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Borders In Flux and Border Temporalities In and Beyond Europe
This year’s TEIN annual conference took place on 15 and 16 December 2022 at the University of Luxembourg as a hybrid event and was all about the temporality of borders. Since border studies is an interdisciplinary field of research but primarily spatially oriented, the conference shed light on research that focuses on the temporal dimension of borders, borderlands and border regions in and beyond the 19th and 20th century Europe. Scholars presented papers on topics such as identity, historical memory, cross-border experiences or regionalism and highlighted as well methodological and conceptual considerations of researching borders in and through time and space.
During the two days of conference, three keynotes were given as well as a wide range of contributions from international and European researchers during 4 panels on
- Borders and the Elasticity of Time
- Border-Making Processes: Changes over Time
- Remembering as Bordering
- Approaches to Border Temporalities
Between keynotes and panels and over coffee and pastries, participants had enough time for exchange and discussion and enjoyed this gathering on-site after the years of pandemic.
Special thanks to the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH) which organised this wonderful event together with TEIN and in collaboration with the Borders in Globalization (BiG), the UniGr Center for Border Studies and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
— Programme of the conference —
Photos: Denise Rodrigues Marafona
A summary of the conference, written by Johanna Jaschik from the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C2DH) at the University of Luxembourg, is available here.
Keynote: Of being stuck or moving on: border temporalities along the EU's external border in the Western Balkans
1st conference day: 15 December 2022
After an introduction and warm welcoming by Johanna Jaschik and Machteld Venken from the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History as well as Anne Thevenet from TEIN and deputy director of the Euro-Institut in Kehl (Germany), Carolin Leutloff-Grandits presented the first keynote. The social anthropologist and senior researcher at the interdisciplinary Viadrina Center B/ORDERS IN MOTION at the European University Viadrina (Germany) spoke about border temporalities along EU’s external border in the Western Balkans.
Panel 1: Borders and the Elasticity of Time
Chair for this first panel on borders and the elasticity of time was Birte Wassenberg from the Institut d’études politiques, University of Strasbourg (France); since many years, the IEP Strasbourg is as well a member of TEIN. TEIN and C²DH were very happy to welcome David Newman from Ben-Gurion University in the Negev in Israel as discussant to this first panel.
Contributions to this panel were given by Lidia Kuzemska from the Forum Transregionale Studien in Berlin and Mafalda Carapeto from the University of Lisbon (Portugal) and Luca Daminelli, University of Genoa (Italy).
→ Luca Daminelli, together with Marcella Cometti from University of Ferrara, focused in their research on The timeless island. The impact of EU and national legislation and procedures on refugees’ temporalities in Lesvos.
Poster Session of Doctoral Researchers
During the lunch break, participants could take a look at the posters presented by three doctoral researchers from the region and discuss with them about:
- Energy Borderlands in Flux: the Example of the SaarLorLux Region by Alexandra Lampke, Saarland University (Germany) and UniGR-Center for Border Studies
- Borders in Northern Quebec’s “Wilderness”. From Colonial Dividing Lines to Postcolonial Links, by Isis Luxenburger, Saarland University (Germany)
- Fun Fairs in Border Areas – A National, Transregional and Transnational History of the “Schueberfouer”, by Véronique Faber, Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History, University of Luxembourg
Panel 2: Border-Making Processes: Changes over Time
After lunch break, the second panel began, with Christoph Brüll from the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History as chair and Birte Wassenberg, IEP Strasbourg, as discussant.
During this panel, the following scholars presented their research:
- Benoit Vaillot, University of Toulouse (France), and associate researcher at University of Strasbourg
- Arpine Maniero, Collegium Carolinum e.V., Research Institute for the History of the Czech Lands and Slovakia
- Oksana Ermolaeva, Institute of Advanced Studies, New College Europe, Bucharest and Global Digital Fellow, Council for European Studies, Columbia University (2020–2021)
- Sabine Bollig, University of Trier (Germany) & Selina Behnke, University of Trier
→ Oksana Ermolaeva presented her work on (B)order-making, cross border transactions, and environment at the Russian-Finnish Border (early twentieth – early twenty first century).
→ Sabine Bollig and Selina Behnke spoke about their research on (De)bordered Childhood Projects in flux. Borders, time, and the childcare arrangements of cross-border commuting parents.
Keynote: Remembering as bordering: Using memory studies to understand border temporalities
As chair, Machteld Venken from the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History introduced Alena Pfoser who gave the conference’s 2nd keynote. The Senior Lecturer in Communication and Media Studies at Loughborough University (England), spoke about the topic “Remembering as bordering: Using memory studies to understand border temporalities”.
Panel 3: Remembering as Bordering
Machteld Venken from the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History chaired the 3rd panel and Alena Pfoser from Loughborough University, took on the role of the discussant.
In this panel, Dorte Jagetic Andersen from the Centre for Border Region Studies at the University of Southern Denmark, David Newman from Ben-Gurion University in the Negev in Israel and Pedro Albuquerque, University of Seville, Uniarq and Centre of Global Studies, Aberta University (Spain) presented their research work.
→ Pedro Albuquerque worked together with Francisco José García Fernández, University of Seville, on Bordering Iberia, globalizing borders: topics for the enhancement of a transnational heritage.
Keynote: Migration, Borders and Temporality
2nd conference day: 16 December 2022
The second conference day began with a keynote by Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly, professor of Public Administration and director of Borders in Globalization (BiG) and 21st century borders research projects at the University of Victoria, Canada. Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly was introduced by Anne Thevenet, deputy director of the Euro-Institut, founding member of TEIN, who chaired the panel.
Panel 4: Approaches to Border Temporalities
The 4th and last panel on approaches to border temporalities was chaired by Christian Wille, University of Luxembourg and UniGR-Center for Border Studies. Discussant to this panel was Carolin Leutloff-Grandits from the European University Viadrina.
In this panel, Elisabeth Boesen, University of Luxembourg, Michal Frankl, Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Machteld Venken from the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History presented their research.
→ First, Elisabeth Boesen spoke about her research on Border crossing and “temporal otherness” in the Greater Region SaarLorLux. Residential migrants’ experiences of divergence.
→ Michal Frankl’s abstract on The Making of the No Man’s Land. Forced migration, border violence and spatial statelessness in East-Central Europe at the end of the 1930s.
→ Machteld Venken focused in her presentation on Arrival Declaration Forms. A New Gateway for Mapping Migration to Luxembourg. Her paper, written together with Arnaud Sauer, University of Luxembourg can be found here.
End of the conference
After a day and a half of interdisciplinary research and perspectives on how to address the issue of border temporality, the annual TEIN conference ended after an intense morning on the second conference day. The participants can look back on interesting contributions, valuable input and discussions. We thank everyone for participating and especially the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History for organising this interesting conference!
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