Dear all,

The University of Tübingen (UT), the University of Vienna (UV), the University of Gothenburg (UG), and the American Historical Association (AHA) are pleased to announce the sixth International Seminar in Historical Refugee Studies, which will be held at the University of Vienna, September 28 – October 1, 2026. The deadline for applications is December 20, 2025. To apply, see attached Call for Papers or visit the Seminar website https://rhs.hypotheses.org.

The purpose of this seminar is to promote the historical study of refugees, who are too often regarded as a phenomenon of recent times. By viewing the problem of refugees from a historical perspective, the seminar seeks to complicate and contextualize our understanding of peoples who have fled political or religious conflicts, persecution, and violence. By bringing together 14 advanced PhD students and early postdocs from different parts of the world whose individual research projects examine refugees in different times and places, we intend to give a sense of purpose to this emerging field of study and demonstrate the value of viewing the plight of refugees from a historical perspective.

We invite contributions from recent PhDs, as well as young scholars in the final stages of their dissertations. In addition to historians, we also encourage applications from researchers working in fields such as sociology, political science, anthropology, ethnic and area studies that engage with historical dimensions. Possible contributions include:

• Studies of refugee movements and exile diasporas in various periods and places;
• Studies of the ethnic, gendered, racial, religious, and other characteristics of refugee groups and how they impact on reception policies and processes;
• Studies of reception and aid policies, and on the repercussions of refugees on host states and societies;
• Studies of the changing inter-state framework of refugee movements, such as international or inter-imperial cooperation, the role of international governmental or non-governmental actors, humanitarian organizations, etc.;
• Studies of the infrastructures of exile (camps, networks, economies, regulations)
• Studies of the conceptual history of refugees and exile (legal history, administrative practice, cultural history, etc.)

For more information, see attached Call for Papers or visit https://rhs.hypotheses.org.

Please feel free to circulate this call to anyone who might be interested.

All best,

Sari

Sari Nauman

Pro Futura Scientia XVII Fellow, SCAS

Associate Professor, Docent in History, University of Gothenburg

Affiliated Scholar, Centre for Privacy Studies, University of Copenhagen

University of Gothenburg
Department of Historical Studies

Box 200

405 30  Gothenburg, Sweden

Recent publications:

‘Outsiders Within: Internally Displaced Persons in Sweden, 1700–1721’, in Geert Janssen & David de Boer (eds.): Refugee Politics in Early Modern Europe (London: Bloomsbury, 2024), pp. 85–102 (Open Access)

‘The First Refugees of Sweden—A Global History / Sveriges första flyktingar – en global historia’, Karolinska Förbundets Årsbok (2023), pp. 7–30.

Baltic Hospitality from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century: Receiving Strangers in Northeastern Europe, eds: Sari Nauman, Wojtek Jezierski, Christina Reimann & Leif Runefelt (London: Palgrave, 2022). (Open Access)

Private/Public in 18th-Century Scandinavia, eds: Sari Nauman & Helle Vogt (London: Bloomsbury, 2022). (Open Access)