--- partly reposted from "kulturwissenschaftlich-volkskundliche [kv]-Mailingliste" ---
Call for Papers:
Making and keeping promises in politics and culture. Towards the development of a conceptual framework
Promises inform contemporary social practices, discourse, and interpretation, permeate everyday life, and influence interpersonal relationships. They are intimately connected with expectations, aspirations, and visions. Decisions about the future that we take in the light of experience and current conditions are significantly influenced by the way in which promises are perceived and anticipated. Therefore, promises - even broken ones - seem to create potentially predictable and configurable time frames. A retrospective examination of earlier promises can expose previously overlooked aspects of the relevant societal context. Taking a closer look at historical promises can also reveal the expectations and/or disappointments they engendered for a future that has now been revealed.
On the one hand, the assumption that promises constitute a cultural concept in society requires us to consider specific expectations, for instance with regard to reliability, security as well as stability within society. On the other hand, promises can implicate potential activism. Promises made by stakeholders in political and/or governmental spheres influence people's everyday life. People assume that promises will be kept, and, on that basis, they expect their life to improve.
Several fields at the intersection of political and cultural studies deal with the issue, such as social movements, climate, and migration policy. Cultural institutions are established based on promises that legitimate both their foundation and their lasting existence. In setting up research centres, museums, and memorials, for example, the initiators might hold out the promise that relationships would improve within their societies. Academics from different fields have done inspiring research on secular as well as religious promises, for instance with regard to the concept of illocutionary acts (Wonneberger/Hecht 1986), the philosophy of law (Schneider 2005) and in connection with the history and theory of values (Zeller 2019). However, so far only a few academics within the field of European Ethnology / Cultural Anthropology or Cultural studies have chosen promises as the central object of their research. With regard to studies of future and (urban) planning, however, promises are discussed as performance and how they take effect as social practices (Färber 2021).
Only rarely are promises the sole focal point of research within the field. We therefore hope to initiate a discussion on different levels about this concept as a fundamental component of the social fabric; we also expect to gain new insights into promises in the political context by using a praxeological approach. This conference aims to take a closer look at promising cultural configurations and to bring the perspective of cultural analysis into play. We would like to discuss the potential, but also the challenges. The main goal of the conference is to start a lively debate about promises as a concept, as a category of analysis and as an epistemological dimension, by integrating multiple perspectives and a variety of approaches.
Contributions
We welcome (disciplinary and interdisciplinary) contributions from colleagues in the field of Cultural Anthropology, European Ethnology and Cultural Studies who are exploring various dimensions of the concept and pursuing new methodological, theoretical and/or historical approaches. The organisers would like to encourage proposals which address any of the following topics:
Historical dimensions of promises in politics or political contexts (incl. migration policies, integration, flight, and expulsion)
Promises as projects for the future in current political debates and negotiations (incl. energy, climate and/or cultural policies, technologies)
Institution as promises (educational institutions, museums, memorials)
We are delighted to welcome Prof. Dr. Alexa Färber (Vienna) as our keynote speaker and and Prof. Dr. Silke Göttsch-Elten (Kiel) as our closing speaker.
Please submit an abstract for your paper (approx. 600 words) and a short CV to:
Cornelia Eisler cornelia.eisler@bkge.uni-oldenburg.de and
Katharina Schuchardt Katharina.Schuchardt@mailbox.tu-dresden.de
no later than 1 August 2021.
The programme will then be finalised, and you will be notified by 31 October 2021 whether your paper proposal has been accepted.
The deadline for full paper submissions will be 31 March 2022.
The conference is organised by the Institute of Saxon History and Cultural Anthropology / Institut für Sächsische Geschichte und Volkskunde (ISGV) Dresden and the Federal Institute for Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe / Bundesinstitut für Kultur und Geschichte der Deutschen im östlichen Europa (BKGE) Oldenburg.
Conference dates: 4-6 May 2022 in Dresden.
Organisers: Dr. Cornelia Eisler, Dr. Katharina Schuchardt
It is anticipated that selected papers will be published - subject to funding - at the Institute of Saxon History and Cultural Anthropology / Institut für Sächsische Geschichte und Volkskunde e. V. (ISGV).
We welcome contributions in German or English.
Cited literature
Alexa Färber: Gegen UnGleichzeitigkeit? Das Versprechen als alltagskulturelle Vergegenwärtigung von (urbanen) Zukünften, in: Dagmar Hänel, et al. (eds.): Planen. Hoffen. Fürchten. Zur Gegenwart der Zukunft im Alltag, Münster, New York 2021 (Bonner Beiträge zur Alltagskulturforschung 13), pp. 25-41,
Manfred Schneider (ed.): Die Ordnung des Versprechens. Naturrecht - Institution - Sprechakt, München 2005,
Reinhard Wonneberger, Hans Peter Hecht (eds.): Verheißung und Versprechen. Eine theologische und sprachanalytische Klärung, Göttingen, Zürich 1986,
Christoph Zeller: Werte. Geschichte eines Versprechens, Stuttgart 2019.
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Dr. Katharina Schuchardt
Institut für Sächsische Geschichte und Volkskunde/Kulturanthropologie
Zellescher Weg 17, D-01069 Dresden
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