Review

On October 17 and 18, 2024, more than 80 researchers celebrated ten years of border studies in the Greater Region. To mark the jubilee, border researchers from the UniGR-Center for Border Studies (UniGR-CBS) met with international scholars from 30 countries to discuss border struggles and border alliances.
 

Exchange and International Networking

As a UniGR-CBS partner, Saarland University hosted the conference in order to strengthen the dialogue and international networking of the spatial, linguistic, and cultural specialization of the cross-border interdisciplinary UniGR Center of Expertise. The conference organizers, Astrid M. Fellner and Eva Nossem (Saarland University) were also particularly interested in the exchange between established and junior scholars as well as between different languages, cultures, and academic disciplines.
 

UniGR-CBS Working Groups

The impressive conference program with 16 panels and 67 speakers, as well as two workshops, provided ample opportunity for this. For example, the inter-university working groups of the UniGR Center of Expertise presented in five panel sessions their research results from the Greater Region, innovative approaches to cultural border studies, and development perspectives for the cross-border region.
 

International Keynote Speeches

The international keynote speakers, who developed the conference theme from different disciplinary perspectives, rounded off the numerous parallel panels. On the first day, political scientist Martina Tazzioli (University of Bologna) presented various perspectives on the overcoming of state institutions of violence in the context of border regimes. On the second day, human geographer Paul Richardson (University of Birmingham) illustrated the instrumentalization of past and present as a powerful means of enforcing and legitimizing border demarcations.
 

UniGR-CBS Birthday Cake

Another highlight of the conference program was the ceremonial cutting of the birthday cake by the UniGR-CBS Steering Committee members. In this context, the Head of the UniGR-CBS, Christian Wille, took the opportunity to thank all members and colleagues of the UniGR Center of Expertise for their successful work over the past ten years.

 

Graduation Ceremony of the Master in Border Studies

The two-day UniGR-CBS jubilee conference was rounded off with a graduation ceremony dedicated to the most recent graduates of the Master in Border Studies. The tri-national Master’s program with a spatial and cultural track has been embedded in the UniGR Center of Expertise since 2017 and is now very well-networked throughout Europe with an alumni association.