empire and the Commonwealth. The discussions will centre on two fundamental questions: What ideas of freedom and popular sovereignty developed in Britain over time? Which ideas fostered democratic developments and the establishment of liberal democracy as a form of government, society, and way of life in other parts of Europe?

The conference traces the breakthroughs and turning points in the democratisation of Great Britain and Europe, and thus the long-term establishment of modern democracy in the wake of a series of upheavals that included not only successes but also numerous failures. Diachronic and synchronic, inclusive and problem-oriented comparisons (following Charles Tilly, Jürgen Kocka et al.) of various revolutions and reform movements in Great Britain, Germany, and other European countries are intended to capture the complexity and ambivalence of ideas of freedom and of democratic development. Such comparisons may open up new perspectives on the history of democracy up to the present day. Furthermore, the struggles over memory of past actors, and of the freedom and democracy movements they supported, may motivate us to take action against today’s enemies and opponents of democracy in order to prevent its potential erosion and slow “death” (Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt).

Please submit an abstract of up to 300 words, including a title and a brief description of the proposed paper, together with a short CV (no longer than one page). The submission should include your name, institutional affiliation, and contact details. In the spirit of interdisciplinarity, we welcome contributions from the fields of history, political science, law, and the social sciences, as well as from related disciplines. Presentations by early career researchers are particularly welcome. Please send your proposals by 30 April 2026 to: Birgit Bublies-Godau, M.A., birgit.bublies-godau@rub.de, Dr Norbert Fabian, nobfabian@t-online.de, and Dr Mathis Gronau, mathis.gronau@rub.de.

The organising institutions aim to reimburse speakers in full for their travel and accommodation expenses. Publication of the conference contributions as proceedings is planned at a later stage.

Contact (announcement)

Birgit Bublies-Godau, M.A., birgit.bublies-godau@rub.de, Dr Norbert Fabian, nobfabian@t-online.de, and Dr Mathis Gronau, mathis.gronau@rub.de.

Organizer: Doubravka Olšáková, Institute of Political Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University ZIP: 15800 Location: Prague Country: Czech Republic Takes place: Hybrid From - Until: 07.09.2026 - 08.09.2026 Deadline: 19.04.2026  

How did scientists and expert communities challenge Cold War power structures? What role did knowledge, dissent, and moral authority play in shaping transnational interactions?

The conference will explore how scientists, intellectuals, and expert communities engaged with questions of dissent, responsibility, and transnational cooperation across ideological divides, with particular attention to initiatives such as the Pugwash Conferences.

Science, Dissent, and Activism: How Non-State Actors Challenged the Cold War Order

In recent years, science activism has gained renewed visibility, as scientists increasingly engage in public debates on climate change, global security, and democratic governance. These developments invite us to reconsider the historical roots of scientific activism and the longer trajectories through which non-state actors have mobilized knowledge and authority in times of geopolitical tension.

From this perspective, the Cold War emerges as a key historical laboratory for examining these dynamics. Cold War historiography has long been dominated by state-centric perspectives that privilege diplomatic elites, military institutions, and formal international organizations. In recent years, however, growing attention has been paid to non-state actors who operated across, alongside, or in tension with Cold War power structures. Scientists, intellectuals, dissidents, activists, and expert communities played a crucial role in articulating alternative forms of authority, mobilizing knowledge for political ends, and creating transnational spaces of interaction that both reflected and contested the bipolar order.

This conference seeks to advance an analytically grounded discussion of how non-state actors used science, expertise, and moral authority to challenge Cold War logics of sovereignty, security, and ideological loyalty. Particular emphasis will be placed on the interplay between knowledge production and political agency across different institutional settings, including conferences, committees, universities and research institutes, expert networks, and non-governmental organizations. A central point of reference is the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs and related initiatives, understood not only as a peace movement but as laboratories of non-state diplomacy, epistemic authority, and Cold War governance.

