The eighth European Social Science History Conference (ESSHC)
Ghent, Tuesday 13th April to Friday 16th April, 2010
Call for Papers
Deadline for proposals: 1st May 2009
Network chairs
Marja Vuorinen (marja.vuorinen@helsinki.fi)
José Antonio Sánchez-Román (sanchezroman@ccinf.ucm.es).
The Elites network of the ESSHC hosts sessions concerning the history of cultural, political,
economic and social elites. In the Lisbon ESSHC 2008 the network organised around 20 sessions,
with numerous papers from all over Europe and from the USA. We hope that this trend will continue
also at the Ghent conference. However, as the size of the conference is reaching a maximum,
we will have to limit our expectations of continuous growth in the future.
In the 2010 conference the Elites network will be able to organise 17 sessions.
The network does not set any chronological limits for the topics of the papers.
In the past, early modern themes have been frequent. Recently, more topics on the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries have been introduced to gain a more balanced overall view.
In the 2008 Lisbon network meeting it was decided, that an even more global perspective
will be favoured to ensure maximum scope for comparison. A thematic, comparative approach
is recommended, as well as multi-disciplinary discussion and joint-network sessions.
How to propose a session or a paper
Proposals for theme sessions are welcome, but the network chairs encourage single paper contributions as well, since there are good opportunities to find a place for individual papers in some of the already proposed sessions (for a preliminary list, see below) or in some other, forthcoming session proposals. If you have in mind a session theme and a couple of interested speakers, do not hesitate to contact us.
Please note, that the session policy has been slightly altered since the last conference.
A session organiser will be able to propose
two participants at the most, keeping two places available for independent papers;
the other two papers will be chosen in cooperation with the session organiser.
Session suggestions with not just a title but also a short description are more likely
to find their way to the network programme. Priority will be given to proposals that
arrive well within the time limit. Which sessions will actually take place depends on
the proposed papers: some themes may drop out and new ones pop up.
In case only a couple of papers are proposed on a particular theme, the chairs reserve
a right to combine sessions.
If you want to propose a paper in a particular session,
please contact both the session organiser, if mentioned, and the network chairs,
Ms. Marja Vuorinen (marja.vuorinen@helsinki.fi) and Mr. José Antonio Sánchez-Román (sanchezroman@ccinf.ucm.es). Allow us some time to respond; if we have not replied in a week, please mail again, in case the mail has been accidentally deleted or otherwise gone missing. We also ask you to use the word ESSHC in the message heading.
If you have a scholarly preference about which paper(s) your paper should or should not be combined with, please let us know well in advance, to allow us enough time to attend to your wishes.
You also need to fill in the online pre-registration form on the conference webpage http://www.iisg.nl/esshc by 1st May 2009. All the conference participants must pre-register electronically in order to be included in the conference programme. During the pre-registration dialogue you will be asked to choose a conference network. In order to propose a paper to the Elites network session, choose the Elites from the list. If you would like to act as a session chair or a discussant, please let us know. You can also pre-register yourself to the ESSHC discussant pool (more information available on the conference website).
Updated information will be available on the conference website http://www.iisg.nl/esshc. Notification of acceptances or rejections will occur by July 2009. All participants are required to handle their final registration and payment before 15th December 2009. The conference secretariat will send you a notification on this in the autumn of 2009.
The chairs of the Elites network are looking forward to receiving your proposals and meeting you in Ghent in spring 2010!
Proposed sessions
* Methodologies in the writing of the social history of elites, 16th to 20th centuries
Organiser: W. C. Lubenow, the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey (wclubenow@aol.com)
The session aims to cover a selection of methodological issues concerning the study of elites, in a wide time frame ranging from early modern to modern era. The proposed case studies discuss family reconstitution, historical demography, and parish reconstitution in the study of small and typically hidden groups of rural villagers below the level of the gentry, and the problems of using classificatory categories and discourse analysis to study such elites as members of the Royal Society, the Synthetic Society, and Bloomsbury.
