CfP Main Session M-CUL-2 at the European Association of Urban History (EAUH) Conference in Antwerp, 2–5 September 2020

Pleasurescapes. Transnational Forces of Integration in European Cities

'Pleasurescapes' is a collaborative research project funded by Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA) and based at HafenCity University Hamburg. Partners are Erasmus University Rotterdam, University of Girona, Stockholm University as well as local history museums, theatre companies and NGOs.

Public spaces of entertainment, which we call 'pleasurescapes', mirror traits of urbanization: They are transnational microcosms, representing conformity and rebellion. They are melting pot for divergent classes, cultures and religions. We explore how pleasurescapes in European cities have unfolded integrational forces in the past and present and thereby fostered modern European urban practices. In studying the past and present of European pleasurescapes, we gain insights into Europe’s cultural pluralism and its exchange of knowledge, material, technologies, and practices.

Throughout the 'Pleasurescapes'-project, four port cities are of special interest for us: Hamburg (DE), Rotterdam (NL), Barcelona (ES) and Gothenburg (SE). At the EAUH conference we are also looking for papers on other European cities, not only port cities. We are especially interested in proposals from Eastern Europe and the UK.

We want to understand, to which extent and under which conditions pleasurescapes in European cities turned into nodes of integration, how they merged societal groups – and thereby possibly excluded others. Who is involved and who is shut out, and why? What was allowed and what forbidden? How are goods, services and knowledge distributed? Who sold, built, planned, inherited, gave away, exchanged or concealed, what was consumed in these public spaces of pleasure? When did innovations happen, when was continuity preferred? How did different actors attain power of interpreting local space and structures? How is public space comprehended and who has access to it?

The time span we’re looking at is the ‘long’ 20th century, since it was then that the history of amusement and modern urban history deeply intertwined. To structure our work, we set up the following umbrella terms:
- Formats (cabaret, film, gambling, music, popular art, sports, vaudeville, …)
- Practices (dance, design, fashion, food, gender, language, youth, …)
- Places (ballrooms, borders, brothels, cinemas, factories, festivals, offices, parks, streets, …)
- People: (artists, business people, criminals, guests, patrollers, prostitutes, residents, tourists, workers, …)
- Governance: (advertisement, censorship, commerce, diseases, law, media, policy, protest, religion, violence, …)

Papers should refer to one or several of the umbrella terms and may come from Historical Sciences, Cultural Studies, Material Culture Studies, Architecture and Art Historian Science, Museum Studies, and Performing Arts. They should point out their methodological approach carefully, since we plan eager discussion of methodological aspects. We are particularly interested in papers using Actor-Network-Theory (ANT) or understand places of entertainment as spaces of heterotopia.

Guidelines for paper proposals:
- All paper proposals must be submitted through the EAUH2020 website by 1 October 2019: https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/conferences/eauh2020/papers/call-for-papers/
- Each submission must include a short abstract (max 400 characters), a full abstract (max 350 words), a short bio (max 200 words) and 3 keywords.
- When submitting your proposal, please make sure you mark it for the session (M-Cul-2).
- Each paper proposal has one main (first) author. Up to three co-authors are allowed.
- There will be a Pre-Conference for this session at Erasmus University Rotterdam from 5-7 February 2020.
- We're planning for a peer-reviewed journal publication in 2022.

Prof. Dr. Lisa Kosok, HafenCity University Hamburg, is spokesperson of the session and leads the 'Pleasurescapes'-project. Co-organizers and project partners are Prof. Dr. Paul van de Laar, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Dr. Judit Vidiella Pagès, University of Girona, and Prof. Dr. Heiko Droste, Stockholm University. For all further questions please contact Dr. Alina L. Just at HafenCity University Hamburg.