In addition, we are interested in contributions that examine hybrid actors occupying the space between state and non-state authority, including intergovernmental frameworks that operated as platforms of expert governance, norm production, and monitoring rather than as traditional diplomatic actors. Institutions such as the OSCE, particularly in its late Cold War and post-Cold War configurations, invite analysis as sites where non-state practices, expertise, and moral authority were institutionalized within formally intergovernmental settings. The conference aims to situate such forums within broader histories of expertise, dissent, and activism across different political systems and world regions.

We welcome empirically rich case studies as well as theoretically informed contributions from the history of science and technology, Cold War history, new diplomatic history, political sciences, international relations, political sociology, area studies, and peace studies. Comparative, transnational, and entangled perspectives are particularly encouraged.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- Non-state actors and the reconfiguration of political authority during the Cold War;
- Science as a resource for dissent, mediation, and legitimacy;
- Institutional contexts of non-state action: conferences, committees, universities, research institutes, and NGOs;
- Tensions between loyalty, autonomy, and internationalism in scientific and expert communities;
- Informal diplomacy, expert forums, and the politics of “neutral” knowledge;
- Dissenting expertise within socialist, authoritarian, and post-colonial contexts;
- Activism, morality, and responsibility in nuclear, environmental, and peace-related debates;
- Knowledge circulation, surveillance, and control across ideological borders;
- Methodological challenges in studying non-state actors, expertise, and informal power.

Financial support for participants: Thanks to dedicated funding, we will be able to cover accommodation costs in Prague for a limited number of early career researchers and researchers in need. Applicants who wish to be considered for this support are encouraged to indicate this when submitting their proposal.

Submission Guidelines: Prospective participants are invited to submit a short abstract (max. 240 words) and a brief biographical note by 19 April 2026 to doubravka.olsakova@fsv.cuni.cz

Scientific Committee: Carola Sachse (professor emerita, University of Vienna, AT), Katja Castryck Naumann (GWZO Leipzig, DE), Kenji Ito (University of Tokyo, JAP), Doubravka Olšáková (Charles University in Prague, CZ, organizer), Michel Perottino (Charles University in Prague, CZ)

Genealogies of Memory 2026 The Lasting Presence of the Past: How Trauma Lives on Across Generations? When? 23–25 September 2026
Where? Iași, Romania

How is memory transmitted across generations? Through which processes, practices and media does this transmission occur, and how does it become visible? In what ways do the memories of one generation intersect/blend with those of the next to produce new mnemonic constellations and spaces of meaning? The process of transmission from one generation to another encompasses knowledge, memories and their emotional constellations, and is shaped by the surrounding cultural and societal context. This transmission occurs through various mechanisms, including different mnemonic layers and practices, and ranging from a personal level, such as through storytelling within families to cultural practices during commemorations, to historical narratives reinforced by education and in museums. It draws on both tangible and intangible remnants of the past. When disturbing events, due to their traumatic character, shape the memories of one generation, the transmission chain undergoes transformations that affect both the modes of recollecting and remembering the past and its content, as well as pre-established intergenerational connections. In the last century, Central and Eastern European countries experienced many traumatic events – wars, genocides, forced displacements and political repression – that created fertile ground for conflictual memories, which were further amplified globally by traumas generated elsewhere through colonial policies.

Traumas act as multiple distorting mirrors, preventing the smooth transmission between generations, fragmenting and (re)shaping memories, and repeatedly questioning the meaning, validity and significance of these memories, as well as the lives of those caught in this web of traumatic effects. Consequently, the possibility of representing trauma is questioned, and new ways of transmitting and (re)working the past become necessary (LaCapra, 2001).

For the second or third generation – those who did not directly experience the events – a process of reconstruction through collaborative remembering begins to unfold, while gaps in knowledge and memory are filled through the search for stories and remnants of the past and through accessing layers of collective narratives (Mitroiu, 2023). Family and/or community memories are supplemented by documentation processes through which collective registers of memory, such as archives, are used to assemble a shared memory. Active engagement with narrative and the (re)interpretation of past events transforms and shapes collective memory, defining the roles of agents of memory (ranging from institutions and political actors to individuals and private initiatives).

