Around 1948: Global Realignments in Politics and Culture

In a relatively short span of time, from 1947 to 1949, a wide array of nation-states and other institutions would assume new forms, most immediately in response to the aftermath of the Second World War but also in relation to the unfinished business of the decades that preceded it. Like a few other dates in the modern period – 1848, 1968, and 1989 – the year 1948 stands for an abbreviated passage of time that bears importance and potency for many diverse locations, movements, peoples, and fields. Reflecting on a year-long multidisciplinary seminar, this panel will synthesize some of new ways to imagine this moment and its legacies.