What is peace? What ideas does it rest upon, who advocates for it, and how can it be achieved? In light of current violent conflicts, this lecture series explores various discourses, perspectives, and approaches to the topic of peace. The focus is not on establishing a single, uniform concept of peace, but rather on engaging with diverse definitions, societal needs, and concrete areas of action. The lecture series invites us to reflect on peace as a complex and malleable concept—and, particularly against the backdrop of war and destruction, to bring it back into sharper focus in academic and public debates.
For over 25 years, the Center for Conflict Research at Philipps University of Marburg has organized the lecture series, which has been running for over 40 years. Topics range from war and peace to violence and racism, social movements, the climate crisis, and inequality and poverty. The series is aimed at the entire Marburg public—citizens, students, university staff, and anyone else interested. With a special focus on current topics relevant to Marburg, the Center for Conflict Research has established a close partnership with the Philipps University of Marburg to strengthen the events as a space for public discourse. This semester’s theme invites discussion of current and highly relevant questions surrounding the topic of peace. The series is organized and moderated by Prof. Dr. Susanne Buckley-Zistel, Executive Director of the Center for Conflict Research, a member of the Executive Board, and Principal Investigator at TraCe.
This lecture series showcases new approaches to the changing forms, institutions, and interpretations of political violence as they are studied within TraCe. It brings together perspectives from history, sociology, political sciences, and cultural studies with activist voices.
This is Part 2 of the two-part series at Goethe University Frankfurt. Part 1 took place in the summer semester 2025. Recordings are available on YouTube.
This lecture series showcases new approaches to the changing forms, institutions, and interpretations of political violence as they are studied within TraCe. It brings together perspectives from history, sociology, political sciences, and cultural studies with activist voices.
The two-part series takes place in summer 2025 (Part 1) and winter 2025/6 (Part 2) at Goethe University Frankfurt. Recordings are available on YouTube.
During the summer semester 2024, the TraCe lecture series titled “Violence as a Global Challenge” will provide an interdisciplinary insight into current dynamics of political violence.
The lecture series opens with an interdisciplinary introduction to the topic of political violence and its transformations. The following lectures in the series will be dedicated to analyzing protests in cities as an expression of violence, to examining urban violence in the form of terrorism and urban warfare as well as to discussing ecological violence. The lecture series will also address the effects of new technologies and developments in the field of AI on the dynamics of violent phenomena. The institutional perspective will be deepened by a lecture on state violence, with a particular focus on the role of the police. Further lectures will take a look at the function of science and experts in the context of political violence and examine networks and social media in this context. Finally, the lecture series expands the interpretations of political violence by focusing on the analysis of social violence phenomena in the context of soccer.
Starting on April 24, 2024, the lecture series will take place weekly on Wednesdays from 18:05 to 19:45 in the Kaisersaal of Darmstadt Technical University's castle. With a few exceptions, the lectures will be held in German. The lecture series will be streamed live on our YouTube-Channel.
The participation in the lecture series is free of charge and does not require registration – all are welcome!
Note:
Initially, a lecture by Prof. Dr. Anthony King on “Urban Violence and Urban Warfare” was planned for June 26. Instead, there will now be a lecture by Prof. Dr. Nicolai Hannig on “Gewalt in Besatzungszeiten. Das Ruhrgebiet 1923”. The poster on our website was updated on June 11.
The TraCe lecture series of winter semester 2023/2024 will take place at Justus Liebig University Giessen. Titled "Arguing Violence. Making Peace.", every second Wednesday evening, researchers will discuss their research projects. Different aspects of political violence and peacebuilding will be explored from a historical, legal or linguistic perspective. The lecture series will be held in person and in English. The lectures will be streamed live on our YouTube channel and will be made available as recordings.
A critical examination of phenomena and transformations of political violence also requires conversations with those individuals and groups who experience violence. The lecture series at the Center for Gender Studies and Feminist Futures Studies at the Philipps University Marburg therefore opens up a space for an interdisciplinary exchange between academics and activists.
The lecture series is affiliated with TraCe. It is co-organized by TraCe researcher Mariel Reiss and ties in with her research in Research Area 3. Topics from the TraCe lecture series of the winter semester 2022/23 will also be addressed. Some lectures are also part of the Pretoria-Marburg Queer Conversations (PMQC).
In the winter semester 22/23, TraCe will provide an overview of research on political violence from a wide range of disciplinary, methodological, and political perspectives. Every Tuesday afternoon, international researchers present their work and report on their research projects. The lecture series will be held in person and in English. There will be Livestreams of the lectures on our YouTube channel.
