Since the 1970s, deindustrialization has fundamentally changed Western industrial societies. In North America and Europe, thousands of jobs have been lost in traditional industrial regions, in particular in the textile industry, coal mining, the iron and steel industry and shipbuilding. Even in the electronic consumer goods sector and the watch and photography industries, many millions of jobs have been eliminated or relocated to other regions of the world. There is no question that deindustrialization is one of the most far-reaching transformation processes in contemporary history, fundamentally changing landscapes, economic structures and socio-cultural environments.

Starting from this observation, the conference, organized by the CONDE research group, will reflect on the impact and wider historical reverberations of deindustrialization in Europe from the 1970s onwards. It will take place at the University of Luxembourg in Esch-Belval (Luxembourg) from 25 to 27 June 2025 and will be hosted by the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH).

The conference organizers are especially interested in papers addressing the following seven fields of research: international politics; welfare state; gender, migration, race; religion and culture; ideas; economic landscapes; environment.

We welcome submissions for 20-minutes papers across these fields of deindustrialization research. Please submit your abstract (around 250 words) and a brief CV in English to Stefan Krebs (stefan.krebs[at]uni.lu) and Christian Marx (marx[at]ifz-muenchen.de) by 30 June 2024.

► Further information can be found in the complete Call for Papers.