The research project, "Cultural Transfer as a Factor of State-Building" headed by Antje Flüchter at Heidelberg’s Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in global Context" is organizing a conference that aims to bring together scholars interested in the history of the state and the processes of state-building within the framework of cultural interaction between Asia and Europe during the early-modern period.

In the past years, the project has challenged the hypothesis that the modern state is a genuine European phenomenon by combining a "bottom-up" approach and a transcultural perspective. By analysing state-building and state as processes of negotiation and appropriation from below, state itself can be understood as a process. And when these processes examined in an environment that involves more than one culture, the resultant institutions and practices can be expected to be transcultural.

In the field of governance and statehood, the processes of appropriation, negotiation and regulation can be analysed on various levels. For example, levels such as circulation of knowledge, face-to-face interaction and relation between political discourse and practice. The conference particularly invites contributions that address these levels in fours sub-fields of governance: trade, diplomacy, military and justice between 1500 and 1900. While processes of exchange and transfer spread in many directions, the conference particularly welcomes transfer processes form Asia to Europe. However, the geographical focus is not limited to Asia and Europe and papers dealing other world regions are also welcome.

Thus, by deliberately addressing a rather broad thematic and time-frame this conference also intends to be a forum for discussing different perceptions and types of transculturality, for discussing different methods of its analysis, and for sharpening our understanding of this concept.

All interested participants are kindly requested to send abstracts of 500 words to Mr. Rudolph Ng (ng@asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de), University of Heidelberg by 29th Feb 2012. Please note that only a limited number of applicants will be as selected as we are only looking to fill certain vacant slots in the program. Accommodations and travel expenses will be reimbursed for selected applicants.