Eighth European Congress on Universal and Global History: Critical Global Histories: Methodological Reflections and Thematic Expansions

Since its foundation in 2002, the European Network in Universal and Global History (ENIUGH) has emerged as the leading international association for research and teaching in world and global history. Following seven successful congresses in Leipzig, Dresden, London, Paris, Budapest, Turku, and The Hague, the next ENIUGH congress will be held at Linnaeus University in Växjö, Sweden. The congress will be on site only, although panel chairs may in exceptional cases allow participants to present their papers remotely.

Under the overall theme of “Critical Global Histories” we aim to further discussion, self-reflection, and the exploration of new avenues in global history. Over the past decade, global history has expanded internally (quantitatively and thematically, as well as methodologically and theoretically) and has, in doing so, influenced many other fields of research in the humanities and social sciences. At the same time, the expansion has led to debate and criticism, not least within the field. Objections have been raised against global history’s alleged macro-historical emphasis, connectivity bias, Eurocentrism, Anglophone dominance, and lack of attention to gender perspectives and Indigenous methodologies. Global history has also been accused of being imbued with neo-imperial, teleological, globalizing, exoticizing and neoliberal leanings. In recent years, decoloniality as a research practice and method has raised further questions regarding the situatedness of knowledge and the role of local sources for global history. At the same time, a current nationalist backlash in many countries has led to calls for a return to national history, thereby challenging the fundamental premises of global history.

At the Eighth ENIUGH Congress, we aim to pick up on these discussions and take a step forward by opening a space of dialogue, both between global historians and between global historians and their colleagues in other disciplines who are involved in the study of the global human pasts or who work with transnational, transregional, transcultural approaches in their respective fields. The Eighth ENIUGH-Congress will be a meeting place for scholars from all of the fields that go beyond methodological nationalism and Eurocentrism. We believe that critical thinking – both in the sense of impartial and intellectually disciplined thinking and in the sense of an augmented awareness of the many pitfalls associated with global history – can provide some of the means by which the field can evolve and retain its intellectual vigour and contemporary relevance. By framing the theme in terms of “global histories” in the plural, we aim to promote the inclusion of a broad range of voices, perspectives and orientations within the field, while forcefully rejecting the possibility of insisting on a single, dominating story or grand narrative of global history. The overall theme of the congress will be explored in a series of keynote events, roundtables, and panel discussions and in several of the regular panels and presentations at the congress.

Aside from the events related to the overall theme of the congress, we expect the congress to reflect the entire span of current research in global history, and we look forward to welcoming to Växjö scholars from all over world working on global and world history and related fields of study. Proposals can include a wide range of topics related to global, entangled, and transnational historical processes and phenomena, with no geographic or chronological limitations. While we expect most of the congress delegates to be historians, we also welcome scholars from other disciplines engaged in the study of humanity’s global pasts.

We invite contributions consisting of presentations of original research and empirically grounded work in progress, as well as theoretical, methodological, ethical, and historiographical reflections. We particularly encourage contributions that reflect on how critical thinking can be applied in global historical investigations. Although the main language of the congress will be English, individual presentations and panels in other languages can be accommodated (see further below).

In particular, we welcome contributions (both panels and individual papers) tailored to one of the following themes:
- Temporalities and periodizations in global history
- Ethical aspects of doing global history
- Expanding the global archive
- Multivocality in global history
- Global history and decoloniality
- Transdisciplinary approaches
- Indigenous perspectives and methodologies
- Challenging modernity from the perspective of global history
- National history, nationalist backlash, and identity politics
- Global environmental history
- Nordic colonialism

In addition to the main conference themes we also invite proposals dealing with relations, transfers and entanglements between states, peoples, communities and individuals located in or spanning different parts and regions of the world.

Proposals
We invite proposals for panels, double panels, roundtables, and individual papers. Papers and presentations may be in any language, but abstracts for all panels, roundtables, and papers must be provided in English. Panel chairs must ensure the openness, accessibility, and coherence of their panel, and it is recommended that Q&A sessions be held in English regardless of the language of the presentations. All congress delegates are expected to participate on site in Växjö. In exceptional circumstances, panel chairs may allow a minority of presentations to be held remotely.

Panels may comprise up to four presentations, and double panels may comprise up to eight presentations, in addition to commentators and chairs. Panels must consist of scholars representing at least two different institutions in at least two different countries. Double panels must include participants from at least three different institutions in at least three different countries.

Roundtables may include up to five participants, in addition to commentators and chairs. Like double panels, roundtables must include scholars from at least three different institutions in at least three different countries.
We also welcome proposals for individual papers, which, if accepted, will be assigned to a panel by the steering committee of ENIUGH. Papers that speak to one or several of the themes listed above are particularly welcome, and the theme of most relevance to the proposal should be indicated in the submission form.

Submissions:
All abstracts for panels and papers must be submitted by October 15 via the congress website: https://research.uni-leipzig.de/~eniugh/congress/.
Please note that all speakers of a panel must submit their papers individually in addition to the collective panel submission.
Abstracts for panels should be 250 - 300 words long and should indicate all panellists, their institutional affiliations as well as their paper titles. Additionally, panel abstracts should be pertaining to one of the conference themes.
Abstracts for papers should be 200 – 250 words long and indicate whether the paper is submitted as an individual paper or as part of a panel. In the latter case the abstract should name the panel title as well as the convenor’s name.
All abstracts should be in English. If the presentation is in a language other than English, please state this in the abstract. (Papers are selected solely on the basis of content, not linguistic criteria.)
Abstracts should also indicate whether you plan to participate in person or online. Please note that the convenor and a majority of participants in each panel must participate on site.
Selected panels and papers will be notified in December 2024.

Kind regards from the Organizing Committee,

Stefan Eklöf Amirell (Professor of Global History, Director, Linnaeus University Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies)
Birgit Tremml-Werner (Stockholm University, affiliated researcher at Linnaeus University)
Katrin Köster (Leipzig University)