A GLOBAL CAMPUS. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

Call for Papers: A Global Campus: Universities, cultural transfers and experiences in the 20th century

Madrid, Complutense University of Madrid, November 22-24 2023

This International Conference shows the outcomes of our same title research project (A Global Campus: Universities, cultural transfers and experiences in the 20th century (Spanish Mineco: PID2020-113106GB-I00).  It aims to analyze the social, cultural, political, and diplomatic dimensions of university life, taking the space and the notion of campus (real, symbolic, imagined, or transferred) as the concrete setting for these developments.

We understand the university campus from a double dimension: as a continent and as a space full of content and meanings. Our approach to this dual object of study, the campuses and the experiences developed in them, combines points of view from different domains. As an interdisciplinary group, we will analyze architectural and urban issues; aesthetic and design-related dimensions; the presence and representation of academic spaces in films; the collaboration and expectations of philanthropists and investors in the development of university cities; the use of university spaces for interprofessional visits, scientific exchanges and the celebration of cultural events and academic diplomacy.

The main objective of this project is to offer a global portrait of university campuses in all their dimensions and interrelation capacities to know about them those aspects that go far beyond the essential functions expected of the university: teaching and research. Our project focuses on the forms, design, uses, and living of the University campuses in spatial and chronological comparison and with a broad outlook. We research the impact and influences of campuses’ forms and styles on the activities and routines of people living and working there. And we explore these influences in terms of experiences, uses, and memories.

Our research lines include     :

• The international and diplomatic relationships established using the campus as a stage (national plans, academic strategies, and also residences and dorms for international students and programs of international visits and exchanges).
• Cultural activities, programs, and scientific exchanges (cinephilia, university theater, or grants).
• Philanthropy and patronage in the campuses.
• Student organizations located and implemented inside the campuses.
• Students riots and the campuses like a stage for political protests.
• Experiences and memories of the campuses analyzed through letters, images, and interviews.
• The campus as its own space, recreated and imagined, in academic exiled.

We are looking for papers that explore aspects included in these six axes:

Panel 1: Design, politics, and coexistence: university campuses' forms, styles, and functions     .

Panel 2:  Cultural and academic diplomacy: campus as a place for political and cultural relations.

Panel 3: Programs, projects, and main characters: campus and cultural transfers

Panel 4: Spaces for sociability, protest, and daily life on university campuses.

Panel 5: On cinemas, theaters, and other forms of university cultural life.

Panel 6: Campus in exile: academic experiences in exile.

We will be delighted to receive proposals. All those interested can send their proposal to this email address globalcampus.complutense@gmail.com. The proposal must include: a title, the panel in which it best fits, and a summary of the proposal in 100 words. We accept proposals in English and Spanish. Deadline: June 10, 2023.

Unfortunately, the project will not be able to cover the travel expenses of those who are finally admitted to present their papers at the conference.

Main researcher: Carolina Rodríguez-López (Complutense University of Madrid). 

Scientific and executive committee: Paula Bruno (Complutense University of Madrid), Giulia Quaggio ((Complutense University of Madrid, Francisco Morente Valero (Autonomous University of Barcelona), Jara Muñoz Hernández (Politechnique University of Madrid), Fernando Ramos (Complutense University of Madrid); Sarah Lemmen (Complutense University of Madrid), Linda Erker (Wien Universität), Piero Sassi (Bauhaus Universität Weimar), Clara de Moura (Universidade de Lisboa), Maria Jose Neto (Universidade de Lisboa), Leandro Losada (Universitat de Girona), Guadalupe Seia (Universidad de Buenos Aires-CONICET), Elisa Signori (Universitá de Pavia).

Call for Papers: A Global Campus: Universities, cultural transfers and experiences in the 20th century

Madrid, Complutense University of Madrid, November 22-24 2023