Difference and Belonging
Indigenous and Autochthonous National Minorities in Europe's Transforming Regions
The Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (IfL), in partnership with the Institute of Geography at the University of Leipzig, the Sorbian Institute in Bautzen, and the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, invites Papers for the international conference "Difference and
Belonging: Indigenous and Autochthonous National Minorities in Europe's Transforming Regions” (MINREG2025).
Following the Charta of the “Federal Union of European Nationalities”, more than 100 million Europeans can be assigned to one of more than 300 national minorities, that are defined and recognized with the concept of autochthony and, in some cases like the Sámi, indigeneity. Many of them live in (peripheral) rural areas and border regions. They are considered historically intertwined with their settlement area, both as a living space for practicing and contributing to cultural and linguistic diversity, but also as an economic space to live from and to contribute to its regional development.
The conference aims to bring together diverse theoretical and empirical perspectives on indigenous and autochthonous national minorities amidst current transformations aiming at sustainability. Scholars from fields such as constructivist political and human geography, rural studies, cultural landscape studies, planning and transformation studies, and the diverse disciplines of minority research are especially encouraged to contribute to this interdisciplinary dialogue. The conference will focus on the intersection of cultural, political, and socio-economic changes and their impacts on the minority communities in Europe's rural minority regions against the backdrop of the political claim of a “just” transition in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, which also include an appropriate approach to cultural diversity.
