Entstanden aus einer Initiative zu stärkerer und langfristiger Kooperation von BMBF-geförderten Area Studies-Zentren und -Netzwerken mit entsprechenden universitären und außeruniversitären Instituten ist im Januar 2014 der Verein CrossArea e.V. in Leipzig gegründet worden. Dieser Verein versteht sich als ein Dachverband der in den Area Studies tätigen Forschungseinrichtungen, Vorhaben und Projekte. Gemeinsam mit dem Forum Transregionale Studien (Berlin) und der Max Weber Stiftung (Bonn) kuratiert er die Diskussionsplattform Trafo, auf der Nachrichten, Beiträge und Veranstaltungsankündigungen sowie Forschungsergebnisse aus dem Bereich der Transregionalen Studien veröffentlicht werden.

Ziel von CrossArea e.V. ist es, den gemeinsamen Anliegen der Area Studies, die in so vielfältiger Form organisiert sind, eine Stimme zu geben, um so den Wirkungsradius zu erweitern und die Vernetzung zu intensivieren. Dimensionen, in denen dieses Ziel erreicht werden soll, finden sich in der Satzung des Vereins.

CrossArea Annual Conference 2025

14. to 15. November 2025 in Bielefeld, Germany

The Annual Conference of the CrossArea e.V. is scheduled to take place from November 14th to 15th, 2025, and will be hosted by the Global and Entangled History Profile Area in cooperation with the Center for InterAmerican Studies (CIAS) and the Maria Sibylla Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies (CALAS) at Bielefeld University. CrossArea e.V. brings together scholars from across the Area Studies and neighbouring disciplines to foster interdisciplinary exchange and strengthen comparative, transregional, and global perspectives on social, political, cultural, and environmental challenges.

 

Weitere Informationen

News


  • 14.-15.11.2025
    CrossArea Annual Conference 2025
    The Annual Conference of the CrossArea e.V. is scheduled to take place from November 14th to 15th, 2025, and will be hosted by the Global and Entangled History Profile Area in cooperation with the Center for InterAmerican Studies (CIAS) and the Maria Sibylla Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies (CALAS) at Bielefeld University. CrossArea e.V. brings together scholars from across the Area Studies and neighbouring disciplines to foster interdisciplinary exchange and strengthen comparative, transregional, and global perspectives on social, political, cultural, and environmental challenges.

    Entanglements of Scale and Spheres in History: Between the Local, Regional, Global, and Planetary