Other methodological issues which this session might take up include the unique problems in studying elites in Continental Europe, Asia, African, North America, and South America. The panel could take up the comparative problems of quantitative and qualitative analysis as they relate to artistic, political, and economic elites. Paper's might also include discussions of the approaches taken by Geoff Eley in A Crooked Line (2005) and William Sewell in Logics of History (2005). Rather than resolving methodological disputes or even systematizing them, this session can advance the study of elites by formulating and assessing the various methodological practices used for different times and places.
* Elites travelling: modes and functions
Organiser: Nathanaëlle Minard, University of Helsinki (nathanaelle.minard@helsinki.fi)
The session explores the role of travelling in the definition of elites as a social, cultural and/or political group. While modalities and functions of the travel may vary greatly with the context, the session offers interesting perspectives on the motivations, the modalities and, eventually, the values of travelling for the elites.
The themes might include but are not limited to the following: the specificities of the travel as practised and described by the elites; the different types of travel undertaken by elites (e.g. Grand Tour, pilgrimages); the voyage as a constituent of some particular elite group, for example an emigrant elite (e.g. during the French revolution); the relations with and the representations of the elites visited or met (fellow travellers) during the journey; the relations with and the representations of the elites from the home country, including after the return.
* Elite survival I: structures, families, individuals
Wealth, power and status within aristocracy in Modern Europe
Organiser: Konstantinos Raptis, University of Athens (raptiskm@hol.gr)
This session focuses on the importance and the functions of the aristocratic family in the struggle for retaining its socio-economic and socio-political status. Which were the limits and the possibilities for the individuals and which were the differences within a family according to gender, rank of birth, occupation, system of heritage, etc.?
* Elite survival II: crises and ruptures
Loyalty, patronage and social flexibility in times of crisis: aristocratic identities of modern Europe until World War II
Organizers: Bertrand Goujon, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne and Mirella Marini, VU Amsterdam (m.marini@let.vu.nl)
For decades, researchers have endeavoured to unravel noble behaviour or aristocratic values in the context of religious wars or changing political views. Whether these behaviours or values are studied in an early modern context or, for example, in relation to the rise of the "bourgeoisie" in the 19th century, the issues concerned are often the same. Aspects of honour and dynastic loyalty, for instance, remain difficult to place when it comes to noble revolts or the nature of a "transnational" identity. How can we explain the ability of the nobility to seize opportunities, even when these are ambiguous and may lead them to betray their former commitments and their traditional (and proclaimed) values?
In recent early modern European historiography the concepts of 'patria' (associated to "national" aristocratic identity) and 'loyalty' have been the key notions in explaining the noble behaviour in times of crisis. Yet 'patria' is in itself a problematic notion in a world of changing borders and dynasties. The complex and changing relationships between the central authorities in modern(izing) European states and the aristocratic forces remains largely unexplored. The underlying question, the nature of the nobility in relation to its identities, strategies and practices, has remained unanswered.
The session focuses on the behaviours of politically active aristocracies in periods of crisis, when denominations, national identities and the legitimacy of the authorities are jeopardized, forcing the aristocracy to (re)define their identities. The crucial concept is loyalty - whether as dynastic loyalty, loyalty to family, friends (in relation to patronage), or vassals. Other issues include the relation between dynastic loyalty and religious choice, and the role of honour as a justification principle in times of changing loyalties. The concept of loyalty includes a gender aspect: did women and men have the same conceptions and expressions of loyalty, and what were their respective duties.
