CFP workshop “Reframing community through mobility: an interdisciplinary perspective from the early modern to the present”
Dr Marina Inì
Dr Tamsin Prideaux
19-20 gennaio 2026
dipartimento di Storia, Antropologia, Religione, Arte e Spettacolo, la Sapienza.
Abstract: The concept of community is crucial in social sciences and often provides an essential tool of analysis. Community is often seen as a positive concept, rooted in ideas such as belonging and mutual support between people who share linguistic, religious, and/ or regional origins. Yet, this idea of community imposes cohesive identities on certain people, detracts from connections formed elsewhere, and imposes exclusionary boundaries on outsiders. This workshop seeks to challenge this monolithic characteristic of community by scrutinising the element of mobility from the early modern to the present. By focusing on the people on the move from an interdisciplinary perspective, the aim is to reframe and broaden the idea of community. Shared space and place, alongside with long-term temporalities, are key elements in the traditional definition of community. However, mobility introduces different temporalities, new spaces and places and new social ties. Our aim is to understand how these affect and reframe the idea of community with a special focus on connections across religious and ethnic communities.
This workshop approaches the concepts of mobility and community from a historical perspective and with a broad temporal and geographical frame. However, we encourage contributions from cultural geography, anthropology, sociology, and other disciplines to forge an interdisciplinary dialogue.
Important dates and submission guidelines
Please send your abstracts (max 200 words) and a short bio to Marina Inì (marina.ini@uniroma1.it) and Tamsin Prideaux (t.t.d.prideaux@hum.leidenuniv.nl) by 30 September. Selected contributions will be notified by 15 October.
Complete drafts will be submitted and circulated by 8 January.
Accommodation and travel
We aim to provide funding for accommodation and travel expenses.