    The conference deals with conceptual and methodological questions of how to write global and entangled history and cross-area-studies. In particular, it will focus on the challenge to decentralise the human gaze and world-historical time of humans, to include more-than-human perspectives. This is of special importance in times in which the planet overwrites the globe(Spivak), or in a new epoch framed as the Anthropocene. Thinking and writing about the past and present, be it from a sociological, geographical, historical, or political perspective, is undergoing a 'planetary turn'. This turn captures how the planet — as a humanist category and as a natural space for interactions between humans, non-humans and physical processes of the Earth — is becoming the referential dimension in which scholars think and write about global and entangled history, by asking how including landscapes, climate changes, histories of oceans and volcanoes, animals, the cosmological phenomena of space and time as well as the geobiological time of the planet change our understanding of global and crossarea flows and interconnections. The planetary turn points us to the idea of nested systems in vast timeframes and vast distances. Building on this, we are interested in the multiscalarity of historical processes, i.e., in relational, interpenetrating processes that belong to different temporal and territorial orders but are interconnected through networked relationships and persistent leverage effects. By embracing the planetary turn, we aim to critically examine it, questioning the extent to which it actually represents a new dimension of historical understanding or merely a new label for conventional ways of looking at global interconnections, non-human actors, and their interwovenness. By doing so, we invite a discussion on the historical understanding and framing of global human and anthropogenic processes and multiscalar and multicentric approaches to global and entangled history as well as their interplay. The conference aims to foster an interdisciplinary discussion on planetary thinking, materiality, human as praxis, and related topics, as they inform these methodological considerations. Contact
    Dr. Justyna Aniceta Turkowska: justynaturkowska@me.com; Dr Réka Krizmanics: reka.krizmanics@uni-bielefeld.de;
  • 08.06.2023
    CrossArea Jahrestagung vom 17. bis 18. November 2023 in Regensburg
    Das Department for Interdisciplinary and Multiscalar Area Studies (DIMAS) der Universität Regensburg (UR) und der Leibniz-WissenschaftsCampus Europa und Amerika in der modernen Welt, ein gemeinsames Projekt der UR und des Leibniz-Instituts für Ost- und Südosteuropastudien (IOS), freuen sich, Sie zur CrossArea Tagung 2023 nach Regensburg einzuladen Unter dem Titel „Doing Area Studies in the Polycentric Condition“ findet die Konferenz am 16. und 17. November im Alten Finanzamt, Landshuter Str. 4, 93047 Regensburg statt. Die Veranstaltung ist nicht nur die jährliche CrossArea-Konferenz, sondern auch die Auftaktveranstaltung für DIMAS, eine Initiative für Area Studies in Regensburg, die 2022 offiziell ins Leben gerufen wurde.
  • 24./25. November 2022
    CrossArea Annual Conference 2022
    Die wachsende Nachfrage nach Rohstoffen deutet darauf hin, dass Extraktivismus als Gesellschaftsmodell die politischen, sozialen, wirtschaftlichen und kulturellen Entwicklungen vieler Gesellschaften im Globalen Süden weiter prägen wird. Nachhaltigkeitsstrategien im Globalen Norden vertiefen Extraktivismus im Globalen Süden weiter, wie schon jetzt das Aufkommen neuer „grünerer“ Rohstoffe wie Lithium und Kupfer unterstreicht. Extraktivismus wirkt sich auf internationale Beziehungen aus und provoziert internationale Konflikte, wie nicht zuletzt der Krieg gegen die Ukraine unterstreicht. Innerhalb weniger Wochen begannen viele Länder nicht nur in Europa sich auf Versorgungsengpässe vorzubereiten, einige ihrer Partnerschaften zu überprüfen und Debatten über Ressourcenabhängigkeit, Energiewende und nationale Sicherheit anzuregen. Kurz gesagt: Extraktivismus ist ein globales Phänomen, und das Verständnis und die Erklärung von Extraktivismus bleiben eine Herausforderung für (Cross-)Area Studies, auch, da sich Erklärungsansätze des Extraktivismus von Region zu Region sowohl wissenschaftlich als auch politisch sehr stark unterscheiden. Dieser Befund wird durch die aktuellen Beispiele der COVID-19-Pandemie und des Krieges in der Ukraine weiter bestärkt. Die COVID-19-Pandemie verdeutlicht einmal mehr, dass die Welt global verflochten ist und Ereignisse an einem Ort unabdingbar die sie verbindenden Orte beeinflussen. Reaktionen auf die Pandemie gingen jedoch ebenso auseinander wie die tatsächlichen Folgen für Individuen, soziale Gruppen und ganze Gesellschaften. Auch die russische Invasion in die Ukraine hat diese globalen Verflechtungen unterstrichen.
    Diese Ereignisse stellen aktuelle theoretische und methodische Ansätze der (Cross-)Area Studies vor Herausforderungen, globale Prozesse und lokale Partikularitäten in Bezug zueinander zu setzen. Die Jahreskonferenz des CrossArea e.V. strebt an, den aktuellen Stand der (Cross-)Area Studies, ihre methodischen Werkzeuge und ihre zukünftige akademische Rolle in der Forschungslandschaft zu diskutieren. Ausgehend von dieser Diskussion wendet sich die Tagung dem Themenbereich Extraktivismus zu, um die Bedeutung vermeintlich ähnlicher Muster sozialen Wandels in verschiedenen Weltregionen zu evaluieren.

    Weitere Informationen unter https://www.crossarea.org/#aktivitaeten-section

  • 10.01.2022
    Call for Papers: VAD Konferenz 2022
    The VAD2022 Call for Papers is now open and will close on 31 January 2022.

    Rules
    • An individual cannot present more than one paper
    • It is permitted to be a non-presenting co-author on multiple papers
    • Every person can have each conference role once: you can be a convenor to one panel, be a discussant once, a chair once and a presenter once
    • While everyone can technically propose several proposals, we do not encourage that, as it delays the conference timelines, as all multiples will have to be withdrawn.
    Below the 'Propose a paper' button on each panel page there is a statement as to how many papers have been proposed to that panel to-date, something that may aid in deciding in which panel a paper may have a better chance of acceptance. Obviously that's not guaranteed, but it's worth taking a look at these statements and working the odds.