Postmemory is closely associated with the intergenerational transmission of trauma (Hirsch, 1997; 2012), and it is widely used to refer to the reconstruction of past narratives by the second generation (Schwab, 2010). Traumatic experiences are transmitted through the first generation’s recounting of events, creating a fragmentary understanding of the past for the next generation. In response, a reconstructive process based on documenting past traumas helps the second and/or third generation come to terms with the past.

This memory studies conference examines processes of transmission, transgenerational trauma, the different forms and the responses they generate, as well as the absences and silences surrounding these transmissions in different political, cultural and social contexts and through various media. Particular emphasis will be placed on Central and Eastern Europe viewed from a comparative perspective with other regions of the world. By bringing together scholars from diverse disciplines, the conference will critically engage not only with the continuing presence of the past but also with the reappropriation of past traumas, the binary and hegemonic discourse surrounding traumatic histories, the silencing of trauma narratives and the emergence of alternative histories. The academic event will reflect on the possibilities of dialogic histories and memories of trauma (Rothberg, 2009), also considering current challenges posed by antagonistic and echo-chamber dynamics in a digitally mediated memory discourse.

The conference will centre on four main aspects:
1. Processuality of transgenerational trauma transmission: This theme explores the processes, patterns and variations occurring in transmission, including silences and expressions of transgenerational trauma, while questioning generational roles within this process.

2. Hegemonic histories of trauma, counter-memories and dialogic practices: This topic examines, on the one hand, the patterns of memory created by power systems and hegemonic discourses and, on the other hand, the chances of alternative voices and expressions being created, maintained and having an impact in the face of hegemonic discourse, drawing attention to the dangers of silencing traumas and memories.

3. Artistic and reconstructive practices and forms of memory work: This theme examines the role of art within the field of memory work on the one hand, and reconstructive practices and forms on the other hand, through which second- and third-generation individuals engage with traumatic pasts they did not directly experience. It focuses on processes of postmemory, collaborative remembering, documentation and reinterpretation, as well as the use of archives, cultural artefacts and institutional memory registers, while also addressing the risks of reconstruction and representation, including fragmentation, over-identification and gaps in transmission.

4. Digital mediation of trauma and memory: This theme analyses current challenges posed by online media, including the use of past traumas to generate polarised opinions, aggressive speech and echo chambers, while also highlighting the capacity of digital spaces to challenge official narratives, critically examine widely accepted accounts of trauma and produce personal, interconnected stories and interpretations.
By integrating theoretical perspectives with challenging empirical case studies, the conference aims to foster a space for dialogue between past traumas and ongoing traumatic situations in different regions of the world. Comparative and interdisciplinary studies are particularly welcome.

We propose the following thematic blocks for presentations, although other proposals are also welcome:
● The understanding of transgenerational trauma – theoretical aspects
● (In)tangible traces of past traumas: how remnants of the past respond to the present
● Absences, silences and ruptures in trauma transmission
● Agents of memory, memory practices and transgenerational engagement with trauma
● The role of the arts in representing and transmitting trauma
● Digital technologies and new challenges

Deadline for submissions: 3 May 2026

References:
Hirsch, M. (1997) Family Frames: Photography, Narrative and Postmemory. Harvard University Press.
Hirsch, M. (2012) The Generation of Postmemory: Writing and Visual Culture After the Holocaust. Columbia University Press.
LaCapra, D. (2001) Writing History, Writing Trauma. John Hopkins University Press.
Mitroiu, S. (2023) ‘Dialogic Memories in Graphic Narratives: Intergenerational Entanglements of Witnessing, Trauma and Vulnerability.’ Parallax, 29(1), 67–83.
Rothberg, M. (2009) Multidirectional Memory: Remembering the Holocaust in the Age of Decolonization. Stanford University Press.
Schwab, G. (2010) Haunting legacies: violent histories and transgenerational trauma. Columbia University Press.

