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10–17 June 2019 in Dnipro, UkrainePrisma Ukraïna – Research Network Eastern Europe (Forum Transregionale Studien), “Tkuma” Ukrainian Institute for Holocaust Studies, Center for Governance and Culture in Europe/University St. Gallen, German Historical Institute Warsaw, European University Viadrina Frankfurt/Oder, and the Centre for Applied Anthropology (Kyiv) invite doctoral and postdoctoral scholars to apply for the Transregional Academy.RationaleOur Transregional Academy will address issues related to the understanding and remembering of traumatic experiences of physical and symbolic violence that occurred during the 20th and 21st centuries. This violence was prolonged by the erasure of memory, through silence, oblivion, fear, indifference, and manipulation of the public consciousness. The Academy will consider problems of representation and the silencing of traumas in various kinds of narrative texts (memories, fiction, journalistic texts, historiography, cinema, graphic arts, paintings, monuments and other symbolic structures). The Transregional Academy will predominantly focus on Ukraine, which became one of the main battlefields of the 20th century, profoundly affected by revolutions, the two world wars, and the Holocaust. Ukraine now represents a space of both military and symbolic conflict. The Academy additionally wants to explore studies covering the wider Eastern-European region, seeking original and productive comparisons with similar phenomena beyond Ukraine. Researchers engaged in interdisciplinary work in the humanities and social sciences are highly welcomed.The Transregional Academy aims to reflect upon the following themes, among others, in discussion:Experiencing and witnessing traumatic eventsWhat are the limits of reasoning a continued traumatic experience and how can we approach the moral dimension of such a mental act? Is it possible to create intellectual distance and, at the same time, maintain moral sensitivity to ongoing violence, when it has already become entrenched in everyday practices, and when the language of hatred has become a completely “natural” expression? How can the logic behind decisions of those people that are recruited to commit violence and kill their own compatriots, neighbors, or even friends and relatives, be explained (but not excused)? How could victims be perpetrators at the same time? What can we learn from analyzing the strategies of perpetrators to rationalize and self-justify their behavior? What traps could someone encounter from trying to comprehend the actions of a perpetrator?Living and dealing with memories of a traumatic pastWhat kind of experiences and memories could be provoked despite or because of silencing the trauma? How did preserving and disseminating the knowledge about “unsanctioned” and unspoken traumatic experiences during Soviet era function? What are the long-lasting effects of living in a society of victims and perpetrators without any public reflection on the violence that once took place?Commemoration, practices of forgetting and/or forgiving, and discourses beyond themDo commemorative practices bring us closer or further away from a deeper understanding of violence? Is it possible to recall knowledge and experiences of violence one did not suffer from? What kind of experience cannot be covered by commemorative practices? How can commemoration become a self-negating practice? How can the process of forgiving contribute to reconciliation? Interacting with the CityThe Transregional Academy will be held in Dnipro (Ekaterinoslav-Dnipropetrovsk), Ukraine, where Cossack, Polish, and Russian imperial traditions compete with respect to the city’s origins. The city holds a special character from its closed status after the Second World War due to its production facilities for rocket missiles. The Academy will not only include lectures and discussions on the participants’ projects, but also organize anthropological fieldwork in various urban areas. This part of the Transregional Academy is aimed to encourage reflection on the possible reasons behind the exclusion of certain actors and traditions from the urban collective memory. It also aims to direct participants to thinking of how the past becomes a concern of the present through the planning and opening of different memorial sites.The Transregional Academy will gather 18-20 doctoral and postdoctoral scholars from various social sciences and humanities disciplines (including, but not exclusive to, history, literature, social anthropology, social psychology, sociology and political sciences) whose studies relate to the Academy’s above-mentioned topic(s) and questions.Our Transregional Academy will take place at the “Tkuma” Ukrainian Institute for Holocaust Studies and the Museum “Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine”, located at the Menorah Dnipro Multifunctional Center.Steering Committee: Iuliia Buyskykh (Kyiv), Susi K. Frank (Berlin), Andrii Portnov (Frankfurt/Oder), Ulrich Schmid (St. Gallen), Igor Shchupak (Dnipro), Viktoriia Serhiienko (Kyiv), Denys Shatalov (Dnipro), Annette Werberger (Frankfurt/Oder).Scholars to be Invited to Give Guest Lectures: Korine Amacher (University of Geneva), Jan C. Behrends (Centre for Contemporary History (ZZF) Potsdam), Serhii Plokhy (Harvard University), Miloš Řeznik (German Historical Insitute Warsaw), Carmen Scheide (University of Bern), Alexander Wöll (University of Potsdam).Academy language: English All costs of accommodation and travel will be covered by the organizers.How to ApplyThe Transregional Academy is targeted at doctoral and postdoctoral researchers wishing to present their current projects that concentrate on the themes relevant to the questions raised above. Although the Transregional Academy focuses on Ukraine and Eastern Europe, comparative perspectives on the above-mentioned issues from other regions are highly welcomed.— A CV (max. 3 pages);— A three- to five-page outline of the project the applicant is currently working on, with a brief introductory summary thereof;— A sample of an academic writing (in any language);— The names of two university faculty members who can serve as referees (no letters of recommendation required).The application should be written in English and sent via email as one pdf file to prisma@trafo-berlin.de.Please specify the topic of the Academy: “After Violence” in the subject line of the e-mail.Deadline for applications is 3rd February 2019. Those who send their applications after the deadline will not be considered. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by mid-February 2019. For more information, please visit: www.prisma-ukraina.dewww. forum-transregionale-studien.dehttps://academies.hypotheses.orghttp://tkuma.dp.ua/en/https://gce.unisg.ch/http://www.dhi.waw.pl/