Armed Forces, Security, and State Violence. Annual Conference of the Historians in the DGFA (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Amerikastudien/German Association for American Studies)

Armed Forces, Security, and State Violence. Annual Conference of the Historians in the DGFA (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Amerikastudien/German Association for American Studies)

Veranstalter
Prof. Dr. Michaela Hampf, John-F.-Kennedy-Institut für Nordamerikastudien, FU Berlin; Prof. Dr. Barbara Lüthi, Anglo-Amerikanische Abteilung, Universität zu Köln
Veranstaltungsort
Akademie für Politische Bildung
Ort
Tutzing
Land
Deutschland
Vom - Bis
21.02.2014 - 23.02.2014
Deadline
30.07.2013
Website
Von
Barbara Lüthi

From the colonial wars to the deployment of drones, warfare has been central to defining the American nation and its role in the world. Armed conflicts on the American continents and overseas are not completely new to historical research. The aim of the following conference is to focus on the interrelations between armed conflicts and security. Warfare and security issues are inextricably linked. Yet, despite the present-day attraction of „security“ as an attention-grabbing word in politics and the public sphere, the study of security is a missing chapter in many state-of-the-art surveys of historical literature. Especially after the Second World War, security has found major attention in the fields of International Relations and its sub-discipline Security Studies. Security Studies evolved during the nuclear age and were originally foremost about the study of the threat, use and control of military force. During the past three decades a broader understanding of securitization processes has evolved, extending beyond state actors and including activities that develop „from below.“ Security needs are understood as socially and/or politically constructed and as central to shaping specific security practices. In a similar vein as security, the understanding of armed conflicts and armed forces has been part of the „widening-debate“: Not just conventional armies and wars, but also small armies, irregular forces, non-state actors, civil wars and so on have come under scrutiny in the context of the New Military History. The existence of a direct link between armed forces, (national) security issues and the impact of state violence (directed at external and internal targets) became apparent not only since 9/11 and the onset of the “War against Terror”. The creation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security which seeks to establish internal security by means of controlled application of state violence and the simultaneous coordination of military intervention abroad is just one example of the connection between the military, the security apparatus and state violence. At the same time – with increased efforts to sustain internal and global security – the armed forces of the United States have experienced a complete restructuring, due to reasons of austerity, but also in order to create a smaller and more flexible army prepared for fighting asymmetrical wars. The proposed conference takes such contemporary developments as a starting point to instigate a broader historical debate that looks beyond present-day developments, such as the Indian Wars of the 19th century, the American Civil War and naval armament at the end of the 19th century, or Cold War constellations.

The goals of the conference are manifold. Although focused on a historical perspective on North America, it aims to include papers at the intersection of the New Military History, Security Studies, and Postcolonial Studies while at the same time allowing for interdisciplinary approaches which delineate the historical, cultural, and institutional configurations in which the link between armed conflicts, security and state violence have become obvious.

Possible topics include, but are not limited, to the following:
- “Asymmetric Warfare” from the Indian Wars to Post-Cold War Operations
- Info/Cyberwarfare
- Anti-Terrorist and Security Technologies
- From „Well Ordered Militia“ to „Military-Industrial Complex“
- Defense Industries and the Securitization of the U.S.
- Legitimizing State Violence: From War on Poverty to War on Terrorism
- Security and Governance at Home and Abroad
- War and the Law
- Military Service and the Body
- A Navy Second to None (1898, Great White Fleet etc.)
- Visual History of State Violence and Armed Forces

Please send an abstract of no more than 500 words and a 1 page CV to both conveners by July 30, 2013: Michaela Hampf (hampf@jfki.fu-berlin.de) and Barbara Luethi (bluethi@uni-koeln.de). If accepted, the presentation in Tutzing is limited to 30 minutes. Each presentation is followed by a commentary of ten minutes.

Programm

Kontakt

Michaela Hampf, FU Berlin (hampf@jfki.fu-berlin.de) oder Barbara Lüthi, Universität zu Köln (bluethi@uni-koeln.de)


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Sprach(en) der Veranstaltung
Englisch
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