Transcending Borders – Redrawing Perspectives

On May 4-6, 2018, the Center for Inter-American Studies at the University of Graz is hosting a student conference with the aim of gathering students from different disciplines and backgrounds to exchange their research from an interdisciplinary, interregional and transnational perspective. Due to contemporary developments, such as migration and flight movements as well as consequent political debates that demand stricter border policies and surveillance, the topic of borders has recently (re-)gained political momentum.

The papers presented will address the following topics from an interdisciplinary perspective:

Gender/Body and the Construction of Borders

Constructing Borders through Populisms

Crossing Borders

Negotiating Borders in Multiethnic Territories

Border Formations

Migration & Movement

Transgressing Borders

Keynote lectures are held by Cheryl Lester (American Studies, University of Kansas) and Mirko Petrić (Cultural Sociology, University of Zadar). Additionally, a roundtable discussion will gather the expertise of Roberta Maierhofer (Center for Inter-American Studies, University of Graz), Romedio Schmitz-Esser (Medieval History, University of Graz), Machteld Venken (Association of Borderlands Studies, University of Vienna) and Markus Wurzer (International Research Center for Cultural Studies Vienna, University of Graz) on the broader topic of the conference and it will also provide advice for student researchers on how to deal with borders within academia.