    Roundtables Note the roundtables in the panels list. Do pay attention to the format of the panel you are proposing your paper to, and make sure you understand the requirements of alternative panel formats. If in doubt of what is expected of you, email the panel convenors via the link/secure mailer on the panel page.

    Proposing a paper Paper proposals must consist of:
    • a paper title
    • the name/s and email address/es of author/s
    • a short abstract of fewer than 300 characters
    • a long abstract of fewer than 250 words
    All proposals must be made via the online form, not by email. There is a 'propose a paper' link beneath the long abstract of each panel page. Go to the panel page you are interested in and then click on this proposal link to make your proposal directly to that panel.
    On submission of the proposal, the proposing author (but not the co-authors) will receive an automated email confirming receipt. If you do not receive this email, please first check the Login environment - Cocoa (see toolbar above right) to see if your proposal is there. If it is, it simply means your confirmation email got spammed/lost; if it is not, you will need to re-submit, as for some reason the process was not completed. Co-authors cannot be added/removed nor can papers be withdrawn by the proposers themselves – for that, please email vad@nomadit.co.uk
    Proposals will be marked as pending until the end of the Call for Papers (31 January 2022). Convenors will then be asked to make their decisions over the papers proposed to their panel by 14 February 2022 and to communicate those to the proposers, marking them up in the login environment (Cocoa).

    Transfer process Papers which are neither accepted nor rejected, but marked for 'transfer', will be given the opportunity to be re-housed into other panels. The conference organisers will contact the authors of the proposals set to transfer and ask them to modify their abstracts to fit another panel of their choosing. We will advise them to target panels containing fewer than the allowed maximum (10), which are thus able to include a few more.
    The authors will then inform us of two panels they would like to apply to (in order of preference). We then forward the title, short and long abstracts to the convenors and ask them to consider the proposal. If the first panel rejects the proposal, we contact the second choice. Transfers which get rejected by both panels will then be set to 'rejected'.
    Useful information for later in this process

    Editing your paper
    Paper authors can use the login link in the left-hand menu to edit their proposals.

    Pre-circulation of papers
    VAD has no rule about this; however many convenors are keen to pre-circulate completed papers. To facilitate this and save on email traffic, if requested by convenors, authors can upload PDFs of their papers within the online system, which will then show as a downloadable file beneath their abstract on the public panel page on this site.

    Timing of presentations
    Each panel/workshop session slot will be 90 minutes long, typically accommodating a maximum of 4 presenters.

    Communication between authors/convenors
    Convenor/author email addresses are not shown on the panel pages for anti-spam reasons. However there is an in-built secure email messaging system. If you cannot work that, please email vad@nomadit.co.uk to obtain relevant email addresses.

    Browse the panels
  • 20.10.2021
    CrossArea-Tagung in Bayreuth 18-19.11.2021 und CrossArea Mitgliederversammlung am 18.11.2021

    Africa’s Entanglement in the world

    Hybrid Venue: Tagungszentrum Bayreuth, Festsaal, Kolpingstr.5 and via zoom (find the link below)

    Thursday, 18.11.2021


    14:00-14:15 Words of welcome by the Spokesperson of CrossArea Doris Löhr and the Spokesperson of „Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence“ Rüdiger Seesemann, Chair of Islamic Studies with Focus on Africa
    14:15-15:15 Chair Hannes Warnecke-Berger, University of Kassel
    Jana Hönke, Professor for Sociology of Africa, University of Bayreuth Africa-China - How do emerging powers challenge traditional theory and practice of international relations?
    15:15-15:45 Break
    15:45-16:00 Impulse lecture Matthias Middell, Professor of cultural history and Director of the Global and European Studies Institute, Leipzig Africa’s entanglement in the world
    16:00-17:00 Alexander Stroh-Steckelberg, Professor of Political Science: African Politics & Development Policy, University of Bayreuth Subregional integration in Africa and the selection of regional judges
    17:00-17:30 Break
    17:30-18:30 General meeting (internal)

    Friday, 19.11.2021


    9:00-10:00 Chair André Bank, GIGA Hamburg
    Jens Heibach, Postdoctoral research fellow, GIGA Hamburg Middle East regional powers in Africa: preliminary notes on the causes and modes of their engagement
    10:00-10:15 Break
    10:15-11:15 Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Chair of Epistemologies of the Global South with Emphasis on Africa, University of Bayreuth The Cognitive Empire and Decolonial Turns in African Studies
    11:15-11:30 Break
    11:30-12:30 Interactive slot: Announcements, Book presentations, Initiatives within CrossArea, way forward
    12:30-13:30 End of the annual conference

