Anne Heyer (University of Leiden, The Netherlands) and Carlos Domper Lasús (University of Zaragoza, Spain) would like to invite scholars and graduate students working on European contemporary History to submit their paper proposals to the panel “Political participation in contemporary Europe. Ideas, practices, alternatives” that they coordinate within the prestigious XV Conference of the Association for Contemporary History taking place between the 17th and 19th September 2020 in Córdoba (Spain). The sessions will consist of ca. 10 scholars. We especially encourage the participation of scholars from outside of Spain or working on non-Spanish history to enable a productive exchange of perspectives. We will mainly focus on 20th century history, but also warmly welcome contributions on 19th and 21st century examples of political participation. Publication of a special issue is intended.
To apply, please send a 500-word abstract of the paper to be presented and a short CV (200 words) including name, institutional affiliation, and email address to the panel organisers no later than 22 January 2020. Papers could be written in either English or Spanish and presentations will be held either in English or Spanish. The conference organizers will consider the possibility of allowing for Skype presentations. If you are interested in this option, please let us know about it as soon as possible.
Anne Heyer (a.heyer@hum.leidenuniv.nl)
Carlos Domper Lasús (carlosdomper82@gmail.com)
More information about the panel and the conference is available at the conference website http://congresoahcordoba2020.es/ If you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch with the session organizers.
Panel’s aim and scope:
Over the last decade, Europe has gone through what Chantal Mouffé calls a "Populist Moment". That is, a period characterized by the emergence of new parties and social movements that not only divide society into those above and those below but also claim that those from below have to get more power in political decision-making processes through the establishment of direct voting systems such as referendums. However, the idea that citizens can only achieve greater participation in political life through membership in political parties or the implementation of direct voting mechanisms constitutes a very reductionist way of addressing the problem. In fact, contemporary European history provides numerous conceptions of alternative forms, sometimes more informal, of political participation from feminist movements to nativists marches, from union strikes to industrial-lobby organization. Our workshop aims to delve into those alternative forms of political participation by focusing on the following aspects: the analysis of the people that created and led them; the general historical conditions that caused their emergence; the discourses that accompanied their creation, the impact that their appearance had on society; and the way they provided alternative perceptions and modes of the political. Finally, proposals may address nation-state based problems or deal with comparative, transnational, regional or global issues.
Contact Info: Anne Heyer (a.heyer@hum.leidenuniv.nl) and Carlos Domper Lasús (carlosdomper82@gmail.com)