Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
International Geographical Union (IGU) Commission on Political Geography (CPG)
Geopolitics Journal
IPSA RC 41 Geopolitics
BORDERS AT THE INTERFACE:
BORDERING EUROPE, AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
International Workshop
In Cooperation with the FP7 EUBORDERSCAPES Consortium
DECEMBER 7 – 11
Beer Sheva and Jerusalem, Israel
In its geopolitical context, Israel is located at the interface of three major regions – Europe, Asia (the Middle East part of Asia) and Africa. The region itself is the interface of regions, cultures and the worlds great monotheistic religions, partly explaining the fact that it continues to be one of the world's geopolitical shatterbelts and the focus for ethnic, religious and territorial conflict. As well as being an interface, it is also a transition region, where cultures and peoples have mixed as they cross from one area to another. It is as much as cross-border region as it is a border , and this is reflected in culture, language and food. Hybridity and meeting is reflected in notions of Eurasia and Mediteranean as alternative places for cultural mixing along with political conflict. In cooperation with the FP7 consortium on Euroborderscapes, the newly founded Geopolitics Chair at Ben-Gurion University, along with three dynamic research centers, the Herzog center for Middle Eastern Studies, the Center for the Study of European Politics and Society (CSEPS) and the Tamar Golan center for African Studies invite scholars with an interest in borders and in any one of the relevant regions to submit papers for an international workshop aimed focusing on the interface between the three regions. This will take place as part of the ever growing community of border scholars worldwide, ranging across the borders of the academic disciplines and examining the changing significances and functions of borders as they cross cultures.
Tentative Itinerary Dec 7-8: - FP7 Workshop and Meetings Dec 8-9: - Conference Sessions, Ben-Gurion University Dec 10: Field Trip – Borders and Geopolitics in Israel / Palestine Dec 11: AM –Field Trip - Borders, Territory and Conflict in Jerusalem Dec 11: PM – Conference Sessions, Jerusalem.
The conference will start in Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, will include two geopolitical field trips in areas of cultural and political contestation within Israel/Palestine and Jerusalem, and will conclude its final sessions in Jerusalem. Scholars are invited to submit abstracts on the conference themes to the following email address: reneny@post.bgu.ac.il no later than April 30, 2014. There will be a conference fee of $120 to cover the main organizational costs and conference dinner. The field trips will be covered by the conference organisers. Participants will cover their own travel and accommodation costs. Final technical details will be sent in a second circular in June 2014.
ABSTRACT REGISTRATION: Name: Affiliation: Email: Title of Abstract: Abstract: