[Discussion] Generations in Europe - Interdisciplinary Conference, Oxford, 8-10 April 2005

[Sule Tarakcioglu]

http://users.ox.ac.uk/~genconf/programme.htm
<http://users.ox.ac.uk/%7Egenconf/programme.htm>
Generations in Europe - Interdisciplinary Conference -
8-10 April 2005
New College, University of Oxford

The generation is a concept much invoked but little analysed. To the
extent that it is analysed, discussion tends to be limited to particular
disciplines. Historians, anthropologists, economists and political
scientists have all found uses for the term generation, but they
construe it in subtly yet significantly different ways: some researchers
emphasise socialising institutions, while others stress family life;
some try to identify long chains of historical succession, while others
focus on the unique experiences of a single cohort; some favour
quantitative survey data, while others see generation as primarily a
discursive phenomenon to be traced through the close reading of texts.

Our intention is to bring these different intellectual communities into
contact and interaction. We aim not to erase distinctions between
different research traditions but to bring them together in order to
confront all the theoretical and methodological difficulties thrown up
by the study of generations in modern Europe; we also intend to
facilitate discussion between scholars working on different phases of
the life cycle (childhood, youth, adulthood, old age).

The list of speakers includes both younger and established scholars. The
sessions are organised round seven themes =96 conceptualising generationa=
l
history; generations and historical experience; generations and
politics; narrating generational experience; generations and memory;
generations and social units; generations, work and leisure. Each
session pairs together two scholars working on different areas of
Europe, but addressing similar topics.
The discussion will consider general issues, as well as particular
cases, in the effort to see whether it is possible to establish
cross-national patterns for relationships between generations at a given
historical moment, and in the attempt to grasp how such patterns have
changed over time, both in particular societies, and in =91Europe=92 more
broadly.


Generations in Europe


Programme

All sessions will take place in the McGregor Matthews Room , New
College, Holywell Street, Oxford, OX1 3BN.
Please note the recent slight changes to the programme, namely the
swapping of panels 3 (Fri afternoon) and 5 (Sat morning).

Friday 8 April

9.30-11.00
1. BACKGROUND
Christoph Conrad, =91Modern Lives: Age Groups, Generations and
Modernisation Theory, 18th-20th Centuries=92
Steve Smith, =91Generation and Modernisation: Russia as a Case Study=92

11.00-11.30
COFFEE

11.30-13.00
2. GENERATIONS AND THE HISTORICAL PROCESS - Session A
Bernd Weisbrod, =91Cultures of Change: Political Generations and Silent
Generations in Post-War Germany=92
Juliane Fuerst, =91Grandchildren of the Revolution: Coming of Age in the
Post-War Soviet Union=92

13.00-14.30
LUNCH

14.30-16.00
3. GENERATIONS AND HISTORICAL MEMORY
Richard Vinen, =91Why Mende`s Was Not at Verdun: Generations in
Twentieth-Century France=92
Ilia Utekhin, =91Memories of Leningrad=92s Blockade: Testimonies from Two
Generations=92

16.00-16.30
TEA

16.30-18.00
4. NARRATING GENERATIONAL EXPERIENCE
Catriona Kelly, =91Across the Generations: Ethnographical Representations
of Parent-Child Socialisation in Russia=92
Heather Montgomery, =91Gender, Generation and the Invisibility of Girls=92
Work in Anthropology=92

19.00
SUPPER



Saturday 9 April

9.30-11.00
5. GENERATIONS AND THE HISTORICAL PROCESS - Session B
Anna Krylova, =91A Generation of Soviet Women-Fighters, 1930s-1970s=92
Nick Stargardt, =91The Experience of the War Child in Nazi Germany=92

11.00-11.30
COFFEE

11.30-13.00
6. GENERATIONS AND POLITICS
Holger Nehring, =91=93Don=92t Trust Anyone Over 30=94: =93Generation=94 a=
s a
Political Argument in West European Protest Movements, 1958-1968=92
Alessandro Portelli, =91Generations in Genoa. Parents and Children in the
G8 Demonstrations in 2001=92

13.00-14.30
LUNCH

15:00-18:00 (tbc)
EXCURSION
Trip to God's House, a late fifteenth-century almshouse, founded by
Alice, Duchess of Suffolk (granddaughter of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer).
The almshouse is situated in the village of Ewelme, about fifteen miles
from Oxford, surrounded by particularly attractive south Oxfordshire
countryside.

19:00 (tbc)
CONFERENCE DINNER


Sunday 10 April

9.00-10.30
7. GENERATIONS AND SOCIAL UNITS
Jan Bremmer, =91Generation and Initiation in Ancient Greece=92
Hilary Pilkington, =91Za kompaniyu: The Role of the Friendship Group in
Young Russians=92 Drugs Decisions=92

10.30-11.00
COFFEE

11.00-12.30
8. GENERATIONS, WORK AND LEISURE
Aleksandra Piir, =91Courtyard Generations: Household Activities and
Leisure Time=92
Pat Thane, =91Relations between Old and Young at Work and Play in
Twentieth-Century Britain=92

12.30-13.00
CONCLUDING DISCUSSION

13.00
LUNCH