Encounters of Empires. Interimperial Transfers and Imperial Manifestations, c. 1870-1950

Conference, 17-18 January 2013, K&oml;ln, Germany

Volker Barth, Roland Cvetkovski, Morphomata Center for Advanced Studies, Cologne 17.01.2013-18.01.2013, Morphomata Center for Advanced Studies,Weyertal 59 (Back building), 50937 Köln, Germany

For several decades empires have been a central topic of international research; the attempts to grasp both the unique character of every single empire and their functional similarities are legion. Most studies are concerned and struggle with a comprehensive definition of exercising imperial power. After all, the term empire does not only refer to the formation of hierarchical power structures but also comprises the coexistence of different power practices and correspondingly the manifestations of specific regimes of rule within imperial realms. This coexistence of different imperial formations, however, was also significantly characterized by cooperation, inasmuch as for example scientific conferences, diplomatic relations or general exchange of practices concerning colonial rule represented fields of mutual willingness to learn from each other. In focusing on interimperial encounters the conference highlights ideas of empire that originated in imperial contact zones and follows them to their materializations and implementations within specific political, social and cultural frameworks.

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January 17th, 2013

10-10.45 Welcome and Introduction
Dietrich Boschung (Director Institute of Advanced Studies Morphomata)
Volker Barth & Roland Cvetkovski (Cologne)

10.45-12.15 Panel 1: Connecting Colonialisms
Ulrike Lindner (Bielefeld)
European Colonial Experts, New Forms of Knowledge Exchange and the Development of Expert Institutions at the End of the 19th Century
Florian Wagner (Florence)
Conceptualizing Empires: European Colonial Associations between Theory and Practice of Colonialism (1870-1914)

12.15-14 Lunch

14-15.30 Panel 2: Labor Policies
Minu Haschemi Yekani (Florence)
(Transnational) Circuits of Labour: Asian indentured labourers and Inter-imperial recruitment practices in German East Africa (1885-1914)
Eric Allina (Ottawa)
The »Best Colonizing Principles«: Labor Policy and »Native Administration« in Colonial Mozambique

15.30-15.45 Coffee break

15.45-17.15 Panel 3: Exploiting Resources
David Schorr (Tel Aviv)
The British Empire and Interimperial Transfers of Water Law, 1870-1950
Christian Lotz (Marburg)
Facing a Timber-Frontier? Imperial Governments, International Conferences and the Problem of Calculating Future Prospects of Timber Supply in Northern Europe, 1850-1914

January 18th, 2013

10-11 Keynote:
John M. MacKenzie (Lancaster)
European Imperialism: a Zone of Co-operation rather than Competition?

11-11.15 Coffee Break

11.15-12 Panel 4: Claiming Authority
Alexander Morrison (Liverpool)
Competitive Emulation in the Russian conquest of Central Asia

12-13.30 Lunch

13.30-15 Panel 5: Military and Violence
Susanne Kuß (Freiburg)
Franco-German Military Cooperation in the Boxer War 1900/01
Jonas Kreienbaum (Rostock)
Deadly Learning? Concentration Camps and Zones in Colonial Wars around 1900

15-16.30 Panel 6: Adaptation and Counterbalance
Nadin Heé (Berlin)
Japanese Imperialism and Scientific Colonialism
Torsten Weber (Freiburg)
»Asia« as Empire: Modes of Cooperation and Hegemony in Interimperial Discourse after the First Sino-Japanese War (1894/95)

16.30-17.15 Concluding comments and final discussion
Ulrike von Hirschhausen (Rostock)

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Barth, Volker;Cvetkovski, Roland
Historisches Institut der Universität zu Köln
volker.barth [at] uni-koeln.de,
roland.cvetkovski [at] uni-koeln.de

[Cross-posted, with thanks, from H-Soz-u-Kult]