FRANKFURT (ODER), 20 August – 2 September 2018: Summer School Viadrinicum 2018 “Transsectoral PeaceLab. Hybrid Solutions to Hybrid Conflicts? Academia, Civil Society and the Arts”

Viadrinicum is an annual summer school devoted to the countries of the Eastern Partnership region with a special focus on Ukraine.

Frankfurt (Oder), 20 August – 2 September 2018

Programme

Deadline for applications: 10 June 2018. The application form.

This year the Viadrinikum will take place in the form of transsectoral PeaceLab, aiming to tackle the complex issues of war and peace mediation from multiple theoretical and methodological perspectives. With a strong emphasis on the participatory element of educational process the school will allow its participants to deepen their knowledge with the help of academic seminars and enhance their practical and methodological skills in the framework of several project-oriented workshops. Students, PhD candidates, young NGO activists and artists (up to 35 years of age) from all fields are invited to apply.

The school seminars will be devoted to theoretical and empirical analysis of the role of memory and identity discourse in the conflicts areas of the Eastern Partnership region. Among others, the program includes the following seminars and workshops:

  • Tatiana Zhurzhenko (Vienna): Memory Wars Before and After the “Ukraine Crisis”
  • Andrii Portnov (Frankfurt/Oder): Understanding Violence and War
  • Lars Kirchhoff (Frankfurt/Oder), Anne Kraus (Frankfurt/Oder): Multitrack Conflict Management and Peace Mediation Method(s)
  • Vesna Hart (Harrisonburg, VA): Restoring the Social Fabric: Bridging Memories and Narratives
  • Marta Havryshko (L‘viv): Gender and War: Women in the Ukrainian Military during the War in Donbas

Besides the academic part, participants of the school will also be able to develop their own small (team) projects in the framework of three workshops (Art.Lab, Doc.Lab, Media.Lab) under the close guidance of professional experts. Furthermore, there will be film screenings, public discussions, and Open Space sessions where participants will have a chance to discuss their own scientific or cultural projects with other participants and scholars.

Subject to final approval of the German Foreign Office and the Deutsch-Polnische Wissenschaftstiftung (DPWS), European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) will be able to offer to 30 travel scholarships (€ 100-700, depending on country of residence). You can apply for the scholarship if you meet the following requirements:

  • You are a student, a PhD candidate, an NGO activist or an artist up to 35 y/o, from any country of the worldYou have a genuine interest in transsectoral and interdisciplinary approaches to the problems of conflict and peace;
  • Your knowledge of English is sufficient to take an active part in the discussions.

More information

Additionally to the Summer School, five German Ukrainian tandems will have an opportunity to carry on with their (research) projects on the role of culture in conflict regions in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Ukraine between June 2018 and May 2019 (more information).

By Dr Olesia Lazarenko (European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder))