We warmly invite doctoral candidates, postdoctoral researchers, and early-career scholars to submit their abstracts for the first international early-career conference Breaks, Transformations and Divergences. Please send the following by 30 September 2026:
- an abstract (approx. 350 words)
- a short biographical note (approx. 100 words) to:
The first international early-career conference of the Platform is entitled Breaks, Transformations and Divergences. It focuses on historical and contemporary processes of transformation that shape language, literature, culture, and society in Central Europe. Breaks, transformations, and divergences are not to be understood exclusively as historical phenomena, but also as perspectives on current developments within academia, culture, and society. Particular attention will be paid to questions of continuity and change, loss and reorientation, as well as the different paths along which German Studies and its neighbouring disciplines are currently developing.
Contributions may address, among others, the following thematic areas. These are intended as suggestions, and further contributions relevant to the conference theme are expressly welcome:
Section I: Language(s) in Transformation
- German as a bridge language and a language of academia
- Multilingualism and language contact
- Migration and linguistic diversity
- Digital communication and social media
- Artificial intelligence and language change
- Continuity and change in linguistic structures
Section II: Literature, Culture and Identity in Transition
- Literary responses to social transformations
- Migration, mobility, and hybrid identities
- Cultural transfer and transnational perspectives
- Intercultural hermeneutics and processes of cultural translation
- Centre, periphery, and new literary spaces
- Canon, counter-canon, and cultural memory
- New perspectives on literature and culture in Central Europe
Section III: Memory, History and Cultural Heritage
- German-speaking minorities in Central Europe
- Cultures of remembrance and cultural memory
- Archives, sources, and editions
- Historical ruptures and their repercussions
- Spaces, border regions, and regional identities
- Diverging narratives of key historical events
- Cultural heritage between remembrance and transformation