Tracing mobilities and socio-political activism 19th-20th centuries

In the workshop we will explore to what extent the notion of 'mobility' in current cultural and social theory (eg. Stephen Greenblatt, John Urry) can be fruitfully applied in historical research. Mobilities can be seen as cross-border movements of persons, objects, texts and ideas. How can we grasp mobility of people and ideas in the spheres of politics, learning and the arts? Within this context, we focus on the involvement of social, legal and educational reformers and other kinds of socio-political activists in (temporary) transnational intellectual networks on the one hand and their activities at home on the other. The conceptualization of intermediary persons as 'rooted cosmopolitans' (Sidney Tarrow), 'mobilizers' (Greenblatt) and 'contact zones' seem promising notions to unravel mobilities. The focus of the workshop is on European reformers and activists, but this does not mean that it is restricted to the European continent, as a lot of European nation states had colonies and cross-border cooperation and mobilities focused on colonial knowledge and governance took place in Europe as well as in the colonies themselves.