Third gathering of the NISE Scientific Council
On Friday 27 May 2011, the third gathering of the Scientific Council (SC) took place in Vienna, at the Institut für Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte of the Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien (WU).
Its director Peter Berger and researcher (as well as member of the council) Johannes Koll acted as professional ànd generous hosts. The gathering, which was co-sponsored by the Department of History of the University Antwerp (UA), provided the opportunity to combine discussion regarding operational and policy issues with contributions and debate on nationalism theory formation. Accordingly, the day, after a warm and witty welcome speech by WU-rector Christoph Badelt, consisted of three distinct parts: the (members only-) meeting of the council; a (invitation only-) debate on a review text regarding the work of Miroslav Hroch; and a lecture, open to the general public, by Alan Sked on ‘Nations and Empires’.
During the meeting of the SC in the morning, all operational aspects of the NISE platform were discussed. Special attention was paid to the format of the NISE publication series-to-be, the sources for input in the database, the consultation process for the several projects within the platform and the general and project funding. The results will transpire during the following months and also be made public through this channel.
The debate session during the afternoon, on the text by NISE SC member Xosé Manoel Núñez Seixas (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela), served besides the obvious scientific interest, also a practical interest: to fully and unequivocally delineate the field of interest for the NISE platform, as it is on that basis the research agenda is being set, the selection criteria for the input of data into the system are determined, as well as all other activities (for instance, the development of archival action plans). The session was introduced by the author; the ensuing debate, moderated by Louis Vos (KULeuven), was kickstarted by Miroslav Hroch (Univerzita Karlova) himself. A great many aspects came to the fore, with one or two being discussed more thoroughly (for instance, the regionalisation of national activities). The interesting exchange of ideas will be continued on the NISE Discussion Platform, to be followed before the end of the year by a set of conclusions.
In the early evening, in a lecture before a knowledgeable public, Alan Sked (London School of Economics and Political Science-LSE) painted a broad picture of 19th century history, in order to prove how much the influence exerted by the ‘balance of power’ politics pursued by the great empires of the day, has been underestimated in the study of national movements. According to this British historian, nationalist politicians and intellectuals were forced to rationalise the results of the international power struggle, in order to integrate them in their national policies and culture. This explanatory model, and even more so some of the arguments used to back it up, led to a lively discussion afterwards; also this debate will be continued on the Discussion Platform.
See here for the program.
See also: Nationalismusforscher/innen zu Gast an der WU, written by Johannes Koll, in WU-memo, 103 (11), p. 37.