Organisational Information ● To apply, please send your proposal by filling out the following form: Apply for the 16th Genealogies of Memory Conference.
The application deadline is 3 May 2026.
● Applicants will be notified of the results in early June 2026.
● Written draft papers (2,000–2,500 words) should be submitted by 31 August 2026.
● The conference’s language is English. 
● The organisers provide accommodation for accepted speakers.
● There is no conference fee.
● If you have any further questions, please contact us at the following email address: genealogies@enrs.eu Conference convenor and the Academic Committee The convenor of the 2026 edition of the Genealogies of Memory conference is Senior Researcher Dr Simona Mitroiu.
The Academic Committee of the Conference consists of Prof. Florin Abraham, Prof. Leena Käosaar, Prof. Simo Mikkonen, Prof. Ihab Saloul, Prof. Ewelina Szpak, Prof. Catherine Teissier, Prof. Joanna Wawrzyniak and Dr. Małgorzata Pakier.
  About Genealogies of Memory With the “Genealogies of Memory” project we facilitate academic exchange between Central and East European scholars of individual and collective memory, and intend to promote this region’s study of memory among the broader international academic community.
To read more about the conference  click here.

 

30 April - 1 May 2026, University of Cambridge

Cambridge Intesa Sanpaolo Annual Conference

Convenors: Erica Bellia and Robert Gordon (Italian, MMLL, Cambridge)

 

Day 1: Thu 30 April

Performances

Judith E. Wilson Drama Studio (Faculty of English, Sidgwick Site)

14:45-15: Welcome & Introduction

15-16: Performance Mining Memories, Digging Words

(Elisa Biagini, David Cain, Marta Gentilucci)

16-16:30: Tea & coffee

16:30-18: Book discussion & music

Giulio Carlo Pantalei, Una lingua per cantare. Gli scrittori italiani e la musica leggera (Einaudi, 2025)

[Please note that the Drama Studio is in the basement.

There is a lift but please do get in touch if you have any concerns about accessibility]

 

Day 2: Fri 1 May

Conference

Room SG2, Alison Richard Building (Sidgwick Site) & online

9-11: Panel 1 | Bodies at work, voices at work

Rachel Love

Giovanna Daffini’s Labour in Song

Rachel Haworth

La Biblioteca di Studio Uno (1964) and the Unseen Labour of Bringing

Literature and Music to the Italian Small Screen

Silvia Garzarella

“Practical Instructions” for Poetry and Dance:

Machinic Composition in the Work of Nanni Balestrini

and Valeria Magli

Elisa Biagini and Marta Gentilucci

Exploring Mines, Collecting Memories

11-11:30: Tea & coffee

11:30-12:30: Keynote Lecture

Alessandro Portelli

Roma forestiera. Migrant Music as the New Folk Music of Italy

12:30-14: Lunch break

14-15:30: Panel 2 | Experimenting within and beyond the factory

Jonathan Impett

Music and Class – The Naïve and the Sublime

Olivier Tonneau

Music, Work and Transgression : Christophe Dejours and the

New Italian Musical School

Ilaria Favretto and Nico Pizzolato

Towards an Auditory History of the Factory:

Sonic Experience and Struggle on the Shopfloor

15:30-16: Tea & coffee

16-18: Panel 3 | Material and immaterial archives within and beyond Italy

Salvatore Morra

Foreboding in the Song “Tripoli 1969” as Italian Refugees

Jacopo Tomatis

The Atlas of Antagonist Discography. Italy: 1958-1980

Ed Emery

Understanding my Record Collection:

Italian Political Vinyl of the 1960s and ‘70s

Erica Bellia

Fabbrica––Foresta:

Notes on Work from Nono's Archive

Festa (details to be confirmed)

The event is free of charge and open to all, but please let us know if you plan to attend one or both days in person by registering here:

• Day 1 (30 Apr): https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1984477104440?aff=oddtdtcreator
• Day 2 (1 May): https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1984608538563?aff=oddtdtcreator 

The conference (day 2) can also be attended remotely via Zoom. Please contact theconvenors if you would like to receive the Zoom link. 

Bursaries of up to £100 may be made available to unwaged and postgraduate delegates who are not based in Cambridge. Please get in touch by 1 April if you would like to be considered: Erica Bellia (eb692@cam.ac.uk) and Robert Gordon (rscg1@cam.ac.uk)

These events are generously sponsored by the Cambridge Intesa Sanpaolo Fund, ASMI (Association for the Study of Modern Italy) and the Gulbenkian Early-Career Research Fellowship in the Arts and Humanities at Churchill College. They are organised in collaboration with OBERT (Observatoire Européen des Récits du Travail / European Observatory of Labour Narratives).

