English

12th UniGR-CBS Seminar Border Studies

November 21-22, 2024
Université de Lorraine, Metz

The current times are shaped by a number of different crises, the succession or convergence of which can give rise to a sense of permanence and sustainability. At the same time, the concept of climate emergency has invaded a large part of the social, media and existential landscape.

How does this range of energy and climate emergencies redefine our relationship to time and space, and our capacities for mobilization and creativity as these emergencies arise? To what extent is this relationship helping to shape new forms of subjectivity and collectivity around the concept of agency in the Anthropocene era? What expressions of urgency are taking place in the actions and negotiations undertaken for, against, with - or even by - nature?

These questions will be the main theme of the seminar. They will be addressed in the context of the Franco-German region, from an interdisciplinary perspective that brings together geography and German literature. In this context, we will be taking a particular look at borders within the Franco-German area, as we intend to take advantage of the potential offered by the study of borders in relation to the “energy-climate” emergency. The border can be treated either methodologically as a reference, or thematically as an object of study. The focus will be on cross-border dynamics, as well as material and immaterial representations of the border, and its characteristics as a performative structure.

Call for Paper in German and French

This Seminar is the third event in a broader series entitled "Emergencies and Borders: Literary and Geographical Perspectives in the Franco-German Area." This series is part of a "Program-Training-Research" initiative of CIERA (2023-2025). This interdisciplinary research project has been developed by researchers from the Université de Lorraine (CEGIL and LOTERR) and the Saarland University (Department of European Social Studies and Chair of French Germanistics). It is under the patronage of the UniGR-Center for Border Studies.
 

Scientific Committee

The scientific committee is chaired by Cécile Chamayou-Kuhn and Carole Wernert (Université de Lorraine), and includes :

  • Daniel Kazmaier, UR CEGIL, Études Germaniques, Université de Lorraine
  • Françoise Lartillot, UR CEGIL, Études Germaniques, Université de Lorraine
  • Grégory Hamez, UR LOTERR, géographie, Université de Lorraine
  • Reiner Marcowitz, UR CEGIL, Études Germaniques, Université de Lorraine
  • Florian Weber, géographie, Saarland University 
  • Romana Weiershausen, Chaire de Germanistique Francophone, Saarland University 
  • Christian Wille, Head of the UniGR-Center for Border Studies, cultural border studies, University of Luxembourg
     


Contact

Cécile Chamayou-Kuhn (Université de Lorraine)
Carole Wernert (Université de Lorraine)