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Comparative Studies in Imperial History | Department of Asian Studies

Comparative Studies in Imperial History

This long-term project is dedicated to the memory of Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt and organized by Michal Biran (HUJI), Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum (Freie Universität Berlin), Yuri Pines (HUJI) and Jӧrg Rüpke (Erfurt University).

Funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, it brings together leading experts on various imperial enterprises as well as prominent comparative historians and sociologists, and aims to promote a systematic approach to imperial polities through exploring core issues, which were faced by all major continental empires in human history.

The first meeting (June 2015: All Under Heaven? The spatial Dimension of Empires: the) took placed in Eisenach, Germany and analyzes both practical and ideological factors that prompted or limited the empire’s expansion. A book based on this workshop is due to appear in Cambridge University Press. The second workshop (March 2018: Religions and Empires) took place in Berlin and dealt with the complex relationship between religions and empires, analyzing the role of religion as conferring legitimacy, inspiring institutions and law or as a source of opposition to the imperial institution.

For details see http://mongol.huji.ac.il/comparative-studies-imperial-history-part-ii-empires-and-religions.