      Programm_Cossarea 2021

    Zoom-Links:

    CrossArea Jahrestagung Mitgliederversammlung  
  • 11.05.2021
    Ausschreibung: 4 * wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter*innen (w/m/d) Uni Freiburg
    Im Rahmen des von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) geförderten Graduiertenkollegs 2571 „Imperien: Dynamischer Wandel, Temporalität und nachimperiale Ordnungen“ sind folgende Stellen zu besetzen: 4 * wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter*innen (w/m/d) befristet auf drei Jahre.

    Das von den historischen Disziplinen der Alten, Mittelalterlichen, Frühneuzeitlichen, Neueren und Neuesten, Osteuropäischen und Ostasiatischen Geschichte und den Fächern Soziologie, Politikwissenschaften, Romanische und Englische Literaturwissenschaften sowie (über den EUCOR-Verbund) den Islamwissenschaften getragene Graduiertenkolleg untersucht imperiale Transformationen bis hin zur Entstehung nachimperialer Ordnungen mit einem Fokus auf den Auswirkungen, Adaptionen und medialen Reflexionen imperialer Zeitordnungen.

    Die Dissertationen sollen sich auf drei Forschungsbereiche, den Wandel und die Temporalitäten imperialer a) Räume, b) Ökonomien sowie c) Institutionen und Normen, konzentrieren.

    Weitere Informationen zum Forschungsprogramm des Graduiertenkollegs sowie den beteiligten Hochschullehrerinnen und Hochschullehrern finden Sie auf der Seite des Graduiertenkollegs.

    Das Graduiertenkolleg ist mit Blick auf Gender, Kultur und Ethnizität dem Prinzip der Vielfalt verpflichtet und möchte internationale Bewerber*innen ausdrücklich zu einer Bewerbung ermutigen.

    Fachliche und persönliche Einstellungsvoraussetzungen:
    • ein qualifizierter Abschluss eines wissenschaftlichen Hochschulstudiums (Master oder Äquivalent) mit hervorragendem Ergebnis, vorzugsweise in den am Graduiertenkolleg beteiligten Fächern/Fachrichtungen
    • die Bereitschaft zur Anfertigung einer Dissertation in einem der beteiligten Promotionsfächer zu einem Thema, das das Anliegen des Graduiertenkollegs ins Zentrum des Interesses rückt
    • Teilnahme am strukturierten Studienprogramm und an den Veranstaltungen des Kollegs
    • die Kollegiatinnen und Kollegiaten haben außerhalb von Forschungsaufenthalten im Ausland Präsenzpflicht in Freiburg
    • die Promotionen werden an der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg durchgeführt


    Die Universität Freiburg und das GRK bieten Ihnen:
    • ein strukturiertes Qualifizierungsprogramm, das die individuelle Forschung unterstützt und auf eine akademische Laufbahn und andere fachnahe Berufsfelder vorbereitet
    • einen intensiven fachlichen und interdisziplinären Austausch
    • Möglichkeiten der internationalen wissenschaftlichen Vernetzung und Förderung der Karriereplanung
    • kontinuierliche Betreuung durch zwei professorale Mitglieder des GRK
    • die Finanzierung eines Forschungsaufenthaltes von bis zu sechs Monaten in einer der Partnerinstitutionen des GRK sowie Kosten für Reisen zu Vorträgen und Tagungen im In- und Ausland


    Ausschreibung
  • 10.05.2021
    Call for Application: 1 Postdoctoral position in studies on “Transformative Intermediaries” at MPI
    The Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology is one of the leading centres for research in social anthropology. Common to all research projects at the Max Planck Institute is the comparative analysis of social change; it is primarily in this domain that its researchers contribute to theory building, although there is also an applied dimension to much of our work, as well as legal and political topicality.

    The Department “Anthropology of Economic Experimentation” is offering
    1 Postdoctoral position in studies on “Transformative Intermediaries” (starting as soon as possible after 1 August 2021)

    Your Profile Applicants should either be in possession of a doctoral degree in anthropology, sociology or a related discipline or submit evidence indicating that such a dissertation will be finished and submitted beforethe designated starting date.

