Organisers: Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (IfL), Leipzig, Germany
Tbilisi State University (TSU), Tbilisi, Georgia
Location: Tbilisi and Kazbegi, Georgia
Dates: June 25-30, 2018
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Summer School Goals
The PhD Summer School is embedded in the research project Fluid mobilities for cities in transformation: spatial dynamics of marshrutkas in Central Asia and the Caucasus (Marshrutka Project). Within the scope of the project, we want to gain insights into transformation processes through the lens of changing mobility practices.
The summer school on Eurasian Mobilities in a Global Perspective invites advanced doctoral students, post-doctoral and early career-researchers from diverse disciplines, such as geography, urban studies, anthropology, social and political sciences, to contribute to two thematic packages:
– Mobilities and socio-spatial change in Eurasian Cities
– Informal transport and ride-sharing the global North and South
The primary goal of the summer school is to initiate collaborative publication projects related to the two thematic packages. We therefore expect a full paper draft to be submitted timely before the start of the summer school, in order to advance the joint publication project in relevant high-profile journals. Building on this, the summer school offers [1] an opportunity to share, discuss, and receive feedback for publication drafts, [2] training sessions on publishing and career planning, [3] thematic keynote talks, and [4] mobility-themed field trips, and last but not least, [5] a few day’s long retreat to the mountainous town Stepantsminda (Kazbegi).
The summer school is designed to encourage transnational interdisciplinary discussions, and provide high-impact feedback and networking opportunities for its participants. Besides offering a unique and understudied thematic focus, we offer a cosy and thorough working environment. The summer school participants will consist of five project-funded PhD students and two post-doctoral researchers, ten external doctoral students and early career researchers (please see information on funding opportunities below), ten senior academic project partners from Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Tajik, Russian, Georgian and German academic institutions, international and local keynote speakers, trainers and stakeholders.
About the Marshrutka Project
Minibuses locally known as marshrutkas are a common sight in urban and rural landscapes of Central Asia and the Caucasus. The Marshrutka project deals with the role of the marshrutka mobility phenomenon in the production of post-Soviet urban spaces, in and beyond Central Asia and the Caucasus. It provides an empirically founded contribution to the larger discussion on post-Soviet transformation, and fosters a still under-represented view on post-Soviet transformation, highlighting – through the lens of the marshrutka phenomenon – the bottom-up and everyday emergence of new orders in the fields of economy, morale, urban development and migration. The project is carried out by means of five complementary PhD projects under supervision of academic project partners; in addition, a post-doc based at the IfL in Leipzig is charged with a cross-cutting research project and ensures the conceptual coherence of the project. The project sees its outcomes in terms of a solid and sustainable transfer of knowledge and methods, from German partners towards the academic institutions in the target regions, and vice versa, strengthened local research capacities and infrastructures, and long-lasting research cooperation. The project has started in late 2015, and will be entering into its final phase in 2018. The summer school is therefore designed in order to build upon the research progress done so far, and transform it into high-profile publications, and, furthermore, to strengthen and expand the marshrutka research networks with follow-up projects in mind.
Thematic Focus
The summer school focuses on two thematic packages: [1] Mobilities and multiple transformations in Eurasian Cities and [2] Informal transport and ride-sharing the global North and South. Each package corresponds to the Marshrutka projects’ contribution to two sets of literature: [1] urban geography, anthropology, and political economy of post-socialist states, and [2] critical mobility and critical urban transport studies.
The thematic package mobilities and socio-spatial change in Eurasian Cities will address how changing urban mobility governance and mobility practices relate to – shape and are shaped by – social, economic and political transformations on urban, national and regional levels. This thematic package will focus on, but not be limited, to cities on Eurasian peripheries, primarily Central Asian and South Caucasus cities.
– Sub-topics of the thematic package may include
– Mobility governance and urban economy
– Urban transport and social inequalities
– Transport, urban citizenship and claiming public space
– Intersections of mobility and migration
Informal transport and ride-sharing in the global North and South thematic package will put the research on informal transport, be it marshrutkas, ride-sharing or private taxi sector in Eurasian cities, in dialogue with the research on informal paratransit and new digitally powered ride-sourcing mobility offers in different global regions. This thematic package explicitly welcomes diversity in geographical coverage, and comparisons across cities, as well as across old and new modes of informal transport and ride-sharing practices. Sub-topics of the thematic package include:
– Theories and methods of studying paratransit/informal transport
– Digitalisation of mobility offers
– Transport workers mobilisations
– New chances and inequalities of new mobility offers
Submission guidelines
The application should include a motivation letter, a short CV and an abstract (not more than 500 words) of the paper you are planning to present at the summer school.
Please submit the application to Henri Schauer (H_Schauer@ifl-leipzig.de) by the 15th of March, 2018.
Selected applicants will be contacted by the 10th of April, 2018.
The full paper drafts should be submitted by May 30th, 2018.
Travel grants
The participation of the Summer School is free of charge. We offer travel grants of up to 400€ to eight selected applicants.
Call for Papers as Pdf-file: CfA draft_Summer School Final [pdf]
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