* Elites of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Block
Organiser: Meri Herrala, University of Helsinki (meri.herrala@helsinki.fi)
This session examines Soviet elites and their position in the Soviet society. Soviet elites included many kinds of groups: the members of the political and administrative elites (the so-called nomenclature), the members of the Soviet Communist Party, as well as experts in various fields of the Soviet society such as the cultural and scientific intelligentsia, sportsmen, cosmonauts etc. The differences and similarities of the status of these elites are discussed together with positive aspects connected to the elite status. But there were also negative aspects connected to the status of authority, and social and financial privileges of these elites in different fields of the society. They had also many responsibilities by the consequence of their foremost position.
For example, when representing their country in the West and other socialist countries the rewards of the performing elites were in a considerable extent taken possession by the state. While the Soviet elites enjoyed benefits they were also living in an atmosphere of constant surveillance and control, and their high level of expertise was exploited for the benefit of their Soviet motherland. This session can also offer place for the comparison of Soviet elites with the elites of the other Eastern Block countries. The task is to put all these aspects in a wider perspective in Soviet history and relations inside the Soviet block.
* Academic elites I: Elites and nation-building: universities after World War II
Organizers: Marja Jalava, University of Helsinki (marja.jalava@helsinki.fi) and Jussi Välimaa, University of Jyväskylä, (jussi.valimaa@tkl.jyu.fi)
In the post-war Western Countries, the expansion of higher education into a mass system was motivated by its contribution to economic growth, based on the Keynesian doctrine of economic nationalism, as well as by considering it a means of promoting social justice and stability. Since the slogan of the day was the democratization of society, an access to new and lower social groups to enter higher education institutions was opened. However, all these traditions have been challenged by the emerging neo-liberal understandings of society since the 1980s onwards. Consequently, the nation-building function of universities has been redefined by emphasizing the production of innovations for industry and skilful labour force for the markets. These changes have the potential to change the internal dynamics of universities and to change their relationships with their societies. The trend seems to be the re-introduction of elite institutions and increasing demands to create 'world-class universities' in Europe. The introduction of institutional status hierarchies easily translates into demands for more socially selective admission procedures favouring the formation of elite students and that of higher education institutions.
This session seeks to explore the connections between elite formation and nation-building universities. On the one hand, it will focus on the changes which occurred in the post-war decades, and, on the other hand, on recent history. Papers outlining concrete cases as well as elaborating more theoretical approaches are both welcomed.
* Academic elites II: Academic elites and dictatorships: political and university projects
Organiser: Carolina Rodríguez López, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (carolinarodriguez@ghis.ucm.es)
Twentieth-century dictatorships in Europe and elsewhere saw Universities as one of the most important fields to be reformed in order to organize and build a new cultural, intellectual and educational world. Academic elites, new or renewed, played an active role in this process through their support to the new policies. This session's goal is to analyse the characteristics of academic elites under totalitarian regimes. In order to achieve this, we aim to deal with issues such as academic elites' contribution to the "new" university project, their beginnings as new academic elites; the steps of their cursus honorum; or their theoretical and political cooperation with the political system.
* Academic elites III: 20th century Exiles Elites
Organiser: Carolina Rodríguez López, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (carolinarodriguez@ghis.ucm.es)
Recent researches about Universities under totalitarian governments show these universities changed -to some extent - due to the purges carried out by this kind of regimes. As a result of these purges, many professors were dismissed and it was necessary to quickly rebuild the academic staff with some professors who supported the new political regime. An important group of professors decided to continue their careers in foreign universities which offered them this possibility. Professors are only one example of this era global exiles. Many others can be easily found among intellectuals elites who departed from their home country amidst fear of political persecution. The aim of this session is to analyse the trajectory of intellectual elites who could continue theirs careers in exile.
* Scientific elites and public policies
Organizer: Inmaculada Simón Ruiz, CSIC Sevilla (isruiz72@yahoo.com)
This session's goal is to explore the connections between scientific developments, the establishment of professional academic disciplines and the implementation of certain public policies, carried out by academic, professional, political and administrative elites. For example, the discovery of the link between certain diseases like cholera and public waters led to the implementation of public policies aimed to purify public waters, the introduction of sewage, etc. In turn, this was considered as a factor associated to urban development. There are many other possibilities that this session will attempt to discuss, like the strengthening of Engineers associations in the nineteenth-century and the implementation of policies such as irrigation, dams, etc.
