Summer Meeting on the Entangled Histories of Concepts in the Bengal to Balkans Complex (B2B)
September 22nd – 26th, 2025, Orient-Institut Istanbul
Call opened: January 29th, 2025
Deadline for applications: March 1st, 2025
The Summer Meeting on the Entangled Histories of in the Bengal-to-Balkans Complex invites applications for its second installment which will take place in Istanbul between September 22nd–26th, 2025.
The 2025 meeting will have a focus on concepts related to emotions and the body. PhD students and early PostDocs may also apply with other topics in the history of concepts in the B2B complex.
General Concept
The Summer Meeting builds upon and seeks to strengthen the increased scholarly interest in conceptual history as a tool to analyze the discursive transformations in the broad B2B geography. The “Bengal to Balkans” framework is inspired by Shahab Ahmed who drew attention to the shared cultural formations across this vast geography particularly in the post-Mongol era.
Illustrating the emergence of a field of research, several programmatic articles have been written on the particular problems and promises of conceptual history in different linguistic contexts. Building upon these developments, and as a culmination of the efforts of the organizers this Meeting will both identify historical evolutions and entanglements of concepts within the Bengal-to-Balkans-complex and critically discuss the theoretical implications and potentials of conceptual history in the region.
In terms of research foci, the Summer Meeting aims at (1) strengthening the notion of entanglement in conceptual history, and (2) furthering self-reflectivity in and critique of the usage of established concepts. By exploring conceptual entanglements in the history of the region together, we intend to overcome the long-standing limits imposed on historical research by methodological nationalism and disciplinary boundaries in area studies. Moreover, by focusing on the history of indigenous (emic) concepts we aim to come up with revised and better narratives and analytical (etic) categories to explain the historical transformations in the wake of post-colonial interventions which challenged Euro-centric paradigms.
Critically appropriating the various approaches to historical semantics for the particular problems and research questions of the region is also a central concern for the Summer Meeting. Conceptual histories of the region addresses both the paradigmatic problems and questions of area studies scholarship and also the fast growing global intellectual history. The growing number of programmatic publications in the field is evidence of this[1] and the Summer Meeting is inspired by the example of the CONCEPTA summer schools, the first launched in 2006 in Helsinki (in its 18th year now), the second launched in 2017 in Mexico.. The Meeting intends to enhance networks of research, foster collaboration and pass on expertise to a new generation of PhD students and junior scholars whose work covers one or more of the languages of the region and are interested in working with history of concepts.
[1] Programmatic considerations include: Margrit Pernau, “Provincializing Concepts: The Language of Transnational History”, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 36:3 (2016), 483–99; Alp Eren Topal and Einar Wigen, “Ottoman Conceptual History: Challenges and Prospects”, Contributions to the History of Concepts 14:1 (2019), 93–114; Florian Zemmin and Henning Sievert, “Conceptual History of the Near East: The Sattelzeit as a Heuristic Tool for Interrogating the Formation of a Multi-Layered Modernity”, Contributions to the History of Concepts 16:2 (2021), 1–26.
The 2025 Meeting
A first step is a three day on-line introduction into the theories of conceptual history, their application on colonial and post-colonial situations and the coonceptual history of bodies and emotion. These issues will be taught by Margrit Pernau and Alp Eren Topal July 29-31, 10-12 a.m. CEST, 11-14 TRT and 12.30-15.30 IST.
The main part will be housed at the Orient-Institut, Istanbul. Over the course of five days, our program will include (a) a day of introduction into current methodological problems, held by leading scholars, (b) a two-day seminar where participants will present their work-in-progress and receive feedback from the lecturers and their peers, and (c) a two day workshop of invited scholars of the history of concepts in the B2B region with a focus on the topic of body and emotions. Participants are required to attend all parts of the programme.
Research languages include (but are not limited to) Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Greek, Urdu, Hindustani, Bengali, Kurdish, Hebrew, Judezmo, Armenian, Slavic languages, Albanian, and their historical variants. PhD students and early PostDocs from all relevant disciplines and fields (e.g. history, philosophy, literature, social sciences, area studies, cultural anthropology, the study of religion, art history, environmental humanities etc.) are encouraged to apply. The summer meeting supports participants who wish to write or further develop drafts of thesis chapters or project-proposals related to conceptual history. The papers of the workshop on the History of Concepts related to the body and emotions will be published.
The student seminar has no formal topical or chronological restrictions, although we are most interested in early modern and modern conceptual formations related to the body and emotions.
We are eager to have a variety of academic and regional backgrounds represented and will, on a competitive basis, provide scholarship for PhD students and Post-Docs, taking into account both the academic quality of proposals and economic need. Participants from the global south might therefore be prioritized in funding.
To apply, please upload the following as one *.pdf document to https://oiist.org/application-form-b2b-2025/
- Your academic CV
- A one-page statement of purpose explaining your background, your motivation for attending the academy, and a one-page summary of your research question(s).
Make sure to state in your application if you would require financial support. Note that the Academy has no tuition fee but the participants are expected to arrange their own travel to and accommodation in Istanbul.
The Summer Academy will take place in the Teutonia building of the Orient-Institut Istanbul.
Participants will be given a certificate of participation on request.
Contact
director@oiist.org
The organizing and selection committee:
Jens Hanssen (Orient Institut Beirut/Toronto University)
Elke Hartmann (Freie Universität Berlin)
Bilge Karbi (Orient Institut Istanbul)
Christoph K. Neumann (Orient Institut Istanbul)
Margrit Pernau (Max Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung; Freie Universität Berlin)
Sebastian Schwecke (Max Weber Forum, Delhi)
Alp Eren Topal (Ibn Haldun University)
Esther Voswinckel (Orient Institut Istanbul)
Einar Wigen (University of Oslo)
Florian Zemmin (Freie Universität Berlin)
The meeting is organised and funded in cooperation of the following institutions:
Orient Institut Istanbul; Orient Institut Beirut; Freie Universität Berlin; Max Weber Forum for South Asian Studies in Delhi; Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul.