Call for Papers – Hate
Call for Papers – Hate
Workshop, TU Dresden, 21-23 February 2024
General Framework
Hate has become a strong currency in contemporary liberal democracies. Its growing presence is reflected in the rise of radical groups that thrive on intolerance, racial prejudice and resistance of liberal values, in the prosperity of conspiracy theories, and in the popularity of political rhetoric of anger, despair and conflict.
Where is all this hate coming from, and why now? Which expressions does it utilize, which societal contexts and historical roots does it draw on? What can be done to limit its destructive effects? The purpose of the three-day seminar is to promote a better understanding of the phenomenon of hate through interdisciplinary, comparative discussion by young and promising German and Israeli scientists.
This workshop has resulted from a joint initiative of the German-Israeli Foundation (GIF), Tel Aviv University (TAU) and the Technical University of Dresden (TUD). The aim is to better understand the phenomenon of hatred, its forms and contexts of origin, and to situate it politically, socially and culturally. To this end, we invite young German and Israeli researchers to Dresden in February 2024.
Rational and Scope
The workshop has two points of departure. First, hate is an integral part of the human experience and social reality, yet under certain conditions and contexts, its manifestations expand and its disruptive and destructive impacts grow.
Second, understanding hate-phenomena calls for an interdisciplinary approach that examines in historical, comparative and integrated perspectives a plethora of psychological, sociological, cultural, political, technological and judicial developments.
For example, the understanding of the role social media platforms play in disseminating hate speech in our time should be informed by analyses of the role other technological transformations played in the past in facilitating similar phenomena, the psychological functions new technologies serve in comparison to traditional ones, the social and political conditions in which the affects of those technologies take place, and the suitability of existing legal frameworks to address new challenges they create.
We hope that a better, integrated and comparative understanding of hate phenomena will have practical implications and encourage fresh thinking about the means to moderate and eradicate existing expressions and actions.
The aim of the workshop is to constitute a group of young scholars from different disciplines and backgrounds who can inspire each other about the study of hate. The publication of the workshop presentations in a special issue of an international journal is planned.
Call
The organisers welcome applications from young scholars from various disciplines, including history, philosophy, political science, psychology, education, gender studies, criminology, media studies, law and migration studies. We particularly appreciate research papers with comparative or interdisciplinary approaches. Papers will be scheduled for 20 minutes, followed by 30 minutes of discussion.
While we will welcome also presentations of case-studies, priority will be given to scholars who intend to present research that involves comparative or interdisciplinary approaches.
The language of the workshop will be English. Travel and accommodation costs will be covered. In addition, an accompanying programme is planned, including a guided tour of the historical monuments of Dresden and a visit to the Buchenwald concentration camp.
We kindly ask you to send us an abstract (up to 600 words) and a short academic CV with contact details (e-mail, telephone, postal address). Please send your applications to: hass-workshop@tu-dresden.de by 30 November 2023.
Coordination
Prof. Dr. Uriya Shavit (Head of the Center for Contemporary European Jewry Studies, the Cotler Institute for Democracy, Human Rights and Justice and the SDU-TAU Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies)
PD Dr. Jörg Sonntag (Interim-Chair for Medieval History, Institute of History, TU Dresden)
Dr. Carl Yonker (Project Manager of the Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry, TAU)
Dr. Maik Herold (Senior Researcher at Mercator Forum Migration and Democracy, Institute of Political Sciences, TU Dresden)