International Symposium from 28 to 29 October 2021, online

Rural space has played a substantial role in several social, cultural, economic, and ideological transformations through time. Such transformations are being studied through various scientific concepts. Among others, the implementation of new concepts that focus on shaping identities through the reproduction of spatial agents belonging to rural communities by direct and indirect political interventions remains crucial to grasp a broad understanding of these particular changes.

However, studies on the formation of identity through space have been primarily handled in the frame of urban studies until recent years. Yet, the various identity-making practices have certainly had significant influences on and through the rural built environment. In this symposium, we reopen the discussion of the making of identity in rural areas, which have dramatically changed under different political, social, and economic conditions from the verge of the 20th century until today, and potential contested spaces as traces of this process. We thereby seek a better in-depth understanding of spatial dynamics related to the specific cultural and social spheres of 20th’s century rurality.

The symposium will take place as an online event, starting with an evening lecture on Thursday, 28 October. The conference programme will be published soon.

Concept and organisation: Vera Egbers and Özge Sezer

To register for the event, please send an email to vera.egbers(at)b-tu.de.