    Our Offer The postdoctoral position (TVöD E13) will be for a duration of 2 years, renewable for a third year. Employment will be on a full-time contractual basis. The workplace is Halle/Saale (Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany). The Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology offers a diverse, international, flexible and stimulating work environment, with support for training and professional development opportunities.

    The Max-Planck Society is committed to increasing the number of individuals with disabilities in its workforce and therefore encourages applications from such qualified individuals. The Max Planck Society strives to ensure gender equality and diversity. Furthermore, the Max Planck Society seeks to increase the number of women in those areas where they are underrepresented and therefore explicitly encourages women to apply.

    MPI_Postdoc
  • 05.05.2020
    Call for Application: 10th Bayreuth International Summer School
    After the Bayreuth International Summer School had to take place online last year due to the pandemic, the organisational team is doing everything in its power to bring the Summer School back to the University campus in 2021, together with international guest lecturers and professors from Bayreuth. After all, there will be the tenth anniversary edition from 5 to 16 July 2021. Register now for the 2021 courses!

    Together with the International Office of the University of Bayreuth, the Campus Academy is the annual host of the Bayreuth International Summer School. For a fortnight, the Unicampus becomes more colourful and diverse when students from all over the world visit the Wagnerian city to further develop and exchange their knowledge in courses of African Studies, Economics, Material Sciences or Chemistry and Biotechnology.

    The 2020 Summer School had to take place online, but the organising team is doing everything it can to ensure that the courses can take place live on the Bayreuth Unicampus again this year.

    Register now for the 2021 Summer School courses!
    This year‘s programme includes courses in the following areas:

    • African Studies
    • Biofabrication
    • Economics & Management
    • Energy & Climate
    • Law: Corporate Governance, ESG and Sustainability
    • Polymer Science and Engineering
    • Planetary Health, Economics and Public Health

    The registration portal for the 2021 edition is open! All information about the attractive course programme is available on the website of the summer school in Bayreuth.
  • 04.05.2021
    Call for Application: Wissenschaftliche(r) Geschäftsführer(in) des Africa Centre for Transregional Research an der Universität Freiburg
    An der Universität Freiburg ist seit Anfang 2020 in Kooperation mit dem Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institut (ABI) ein Afrikazentrum entstanden. Die Albert Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg unterhält derzeit 17 universitäre Zentren, bei denen interdisziplinäre Forschung im Vordergrund steht. Der/die Stelleninhaber*in übernimmt den weiteren Aufbau und die Koordination des Freiburger Afrikazentrums. Ihre Aufgaben:
    • Administrative Verantwortung für das ACT, inklusive Finanzen
    • Inhaltliche und organisatorische Koordination von Vorträgen, Workshops, Konferenzen
    • Einwerbung von Drittmitteln
    • Weiterentwicklung des wissenschaftlichen Programms in Kooperation mit dem ACT- Direktorium
    • Unterhaltung von Afrika-bezogenen Netzwerken auf Landes- und Bundesebene
    • Betreuung afrikanischer Gastwissenschaftler/innen in Freiburg
    Ihr Profil:  
    • Überdurchschnittlicher wissenschaftlicher Studienabschluss mit Promotion
    • Regionale Spezialisierung Afrika
    • Ausgezeichnete englische und gute französische Sprachkenntnisse in Wort und Schrift
    • Erfahrung in der Koordination und Durchführung von Forschungsprojekten
    • Erfahrung im Projektmanagement (einschl. Budgetverantwortung) und in der Einwerbung von Finanzmitteln
    • Erfahrung in der Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, einschließlich der Organisation von Veranstaltungen
    • Erfahrung in der Außenvertretung einer Einrichtung
    • Leitungserfahrungen und Erfahrung in der Zusammenarbeit mit ehrenamtlichen Gremien sind von Vorteil
    • Hohe Leistungsbereitschaft, ausgeprägte Kommunikations- und Kooperationsfähigkeiten, Auslandserfahrung in Afrika
    Die Stelle ist befristet bis 30.06.2024. Die Vergütung erfolgt nach TV-L E13. Für die hier ausgeschriebene Position freuen wir uns besonders über Bewerbungen von Frauen.

