Borders and Borderlands: Contested Spaces Between States

15th Berlin Roundtables on Transnationality, March 28 – 31, 2012, WZB

With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, a new era seemed to have opened up: a world without borders and thus – potentially – a world with less conflict and more freedom. Today, more than 20 years later, we can observe that some border systems have softened while others have been consolidated, and many more border-based regulations have been created on national and supra-national levels. The nation-state has not disappeared and neither have its borders. However, borders and borderlands cannot be reduced to spaces of division and conflict but they also exist as spaces of social, ethnic, cultural and economic blending – territories of their own. In the tradition of previous Berlin Roundtables held on urban development, transnational risks, human rights, and cultural diversity the 15th Berlin Roundtables on Transnationality will focus on borders and borderlands as contested spaces.

For further details please see the background paper.

Conference Format
Based on an international essay competition, 48 applicants have been invited to discuss their research, concerns and agendas with peers and prominent scholars in Berlin. The Irmgard Coninx Foundation will cover travel to and accommodation in Berlin.

Discussions will take place in three workshops:
Workshop 1 "Mapping Borders and Border Security",
Workshop 2 "Infringing the Border", and
Workshop 3 "The Social Life of Borders".

The conference will be accompanied by public evening lectures:

March 28, 2012, 6 p.m., WZB
Prof. Dr. Jens Reich, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin-Buch "Contesting the Borders: Intellectual Life and the Struggle for Democracy in a Divided and Reunited City and Country"

March 29, 2012, 7 p.m., Haus der Kulturen der Welt
Prof. Eric Tagliacozzo, Cornell University
"Jagged Landscapes: Conceptualizing Borders and Boundaries in Human History"

March 30, 2012, 6 p.m., WZB
Prof. Dr. Christian Tomuschat, Humboldt University
"Nuclear Power Plants at International Borders: The Need for International Environmental Impact Assessment"

Further information on the evening lectures will be announced soon.

Irmgard Coninx Research Grant
Conference participants are eligible to apply for one of up to three short-term fellowships to be used at the WZB in Berlin. For further information on the fellowship please visit our research grant site. Conference participants will receive all necessary details on the grant application shortly before the conference.