History | Society | Theory
Voluntariness is more than voluntary civic engagement. Appeals for voluntary self-conduct, compliance, and sacrifice permeate our daily routines. For instance, we are called upon to take good care of our bodies and make the best of our lives, work overtime (because we love our jobs), or use a Corona tracing app and thus be a responsible citizen. Voluntary practices such as these are performed as acts of freedom, yet are enabled, endorsed, and sometimes demanded by manifold expectations and conditions beyond our reach.
This blog explores the power of voluntariness and how people and societies are governed through voluntariness. We very much hope that the scope of our topics and approaches will expand continuously over the course of time. We invite you to read our monthly posts, join the discussion, and comment on our articles.
By Ben Colburn
I am a political philosopher by training. Most of my work has involved developing our understanding of individual autonomy. Joseph Raz uses the phrase ‘self-authorship’ to capture this core liberal ideal: my goal…
By Florian Wagner
To this day, empires seem to be everywhere. Scholars argue that the continuity of empire is due to its ubiquity, since empires covered most of the world, and due to its performativity, since most people…
By Stefanie Graefe
When southwest Germany was hit by the “flood of the century” this summer, two aspects initially dominated media discourse: shock and dismay. Readers and TV viewers in Germany are accustomed to footage of…
By Pia Herzan
Almost exactly twenty years ago, I set off on what was, at the time, the biggest adventure of my life—my high school exchange year in the United States. The first couple of weeks were spent soaking up the last…
By Pia Herzan
Walking differs cross-culturally, in its manifestations, and in the specific distances covered. As a habitual practice, the bodily technique of walking exists in different forms, depending on the society and social…
By Elena M. E. Kiesel and Markus Dolinsky
Pagans against Christians, brothers against brothers, free will against fate: in the Canadian-Irish television series Vikings viewers are immersed in a conflict-laden world characterized by a search for religious…
By Heiko Stoff
Free will is the basic concept underpinning liberal capitalism. But it was only put fully into practice in the 1980s, when the state divested itself of responsibility in many ways and…
By Jürgen Martschukat
For weeks, I have been suffering from a leg injury. Nothing serious, but it keeps me from cycling, at least as much as I would like to. I miss my exercise, feel slightly off-balance, and fear getting out of shape. Yet…
Voluntariness inspires our research and our empirical projects, organizes them thematically, and guides them methodologically. This triple linchpin entwines a broad spectrum of disciplinary fields such as philosophy, history, and sociology.
Working with and understanding voluntariness requires the use of a fair number of methodological tools. For instance, voluntariness prompts us to reflect upon agency or upon the Eigen-Sinn of actors who reject the call for voluntary participation or are not even affected by it. In our toolbox you might take a look at our constantly growing assortment of handy equipment or see how we use voluntariness as the tool of choice in our analyses.
By Jürgen Martschukat
According to the OED, the term “strategy” is commonly used to denote “the art or practice of planning the future direction or outcome of something; the formulation or implementation of a plan, scheme, or course…
By Jürgen Martschukat
A history of the present does not (of course) drag present categories into the past. Rather than projecting the past onto the present, such a history seeks to illuminate the present through the past. Yet, the history…
By Jürgen Martschukat
Voluntariness inspires, thematically organizes and methodologically guides all our empirical projects and our research interest at large. As this triple linchpin…
By Jürgen Martschukat
In the wake of the social and civil rights movements in the 1960s and 70s, agency has become a key concept for a politics of equality and in critical social…
By Elena M. E. Kiesel
The concept of Eigen-Sinn represents neither theory nor method. Rather, it is a conceptual research approach that places the analytical focus precisely on…
We are a group of historians, sociologists, and philosophers at the Universities of Erfurt, Jena, and Oldenburg, plus a number of associated scholars around the globe.
Together, we form the interdisciplinary Research Unit on Voluntariness, funded by the German Research Foundation (FOR 2983) since 2020. The variety of our individual research projects underscores the power, significance, and transformations of voluntariness from the Middle Ages to the present.
The Research Unit on Voluntariness is more than just our team. We are part of a growing international community of scholars who share an interest in the concept of voluntariness. We invite fellow researchers to join the discussion, not just in writing but also in person. For the next few years we are planning workshops and lecture series, and we will let you know what’s happening around voluntariness and our research unit.
Stay tuned and we’ll keep you posted about news, events, and guests as well as all sorts of sidelines! Connect with us via our social media sites on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter so you don’t miss anything!
On January 18, 2022, Elena M. E. Kiesel and Christiane Kuller, project investigators of our sub-project on voluntariness and dictatorship, will be participating at the “Fuldaer Abende” and explore voluntary participation within the ‘Neuererwesen’ of the GDR.
Time has come – our Research Unit is entering phase 2 and the upcoming year is themed “transdisciplinarity”! In workshops and guest lectures we will broaden our perspectives on voluntariness.
On January 17, 2022, members of our group will participate at a digital workshop in Jena. A discussion of current challenges in volunteering will bring together a diverse range of experts – from the fields of practice and theory.
Currently all our talks and discussions are taking place as digital events, but you are invited to join us online. To register for our events, please feel free to get in touch with our coordinating team!
