Focus 2022 Borders, Migration and KnowledgeThe migration of people is intimately connected to the migration of knowledge and culture. However, strong international borders still define what is considered national literature, art, or history and which artists, writers, and thinkers from which parts of the world gain global recognition. We invite project applications that explore how national and international canons are produced and changed. Under what conditions do knowledge and culture circulate easily, and when are they blocked? What powers and interests are served when canons are defined? How do museums, universities, archives, and libraries change when traditional intellectual and cultural power centers are displaced or decentered? Questions concerning borders, migration, knowledge production and circulation as well as social and cultural transfers across nations are the focus of the current call for applications for Ph.D. scholarships. We encourage applications for projects concentrating on following aspects, although other topics will also be considered: - trajectories of migration and mobility of cultural and intellectual production, - social and cultural dimensions of borders, - cultural borders and their manifestation in arts and cultural production, - circulation of ideas and knowledge, - the changing understanding of the “national”, - transnational and global cultural institutions and canons, - decolonizing decoloniality – what is a decentered approach to producing, disseminating, teaching about and acting upon knowledge in more equitable ways. We invite applications from Ph.D. students worldwide studying borders and bordering phenomena in different regions of the world. Both empirical research based on extensive fieldwork and projects centered on theoretical reflection are eligible for support. Innovative and challenging research questions as well as comparative approaches are highly welcome.

AseriesofglobalstudiesbytheOpenNetInitiative(ONI)hasdocumentedhowstates—especiallyintheGlobalNorth—arecreatingbordersincyberspacebybuildingfirewallsatkey‘Internetchokepoints,