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 structures and practices of voluntariness, while examining how people and societies are governed through it. We probe the conditions under which this operates and how voluntariness has changed over time and in different places. Our blog is made up of individual contributions by a variety of authors. Each has their own perspective on voluntariness, and they evaluate and discuss the term in different ways. Contributions by members of the research group provide an insight into how we ourselves seek to understand voluntariness as a multifaceted analytical concept and which methodological tools we consider crucial in this regard. At the same time, we want to highlight as many perspectives on voluntariness as possible while also enabling external authors to have their say. The range of our own topics and approaches is already highly diverse and is tailored to the specific foci of our projects. Guest contributions broaden our field of vision even further, helping us to engage in critical dialogue with each other and to compare contrasting approaches.
By Meike Katzek
On December 6, 2022, our project team working on voluntariness and dictatorship organized a panel discussion with fellow historians in Erfurt. The discussion revealed some powerful possibilities as well as some grey areas of voluntariness as theme and concept.
By Philipp Schink
Practices of voluntary cooperation might be perceived as castles made of sand. With time, however, they are being destroyed by the sea, according to a train of thought by one of our group’s philosophers. Is voluntariness waning as soon as state enters?
By Elena M. E. Kiesel
“Mach Dir einen Kopf, Kollege!” – an appeal to potential “Neuerer” to participate in the workplace suggestion scheme of the GDR. Abaut what it meant to be a “Neuerer” we talked to contemporary witnesses in Eisenach last September.
By Christian Bock
What is voluntariness? Difficult to answer, but perhaps some brief observations in light of the ideas of Harry G. Frankfurt might help. On desires, love and voluntariness.
By Pia Herzan
Seventeen years ago hurricane Katrina had shown that man-made and natural disasters pose a particular risk to the vulnerable city of New Orleans. This post will take a closer look at New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, Katrina’s aftermath and the role voluntariness played in it.
By Carolyn Taratko
On April 7, 1960, African leaders from across the continent converged on Accra to attend the conference on “Positive Action for Peace and Security in Africa.” In the shadow of the Sharpeville Massacre and French…
by Markus Dolinsky
When Norway’s Christian king, Óláfr Haraldsson, received a tip-off at Easter 1021 that his vassal Ǫlvir was presiding over a pagan feast of sacrifice, he dispatched his troops to summarily slay him and his…
By Matthias Ruoss
When it comes to war, Brecht helps. In particular, his play Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder, written in 1939 during his Swedish exile and premiered in 1941 at the Schauspielhaus Zurich, with its ambivalent characters…
By Anne van der Pas
The history of Canadian citizenship is a complicated one; it was not until after the Second World War that it emerged as a distinct legal category separate from British subjecthood…
By Jürgen Martschukat
Those satisfied with a cursory glance or who like to think in clear-cut categories are quick to view voluntariness as the core political principle of a society that privileges the autonomy of the free individual, a …
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…
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 and Instagram so you don’t miss anything!
In summer 2023, we welcome Professor Mitchell Dean as Mercator Fellow of the Research Unit on Voluntariness. The political sociologist will support the projects of the research unit from April to July 2023 as a renowned expert in the field of governmentality studies.
In order to explore how voluntariness functions as a resource for political participation and civic recognition in the US, our subproject in North American History provides a critical reexamination of the yellow fever outbreaks between 1793 and 1820 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and highlights first results.
The current work in progress of our historical subprojects explores voluntariness in local historical contexts, in negotiations surrounding migration, in postcolonial settings as well as in different time periods or world regions. In the upcoming summer term, team members will discuss their crucial questions with experts from the respective fields of research.
On April 20, 2023, our subproject in Medieval History, „Martyrdom and Voluntariness,” welcomes historians Sara M. Butler (Ohio State University) and Steffen Hope (University of Oslo) to Erfurt for a workshop entitled “Dying voluntarily in the Middle Ages”. Together, we will explore various forms of voluntary death and their medieval discour
Since December 2022, Mara Albrecht is holding our “Initialization Sholarship Voluntariness”. For at least one year Mara will be part of our team and will be developing a new project on the global history of voluntariness.
On Tuesday, December 6, 2022 from 6 – 8 pm, we will address the topic of voluntariness in the context of participation in National Socialist crimes. Join our panel discussion at “Topf & Sons” in Erfurt!
On Saturday, November 19, 2022, Markus from the subproject “Martyrdom and Voluntariness” presents aspects of his PhD-project at the conference “Verzicht. Mediävistische Perspektiven” in Berlin and will reflect on dying voluntarily and renunciation.
On Thursday, November 10, 2022, Elena will share aspects of her research for her dissertation project with us. You are invited to her talk on “Neuerertum als Machtausübung? Freiwilligkeit und politische Partizipation in der DDR-Neuererbewegung” on campus in Erfurt!
On Friday, September 30, 2022, Elena and Christiane from the subproject “Voluntariness and Dictatorship” invite former “Neuerer” in the GDR to talk about their personal experiences. We are hosting an event called “Bürgerforum” and looking forward meeting you in Eisenach!
On Wednesday, July 6, 2022, Elena from the subproject “Voluntariness and Dictatorship” is invited to give a talk at the Historical Institute at Jena University. We are looking forward to her presentation and to hear about some new aspects of her fascinating research!
In June 2022, the subproject “Voluntariness as Political Practice” welcomes distinguished American scholars in Erfurt and beyond. Deirdre Cooper Owens (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) and Van Gosse (Franklin & Marshall College), guests of next week’s workshop, will visit also Freiburg, Heidelberg and Bonn.
On June 20, 2022, our teams of the subprojects “Voluntariness and Decolonization” and “Voluntariness and Dictatorship” – Carolyn, Iris, Elena and Christiane – welcome Swiss historian Sandrine Kott (University of Geneva) for a workshop and evening lecture at the Forschungskolleg Transkulturelle Studien in Gotha.
On Wednesday, May 18 2022, we invite you to our fourth talk of the lecture series “The Politics of Voluntariness”. The talk by Maud Simonet from the University of Paris Nanterre, however, will take place digitally only!
In June 2022, our team of the subproject “Voluntariness as Political Practice” will discuss key issues of their research field at the workshop „Dis-Cover Fellow Citizens: Voluntary Civic Engagement in the Early Republic and Antebellum America“. Find more info here…
Our interdisciplinary lecture series, which we organize together with the Department of History at the University of Erfurt, is dedicated to the broad research field of voluntariness. We have put together an exciting program for the 2022 summer term, themed “The Politics of Voluntariness.”
For spring 2022, we welcome Professor Alexandra Oeser as Mercator-Fellow to the Research Unit on Voluntariness! As a sociologist trained in Germany and France, Alexandra currently works and teaches at the University of Paris Nanterre and will visit Erfurt from March to August 2022.
On February 17, 2022, the German radio station Deutschlandfunk will focus on the topic of voluntariness. Members of our group have the opportunity to talk about our project in the program “Aus Kultur- und Sozialwissenschaften”. Tune in on Thursday at 8:10 pm!
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.
