All things change the same? Inception workshop of Conflicts.Meanings.Transitions
21-23 June 2023, University of Bayreuth
The workshop tackled different approaches to the study of peace and conflict in transition
processes focusing on how societies, politics, the parameters of knowledge, and peace itself are
changing. Generalizations about change are difficult to make, yet systematically tackling aspects
of changing practices of peace and worldviews of conflict is relevant for both academia and
societies. Therefore, the workshop focused in on how actors lobby for, contest, negotiate, and try
to debunk views, thereby shaping transition processes. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective,
we used a variety of lenses and examined contestations and change in key areas of interest such as
modes of violence and war, the question of justice, norms and values of conflict, knowledge and
epistemologies, and the very definition of peace.
Thereby, the workshop sought to further the study of conflicts that spark occur within, and
follow from transition processes and to elaborate on the consequences for peace. Moreover, the
workshop aimed to launch the research network Conflicts.Meanings.Transitions and to bring
together researchers whose overlapping intellectual interests promise to facilitate productive
exchange.
Keynote speech
Prof. Navnita Chadha Behera (University of Delhi)
“Let the field speak Re-visiting the rules of knowledge production in peace and conflict
studies”
Featured within the series Bayreuth Peace Talks
Venue: Historischer Sitzungssaal, Altes Rathaus/Kunstmuseum Bayreuth
Opening words by Dr. Marina von Assel, Director of the Kunstmuseum Bayreuth
Host: PD Dr. Florian Kühn (Universities of Gothenburg and Bayreuth)
Panel sessions
Panelists – Changing Violence and War
- Prof. Jutta Bakonyi (Durham University)
- Dr. Alexander Korb (University of Leicester)
- PD Dr. Florian Kühn (Universities of Gothenburg and Bayreuth)
- Chair: Prof. Jana Hönke (University of Bayreuth)
Panelists – Negotiating Justice in Times of Transition?
- Dr. Valeria Vegh Weis (Universities of Konstanz and Buenos Aires)
- Dr. Daniel Stahl (University of Erlangen-Nürnberg)
- Chair: Dr. Julia Eichenberg (University of Bayreuth)
Panelists – Norms and Values in Transition
- Prof. Hanna Pfeifer (University of Frankfurt)
- Prof. Fabian Klose (University of Cologne)
- Dr. Bret McEvoy (University of Bayreuth)
- Chair: PD Dr. Florian Kühn (Universities of Gothenburg and Bayreuth)
Panelists – Evolving Epistemologies
- Prof. Navnita Chadha Behera (University of Delhi)
- PD Dr. Geert Castryck (University of Leipzig)
- Christina Pauls, M.A. (University of Augsburg)
- Chair: Dr. Christian Methfessel (Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History, München–Berlin)
Panelists – Transitions of Peace
- Prof. Petra Goedde (Temple University, Philadelphia)
- Prof. Susanne Buckley-Zistel (University of Marburg)
- Johannes Lehmann, M.A. (University of Augsburg)
- Chair: Sophie Falschebner, M.A. (University of Marburg)
