Workshop: War & Identity in the Balkans and the Middle East

Call for Papers

Europe and the World Centre at the University of Liverpool, invites interested scholars to apply for one and a half day workshop which will take place at the University of Liverpool Campus on 19-20 April 2018.

How does war impact identity? If the construction of group identity is a process rather than a defined state, then war is the most dramatic catalyst. Both the Balkans and the Middle East have seen cycles of war in which previous episodes of ethnic, sectarian, or nationalist violence are unearthed and re-narrated. The workshop therefore invites participants to look at the narratives that emerge from war in the two regions and shape identity.

Themes that the workshop seeks to address include, but are not confined to, the following:

  • How is memory of previous conflicts used to reframe identities?
  • How is violence used to sharpen the sectarian, ethnic, or nationalist divide?
  • To what extent do elites instrumentalise such reframing of identities, to what extent are these processes driven “from below”?
  • How do wartime economies entrench or cut across ethnic, sectarian, or nationalist divides?
  • How do these processes affect the possibility of resolving or managing conflict?

One main ambition of the workshop is to make research on the Middle East and on the Balkans speak to each other. The comparison is interesting for two reasons. Firstly, both regions share a history as post-Ottoman territories. Secondly, while the Balkans experienced violent ethnic and nationalist conflict in the 1990s, Middle Eastern countries such as Syria, Iraq, and Yemen are in the midst of wars with a strong sectarian dimension. The Balkan cases may therefore hold lessons for post-war peacebuilding and reconstruction.

Submission and Deadlines

Please submit an abstract (up to 1500 characters) and short biographical note (up to 700 characters) here.

Abstract submission deadline Monday 08 January 2018
Notification of acceptance Monday 29 January 2018
Paper submission deadline Thursday 05 April 2018

Travel and Accommodation

University of Liverpool will reimburse travel expenses for participants up to £100 and provide accommodation for one night.

Further Information

For further information please contact Mr Mate Subasic (Mate.Subasic@liverpool.ac.uk)