Walter Benjamin Award for Young Researchers 2024

Research on Walter Benjamin has been unusually productive in recent years. A generation of younger scholars has been especially active, developing new readings and exploring new contexts. This funding opportunity is intended to encourage the creation of a series of workshops for this generation of younger scholars.

Diverse opportunities for scholarly exchange on Benjamin are, to be sure, already present in abundance: conferences and symposia on various aspects of Benjamin’s thought and writing are offered on a regular basis, and younger scholars now increasingly play a prominent role there. The younger generation is seldom able, however, to stage their own events and to develop their scholarly profile in conversation with other members of their cohort. The aim of the award is to create an opportunity for precisely this.

The International Walter Benjamin Society, the Walter Benjamin Archiv and the Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung will provide a team of younger scholars with up to 4,500 Euros for the independent conception, organization, and execution of a two-day workshop that would include up to 12 participants who are either working towards their doctorate or have received their Ph.D. within the last ten years. The workshop will take place in Berlin during the Spring of 2024, with meeting rooms and facilities provided by the Walter Benjamin Archive and the Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung. At the Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung, the technical equipment for hybrid workshop modules is available.

The proposed workshop may be based either on a call for papers or on a previously established group of researchers. Alternative meeting formats - beyond the standard paper / discussion model - are particularly welcome. The support is intended to function as basic financing (travel costs, lodging, catering); we will be glad to assist in fundraising for additional expenses (e.g. international travel) as well as with the ensuing publication of contributions.

Please submit a short expose (no more than two pages in length) together with a sketch of the proposed workshop format, a concise depiction of the focus of the workshop that includes a scholarly justification, and a budget by January 10, 2024 to IWBS.webmaster@gmail.com

Questions regarding the funding or the nature of the proposed workshop can be addressed to Eva Axer.