Call for papers

Balkan Worlds III: Power Networks in the Imperial and Post-Imperial
Balkans (18th - 20th c.)

The communicative origins of the concept of "networks" and the fact
that they often act as a vacant signifier in historical analysis,
replacing terms and semantic tools of earlier theoretical approaches,
albeit without this necessarily being a prerequisite, created the
conditions for a critical approach to the overuse of this concept. As

David Bell correctly observed when commenting on the growth of global
history as the result of a methodological insistence on the issue of
communication networks that the latter didn’t play a bigger role in a
globalized perception of history than, for example, the growth and
spread of socialist internationalist ideas in the 19th century.
Nevertheless, a question remains: if precisely the meaning of the
political that supposedly transcends the meaning of the communication
aspect, could also be defined on the growth or transformation of the
social networks creating the conditions for concentrating social and
cultural capital and thus the reconstruction of the dominant political
sphere. The conference will insist precisely on the manner,
preconditions, and process according to which social networks can be
transformed into power networks in the framework of an empire or
within the framework of a nation state in the Balkans from the 18th
through the 20th century. More specifically, the scientific committee
would select the research of relationships with political power in the
following types of social networks:

- intellectual or scholarly networks
- commercial or merchant networks
- diaspora networks
- clerical networks
- patronage or clientelistic networks
- political networks
- scientific or academic networks

The working language of the Conference will be English. The conference
will be held in Thessaloniki on October 6-9, 2016 by the Department of
Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies, University of Macedonia. The
deadline for submitted proposals is May 31, 2016. Please include there
the following information: i) name and surname ii) full title of
paper, iii) abstract (200-300 words), iv) institutional affiliation,
v) short CV, vi) telephone, fax, e-mail. We welcome individual
proposals for 20-minute presentations. Proposals should be sent to:
ds@uom.gr

The Conference Scientific Committee members and plenary speakers are:

Karen Barkey (Columbia University/University of California, Berkeley)
Edhem Eldem (Βοğazici University, Istanbul)
Benjamin C. Fortna (The University of Arizona)
Hannes Grandits (Humboldt University, Berlin)
Olga Katsiardi (University of Athens)
Dimitris Stamatopoulos (University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki)

The committee will announce its final choices by June 30, 2016.
Speakers will be asked to submit their final papers by September 15,
2016, to allow sufficient time for them to be distributed and ready by
conference participants. The University of Macedonia will cover
speakers’ accommodation expenses during the conference; It is expected
that travel costs will be covered by speakers’s affiliated
institutions.

Best regards,

Dimitris Stamatopoulos
Associate Professor in Balkan and Late Ottoman History
Dept. of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies
University of Macedonia
156 Egnatia Str.
54006 Thessaloniki
Greece