29th Historians’ Meeting, German Association for American Studies (DGFA), Akademie fuer Politische Bildung, Tutzing (Germany), February 9-11, 2007
Call for Papers:
Building the American Nation: Universality and Particularity in U.S. History
While the idea of nation-building is frequently used in the context of emerging nations and U.S. involvement elsewhere, this conference provides a platform for a consideration of the United States of America as an evolving nation from the colonial era to the present. U.S.-nation-building and the emergence of a national identity affirmed the structural coordinates of universalism and particularity: The “First new nation” (Lipset) was organized in terms of an abstract philosophy of universal rights, but the struggle for independence and the coalition with France left the states with no other choice than to begin to constitute themselves as one nation among others. In its emerging political and social dimensions, the ensuing process of nation-building was shaped and complicated in various ways. As Max Weber observed in his essays on radical protestant sects and their secular successors, the homogeneity and sovereignty of religious communities has shaped American social and political life. Ideals of individual autonomy and independence were tied historically to an ambivalent relationship with the political nation-state. Other forces, such as sectionalism, threatened the emerging nation-state’s fragile balance, a balance which tipped in 1861. The U.S. still considers itself to be a nation of immigrants. In the early twentieth century, decades of intensified immigration from Europe led intellectuals such as Randolph Bourne to conceive of the U.S. as a “trans-national” nation.
The political and social history of the Progressive Era, the entry of the U.S. into World War I, and the history of the intellectual challenges of fin du siecle fatalism, imperial crusades, and social reform provide further examples of a perhaps pivotal era of U.S. nation-building. As urbanization, industrialization, and the rapid pace of business consolidation brought about problems which could no longer be tackled by individual states, Progressives responded by reluctantly addressing such issues on a national scale. In line with long-standing reservations toward initiatives on that level, many feared that they would deteriorate particular American ideals of individual autonomy and independence from the state. The outbreak of war in Europe in 1914 further corroborated this issue because it led to the cultural alignment of urban elites with the Allies and of many immigrants with their respective countries of descent – immigrants who claimed to move within an American tradition of individual liberty. This raises the question of whether the U.S., since 1917, further translated its cultural dedication to universalism into a political (and particular) commitment, both towards its citizens and towards other nations.
The conference will provide an opportunity to chart the emergence, the contexts and consequences, of U.S. nation-building, and to discuss points of transformation in this process. How did the colonial experience shape American state and community-building at its inception, and how did this result in lasting cultural perspectives on politics? What role did the professions, social movements, and political parties play in shaping and defining how the U.S. conceived of itself, and to what underlying notions have they responded? What has been the role of cultural institutions such as universities in American society and their relationship to the consolidation of the U.S. as a nation? And how has American diplomacy reflected a tension between particularity and universalism?
The conference is jointly organized by the Historians in the German Association for American Studies (http://www.dgfa.de) and the Akademie für politische Bildung in Tutzing (Germany). It will take place at the Akademie in Tutzing which is about a half-hour South of Munich (http://www.apb-tutzing.de).
Please send one-page abstracts by October 15, 2006, to:
Dr. Axel Jansen and PD Dr. Marcus Graeser
Center for North America Studies/Zentrum fuer Nordamerikaforschung (ZENAF)
J. W. Goethe-Universitaet Frankfurt
Postfach 111932
D-60054 Frankfurt – Germany
E-Mail a.jansen@em.uni-frankfurt.de and m.graeser@em.uni-frankfurt.de
Workshops
In addition to papers presented within the scope of the conference theme, three workshops will provide an opportunity for junior scholars to present ongoing research from other historical fields. If you would like to present your project in one of these workshops, please contact either Axel Jansen/Marcus Graeser (e-mail addresses above) or the chair of the respective workshop:
- The workshop on “Race” will accept papers on aspects of race relations, racism and ethnicity in North American history from the colonial period to the present. Preference will be given to ongoing research projects by junior scholars. Please contact Prof. Dr. Manfred Berg (Heidelberg) at manfred.berg@uni-hd.de.
- The workshop on “Gender” will be organized by Prof. Dr. Michael Hochgeschwender (Munich). Doctoral candidates and other junior scholars working on a topic within this thematic focus are welcome to present their projects. Please contact Michael Hochgeschwender at michael.hochgeschwender@lrz.uni-muenchen.de.
- A workshop on “International Relations” will be organized by Dr. Wilfried Mausbach (Heidelberg). Please contact Dr. Wilfried Mausbach at Wilfried.Mausbach@hca.uni-heidelberg.de.