The International Association for the History of Transport, Traffic and Mobility (T2M) invites applications for the first T2M International Summer School, The Passenger: Mobility in Modernity, to be held in Berlin, Germany.
The School is organized with the support of the Centre for Technology and Society of the Berlin Institute of Technology (TU Berlin) and will be conducted in English. The Volkswagen Stiftung is generously providing financial support.
The School is intended to bring together representatives from different disciplinary perspectives under the common theme of “passengers”, a concept understood to include travellers, voyagers, migrants, nomads and any other mobile persons moving by any means of transport, including foot.
Moving beyond traditional approaches to mobility, the Summer School will encourage cross- and trans-disciplinary exchanges between psychology, geography, anthropology, sociology, tourism research and other humanities and social sciences in addition to history.
Participants are encouraged to attend the 9th International Conference of the International Association for the History of Transport Traffic and Mobility (T2M), to be held in Berlin directly after the Summer School (6-9 October 2011), at the German Technology Museum.
The Topic
The main topic of the Summer School is “The Passenger: Mobility in Modernity”.
Over the past two decades, the social sciences’ understanding of passengers, travellers and voyagers has radically widened and changed. Of course in some fields such as transport studies, strictly economic or behaviourist analyses of traffic flows still dominate, often resulting in “predict and provide” policies. But the concept of mobility is now subject to multiple definitions and nowadays we must speak of “mobilities”. In particular users’ attitudes are increasingly coming under close scrutiny, not least in terms of their ability (or inability) to influence and shape the mobility world. Insights into how users’ values and norms interact with their everyday and extraordinary behaviour are recognized by scholars, other experts and policy-makers as being more convincing than conventional models.
The Summer School aims to build on this foundation by bringing together international mobility-orientated researchers to discuss and develop new perspectives and ideas under the common theme of the “passenger”. The main aim of the School is to encourage debate among a range of disciplines, including history, psychology, anthropology, sociology, tourism research and other humanities and social sciences, on the reciprocal influence of passengers and attitudes towards mobility. Keynote talks by renowned international scholars alternating with contributions from the other participants will provide a great opportunity for an intensive exchange, transcending traditional disciplinary borders and developing the field.
Four key questions for the Summer School
- Denotations and connotations of mobility in the modern era; that is analysing the various meanings of mobility (in its various forms) from the perspective of participants’ disciplines.
- Organization and representation of mobility; that is how passengers’ attitudes influence land uses, economic patterns, representation (and self-representation) of mobility.
- The travel process; that is the social and individual construction of mobility times and spaces that frame mobility choices and patterns.
- The passenger as an actor, that is the tension and the reciprocal influence between users and suppliers of mobility, in terms of transport patterns, quality, design, behaviours etc.
The Programme
The programme includes:
- 12 mini-workshops by prominent international scholars.
- 25 research case studies developed by the participants.
- Intensive group seminars and discussions
- Daily plenary sessions to draw together emerging themes.
- Excursions.
- Possibility of presenting a paper in special sessions at the 9th T2M International Conference held in
Berlin directly after the summer school.
The Summer School programme as well as the complete list of key note speakers will be posted at www.t2m.org.
Financial support
The following costs of student participants will be covered by the project:
- Accommodation during the stay in Berlin for the duration of the Summer School.
- Summer School work materials.
- Excursions as listed in the programme.
- Travel expenses, subject to the following limits:
Participants from Germany up to 150.00 €
Participants from the rest of Europe up to 500.00 €
Participants from outside Europe up to 1,000.00 €
All participants must deliver to the organizers proof of payment for all travel. Please note, only economy and 2nd-class rail fares are refundable.
All other costs, such as health insurance, visa and so on, are the responsibility of participants.
Participants
All PhD students working – from any perspective – in the field of mobility and transport are eligible to participate in the Summer School. Applications will be accepted from doctoral candidates who have submitted or been examined on their PhD thesis within the last few months. Priority will however be given to current doctoral students. Participation will be limited to 25 students.
Applications from countries that are not currently well-represented in mobility studies are particularly encouraged.
All participants will be expected to present and discuss their research as well as attending all the workshops, discussions and talks.
The Summer School will be held entirely in English.
Application
Applications must include the following:
A letter of application (see below for a sample), outlining your reason for wishing to take part.
A short (maximum one page of A4 with a font no smaller than 11 point) CV, with personal data and professional development.
A short description (maximum 300 words) of the research that you intend to present at the Summer School.
The deadline for the receipt of applications is 23rd May 2011.
Students selected will be notified by 15th June 2011.
Please send your application to: wolter_heike@yahoo.de
Do not hesitate to contact her of one other member of the organizing committee for further questions.
Speakers at the Summer School include:
Shelley Baranowki, University of Akron/USA
Hans-Liudger Dienel, TU Berlin/Germany
Colin Divall, University of York/UK
Sven Kesselring, Technical University Munich/Germany
Gijs Mom, Eindhoven Technical University/The Netherlands
Massimo Moraglio, TU Berlin/Germany
Peter Norton, University of Virgina/USA
Gordon Pirie, University of Western Cape/South Africa
Barbara Schmucki, University of York/UK
Vijaya Singh, Institute for Advanced Studies, Shimla/India
Heike Wolter, Munich/Germany
Organizing committee:
Hans-Liudger Dienel, TU Berlin/Germany
Colin Divall, University of York
Massimo Moraglio, TU Berlin/Germany
Martin Schiefelbusch, TU Berlin/Germany
Heike Wolter, Munich/Germany