CfP International Summer School

“Oral History Meets European Studies. 

Sources, Tools and Methods in the Digital Age”

3 July – 6 July 2023

Maison Schuman, Luxembourg City 

The Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C2DH), together with the European University Institute (Florence, Italy) and the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory (Frankfurt, Germany), organises a Summer School to be held at the Maison Robert Schuman in Luxembourg City from 3 to 6 July 2023. The Summer School invites students to explore methods of oral history and to test digital tools, while it pays attention to how digital sources may shape narratives in contemporary European history.

The Summer School is geared at PhD candidates as well as early career scholars (postdoctoral students) specialising in European History / European studies, who use oral history in their research. The programme will tackle the main stages in the production, uses, and archiving of oral history interviews through a set of transversal workshops, presentations, and roundtable discussions with experts. The Summer School will be enriched by hands-on activities, in which participants will test the discussed tools and methods. Students will have the opportunity to present their research projects and to receive feedback from their peers and experts. In addition, the participants should be offered a guided visit to the European Parliament.

Some transversal main topics to be discussed during the summer school are:

  1. Co-production: How to conduct interviews, methodologies (questionnaires, etc.), technical aspects (sound and video recording), ethics, memory, and remembrance.
  2. Curation: Data management and indexation, transcription (from oral to written record), software, uses of audio-visual material, digitization, and digitalization.
  3. Analysis: How to integrate digital oral sources in an academic discourse, legal aspects (authorship and copyright) and data treatment.
  4. Archiving: Individual collections and historical archives.
  5. Sharing: Communication, exhibitions, websites, museums, media, and public history projects.

The working language is English. Applicants should send a 300-word abstract detailing their research topic and how they use oral history interviews along with questions they would like to discuss/deepen and a short bio. Applications should be sent to valerie.schafer@uni.lu

Deadline for the submission of applications is 31 January 2023. The organisers will provide accommodation and lunches. Participants need to make their own travel arrangements and they must bring their own computer.

Dates: 3-6 July 2023

Venue: Maison Robert Schuman (Luxembourg city) 

Deadline for applications: 31 January 2023

Notification of acceptance: 15 February 2023

Contact and Practical Organisation

Please direct queries and send your application to valerie.schafer@uni.lu

Selection Committee

Andreas Fickers (C2DH, University of Luxembourg)

Elena Danescu (C2DH, University of Luxembourg)

Machteld Venken (C2DH, University of Luxembourg)

Emmanuel Mourlon-Druol (EUI, Firenze)

Benno Gammerl (EUI, Firenze)

Dieter Schlenker (HAEU, EUI, Firenze)

Anselm Küsters (MPI for Legal History and Legal Theory, Frankfurt am Main; Humboldt University, Berlin; Centre for European Policy, Berlin)

Sigfrido Ramirez (MPI for Legal History and Legal Theory, Frankfurt am Main)

Stefan Vogenauer (MPI for Legal History and Legal Theory, Frankfurt am Main)

Andreas Wagner (MPI for Legal History and Legal Theory, Frankfurt am Main)

Local organising committee at C2DH

Florentina Armaselu, Thomas Cauvin, Cécile Duval, François Klein, Brigitte Melchior-Dolenc, Victoria Mouton, Adelina Stefan, Valérie Schafer