Report: “Dis/Orders” Conference in Trieste
Photo credit: Carl Philipp Hoffmann (UWK)
First Annual Conference of the UWK-IDM Project “European Dis/Orders” in Trieste
On November 22, 2024, the First Annual Conference of the joint project “European Dis/Orders” by the University for Continuing Education Krems (UWK) and the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM) took place in Trieste, in partnership with the University of Trieste.
The project “European Dis/Orders” explores concepts of order and narratives of crises, both theoretically and through specific case studies. It is based on the idea that democracy is a dynamic process, while taking a critical look at populism as a threat that thrives on the promise of “order.” The case studies focus on crisis phenomena and discourses, with a particular emphasis on the East-Central and Southeastern European region.
The theme of the First Annual Conference was “Borders,” examined from an interdisciplinary perspective. The concept was developed by Péter Techet and it focused on how “borders” are perceived and constructed in political discourses, as well as their impact on migration and identities.
Participants from the United Kingdom, Italy, Austria, and Slovenia gave presentations on topics such as migration in the context of the climate crisis, historical identity constructions beyond “national” borders in the Upper Adriatic region (particularly in relation to social policy), and populist narratives on migration, illustrated through case studies from Hungary, Serbia, and Italy.
In the discussions, borders were analysed as social constructs and political narratives from various disciplinary perspectives, while also being deconstructed using concrete historical and contemporary case studies.
Program:
12:00 – 12:10: Welcome (University of Trieste / University of Continuing Education Krems / Institute for Danube Region and Central Europe)
- Panel: “Border” as Contradiction (Debates on Climate Change and Migration)
12:10 – 12:30: Sarah Haider-Nash (University for Continuing Education Krems): The Border and the Other in European discourses on climate and migration
12:30 – 12:50: Giovanni Bettini (Lancaster University): Towards climate nomadism? Displacement and escape in the face of planetary crises
12:50 – 13:10: Simona Capisani (Durham University): Challenge or Opportunity? Climate Migration, The International Order & a Right to a Livable Space
- Panel: “Border” as Identity (Identity Conflicts in the Upper Adriatic Region)
14:30 – 14:50: Laura Downs (European University Institute): The association Assistenza all’Italia Redenta and the social management of teachers’ labor in Italy’s northeastern borderlands, 1919-1940
14:50 – 15:10: Daša Ličen (Slovenian Academy of Sciences): Animal Welfare and Social Boundaries in late Habsburg Trieste
15:10 – 15:30: Gabriele Mastrolillo (University of Trieste): The debate over the Upper Adriatic Border between the Italian and Yugoslav Communist Parties during the Partisan War
15:30 – 15:50 Francesco Toncich (University of Ljubljana): Making New Borders, Legal Belonging and Mobility through Public Health in the post-Habsburg Alps-Adria Macro-Region: A Transnational Perspective (1918-1924)
- Panel: “Border” as Crisis (Exclusionary Discourses and Networks of Populism)
16:20 – 16:40 Roberta Altin (University of Trieste): Migrations in the Trieste Borderland: ‘Border’ to order or to otherness?
16:40 – 17:00: Elisabeth Donat (University of Continuing Education Krems): Cross-border cooperation as key resource during crisis and beyond: Focus groups with regional MPs in four European countries
17:00 – 17:20: Melanie Jaindl (Independent Researcher, Vienna): Visual Securitization of Borders and Others: An Intersectional Approach to the Fence in Subotica/Röszke
17:20 – 17:40: Mattia Zulianello (University of Trieste): Capire il populismo tra miti e realtà (in Italian)
