Compromise is omnipresent, but little researched in the academic field. The interdisciplinary joint project “Cultures of Compromise” of the University of Duisburg-Essen, the University of Münster and the Ruhr University Bochum is addressing this research gap. To this end, the project will host the international conference “History and Theory of Compromises”. During this conference, the phenomenon of compromise will be examined in three keynote lectures and twelve further presentations, both from a theoretical and a historical perspective.

The event casts compromise as an essential cultural technique for regulating tangible as well as threatening and smouldering forms of conflict. A compromise is an agreement in which the participants nevertheless hold on to their original claims. Therefore, a compromise demands concessions to the other side’s point of view, and vice versa. Through these often-painful concessions, a compromise allows two parties to overcome a situation that is considered problematic.

The three keynotes are public and will also be broadcast via Zoom. The conference itself will take place in person at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI) in Essen.

Keynotes

21 June, 6-8 p.m., Essen Campus, Bibliothekssaal

Alin Fumurescu, University of Houston

The Shame of Compromise? The Politics of Education and the Education of Politics

22 June, 6-8 p.m., Essen Campus, Bibliothekssaal

Elizabeth Anthony, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

The Compromise of Return: Viennese Jews after the Holocaust

23 June, 11-12.30 a.m., KWI, Essen, Gartensaal

Yusuke Hirai, University Tsukuba

Compromise in Civic Education: Applicability to the Japanese Context