TRAFO
The TRAFO Blog is a digital platform for transregional research that has been set-up and maintained by the Forum Transregionale Studien and the Max Weber Stiftung – Deutsche Geisteswissenschaftliche Institute im Ausland sharing the general editorial responsibilities. TRAFO works in an open framework of editorial partnerships with colleagues from the networks of the Forum and the Max Weber Stiftung. The series on the TRAFO Blog are curated by individual scholars or editorial groups who participate in editorial responsibilities.
Long-term editorial partnerships are established with transregional projects and institutional initiatives, such as CrossArea in Leipzig, the Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb (MECAM) in Tunis, and the research network project “European Times” (EUTIM), as well as programms and projects from the Forum, such as Europe in the Middle East – The Middle East in Europe (EUME) and Prisma Ukraïna – Research Network Eastern Europe.
TRAFO editors: Alex Favalli (Forum Transregionale Studien), Georges Khalil (Forum), Sophie Schmäing (Prisma Ukraïna/Forum), Jacqueline Wagner (Forum), Judith Sieber (EUTIM/Forum)
Editorial responsibilities: Johanna Beamish (Max Weber Stiftung), Georges Khalil (Forum Transregionale Studien), Megan Maruschke (Universität Leipzig)
MECAM
The Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb (MECAM) was established at the Université de Tunis/Tunisia to strengthen cooperation in the Humanities and Social Sciences in and across the Maghreb, the Middle East, and Europe. Under its guiding theme “Imagining Futures –Dealing with Disparity”, MECAM aims to discuss the (re)negotiation of complex social and political conditions and expectations, norms and legacies in the wake of the “Arab Spring” inthe Maghreb, the Middle East, Europe and beyond. The necessary backdrop to these processes are the disparities and inequalities that divide theMaghreb and the neighbouring regions – both historically and nowadays.The centre invites scholars atdifferent stages of their career. Fellows work within five Interdisciplinary Fellow Groups (IFGs) along MECAM’s thematic research clusters. Furthermore, MECAM organizes various events, such as seminars, lectures, public debates and traveling academies that connect researchers and discuss research outcomes. MECAM is a joint initiative of seven German and Tunisian universities and research institutions and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
MECAM Editors: Diana Abbani (Forum/MECAM), Julius Dihstelhoff (MECAM), Mounir Mrad (MECAM; coordination)
#Aesthetics & Cultural Practices
Editors: Rasha Chatta (Freie Universität Berlin), Sahar El Echi (École Superieure de l’Audiovisuel et du Cinema, Tunis), Farouk El Maarouf (Universität Gießen), Katarzyna Falęcka (Newcastle University), Teresa Pepe (Universitetet i Oslo) and Angela Rabing (Universität Bremen), Felix Lang (coordination, Universität Marburg)
#Inequality & Mobility
Editors: Myriam Amri (Harvard University), André Weißenfels (Freie Universität Berlin), Moslem Nasser (Université de Tunis), Souhir Bouzid (ISTEUB Tunis), Wael Garnaoui (Université de Sousse/Université de Paris), Johannes Frische (Universität Leipzig), Ann-Christin Zuntz (University of Edinburgh), Katharina Grüneisl (coordination, Universität Leipzig)
EUME
Europe in the Middle East – The Middle East in Europe (EUME) is a multi-disciplinary research program at the Berlin-based Forum Transregionale Studien. The guiding idea of EUME is to explore the historical, political, religious, social and cultural interconnections and demarcations that link and divide Europe and the Middle East. In contrast to thinking in terms of opposites and dichotomies, the diverse processes of reception and translation, common historical legacies, and the mobility of persons, ideas, and societies are to be brought into focus.
EUME Editors: Georges Khalil, Claudia Pfitzner und Rashof Salih
EUTIM
Europäische Zeiten/European Times – A Transregional Approach to the Societies of Central and Eastern Europe (EUTIM) is a joint project of the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), the University of Potsdam and the Forum Transregionale Studien in Berlin. EUTIM takes a look at narratives of time and space at the edges of Europe. Based on historical experiences and ways of thinking in the societies of Central and Eastern Europe, EUTIM analyzes disparate concepts of “old vs. new” and “East vs. West” on a pan-European level, especially in the second half of the 20th century and the present. The research network project has been funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) since April 1, 2021, within the framework of the guideline for the promotion of regional studies (area studies) for an initial period of three years.
EUTIM Editors: Judith Sieber (Forum), Claudia Dathe (Europa-Universität Viadrina), Erik Martin (Europa-Universität Viadrina), Bohdan Tokarsky (Universität Potsdam)
PRISMA UKRAINA
Prisma Ukraïna – Research Network Eastern Europe is a research program at the Forum Transregionale Studien that opens up new regional and transregional perspectives on and from the east of Europe through the prism of Ukraine. Initiated in 2015 and directed by Andrii Portnov, Prisma Ukraïna provides scope for academic research, transregional exchange and communication through fellowships, workshops, panel discussions, seminars, lectures and science communication.
Prisma Ukraïna: War, Migration and Memory is an interdisciplinary research group of Ukrainian scholars in Ukraine and Germany that has been constituted in 2022. The research group is directed by Viktoria Sereda and investigates the transformational effects of war and dislocation on people’s memory, history, and sense of belonging.
Prisma Ukraïna – Research Network Eastern Europe has been realized with funding from the Land Berlin.
The remote/non-resident fellowships for participating scholars in Ukraine have been provided for by the Zeit-Stiftung Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius and the Marga und Kurt Möllgard-Stiftung.
Prisma Ukraïna Editors: Sophie Schmäing (coordination), Simon Kötschau, Lidia Kuzemska, and Viktoria Sereda
RE:CONSTITUTION
re:constitution – Exchange and Analysis on Democracy and the Rule of Law in Europe aims to inspire comprehensive discussion about and around questions of democracy, the rule of law, and the protection of fundamental rights in Europe. Funded by Stiftung Mercator and co-managed by the Forum Transregionale Studien and Democracy Reporting International, the programme awards Fellowships to early-career scholars and practitioners, offers topical analysis and builds up a growing European network of experts on the rule of law and democracy.
BEYONDREST
Beyond Restitution: Heritage, (Dis)Possession and the Politics of Knowledge (BEYONDREST) is an ERC-funded, five-year research project at the Forum Transregionale Studien. Taking restitution not as an endpoint but as the point of departure for its inquiry, Beyond Restitution tackles dispossession not as a loss to be mended but a means to transform knowledge through inquiries into absence. Beyond Restitution argues that the dispossession of art is not merely a problematic of colonialism or empire, that is of the past, but an ongoing process that is constitutive for the governance of heritage in its national and transnational formations. The research project focuses on the interlocution between Western Europe, the Near and Middle East, and North Africa, mapping relationships between people and “things” that have largely been left out of current debates.
BEYONDREST Editors: Banu Karaca (Principal Investigator), Çiçek İlengiz (Postdoctoral Researcher)
Editorial support: Jessica Metz (Coordinator), Loes Hendriks (Student Assistant)
