[H-verkko] CFP: Elitist institutions in egalitarian societies? =?UNKNOWN?B?lg==?= visions and realities of Nordic Universities. Conference in Berlin

To Apr 8 13:48:22 EEST 2010

Agricolan Artikkelipyyntötietokantaan
( http://agricola.utu.fi/nyt/pyynnot/ )
on tullut seuraava ilmoitus:

Elitist institutions in egalitarian societies? – visions and
realities of Nordic Universities. Conference in Berlin

Elitist institutions in egalitarian societies?
– visions and realities of Nordic Universities. 

10.-12.November 2010, Berlin

Hosted by Humboldt universität Berlin, Nordeuropainsitut and Forum
for universitetshistorie, Oslo and the Finnland-Institut, Berlin.

The Humboldt University in Berlin will celebrate its bicentennial in
2010. In 2011, the University in Oslo will do the same. University
anniversaries have since the 16th century been occasions for self
reflection, including elements of memorialising, celebrating and
idealising the past –and even at times also entailing critical
reinterpretation of history and tradition. Such festive jubilees also
invoke reflection upon the future of these institutions. The
university is one of the oldest institutions in Western society; it
enjoys a seeming remarkable continuity though also exhibiting a
powerful capability for self renewal, transformation and adaptation.
The motto for the Humboldt celebration “Das Moderne Original” conveys
clearly a historical consciousness and a sense of ownership over a set
of university ideals that in some way or another have had, or is
strongly believed to have had a broad international influence through
their diffusion and reception around the world.

With these two anniversaries coming up – we thought it a good idea to
gather scholars in Berlin in November 2010 to present and discuss some
aspects of the history of universities, higher education and research
in the Nordic countries. 

Nordic universities and academies are manifestations of national,
regional and local as well as international formative processes. We
want to discuss the influence and transfer of ideas and models from
outside, mainly the German Bildungs- und Wissenschaftstradition, and
the Anglo-American traditions of Liberal Arts and Science. In
university history, a repercussive theme is the relationship between
ideals and reality. A large body of literature on university history
written the past two or three decades has been particularly conscious
of the dangers of reproducing idealized notions of university life,
and confusing them with reality. Historically formulated ideas about
the University have, even today a strong influence, powering the
thinking of university leaders, academics and politicians. But much
less is known about the actual day to day routines, rituals and
scientific practices within the university and how these developed
over time. Indeed recent historical scholarship has often aimed at
replacing myth, legend and rhetorical slogans with insight and
knowledge. 

The historical evolution, social function and cultural significance
of institutions of higher learning and research can be analysed as an
interplay between visionary goals, practical solutions to contingently
arising problems, ideas and ideals from abroad, as well as their
adaptations to local contexts. The university lends itself
particularly well too such examinations, because it is an institution
that from its very origin and up to this day, can be said to have the
distinct characteristics of being anchored both nationally and to
various degrees also internationally.

Call for papers: 
For the proposed symposium in 2010, we invite call for presentations
of paper. Some suggested themes for presentations are listed below,
and we will give priority to proposals within these themes, but we
are also open to other suggestions. A committee will decide the final
program after the dead line for proposals. The proposals/abstracts
should be no more that one page; the presentations should be kept
within the limit of 30 minutes. The conference proceedings will be
published – that means that the participants will be asked to submit
an article version of their papers after the conference.
Dead line for submitting of abstract is 1. Mai 2010.

Suggested themes for proposed papers:

1. Interdependences of universities and nation building

- Nation building, social engineering and the development of the
welfare state. The distinctive contribution of the universities to
the historical path taken by various Nordic countries.
- What do nations owe their universities? How have academic research
and writing contributed the formation of nations?
- What do universities owe their nations? How/to what extent should
society profit from the academic research? 

2. Normative orientation of universities: What are the Bildungsideale
(educational ideals?) and the respective cleavages of today?

- Bildung, bildning, dannelse is a central ideal for university
education – what kind of Bildungsideale can be connected to the
Scandinavian university traditions in different periods? 
- Universities as (re)producing social elites – or arenas for social
mobility, - democratization of education
- The Bologna process: turning away from the model Humboldt?

3. Interaction, integration, and conflicts of universities with/in
society

- University life in literature, film and popular culture
- Totalitarian ideologies and student politics: national socialism
and communism and 1968 (Maoism) at universities in Scandinavia

4. The challenges of Nordic universities today: where are we going
to?

- The rhetoric of excellence and politics for achieving “excellence”
is a central issue both regarding the self-understanding and
priorities of most universities. Yet the Nordic societies have
allegedly celebrated egalitarian norms and non-hierarchical values.
To what extent have such conflicting norm systems been reconciled in
university life? 
- The duties and missions of universities today: where do they go
from here?

The keynote speakers who have been invited and have accepted:

Prof. Matti Klinge, Helsinki
Prof. John P. Collett, Oslo
Prof. Ditlev Tamm, Kopenhagen
Prof. Sverker Sörlin, Stockholm
Prof. Gudmundur Halfdanarson, Rejkjavik

The summit /conference will be organized between Forum for university
history, University in Oslo, represented by Prof. John Peter Collett
and the Nordeuropainstitut (NI) at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin,
represented by Head of Department Prof. Bernd Henningsen, and Prof.
Jorunn Sem Fure who currently holds a guest professorship at the NI
and a senior research position at FFU, and the Finnland-Institut,
Berlin represented by Dr. Anna-Maija Mertens.

Proposals will be evaluated according to their focus on the topic.
Please e-mail your abstract as an e-mail attachment by 1. Mai 2010 to
furejoru at cms.hu-berlin.de or anna-maija.mertens at finstitut.de. 

Enquiries: furejoru at cms.hu-berlin.de

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Ilmoituksen lähetti: Anne Maarit Mäkelä <wissenschaft at finstitut.de>
Ilmoitus vanhentuu: 29.05.2010
LisÃ¤tietoja WWW-osoitteesta: http://