The shut-down of borders and the disruption of global supply chains in reaction to the COVID-19 crisis, Britain's "Brexit," U.S. President Donald Trump's "America First" nationalism among other current developments show that the growing economic entanglements of the world, often abbreviated as globalization, have not put an end to nations, and nation states. Contrary to what liberal theories suggest, market-oriented economies actually can enter into high-level conflicts, and economic integration has not dried out one of the most powerful historical forces of the so-called modern age: Nationalism.

While recent developments highlight the seemingly paradoxical relationship between nations and nationalisms on the one hand, and the economic integration of the world on the other, their complex and conflictual interplay is nothing new. Rather, it is one of the key frictions of our modern world, whose modernity more often than not is defined by the unfolding of capitalism and the invention of nations and nationalism.

In the context of a joint research project dealing with these pertinent issues, Professors Erdmute Alber (Social Anthropology, UBT), Ulf Brunnbauer (Director of the Leibniz Institute for East European Studies, UR), Volker Depkat (American Studies, UR), Hartmut Egger (Economics, UBT), Gerlinde Groitl (Political Science, UR), and Susanne Lachenicht (Early Modern History, UBT), in co-operation with the Leibniz Science Campus "Europe and America in the Modern World" and the Center for International and Transnational Area Studies (CITAS) at the University of Regensburg, organize this joint zoom lecture series that probes into the paradoxical relationship of nationalisms and globalization in a longue durée perspective.

The lectures will take place on Mondays 6-8pm CET and will feature a number of renowned international specialists.

If you are interested in joining us for our discussions, please contact volker.depkat@ur.de or susanne.lachenicht@uni-bayreuth.de.