* Re-inventing the urban elite? Comparative European perspectives, 1600-1900
Organisers: Jon Stobart, University of Northampton (jon.stobart@northampton.ac.uk) and Bruno Blondé, University of Antwerp
Socially elite groups have long been seen as playing a crucial role in shaping the physical form, economic structure, cultural life and political functioning of towns. Only with the rise of a powerful bourgeoisie - often seen as a product of nineteenth-century industrialisation - was this privileged position challenged, both on the ground and in the historiography. And yet, unlike their rural counterparts, the urban elite do not appear to have had a consistent or 'natural' definition. This session seeks to explore the variable and changing character of urban elites from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, addressing such fundamental questions as: who were the urban elite, what made them socially distinct, and how did they maintain their privileged position in urban society?
Eschewing simplistic economic arguments (that the rich inevitably formed the elite), we wish to use this session to examine the relative and changing importance of four dimensions of urban elite status: heritance: urban elites being defined by blood-line; human capital: status being 'earned' through education, apprenticeship or political activity; cultural capital: status defined by lifestyle; social capital: the importance of personal networks. Far from seeking abstract or generic explanations, however, we are interested in exploring how elite groups drew on these mechanisms (or others) to reinvent themselves in a changing chronological framework. To what extent, for example, is it possible to see a retreat from heritance; or a switch from political activity to leisure and consumption practices as a means of blurring social boundaries and climbing the social ladder? At the same time, we wish to explore the commonalities and variations in experience across Europe. We therefore welcome papers that take a long-term or comparative perspective.
* When elites dream of empires
This session deals with elites' designs, projects, narrations like history, literature or travelogues or even utopias regarding the creation or consolidation of an empire, or its recreation once the empire has died. In this sense, elites are intellectuals, politicians, religious persons and whoever thought of empire as a solution not only to political problems but also to social, moral or religious ones.
* Elites-in-denial, 19th to 20th centuries
In his classic text "Myth today" (in Mythologies, 1957) Roland Barthes coined a notion of bourgeois elite groups as 'hidden elites', who avoid admitting or even acknowledging their elite status by posing as intermediary middle groups. Their ideological makeup is essentially post-revolutionary, nationalist and modernist: they got rid of the aristocracy and put up regimes based on scientific, rationalist, progressive values and the promotion of democracy. Such elites-in-denial are usually fairly recent power groups, determined to cling to their middle class origin, thus actively presenting themselves as non-elites.
The original, Barthesian wave of this phenomenon were the 19th century and early 20th century bourgeois elites. The second wave were the radical leftist intellectuals of the 1960s and '70s, who in their turn aimed at overthrowing the bourgeois rule. The session seeks to compare case studies on these two momentous appearances of the phenomenon, but welcomes also papers that discuss (or contest) the whole notion, or introduce its other manifestations.
* Antonio Gramsci and the organic elites
Antonio Gramsci is probably best remembered for his notion of 'hegemony', as opposed to 'domination', and the role of ideology in maintaining a hegemonic position. No regime can remain in power for long through a coercive apparatus alone, but can maintain stability only by ascertaining popular support. Mass education and other mass communications provide a subtle means of control. Hegemony results from an ideological bond between the rulers and the ruled, as the majority of the population is socialised to accept the current set of values as normal. The role of the intelligentsia in an established hegemony is to perform the ideological maintenance work.
To bring about a shift of hegemony a new group has to create a 'counter hegemony'. This is best achieved through informal education. Again, the contribution of intellectuals is crucial. Therefore each emerging social group has to create within itself intellectuals to think and speak for it, organise it, give it meaning, and bind it together: functionaries, teachers, writers, technicians, scientists, artists, managers, lawyers, doctors etc. They develop organically alongside a ruling class and function for its benefit.
