Second UniGR-CBS Border Seminar

The second UniGR-CBS Border Seminar on the topic of “Inter- and Transdisciplinarity: A B/ordering Process?” and directed by Prof. Dr. Antje Bruns was organized by Trier University. It took place from 5-6 November 2018 at Trier University and in the Hotel Deutscher Hof in Trier and gathered 28 CBS border scholars as well as another 21 interested researchers of Trier University as well as external institutions and universities. The orientation of the seminar was primarily methodical, with the cooperation between the border scholars of the UniGR-CBS being the main focus of interest. To accomplish this, a double perspective was adopted, which on the one hand pointed out the necessities and forms of multi- and interdisciplinary cooperation in the light of the complexity of b/ordering processes. On the other hand, the multi- and interdisciplinary cooperation between the UniGR-CBS border scholars was itself discussed as b/ordering process.

The first day of the seminar began with two keynote lectures by Prof. Ulli Vilsmaier of the University of Leuphana in Lüneburg and Prof. Peter Mollinga of the School of Oriental and African Studies University in London, who reported on the methods and practices of cross-border work in inter- and transdisciplinary research. Two CBS members and five external researchers then gave short lectures on their current border research projects, in which they described the theoretical aspects as well as establishing references to inter- and transdisciplinarity. At the end of the first day, the Working Groups on “Border Textures”, “Employment and Vocational Training” and “Spatial Planning” were formed to discuss joint ongoing projects and future plans.

The second day began with an interactive World Café on the topic of Trans- and Interdisciplinarity in the/for the Border Studies“, in which the researchers discussed four issues and recorded the results on posters. Work was then continued in the working groups. The seminar ended with a thematic summary by Antje Bruns followed by an open feedback discussion in a plenary session. The next Border Seminar on the topic of “Learning Border Regions” will take place on 23 and 24 May 2019 in Saarbrücken and will be directed by Prof. Dr. Peter Dörrenbächer.

More information on the UniGR-CBS Border Seminars