Places in the tension field between globalization and differentiation
Around 20 international researchers were invited to the KU by the DFG (German Research Foundation) research training group "Practicing Place". The occasion was the so-called Mid-Term Conference, which marks the halfway point of the first funding phase of the research training group and was entitled "Here, There, and Somewhere in Between: Placing, Practicing, Configuring." The conference provided an opportunity for renowned experts to engage in dialog with the researchers of the group. Highlights were the keynote presentations by the renowned geographer Tim Cresswell (University of Edinburgh) and the Americanist Antje Kley (FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg).
The training group's research focuses on the dynamics of places in the tension field between globalization processes, migration movements and cultural differentiation. It is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and is the first DFG research training group at the KU Eichstätt since the start of funding in April 2021. With 19 researchers from different disciplines and countries, including the USA, Tunisia, India, Germany and the UK, the conference reflected the interdisciplinary and international orientation of the research training group. At the center of attention during the Mid-Term Conference was the impact of actions on places. The speakers took a wide variety of aspects into consideration.
For example, the keynote lecture by established geographer Tim Cresswell entitled "On Routes" addressed actions as a link between places. The focus of his approach was on locomotion and the creation of routes as a political and socio-cultural gesture. He emphasized that the straightforwardness of routes was illusory and that material circumstances always required detours, re-orientation, and flexibility. Last but not least, he also referred to the power relations that shaped different routes. The route through the Mediterranean to Europe, for example, underpins the dominance of the global North and the oppression of people in the global South.
In the second keynote presentation, the Americanist Antje Kley addressed the topic of mourning in literature. Using contemporary U.S. literature, she discussed death as an event that sets time and space in a new relationship. She emphasized the political and social conditions of this reassessment and the role of literature as a secular place for coping with mourning in a neo-liberal system. The discussion following her lecture also pointed to the need for new places to mourn, now that traditional places of mourning such as the cemetery are gradually losing their social significance.
Similarly, the various panels also took a heterogeneous perspective at the conference topic. Among other things, the speakers discussed the work of the artist Laurie Anderson, but also the practices of the indigenous population in Mexico or the restriction of the freedom to demonstrate in the USA connected to carrying of weapons. Despite the different disciplinary orientations, however, a clear result remained, which is also in line with the basic thesis of the research training group: Places are changeable and are constantly being reshaped through actions and practices.
The full conference program is available on the research training group's website: www.practicing.place.
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![[Translate to Englisch:] Zu den Referentinnen und Referenten der Konferenz gehörte unter anderem der renommierte Geograf Tim Cresswell von der University of Edinburgh.](/fileadmin/_processed_/b/e/csm_Konferenz_Grako_Place1_0264de04c1.jpg)
