Prof. Dr. Mark Häberlein
Following up on those recent trends in scholarship, the 2008 annual meeting of the German Society for Overseas History will focus on problems of linguistic exchange and intercultural communication in the relations between Europe and the extra-European world. The conference will cover the whole period from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. The meeting will take place in Bamberg, Germany, from 16 to 18 May 2008 and will be organised by Prof. Dr. Mark Häberlein (Bamberg) and Dr.des. Alexander Keese (Berne). The conference languages will be German and English. Through this call, we request proposals for papers of 30 minutes length. We are particularly interested in papers that focus on one or more of the following aspects:
- non-verbal communication in encounters between Europeans and non-Europeans (sign and body language, pictograms …)
- pidgin and trading languages
- groups of cultural brokers: translators, prisoners-of-war, clergymen, traders …
- male and female cultural brokers
- forms and problems of communication in multilingual
- communities and regions (e.g. urban centres settled by different diaspora groups)
- philological studies by European missionaries and scholars in extra-European regions
- change and persistence of linguistic practices during (voluntary and forced) migrations
- language policies of different European colonial powers
- language as a means of identity formation and as a factor in processes of political emancipation and decolonisation
The deadline is June 1, 2007. Potential contributors should send their proposals (title plus an abstract of half a page) to:
Prof. Dr. Mark Häberlein
Universität Bamberg
Lehrstuhl für Neuere Geschichte
Fischstr. 5-7
D-96047 Bamberg
email: Mark.Haeberlein@ggeo.uni-bamberg.de