In the week before Easter more than 100 students of history and related sciences from more than 25 countries gathered in Jena, Germany, for the annual conference of ISHA, the International Students of History Association. The organizers, mainly students of history and related disciplines at the Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, had prepared an extensive programme that set ambitious academic goals, but also included carefully planned social and cultural activities and excursions, all aimed at engaging participants and widening the scope of the overall topic ‘Identities in Transition’.
The opening lecture ’Displaced Masculinities: Chavs, Youth and Social Class in the Post-Industrial City’, by Prof. Anoop Nayak, Newcastle, UK, set the tone of the conference. The topic was then discussed in 9 workshops with interdisciplinary and multiperspective approaches, and the plenum presentations of very high quality showed a great variety of skills and insight. The plenum session also included a section on ‘Identities in Education’. In her presentation ‘Teaching World History to Wider Audiences in Today’s Greece: A Play of Changing Identities’, Prof. Maria Efthymiou, Athens, made a deep impression on everybody by her commitment to engage non-academic Greek audiences in new perspectives on world history. And Benny Christensen, history education consultant, Odense, Denmark, moderated a workshop on ‘’Identities’ in Multiperspective Learning’ that created a lively debate among participants.
The conference was a great success, very much thanks to the tireless organizers, greatly supported by the Friedrich Schiller University and various local sponsors.
Benny Christensen, EUROCLIO Ambassador
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