Germany and Romania:
Academic, Cultural, and Ideological  Transfers

CONFERENCE AND SUMMER SCHOOL

Berlin
Titu Maiorescu Romanian Cultural Institute
Koenigsallee 20 A, D-14193 Berlin 

July 19-25, 2008 

Directors: Sorin Antohi, Klaus Bochmann, Jörn Rüsen
Coordinator: Gabriel Jarnea

ORGANISATION:

VERANSTALTUNGSORT:

Titu Maiorescu Romanian Cultural Institute
Koenigsallee 20 A, D-14193 Berlin

P R O G R A M M

The first foreign model students of Romanian culture routinely mention is the French one. The 'French Connection' is admittedly one the most formative (long-distance) entanglements encountered in the study of modern Romania. But it is definitely not the only one. Also, it tended to fade towards the end of the 19th century, facing fierce competition from the German model – maybe the model in interwar Romania. The very competition between these two major 'constitutive Others' is worth looking into as well, since they can be better understood by means of an examination of their own bilateral entanglements on the cultural/political territories of other nations. Thus, the study of the German-Romanian transfers (and of the few Romanian-German ones, from Cantemir to Celan and Celibidache) becomes part of a more comprehensive, intercultural study of European transfers and entanglements.

To assess the long-term German-Romanian academic, cultural, and ideological transfers, Sorin Antohi, Klaus Bochmann, and Jörn Rüsen have designed and will direct an integrated program including a conference, a summer school targeted at young academics (advanced students, doctoral students, and postdocs), and a collective volume. Working languages: German, Romanian, English. All presentations and debates are in German or English, but good knowledge of Romanian is critical. Summer school participants are expected to be fluent in two of the three languages, and to have an intermediate to advanced knowledge of the third.

Methodologically and theoretically, the conference and the summer school concentrate on notions such as transfers, comparisons, and entanglements. Case studies are to be selected from among the German-Romanian 'connections', and systematically discussed in larger contexts (East Central European, European, intercultural, transdisciplinary, etc.).

Summer School Participants

Eligibility. Advanced doctoral students and postdocs, selected on an application basis. Participants are expected to fulfill the linguistic requirements specified above, and to work on topics close to those listed below.

Application procedure. Interested advanced doctoral students and postdocs from all countries, especially from Romania, Germany, the Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine, are eligible. They must write an e-mail to Gabriel Jarnea (iar@gmx.de) by June 15, including the following: (a) CV with list of publications; (b) a two-page statement of purpose stating the relevance of the program to the applicant's work; (c) a four-page research-based essay in English or German on any of the program topics (summer school participants are expected to deliver a fifteen-minute classroom presentation elaborating on the essay); (c) proof of health and accident insurance; (d) any visa-related information for non-EU citizens.

What Participants Gain From the Summer School. Participants attend a high-level academic conference, and are welcome to ask questions, make comments. Participants are taught by specialists of the relevant fields, in a relaxed, small-group situation. School instructors can offer one-on-one tutorials if requested specifically. Participants have a chance to present their own research and/or research questions to their peers and to their instructors. It is envisioned that a medium- and long-term international community of scholars working on the program's topics be built on the basis of this summer school and of others, to be organized in various locations. The most successful school participants may be invited to join established networks and ongoing research and publication projects.

Costs. Summer school participants are expected to make individual arrangements for and cover their travel-related costs. Tuition, accommodation and meals are generously offered by the Romanian Cultural Institute.

Substance

The conference, the summer school, and the collective volume are to cover the same substance, at various levels and in the appropriate ways and forms, insisting on the paradigmatic encounters, exchanges, consequences in and for various fields, such as: Geography, Human Geography, Geopolitics; Philosophy; Psychology, Völkerpsychologie, National Characterology, Kulturmorphologie; Biomedicine, Eugenics, Serology, Anthropology, Demography; History; History of Religions; History and Philosophy of Culture; Literature, Literary Theory, Philology, Linguistics, Esthetics; Economic; Sociology; Ideology, Politics, Institutions, etc.

CONFERENCE AND SUMMER SCHOOL

Saturday:        Arrivals, transfers to conference site, registration: Titu Maiorescu Romanian Cultural Institute, Koenigsallee 20 A, D-14193 Berlin.

