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| Call for expressions of interest |
The
International Scientific Committee for the UNESCO History Project
is planning to organize three international conferences in 2009-2010,
with the common purpose of encouraging and stimulating historical
research and reflections on UNESCO's programmes, activities
and orientations from 1945 to date. These three conferences
are a follow up to the international symposium on UNESCO's history
that took place in Paris on the occasion of the Organization's
60th anniversary in November 2005.
Background information on the UNESCO
History Project and on the composition of its International
Scientific Committee
The themes
The Committee has selected the following three themes:
- "Towards the Transnational History of International Organizations:
Methodology / Epistemology". This conference will pay special
attention to UNESCO as a case-study, and take a broader
view of methodological issues relating to the study of the
history of international organizations. The conference will
be hosted by the Centre for History and Economics at King's
College, Cambridge University, United Kingdom, and take
place on 6 and 7 April 2009.
- "UNESCO and the Cold War". UNESCO was an important arena
for the Cold War, but it was also an actor with an agenda
of its own. The purpose of the conference is to explore
different historical perspectives concerning the extent
of the Cold War's impact on UNESCO and vice versa. The conference
will be hosted by the Heidelberg Center for American Studies
at the University of Heidelberg and take place on 4 and
5 March 2010.
- "UNESCO and Issues of Colonization and Decolonization".
Among UNESCO's founding Member States were both colonial
powers and former colonies. This Conference invites students
and scholars utilizing a range of methodological approaches
and intellectual frameworks to reflect on UNESCO's historical
role, relevant orientations and actions in regard to colonialism
and the era of decolonization. The conference will be hosted
by the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal, and
take place on 1 and 2 October 2009.
The Research Call: 2007-2010
The International Scientific Committee for the UNESCO History
Project invites expressions of interest from historians and
other students and scholars who have an interest in the history
of UNESCO in general and in one or more of the three selected
themes of transnationalism, the Cold War, and colonization and
decolonization. Applicants should submit an abstract of approximately
100-500 words detailing their research interests, and a short
cv, along with full contact information. Applicants do not have
to be historians of UNESCO or international organizations, but
they should have a commitment to pursuing research which draws
on the archives and histories of international organizations.
Further to the replies received, the Committee will decide on
the sessions to be organized, the papers to be presented and
the detailed programme of each conference. The costs of travel
and accommodation of the speakers will be covered. A selection
of papers presented will be published in English and French,
when the conferences have taken place. The main results of these
conferences will also be presented at the 21st International
Congress of Historical Sciences, which will take place in Amsterdam,
the Netherlands, in August 2010.
Please e-mail your expression of interest to the Coordinator
of the UNESCO History Project, Mr. Jens Boel (j.boel@unesco.org),
to whom you may also address enquiries concerning the submission
process. Please send a copy of your "expression of interest"
message to the Chairman of the International Scientific Committee
for the UNESCO History Project, Professor Jean-François
Sirinelli, Director of the Centre d'histoire de Sciences Politiques,
Paris (jean-francois.sirinelli@sciences-po.fr).
Please submit your proposal for one or more of the three conferences
before 30 April 2008.
Further details:
Theme 1: "Towards the Transnational History of International
Organizations: Methodology / Epistemology" Since its creation
in 1945, UNESCO has played an important role in advancing methodological
and epistemological discussions in the field of historical studies,
from its post-Second World War initiation of the 'History of
Humanity' project and the first Journal of World History, to
its current engagement with the trans-Atlantic histories of
slavery and migration. This call for expressions of interest
is directed at scholars who are keen to bring questions of this
sort to the study of international organizations, with a special,
although not exclusive, reference to UNESCO. We are inviting
historians with a developed or developing interest in methodological
and epistemological debates surrounding transnational history
to contribute to a network currently being established by UNESCO,
and to express their interest in participating in a conference
which will take place in Spring 2009. While transnational history
has now taken hold in numerous fields, challenging the dominance
of the nation-state as the framework for the investigation of
past lives, experiences, and events, it has hardly touched the
traditional field of international studies. Reflection on the
transnational context in which international organizations have
come into existence and operated raises challenging questions
for not only national studies, but also for international and
diplomatic history. It places the emphasis on the realm in which
organizations such as UNESCO came to life, which on the one
hand was firmly rooted in the context of the continued salience
of nation-states, but on the other inspired and required other
kinds of political, social and cultural spheres of agency and
knowledge. Our aim is to encourage innovative work that brings
the study of UNESCO and international organizations into the
mainstream of international and national histories and interdisciplinary
approaches. We are particularly interested in proposals that
engage any of the following themes:
- Transnational Archives
- The International History of International Organizations
- Subjectivities and Subjects
Theme 2: "UNESCO and the Cold War". This conference aims
at laying the groundwork for a new interpretive synthesis of
UNESCO's history, with a particular emphasis on the role and
place of UNESCO in the Cold War, based on multi-archival evidence
and existing scholarship of international organizations. Scholars
are invited to explore the history of UNESCO not only as a forum
for the East-West ideological contest but also as an entity
which distinctly influenced this struggle for hearts and minds.