    Bewerbung

    Bitte bewerben Sie sich mit aussagekräftigen Unterlagen und Belegen unter Angabe der Kennziffer 00001577 bis spätestens 31.05.2021. Ihre Bewerbung richten Sie bitte in schriftlicher oder elektronischer Form an: Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institut Prof. Dr. Andreas Mehler Windausstr. 16 D-79110 Freiburg im Breisgau E-Mail (eine Datei mit max. 8 MB): andreas.mehler@abi.uni-freiburg.de

    Für nähere Informationen steht Ihnen Herr Prof. Dr. Andreas Mehler unter Tel. +49 761 0761-8887814 oder E-Mail andreas.mehler@politik.uni-freiburg.de zur Verfügung.
  • 09.03.2021
    Call for Applications: Five Individual Fellowships (Junior/Senior) for 3-5 months each at the University of Ghana between 15 January and 31 July 2022
    Application deadline: March 31, 2021, 24 h CET

    The Maria Sibylla Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) is broadly dedicated to research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, with ‘Sustainable Governance’ as its central, but by no means exclusive topic. Overarching aims of MIASA are working towards a reduction of global asymmetries in knowledge production and bridging the cultural divide between anglophone, francophone and lusophone Africa. MIASA, established in 2018, serves as a hub for exchange, networking and collaboration amongst leading researchers from Germany, Ghana, the African and European continents, and beyond. It is located on the beautiful campus of the University of Ghana at Legon (Accra).

    The Institute offers time and space for supporting innovative academic projects in the Humanities and Social Sciences of top international quality. MIASA supports these projects via different kinds of fellowships: individual fellowships, tandem fellowships with one tandem partner from Germany and the other from Africa, and fellowships as members of Interdisciplinary Fellow Groups. From 2021 until 2026, MIASA will grant some 20 fellowships per year in total.

    The present call is for five individual fellowships of 3 to 5 months duration within the period between 15 January and 31 July 2022. Individual fellowships will allow researchers to conduct a project of their own choice. These projects can be of an opening, continuing, or closing nature. The successful applicants will become MIASA Fellows with all the corresponding rights and obligations for the agreed fellowship period. Key among the obligations is that MIASA fellows are required to spend the bulk of their fellowship in residence at MIASA at the University of Ghana.

    Fellowships will be awarded to researchers of top academic quality with an innovative and high quality research topic. The selection of fellows is undertaken by the distinguished international Academic Advisory Board of MIASA.

    The fellows’ salary costs will be met by MIASA for every full fellowship month on the principle of “no loss, no gain”, and paid directly to his/her home institution. External fellows, i.e. fellows from outside University of Ghana, will, in addition, receive a monthly expense allowance of max. 675 €, which will be paid directly to them. The exact rates paid depend on the living situation of each fellow and will be negotiated individually.

    Non-affiliated fellows, i.e. fellows without current employment, will receive a monthly grant, which will be paid directly to them. Non-affiliated senior fellows (more than 6 years after having been awarded their PhD) receive a monthly grant of max. 2.000 € in total. Non-affiliated junior fellows (up to 6 years after having been awarded their PhD) will receive a monthly grant of max. 1.200 €. The exact rates paid depend on the living situation of each fellow and will be negotiated individually.

    For all external fellows, MIASA will provide accommodation and reimburse travel costs.

    For all fellows, a contribution to support research undertaken at MIASA (max. 250 €/ fellow month) can be granted upon application to the directorate.

    The Institute provides its fellows with modern office space and an up-to-date infrastructure. Fellows have full access to all library services at the University of Ghana and, electronically, at the University of Freiburg, Germany. Note: A full-time presence of fellows at MIASA for the fellowship period is expected. Periods of leave need to be negotiated with the MIASA directors prior to the signing of the fellowship agreements, and must not exceed 1/6 of the total fellowship period.

    The Institute supports academic exchange across existing boundaries: between disciplines, between different cultures and countries, between established and younger researchers. Furthermore, MIASA engages in activities opening the research community to society, politics, and the arts. Fellows will be part of this community and profit from the lively research environment of the University of Ghana. Note, therefore, that applicants should indicate how they are planning to contribute to the activities at MIASA and, more broadly, to the academic life at the University of Ghana.

    MIASA is committed to inclusion, gender equality, and family friendliness. The MIASA fellowship program thus aims for gender parity, is promoting affirmative action policies, and is striving to provide family-friendly conditions for its fellows.

