Historians of Germany have often been criticized for putting too much emphasis on domestic issues and ignoring Germany's position in a global framework. In recent years, however, more and more scholars have begun to pay attention to how Germans interacted with non-Germans inside and outside of Germany. This has led to a number of unresolved questions. How was German identity constructed and negotiated and what did 'Germanness' mean for travellers, settlers, and explorers? How does German imperialism/colonialism compare with other imperialisms/colonialisms? How were political, economic, administrative and cultural networks between Germany and other parts of the world maintained? This conference will provide a forum for graduate students from a variety of areas of history to discuss many of the theoretical issues involved in the concept of 'transnational' history and underpin it with empirical evidence gathered from their research.

Papers are welcome from graduate students and scholars at post-doctoral level on a variety of topics focused on, but not limited to:

. Germany and globalization(s)
. Cultural transfer / transculturation
. Entangled histories and German history
. Transnational networks
. Diaspora communities/migration
. German imperialism and colonialism [discourses, imagination, comparative approaches ...]
. Resistance and "indigenous" responses to the multifaceted German interest
. Science, exploration, and travel
. Legacies of German imperialism during the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich and in post-war Germany
. Race and ethnicity in diverse geographies / contact zones
. Categories of German identity in a transnational framework

Comparative analyses, both temporal and spatial, are encouraged.

Anyone interested in presenting a paper should send an abstract of approximately 300 words to crossing-german-borders@hist.cam.ac.uk by 18 May
2007. It is hoped that those submitting abstracts will be informed by 1 June whether their paper has been accepted for inclusion in the conference programme.

The Organizing Committee
Alois Maderspacher (Wolfson College, Cambridge)
David Motadel (Pembroke College, Cambridge)
Tom Neuhaus (St John's College, Cambridge)
Mehmet Yercil (Clare Hall, Cambridge)