The Summer Meeting builds upon and seeks to strengthen the increased scholarly interest in conceptual history as a tool to analyze the discursive transformations in the broad B2B geography. The “Bengal to Balkans” framework is inspired by Shahab Ahmed who drew attention to the shared cultural formations across this vast geography particularly in the post-Mongol era.
Illustrating the emergence of a field of research, several programmatic articles have been written on the particular problems and promises of conceptual history in different linguistic contexts. Building upon these developments, and as a culmination of the efforts of the organizers this Meeting will both identify historical evolutions and entanglements of concepts within the Bengal-to-Balkans-complex and critically discuss the theoretical implications and potentials of conceptual history in the region.
In terms of research foci, the Summer Meeting aims at (1) strengthening the notion of entanglement in conceptual history, and (2) furthering self-reflectivity in and critique of the usage of established concepts. By exploring conceptual entanglements in the history of the region together, we intend to overcome the long-standing limits imposed on historical research by methodological nationalism and disciplinary boundaries in area studies. Moreover, by focusing on the history of indigenous (emic) concepts we aim to come up with revised and better narratives and analytical (etic) categories to explain the historical transformations in the wake of post-colonial interventions which challenged Euro-centric paradigms.
Critically appropriating the various approaches to historical semantics for the particular problems and research questions of the region is also a central concern for the Summer Meeting. Conceptual histories of the region addresses both the paradigmatic problems and questions of area studies scholarship and also the fast growing global intellectual history. The growing number of programmatic publications in the field is evidence of this[1] and the Summer Meeting is inspired by the example of the CONCEPTA summer schools, the first launched in 2006 in Helsinki (in its 18th year now), the second launched in 2017 in Mexico. The Meeting intends to enhance networks of research, foster collaboration and pass on expertise to a new generation of PhD students and junior scholars whose work covers one or more of the languages of the region and are interested in working with history of concepts.