    Applications
    Applications can be submitted both in English and in French. The completed application form together with the required documents has to be uploaded on the application webpage and submitted by March 31, 2021; 24.00 h CET. Information on the application and selection process (required documents, eligibility criteria, evaluation criteria, timeline and stages of the selection process) is provided in the Application Guidelines for Individual Fellowships.

    Eligibility
    Eligible for application are early career researchers (up to 6 years after having been awarded their PhD) and senior researchers (more than 6 years after having been awarded their PhD) from around the globe in a relevant discipline of the Humanities or the Social Sciences. Therefore, applicants for a junior fellowship must have been awarded their PhD between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2021; only applicants who completed their PhD on 31 March 2015 or earlier can apply for a senior fellowship. Relevant is the date on the official PhD certificate.

    Selection
    Selection is undertaken by means of a strictly merit-based process. The all-important selection criteria are the academic excellence of the applicant and the fellowship proposal. Additionally, what will be taken into account are the required experience and capability to conduct the fellowship project and to contribute to the activities at MIASA and, more broadly, to the academic life at the University of Ghana.

    A highly distinguished international selection committee, MIASA’s Academic Advisory Board, will be responsible for the selection of the fellows.

    For further details please contact us at MIASA under miasa@ug.edu.gh

Aktivitäten


CrossArea Conference 2025

Ort
Bielefeld, Germany
Datum
Friday, 14. November 2025

The Annual Conference of the CrossArea e.V. is scheduled to take place from November 14th to 15th, 2025, and will be hosted by the Global and Entangled History Profile Area in cooperation with the Center for InterAmerican Studies (CIAS) and the Maria Sibylla Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies (CALAS) at Bielefeld University. CrossArea e.V. brings together scholars from across the Area Studies and neighbouring disciplines to foster interdisciplinary exchange and strengthen comparative, transregional, and global perspectives on social, political, cultural, and environmental challenges.

Entanglements of Scale and Spheres in History: Between the Local, Regional, Global, and Planetary

With this conference, we invite researchers at all career stages to reflect critically on the conceptual and methodological entanglements of scales and spheres in global and entangled history. The conference deals with conceptual and methodological questions of how to write global and entangled history and cross-area-studies. In particular, it will focus on the challenge to decentralise the human gaze and world-historical time of humans, to include more-than-human perspectives. This is of special importance in times in which the planet overwrites the globe(Spivak), or in a new epoch framed as the Anthropocene.

Thinking and writing about the past and present, be it from a sociological, geographical, historical, or political perspective, is undergoing a ‚planetary turn‘. This turn captures how the planet — as a humanist category and as a natural space for interactions between humans, non-humans and physical processes of the Earth — is becoming the referential dimension in which scholars think and write about global and entangled history, by asking how including landscapes, climate changes, histories of oceans and volcanoes, animals, the cosmological phenomena of space and time as well as the geobiological time of the planet change our understanding of global and crossarea flows and interconnections.

The planetary turn points us to the idea of nested systems in vast timeframes and vast distances. Building on this, we are interested in the multiscalarity of historical processes, i.e., in relational, interpenetrating processes that belong to different temporal and territorial orders but are interconnected through networked relationships and persistent leverage effects. By embracing the planetary turn, we aim to critically examine it, questioning the extent to which it actually represents a new dimension of historical understanding or merely a new label for conventional ways of looking at global interconnections, non-human actors, and their interwovenness. By doing so, we invite a discussion on the historical understanding and framing of global human and anthropogenic processes and multiscalar and multicentric approaches to global and entangled history as well as their interplay. The conference aims to foster an interdisciplinary discussion on planetary thinking, materiality, human as praxis, and related topics, as they inform these methodological considerations.

Kontakt

Dr. Justyna Aniceta Turkowska: justynaturkowska@me.com;
Dr Réka Krizmanics: reka.krizmanics@uni-bielefeld.de;

Rückblick

Jahrestagung 2025 CrossArea e.V.

CrossArea Conference 2025

Friday, 14. November 2025 | Bielefeld, Germany

Jahrestagung 2024 CrossArea e.V.

CrossArea-Jahrestagung 2024

Thursday, 28. November 2024 | Gebäude Normative Orders, Max-Horkheimer-Straße 2, 60486 Frankfurt am Main

Jahrestagung 2023 CrossArea e.V.

