Annual Conference 2023

“Environmental and Cultural Destruction in Imperial Spaces”

Second annual conference of the RTG 2571 ‘Empires’ (Freiburg)

30 November - 2 December 2023, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

Empires can be guarantors of unity, stability, and peace. At the same time, they are often embedded in a history of destruction of lives, habitats, and cultures. Imperial orders laid waste to many previously autonomous polities and stable ecosystems, creating destruction not only during their ‘rise’, but also through their efforts to maintain control, their demise, and often long thereafter. This conference aims to shed light on destruction in imperial spaces through the dual lens of environmental and cultural destruction. To better understand the relationship between these forms of destruction and imperiality is one of the main goals of the conference.

Interested applicants are invited to send a working title, an abstract of no more than 400 words, and a short biographical note by 17 March 2023. Please also indicate your preference for virtual or in-person participation.

Any further queries can be directed to the same address. 

The call for papers can be accessed here.