Labnet: CFP: Abolishing Bondage from Ancient Times to the Present: Transitions in Normative Orders - Frankfurt am Main 07/10

[labnet at lists.labourhistory.net]

[Cross-posted, with thanks, from H-Soz-u-Kult. AB]

From:    Andreas Fahrmeir <fahrmeir at em.uni-frankfurt.de>

CFP: Abolishing Bondage from Ancient Times to the Present: Transitions in Normative Orders - Frankfurt am Main 07/10
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Exzellenzcluster "Herstellung normativer Ordnungen", Goethe-Universität
Frankfurt am Main
09.07.2010-10.07.2010, Frankfurt am Main
Deadline: 15.01.2010

The Cluster of Excellence "Formation of Normative Orders"
(www.normativeorders.net), funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
(German Research Foundation) at Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main,
will host a conference on norms and the abolition of slavery in Bad
Homburg on 9 and 10 July, 2010. 

The conference takes as its starting point the observation that
explanations of the decision to abolish slavery, serfdom, or other forms
of unfree labour fall between two poles. 'Idealistic' explanation
highlight shifts in a society's moral compass which make it impossible
to defend extreme forms of economic exploitation, regardless of the
costs involved. 'Cynical' explanations emphasise changes to economic
rationales which rendered enforced labour less appealing, thus lowering
the obstacles against the abolition of practices always considered
morally dubious. Even the complex, multi-causal analyses which dominate
the field incline slightly to the one or the other type of approach. 

Based on the experience of a number of conferences organised by the
cluster, in which slavery and forced labour often emerged as crucial
test cases for broader theories of norm generation and norm enforcement,
we therefore think that the role of shifts in normative orders for
labour regimes bear further examination. Given the continued resurgence
of slavery or other forms of bondage in spite of what would appear to be
a clear absence of plausible justification narratives, we should like to
study the problem of when and why what kinds of normative arguments have
an impact on practice in specific times and places in an
interdisciplinary perspective extending from classical times to the
present. 

We particularly welcome trans-disciplinary approaches, trans-epochal or
trans-regional comparisons or the discussion of new cases, regardless of
whether their focus is on the problems involved in attempting to
disentangle economic and non-economic arguments for abolition. The
publication of a peer-reviewed conference volume or journal issue is
intended; travel expenses will be covered by the Cluster of Excellence.
The languages of the conferences will be English and French. If you are
interested in participating, please send a brief (up to one page)
abstract of your paper and a brief (one page) CV to Professor Andreas
Fahrmeir (fahrmeir at em.uni-frankfurt.de) by 15 January 2010; you will be
informed by January 31, 2010, whether your paper has been accepted. 


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Prof. Dr. Andreas Fahrmeir

Goethe-Universität, Historisches Seminar
Grüneburgplatz 1, 60629 Frankfurt am Main


fahrmeir at em.uni-frankfurt.de 

URL zur Zitation dieses Beitrages
<http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/termine/id=12664>