Department of History, Archaeology & Social Anthropology, University of Thessaly - Historein *** *** Past & Present Empires : Concepts, Critical Approaches & New Perspectives University of Thessaly in Volos (Greece) 27-29 June 2003 FINAL PROGRAM The term empire has recently reappeared in the vocabulary used both by social scientists as well as by journalists and social commentators. Until few years ago the term was mostly used to describe systems of political power that were considered to belong to bygone historical eras. The notion of the empire referred either to pre-modern and pre-national power relations (the empires of Antiquity and the Middle Ages), or to forms of colonial exploitation and control. The re-emergence of empire as a key-term in the analysis of contemporary power relations globally makes it necessary to examine the concept anew, in order to revisit past hegemonies and to determine the new uses of the term in the on-going discussions over new forms of power in the contemporary context of globalization. In order to promote discussion of empire and its past and present academic and political uses, we invite scholars to participate in an international workshop that will take place at the University of Thessaly in Volos, Greece, 27-29 June 2003. The workshop will bring together scholars working in a wide range of disciplines (history, literature and cultural studies, anthropology, political science, international relations, legal studies) and on various historical periods (Antiquity, the Middle Ages, early modern, modern and contemporary history). We are particularly interested in contributions that engage with the following sets of questions and themes: 1. What is the relation between sovereignty and territoriality in different historical periods? How do practices of power that define the empire correlate political sovereignty with territorial control? Can we relate the historical process of transition from multi-ethnic empires to new-states, to the contemporary process of transition from nation-states to supra-national forms of sovereignty in the context of globalization? 2. How does the interrelation between power and legitimacy change historically? How does military force legitimize existing or emerging power relations? And what is the relation between military force and ideological, cultural, humanitarian and religious means of legitimization? How do we approach the multiplicity of forms of international hegemony? Does the emergence of polycentric structures of hegemony change our understanding of empire? 3. What is the relation between empire and notions of citizenship, subjection and foreignness? How do empires enlarge or collapse the differences between these types of civil status in relation to other forms of political sovereignty? Do these notions follow the historical transitions from imperial to national and supra-national forms of sovereignty? 4. The historiography of the concept of empire. How were different imperial as well as anti-imperial ideologies formed in different historical contexts? What is the history of theoretical engagement with empire as an intellectual concept as well as a form of political organization? What is the intellectual tradition of study of the formation, crisis and fall of empires? 5. Post-coloniality as an analytical perspective in the study of relations of power in the contemporary context of empire. What is the relation between empire, subjectivity and the formation of social collectivities in the context of post-coloniality? How do practices of resistance develop in the context of empire and how are both power and resistance re-defined in the contemporary context of globalization? Deadline for submission of proposals: December 15, 2002 For more information and submission of abstracts contact: historein@historein.gr Organizational committee: Ioanna Laliotou, University of Thessaly Yiannis Papatheodorou, University of Thessaly Polymeris Voglis, University of Thessaly Academic committee: Rica Benveniste, University of Thessaly Efi Gazi, University of Thessaly Dimitris Kirtatas, University of Thessaly Paraskevas Konortas, University of Thessaly Ioanna Laliotou, University of Thessaly Antonis Liakos, University of Athens Yiannis Papatheodorou, University of Thessaly Polymeris Voglis, University of Thessaly Return to top