Our project recently had the pleasure of hosting a succesful workshop that brought together scholars from the fields of history, demography, anthropology and war studies. All of our workshop guests are currently working with themes related to war and inequality across a variety of geographical contexts and historical periods. We heard exceptional papers spanning from the 18th century through the two World Wars to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The three-day workshop was structured around thematic sessions exploring uneven selection into military service, unequal exposure to death, violence, and illness during wartime, the long-term effects of crises on life courses, and the broader consequences of war for individuals and societies.
The workshop provided a great opportunity to share our own ongoing work and hear from others working with similar issues. The discussions during the event demonstrated how many of us share comparable questions and challenges. This makes the effort of cooperation and networking all the more valuable.
On top of the long workshop days filled with inspiring papers and discussion, we had the opportunity to continue these discussions over informal evening gathering and conference dinner. We were happy to meet the project’s old collaborators (e.g. TREES-collegues from Tampere university’s molecular biology, friendly neighboring Research council of Finland project “Scarred people” from University of Helsinki), but also new contacts with whom we are only starting to cooperate. The conversations during the workshop also opened up possibilities for new future collaborations, possible research visits and data sharing.
Thank you for all the participants! The workshop was both intellectually stimulating and highly enjoyable. We look forward to meeting again and continuing the conversations, share our works and compare findings!