Newcastle University, Thursday 3 – Friday 4 September 2026

Children’s social care has been described as being in a state of crisis since at least 2010, with reports of poor quality care and abuse, declining numbers of carers, and a chronic under-funding of services. Yet, it remains a fundamental part of our social fabric: 1 in 4 children in England will receive some kind of service from social care before they are 18 (Jay et al. 2024).
The way we provide and experience care is shaped by a complex mix of cultural, emotional, and economic forces, and in which class, race and gender remain defining factors. Moreover, years of austerity and underfunding have dismantled vital support systems, further marginalising Care-Experienced people and those who support them. Today, families and welfare systems still struggle with the practical and emotional realities of caring for children when biological parents cannot. This involves navigating the delicate, often difficult relationships between foster parents, birth families, and the children and young people themselves, whose own voices, wishes, and identities are are not always heard, understood or valued. Despite its essential role, care roles continue to be undervalued, insecure and subject to intense scrutiny. Meaningful transformations to the current system of care cannot happen without a deep understanding of how these contexts have shifted over time.
We are particularly interested in cultural and emotional histories of care and this conference prioritises the voices, views and experiences of those often excluded from these histories – especially those with lived experience. We will foster connections between those interested in, and affected by care, and use lessons from the past to open up new conversations about what care today means and how it might look in the future. These collaborations will continue beyond the conference, resulting in a published edited collection spanning new themes and ideas emerging from these discussions.
We encourage diversity in methodological approaches, geographical scope, and religious/spiritual background. We welcome proposals for 15-minute contributions from Care-Experienced individuals, community researchers or practitioners outside of academia, in addition to abstracts from academic researchers at all career stages and across disciplines.We also invite proposals that feature creative or participatory methods, including engagement and co-production workshops, and roundtables of up to 1 hour. Please submit individual proposals, or proposals for panels of 3-4 contributions.

We are keen to address the following five themes:

1. Relational care: families, kinship and identity

Exploring the ‘human’ side of care and diverse experiences, including adoption, kinship care, fostering and institutionalisation, and how the impacts of this care is felt, remembered and negotiated within and beyond the biological family.  

2. Structures of care: class, economy and power

Exploring how macro forces like deindustrialiation, neoliberalism, and class struggle shape care provision and experience.

3. Care and labour: professionalism and practice

Exploring the history and lived reality of paid and unpaid care work, care-giving and caring, professional identity, and the ‘dark side’ of care.

4. Care environments: space, place, and the senses

Exploring the physical and sensory contexts of care, from the ‘home’ vs ‘institution’ to the material history of archives.

5. Methods and ethics

Exploring the prioritisation of sidelined voices, perspective and experiences through innovative, participatory and creative methods, reflections on care concepts, lived experience and expertise, alongside ethical reflections on sensitive research and archives.

This list is not exhaustive and we encourage proposals that speak to themes outside of these suggestions. Please send abstracts of c. 300 words and a short biography to caring.communities@newcastle.ac.uk by 24 April. Please indicate in your email if you will not be available on one of the two dates the conference is set to run: 3 and 4 September 2026.

The event will run largely as an in-person event due to limited capacity for hybrid attendance. If you would be like to contribute but can only be present online, or have other accessibility requirements or questions, please do get in touch with the team at caring.communities@newcastle.ac.uk

The conference is supported by a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship: Caring Communities: Rethinking Children’s Social Care, 1800-present (ref: MR/X034968/1) and is organised by Claudia Soares, Jade Shepherd, Jim Hinks, and Kate Wilson (Newcastle University).