19:00 Welcoming remarks by program directors.

Keynote address by Jürgen Kocka: “Transfers and Comparisons”.

20:00 Reception Dinner

Sunday:           Day One

9:30-10:00 Opening: Setting the Stage: German-Romanian Transfers. Opening Statements by Program Directors.

10:00-12:30 Conference Panel One (150 minutes each: three papers of 30 minutes each + 60 minutes introductions of speakers and discussions led by a chair&discussant; in the conference, mainly case studies are examined; in the school sessions, the larger fields and contexts are explored)

1.      Sorin Antohi: Multiple Westernizations: Germany and Romania's Other Models

2.   Ilina Gregori: Literature

3.      Dietmar Müller: Economics and Ideology

12:30-17:00 Lunch Break

16:30-19:00 Conference Panel Two

1.      Andrei Corbea-Hoisie: Paul Celan und die rumänische Sprache

2.      Klaus Bochmann: Linguistics and Philology

3.      Moshe Idel: Mircea Eliade and the Religionsgeschichtliche Schule

19:30 Dinner

Monday:        Day Two

10:00-12:30 Conference Panel Three

1.   Vasile Dumbrava: Weigand und seine Rezeption in Rumänien

2.      Marius Turda: From Anthropology to Biopolitics: German Teachers, Romanian Disciples

3.      Armin Heinen: The Holocaust in Romania and the Logic of Violence

12:30-16:30 Lunch Break

16:30-19:00 Conference Panel Four

1.      Sorin Antohi: Ethnic Ontology: From Kant, Spengler, and Heidgger to Blaga, Bancila, Vulcanescu, and Noica

2.      Stefan Troebst: From Germany to Romania and Beyond: Central Europe's 'Inbetweenness'

3.   Jörn Rüsen: From Transfers to Intercultural Humanism

19:00-19:15 Refreshments

19:15-20:00 Closing Session: General Discussion

Moderators: Sorin Antohi, Klaus Bochmann, Jörn Rüsen

20:00 Dinner

Tuesday:         Day Three

Summer School: First three sessions (of 100 minutes each; sessions One-Seven include one lecture of 35 minutes followed by 15 minutes of discussion, and three participant presentations of 15 minutes each followed by 5 minutes of discussion). All sessions of the summer school elaborate on the topics of the conference. They are taught by the conference participants.

9:00-10:40 School Session One: Sorin Antohi: Introduction: Multiple Mappings of Transfers and Entanglements

                        Break 10:40-11:00 Break

11:00-12:40 School Session Two: Armin Heinen: The Radical Right in Germany and Romania, 1920s-1940s.

                        12:40-17:00 Lunch Break

17:00-18:40 School Session Three: Andrei Corbea-Hoisie: Deutschsprachigkeit am Rande des Imperiums. Der Bukowiner Fall

                        19:00 Dinner

Wednesday:   Day Four

                        9:00-10:40 School Session Four: Moshe Idel: TBA

10:40-11:00 Break

11:00-12:40 School Session Five: Klaus Bochmann: TBA

12:40-14:00 Lunch

Afternoon: Visit to the Museum of European Cultures

19:00 Dinner

Thursday:       Day Five

9:00-10:40 School Session Six: Marius Turda: Eugenicism and Racism in Germany and Romania. A Central and Eastern European Comparative Overview.

                        10:40-11:00 Break

                        11:00-12:40 School Session Seven: Vasile Dumbrava: TBA

                        12:40-14:00 Lunch

Afternoon: Tour of Berlin's Universities and Libraries

19:00 Dinner

Friday:            Day Six

9:00-10:40 School Session Eight: Sorin Antohi: Comparing Cultures: Theoretical and Methodological Suggestions

10:40-11:00 Break

11:00-12:40 School Session Nine: Final Colloquium

12:40-14:00 Lunch

14:00-19:00 City Tour

19:00 Farewell Dinner. Conferral of certificates of attendance. Closing remarks by program directors.

Saturday:        Day Seven

Departures.

BOOK
A collective volume based on conference proceedings (with possible guest contributions from other scholars, including the best school participants). German, Romanian and English versions.