Approaches to the theme should emphasize transnational perspectives,
such as those of different national actors, non-governmental
organizations, activist groups, etc., throughout the world.
Studies incorporating broader aspects of the history of UNESCO,
including the Organization's work for international understanding,
its efforts in promoting intellectual cooperation, and its various
initiatives in the field of education, science and culture,
which unfolded at UNESCO in measure with the Cold War, are also
welcome. Among the questions that might be taken up at the conference
is whether or not East-West relations came to be redefined as
a result of UNESCO's initiatives, for instance through its sponsorship
of inter-civilizational conferences and the publication of its
world history series. The role of UNESCO as a meeting place
for scientists, scholars and a wide variety of professional
groups from all parts of the world, including countries on opposing
sides of the Iron Curtain, could be analyzed from this perspective.
Papers might also address the Cold War dimension of UNESCO's
strategic undertakings, for instance, in the field of communication
policies, and the Organization's projects in individual Member
States, in particular in developing countries and newly independent
states. We strongly encourage the use of a distinct variety
of sources and archives.
Theme 3: "UNESCO and Issues of Colonization and Decolonization".
The history of UNESCO cannot be written without reflection on
its relationship to the mass decolonization of both peoples
and nations which occurred after 1946. How did these phenomena
intertwine with developments at UNESCO, including its: orientation,
themes, structures and functions, financing, leadership, and
conflicts at the heart of the institution and its competing
networks? This is a multi-faceted history. Even in terms of
the actors involved, questions emerge concerning not only the
relationships between the colonizers and the colonized, but
the role which the institution of UNESCO itself played in decolonization.
What was UNESCO's role in the explosive debates concerning the
future of these colonial empires, whose (former) masters were
among the powers exercising the greatest influence over UNESCO's
programs and finance, and whose historic legitimacy was further
ingrained by their status as founding members of the organization?
How did this institution, which was supposed to dedicate its
actions and resources towards the promotion of education and
culture for the purposes of peace, position itself in regard
to national liberation movements that sometimes expressed themselves
through violence?
There is no doubt that UNESCO made numerous contributions, in
diverse forms, to the construction and the consolidation of
the new nation states which emerged through the process of decolonization.
In doing so, UNESCO's actions contributed to the achievement
and consolidation of national independence. Within both bilateral
and multilateral frameworks, UNESCO established numerous programmes
and projects, or endorsed initiatives to help these new states,
particularly in the area of education and training. At the same
time, decolonization deeply influenced ideas and developments
in imperial centers. In what ways did UNESCO facilitate the
shaping of post-colonial thought in former colonial, as well
as metropolitan spheres? Such transnational aspects of UNESCO's
history in relation to decolonization remain largely unexplored.
For this reason, expressions of interest are especially encouraged
from researchers engaging in transnational approaches to UNESCO
and decolonization, including themes such as:
- UNESCO's engagement with notions of race;
- UNESCO series of Histories;
- UNESCO's role in regard to colonial questions and struggles
for national liberation;
- Decolonization in Africa and Asia and the impact upon
UNESCO;
- "Decolonizing the minds" - the roles of culture and education;
- Decolonization and the future of cultural dialogues.
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