July 4, 2026, marks 250 years since the American Declaration of Independence. This anniversary provides an opportunity to examine critically how independence movements have functioned historically and continue to operate today. While the 1776 Declaration promised liberty, it excluded women, Indigenous peoples, and the enslaved from its vision of freedom. This conference uses the anniversary as a point of departure to explore how independence and interdependence are deeply entangled phenomena. From the American Revolution to the emergence of new states after the fall of empires and the end of communism in Europe, moments of national sovereignty have produced new forms of dependence and exclusion. We will examine these dynamics in Europe, the Americas, and beyond, investigating how struggles for self-determination intersect with other axes of power including gender, race, and class, from the late eighteenth century to the present.

 

The conference is organized by the Leibniz ScienceCampus and REAF, supported by IOS and the Vielberth Foundation. We are pleased to be collaborating extensively with scholars from the UR Strategic Partner at the University of Kansas, as well as with further scholars from our international partners including the University of Toronto and Arizona State University, together with scholars from across the globe.

 

Programme Overview - please see the website for the full programme including the panels

 

Wednesday 17 June | H24 at University of Regensburg

16:00 Registration

16:30 Welcoming Addresses by Prof. Dr. Udo Hebel, Prof. Dr. Ulf Brunnbauer, and the organizing team: Dr. Birgit Hebel-Bauridl, Dr. Carmen Dexl, Dr. Paul Vickers

17:00 Keynote Lecture by Prof. Dr. Mita Banerjee (Mainz) Successful Aging? Looking at America at 250 through the Gated Retirement Community “The Villages,” Florida

18:30 Roundtable Discussion | The (In)Dependence of Knowledge? Academic Freedom Today

Dr. Marie Beyrich (Regensburg), Prof. Dr. Ulf Brunnbauer (Regensburg), Prof. Dr. Marike Janzen (Kansas), Dr. Livia de Souza Lima (Regensburg), Prof. Dr. Marta Vicente (Kansas) | Chaired by Prof. Dr. Ben Chappell (Kansas)

 

Thursday 18 June | Room 319, IOS, Landshuter Str. 4

09:30 - 16:30 Panels

17:00 Keynote Lecture by Prof. Dr. Amrita Chakrabarti Myers (Indiana University, Bloomington) “Dangerous Characters”: Black Women, Constructions of Freedom, and White Violence in the Post-Civil War South

 

Friday 19 June | Room 319, IOS, Landshuter Str. 4

09:30 - 14:45 Panels