Website: https://caringcommunities.co.uk/conference/

Special Issue of «Genesis»
Journal of the Italian Society of Women Historians
No. 2/2026
Edited by Marica Tolomelli and Anna Nasser

Genesis intends to dedicate a special issue to the theme “UN Conferences on Women and the Global Growth of Feminism: Tensions and Interactions.” We invite researchers at all career stages who engage with this theme to submit original articles that advance new perspectives, sources and methodologies.
The major UN Conferences on Women held between 1975 and 1995 marked significant milestones in thedevelopment of feminist movements on a global scale, building on pre-existing trajectories of international relations among women’s movements while also marking significant phases in the UN’s role as an interpreter of demands for social justice and respect for human rights. 
Despite the limitations imposed by its status as a supranational body, the UN indirectly contributed to stimulate the emergence of women’s liberation movements in various parts of the world by strengthening networks – albeit heterogeneous and fragmented – that were increasingly aware of the global interconnections binding them.
This perspective aims to provide an overview of the development of feminism/feminisms in the last quarter of the 20th century, focusing on the following thematic areas:

1. The United Nations as a subject, actor, interpreter, promoter and also regulator of social change, with particular regard to the issue of the oppression of women. In this sense, it seems important to shed light on the decision-making processes that governed the 
organization of the Conferences, with a focus on the interaction between bodies and figures of particular significance operating within the UN, and the demands expressed by civil society, often through the channels of accredited NGOs and to some extent involved in UN initiatives.

2. The programmatic points discussed within the individual Conferences, seeking to highlight:
a. whether and how they related to the prevailing contexts (which differed greatly between 1970s and the mid-1990s) in which the Conferences respectively took place;
b. whether and how the programs adopted directed government policies and movements aimed at overcoming the conditions of women’s oppression. Equality, Peace, and Development were the three watchwords that shaped the ten-year Action Plan resulting 
from the work of the first Conference Mexico City in 1975. The issue of international development, in a context that saw the launch and subsequent rise of the neoliberal agenda on a global scale, proved highly controversial. Felt most acutely by women in 
Latin America and the Global South, it was the subject of critical analysis and innovative approaches that guided the formation of new strands of transnational feminism;
c. the paths and dynamics that emerged around the themes of peace, equality, rights, with particular attention to reproductive rights. 

3. Criticisms and Reactions. Historiography and testimonies have documented some of the main criticisms of the Conferences from a feminist perspective, expressed often, but not exclusively, by activists from the Global South. Particularly lively contexts of criticism and debate were represented by the women’s forums that took place in parallel with the meetings of official delegations. From the Mexico City Tribune (1975), in which some six thousand women from numerous associations from all over the world took part, participation in the Forums that brought together the voice of NGOs, feminists, pacifists, activists in cooperation and volunteer work, etc., grew progressively, so much so that it had more than quintupled by the time of the Houairou Forum, the “counter-summit” that accompanied the Beijing Conference in 1995. Particular attention must be paid to the factors that, against the background of the geopolitical, economic, and social changes that occurred during the twodecade period under consideration, had the greatest impact on feminist movements on a global scale, in terms of both unifying and divisive forces, starting with the choice of 
strategies.

4. Continuity/Discontinuity in the dialogue between feminisms and “feminists of a single world,” entangled in the web of intersectional relationships that gave rise to quite heterogeneous positions. While in 1975 the limits and difficulties of a presumed “universal sisterhood” seemed to depend on the asymmetrical relationships between the “three worlds” in which the geopolitical space was perceived, from the late 1990s to the present day, awareness, theoretical elaborations, and experiences have accounted for the fragmentation of the feminist universe, stemming from the complexity of the multiple dimensions—social, cultural, economic, and political—present in the configuration of gender relations.
This special issue draws inspiration from the discussions that took place during the conference “Tensions and Interactions between the UN Women’s Conferences and the Global Growth of Feminism,” organized by the Department of History, Culture, and Civilization at the University of Bologna, held on October 16–17, 2025.

Call for Papers with a deadline of April 25, 2026. 
Abstracts (max 450 words) and a brief CV (max 2 pages) must be submitted by the deadline to: 
marica.tolomelli@unibo.it and anna.nasser@sant.ox.ac.uk .
Proposals must include first name, last name, affiliation, and institutional contact information. 
Selection results will be announced on May 8, 2026.
The deadline for submitting papers is October 15, 2026.