Seeking Submissions

Seeking seminar submissions for the 2023 Annual Conference of the German Studies Association,
Montreal, Canada, October 5-8, 2023.

*** Be quick - deadline for seminar submissions is March 3, 2023 ***

Taking the Long View: Imagined Communities in Austria, 1867–2023

Conveners:

Michael Burri, Haverford College, mburri@haverford.edu
Marc Landry, University of New Orleans, mdlandr1@uno.edu
Sarah Painitz, Butler University, spainitz@butler.edu

Abstract:
This seminar explores legacies of non-national imagined communities in Austrian history since the establishment of the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary in 1867. Mindful of the false proposition that because such small-scale communities were not engaged in elite national politics, they were not politicized, we welcome contributions from traditional fields, including studies of literary groups, classical and folk music societies, art movements, education reform, and philosophical circles. We also invite newer approaches investigating forms of cooperation around nature, digital universe, associational life, and more. Mindful also that such communities have often been vilified, we seek contributions addressing gender, sexuality, and disabilities, as well as anti-intellectualism, socialism, Catholicism, and regionalism. What habitus and behaviors express community belonging, and what projections and emotional states are required to create and sustain it? Comradeship, shared preferences, and a sense of shared destiny figure largely in any imagined community. But how does one experience the leader of the imagined community? And does one imagine belonging to a Freunderlwirtschaft?

Format:
Seminar activity will be organized around pre-circulated papers of 8-10 pages. Each presenter will open their session with a short summary of their paper, to which a designated commentator will deliver a brief response. The discussion will then be opened to the larger group. Papers due four weeks in advance.

Please send to Marc Landry - mdlandr1@uno.edu