CrossArea Jahrestagung 2023 „Doing Area Studies in the Polycentric Condition“

Thursday, 16. November 2023 | Regensburg

Jahrestagung 2022 CrossArea e.V.

CrossArea Annual Conference 2022 (24./25. November 2022)

Thursday, 24. November 2022 | Universität Kassel

Jahrestagung 2021 CrossArea e.V.

CrossArea Mitgliederversammlung 2021

Wednesday, 20. October 2021 | hybrid: online (siehe Zoom-Links unten) und Tagungszentrum Bayreuth, Festsaal, Kolpingstr.5

Jahrestagung 2020 CrossArea e.V.

CrossArea Mitgliederversammlung 2020

Monday, 07. December 2020 | online

Jahrestagung 2019 CrossArea e.V.

CrossArea Annual Conference 2019

Thursday, 07. November 2019 | Leibniz Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien (GIGA), Neuer Jungfernstieg 21, 20354 Hamburg

Jahrestagung 2018 CrossArea e.V.

CrossAreaStudies – Wie lokal können Regionalstudien sein?

Thursday, 01. November 2018 | Universität Duisburg-Essen, Campus Duisburg, Mercatorhaus/SG

Jahrestagung 2017 CrossArea e.V.

CrossArea e.V. Jahrestagung und Mitgliederversammlung 2017

Thursday, 09. November 2017 | Arnold Bergstraesser Institut Freiburg, Windaustraße 16, 79110 Freiburg im Breisgau.

Jahrestagung 2016 CrossArea e.V.

Jahrestagung 2016 CrossArea e.V.

Thursday, 22. September 2016 | Zentrum für Entwicklungsforschung (ZEF) Bonn, Walter-Flex-Str. 3 – D-53113 Bonn

Vorstand


Dr. Doris Löhr

(Exzellenzcluster Africa Multiple, Universität Bayreuth, Vorsitzende)

Dr. Hannes Warnecke-Berger

(Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos (CELA), Universität Kassel, stellvertretender Vorsitzender)

Dr. Ute Rietdorf

(Universität Leipzig, Schatzmeisterin)

Antje Zettler

(Universität Leipzig, Schriftführerin)

Beisitzer und Beisitzerinnen


Prof. Dr. Olaf Kaltmeier

(Iberische und lateinamerikanische Geschichte, Universität Bielefeld)

Prof. Dr. Matthias Middell

(Leipzig Research Centre Global Dynamics, Universität Leipzig)

Prof. Dr. Patrick Köllner

(German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), Institut für Asien-Studien, Hamburg)

Dr. Nicolas Schillinger

Institut für Ostasienwissenschaften (IN-EAST), Universität Duisburg-Essen

Mitglied werden


Wir sind über jede Form der Unterstützung unserer Initiative dankbar und begrüßen es ausdrücklich, wenn Sie auch interessierte Kolleginnen und Kollegen über unser Vorhaben informieren. Wenn Sie sich bei CrossArea engagieren möchten, freuen wir uns auf die Zusendung Ihres Mitgliedsantrags. Es besteht sowohl die Möglichkeit zu einer institutionellen Mitgliedschaft (von Zentren, Netzwerken, Instituten, aber auch Vereinen und Verbänden) als auch zu einer individuellen Mitgliedschaft. Die Höhe des Mitgliedsbeitrages richtet sich nach der dem Status der Mitgliedschaft (individuell oder institutionell) und beträgt jährlich: Individuelle Mitgliedschaft (natürliche Personen) 40 € Für individuelle Mitglieder (Vollzahler) 20 € Für individuelle Mitglieder (ermäßigter Tarif bei Vorlage einer Bescheinigung über den Studierendenstatus bzw. bei Nachweis von Arbeitslosigkeit) Institutionelle Mitgliedschaft (juristische Personen, universitäre und außeruniversitäre Lehr- und Forschungseinrichtungen, wissenschaftliche Informationseinrichtungen, Einrichtungen der Aus- und Weiterbildung, Vereine, Verbände von Körperschaften des Privatrechts oder des öffentlichen Rechts etc.) Mindestens 200 € Es besteht die Möglichkeit, dass sehr große Einrichtungen sich bereit erklären,einen höheren Mitgliedsbeitrag zu entrichten , um die Ziele des Vereins zu fördern. Mitglied werden Mitglied werden       Beitragsordnung