About the Conference

The conference marks the 25th anniversary of the symposium cycle Culture and International History, that began in 1999 and has since taken place in Wittenberg, Frankfurt, Cologne, and Berlin. Key themes and contributions are published in Berghahn Books’ series Explorations in Culture and International History (Oxford, New York) since 2003. The conference Culture and International History VII will be dedicated to the topic of “Uncertain Boundaries.” Boundaries have received increasing attention in public, political, and scholarly debates in recent years, much inspired by scholars such as Nira Yuval-Davies (2020) and others. In contrast to physical borders (frontiers, national, imperial, natural borders, property lines) boundaries, as a concept, highlight the interplay of territorial, physical borders with their attendant sociopolitical and cultural consequences.

At the same time, they also draw attention to mental dimensions: nature and culture, them and us, male and female, and their material implications. The creation, crossing, collapse, and contestation of borders often stand in direct correlation to the drawing, blurring, and cracking of boundaries. CIH VII examines how material and immaterial borders and boundaries historically interacted and conditioned one another: How did people “live” borders and boundaries? What caused uncertain boundaries to become accepted norms? What are the theoretical and methodological implications of uncertain boundaries for the writing of international history?

Please submit questions to: uncertain.boundaries@jfki.fu-berlin.de