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"ENIUGH" and the Institute for Cultural and Universal History, Leipzig are holding the biennial competition for MA- or PhD-theses from the social sciences and humanities
Walter Markov (1909-1993) was a historian whose life and thinking was influenced by the shattered German past. In trying to integrate his experiences of National Socialism, his decade-long imprisonment in an NS-penitentiary and the following Cold War, which he observed from the Eastern side, his works sought to integrate the intellectual potentials of the historical thinking of Karl Marx and impulses from the French Social History, around the Annales. Markov's writing can be best described as a "history from below". Examining revolutions and revolutionary moments in history, he became one of the most important German historians working on the French Revolution.
In continuing the Leipzig tradition in World and Global History, initiated by Karl Lamprecht and the Institute for Cultural and Universal History, Markov became the director of this institute in 1949 and tried to pursue the international cooperation with scholars on the other side of the iron curtain, as difficult as it was. With his contacts with scholars in Latin America, Africa and Asia - he was the first German guest professor in Africa - he hoped to stand against the withdrawal of his university, the University of Leipzig, from the international scientific community, which began in 1945. His moral and political self-understanding, as well as his high expectations in such regards from his students and colleagues, had its roots in his experiences in the ruptures of German history as well as his ability to transform his own sufferings during the Third Reich into an intellectual striving to understand the historical emergence of the present.
Papers that are submitted for the Walter-Markov-Prize are expected to deal with issues that are of particular interest to Markov's research, including the following:
- the comparative exploration of revolutions and social movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America, amongst them, the processes of decolonialisation and emancipation from political, economic and cultural hegemony- the tradition of historiography in various national contexts and the processes of its internationalisation during the course of the 20th century.
Any paper submitted is expected to deal with a historical topic exploring a global perspective, either by addressing it from a comparative point of view, by examining processes of cultural transfers, or by seeking to understand the entanglements of various spatial frameworks.
A prize of EUR 1.500 will be awarded for one MAster or doctoral thesis. The author is expected to cover publications costs. The deadline for submissions is April 30, 2009. All manuscripts must be word-processed or typed, double-spaced and sent by email to: [mailto]headquarters@eniugh.org[/mailto]
There is no maximum length for the paper, but an abstract of 100 words is required.
An international commission of ENIUGH is in charge of awarding the Walter-Markov-Prize. The awarding ceremony will take place October 5, 2009 during a conference commemorating Walter Markov´s 100th birthday.
Die Karl-Lamprecht-Gesellschaft / ENIUGH und das Institut für Kultur-und Universalgeschichte schreiben in zweijährigem Rhythmus den Walter-Markov-Preis aus.