The session explores the role of intellectuals - whether bourgeois, nationalist, socialist, capitalist, Marxist or fascist - in legitimising and maintaining hegemonies. The main focus is on the 19th and 20th centuries, but the time frame is extendable to earlier periods.
* Workshop: the concept of power, applied
This workshop focuses on the central concept of elite research: power. The word as such raises immediate passions and can be misused in many ways for ideological purposes, but is nevertheless indispensable for understanding how societies function. Elite researchers need constantly readdress questions about the nature, ways, types, sources, expressions, manifestations, and disguises of power. As students of elites, we also need to have a clear understanding about the multitude of scholarly definitions and everyday usages of our key concept. If you wish to share your dilemmas and insights concerning the study of power with other like-minded researchers, this workshop is for you.
The session won't be arranged as a main event, with big names on a podium, but as a grass root level discussion about case-related, research-originated problems and solutions. So far the network has recruited speakers on Bourdieu and Gramsci, and is inviting more speakers to discuss giants like Foucault and other favourite theorists of power and elites - so take your pick! A paper can seek to cover the ideas of a theorist (several papers can approach same one from different angles), or discuss various interconnected theories or models.
To make the discussion as democratic as possible, we hope to stage the session in a room with an actual round (or square) table. The workshop may be organised as an extended, four-hour session.
* Elites through material culture
Organiser: Jari-Matti Kuusela, Oulu University (kuusela@mail.student.oulu.fi)
The session focuses on elites' representation of their individual and/or
group identity through material culture. Following Bourdieu, actors in the social field have a habit of
distinction which also applies to the material representation of their habitus. Thus material culture has been,
is, and will continue to be an important element in the representation of the elite.
The study of the elite through material culture makes it possible to examine them through a wide period of time from prehistory to modern times.
The session welcomes contributions from different fields of study, like archaeology and architecture for example, and encourages a wide chronological and geographical perspective. Contributions may, for example, deal with prehistoric elites studied through archaeological material or modern elites' impact on the urban cultural geography.
* Towards a comparative view on constructions, memories and practices of the nobility in Europe (1800-2000)
Organisers: N.H.Bijleveld (n.h.bijleveld@gmail.com) and Yme Kuiper, University of Groningen (Y.B.Kuiper@rug.nl)
After the cultural turn of the 1980s new themes, sources and perspectives have been introduced to the study of the nobility/aristocracy in different European countries. Time has come to evaluate the results of recent research on nobility within an interdisciplinary framework.
The session aims at bringing together these new themes and perspectives, either by discussing contributions by specialists of different fields or by introducing concepts from cultural history and historical ethnography to the study of the nobility. We welcome contributions on the constructive and fictional aspects of the concept of nobility ('noble blood') and how these are embedded in different forms of interaction between nobles and non-nobles. Another promising topic is the specific identifications and images connected with noble practices and projects (from stately homes to sports, from preferential marriage to family tradition, from education to professional career, from genealogy to novel writing). The aim is to explain why the nobility/aristocracy has shown such a remarkable success in adapting to changing political and social circumstances in the 19th century Europe and how it managed to accommodate to the rise of denobled societies of the 20th century.
The papers may include but are not limited to discussing perspectives and concepts like: habitus, field, strategies for the reproduction/transformation of economic, social, cultural and symbolic capital (Bourdieu; De Saint Martin); the nobility as Erinnerungsgruppe (nobility as remembrance group; Marburg, Wienfort); stately homes as national heritage and the revival of the stately home (Mandler); nobles and elites (Reif, Wasson); nobles, notables and bourgeoisie; collective memory and historical drama's (Malinowski); noble identity as family identity (Conze); noble culture and narratives; the making of nobility and noble self images (Cannadine, Godsey).
Other possible session themes
Other possible topics include, but are by no means limited to