Call for Papers

Organised by the German Historical Institute London and the German History Society. 

This one-day workshop on the history of medieval Germany (broadly defined) offers an opportunity for researchers from Europe and the wider English-speaking world to meet at the German Historical Institute in London. Participants will be able to discuss their work in a relaxed and friendly setting and to learn more about each other’s research. 

Proposals for short papers of 10–15 minutes are invited from researchers at all career stages with an interest in any aspect of the history of medieval Germany. Participants are encouraged to present work in progress, highlight research questions and approaches, and point to yet unresolved challenges of their projects. Presentations will be followed by a discussion. 

Participation is free of charge and includes lunch and dinner. The GHIL and the GHS will also provide a contribution towards travel expenses. Accommodation costs cannot be reimbursed. Support is available for postgraduate and early career researchers: up to £150, for travel within the UK (excluding London) and up to €300 for an economy round trip from Europe. Please indicate your interest in travel support in your application. 

We look forward to reading your proposals. Please send your submission—which must include a title, an abstract of c. 200 words, and a biographical note of no more than c. 100 words—to Thomas Kaal: t.kaal@ghil.ac.uk. Questions about all aspects of the workshop can also be sent to Marcus Meer: m.meer@ucl.ac.uk. 

Students and researchers interested in medieval German history are also very welcome to attend and listen to the presentations. There is no charge for attendance, but pre-booking is essential. If you would like to attend as a guest, please contact Kim König: k.koenig@ghil.ac.uk. 

The deadline for proposal submissions is 15 February 2026.

Call for Papers (PDF)

Organizers: Dr. Soheb Niazi (Freie Universität, Berlin), Dr. Vishal Singh Deo (Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal- Karnataka)

Venue: German Historial Institute London

Proposal Submission Email: niazi@mwsindia.orgor vishal.pratap@manipal.edu

While ecological concerns and contemporary livestock practices have generated criticism in Western societies, the production of animal flesh for human consumption continues to expand persistently (Weis, 2013). This expansion is underpinned by the quest for appropriating nature and its resources into commodities of trade and profit, a characteristic feature of global capitalism. This concept note proposes an international workshop to offer critical analysis of these contemporary concerns regarding livestock practices. This calls for an examination of global networks that tie ecologies to livestock frontiers and the commodities (meat, hides or skins) that are produced and circulated across the Global South. 

The workshop invites contributions from various disciplines (social, economic and labour histories, geography, sociology and anthropology, science and technology and environmental studies) and regions (Asia, Latin America and Africa) within the Global South, with the aim of fostering a collaborative understanding of the expansion and transformation of frontiers and global networks related to the trade of commodities. We seek papers that explore life histories of social actors, the production and negotiation of infrastructural spaces, the impact of technological innovations on skills, labour, and markets, as well as strategies of resistance and subversion. 

Recent scholarship, following Jason Moore’s concept of the “commodity frontiers” (Moore, 2000) has presented an agenda that calls for a rethinking of the relation of change and contestation in peripheral or frontier spaces to processes of globalisation. The Commodity Frontiers Initiative (CFI) calls for studying the history and present of capitalism through the lens of commodity frontiers and commodity regimes, exploring local resilience, contestations and ecological transformations in the countryside (Beckert, Bosma, Schneider, Vanhaute, 2021). The CFI agenda has been further expanded to include “livestock frontiers”, that is both processes and sites in which animals are bred, reared, cured, traded and commodified in novel ways, by -reallocating land, labour, capital, knowledge, and other resources, to enhance productivity and maximise gains (Schneider, & Coghe, 2021). 

To view such a frontier is to revisit colonial and unofficial archives to uncover nodes of resistance and non-compliance that help us understand histories of caste and occupational groups, labor processes, markets, and, more specifically, human-animal interactions. The conference aims to explore these themes as we journey to micro-historical sites, demonstrating how materiality remains in critical dialogue with our understanding of global history.

We invite contributions that engage with the themes outlined below, focusing on various elements of the Livestock Frontier, including but not limited to commodities (meat, hides, skins, leather, cattle, etc.), social actors (butchers, artisans, traders, tanners, merchants), infrastructural spaces (slaughterhouses, ranches, tanneries, leather goods factories, etc.), markets, and patterns of land use:

1. Empire, Imperialism and Colonialism 

2. Transformations and Transitions 

3. Negotiations, Mobility and Subsistence 

4. Practices of Resilience and Resistance

5. Technological Innovations and Skill  

6. Variegated Ecologies and Contested Environments 

This workshop, scheduled for July 9-10, 2026, at the German Historical Institute in London, is organized with support from the Gerda Henkel Stiftung and the Max Weber Forum for South Asian Studies in Delhi. The proceedings will be compiled into an edited volume. We invite contributions that engage with the themes outlined above. The deadline for submitting a 300-word abstract is February 15, 2026. We will inform selected participants by February 20, and they will be required to submit a 6,000-8,000-word paper by June 20, 2026.

The workshop will feature pre-circulated papers, allowing participants to read each other's contributions, fostering engaged discussions and extensive feedback on each paper. Following the workshop, authors will be invited to revise their papers within 3-4 months, incorporating the feedback received, for formal submission to the volume. We hope to provide funding for travel (economy class flight tickets for participants outside the EU and 2nd class train tickets for those within the UK/EU), as well as accommodation for two nights in London for all invited participants.

Call for Papers (PDF)