The Institute of Rural History hosts a series of academic events, including the regular Rural History Forum, where scholars both from within the IRH and from other academic institutions present the ongoing reserach projects. The IRH also organizes international workshops and conferences. For an up to date list of upcoming events see our German page Veranstaltungen.
English-language Events
15-16 May 2025, International Conference, ZRC SAZU in Ljubljana
Migration: Categories, Concepts, Terminologies
Conference Conveners: Annemarie Steidl (University of Vienna), Oliver Kühschelm (zhmf/IGLR), Anne Unterwurzacher (FH St.Pölten), Mirjam Milharčič Hladnik, Aleksej Kalc, Miha Zobe (Slovenian Academy of Science and Arts).
The conference is the third of the series (Researching) Migration: On New Paths, in Each Direction? The first conference has taken place last year at the University of Vienna and centred on Spaces and Locations of Migration. The second conference was held at the FH St. Pölten and centred on Migration, Time, and Temporality.
7 April 2025, Rural History Forum 96 in cooperation with the first Research Network for Interdisciplinary Regional Studies
Giulia Bizzarri: Defining, constructing, inhabiting rural spaces. Observations on material and social changes through the 19th and 20th centuries in Southern Europe
4 March 2025, International Workshop, NÖ Landesbibliothek, St. Pölten
Farmers' Knowledge and Farming Practices
Workshop Organizer: Jessica Richter (IGLR)
Since the end of the 19th century, ideas of a “typical” rural way of life became a political issue. They provided a counter-model to the so-called “rural exodus”, to urban lifestyles and new state interventions into local affairs. Rural life and farming per se stood for health, harmony, a sense of connectedness with the land, living beings, soil, nature and “homeland”. Such imaginations were widespread and accepted. From the early 20th century also authoritarian and/or fascist forces referred to them to justify their ideologies. For other contemporaries, agriculture appeared to be the opposite of social progress: Necessary but traditional, removed from technical achievements, science, modern accounting and work organisation due to its special characteristics. Elements of these ideas can still be found today, whether farmers are ascribed a “common” or “healthy farmer’s sense” or are accused of boycotting measures for climate and environmental protection.
Such framing can prevent a realistic view of farming, which is at the centre of this workshop. As it is characterised by natural conditions, weather, soil, climate, animals and plants etc., farming requires specific knowledge and practices, which some scientists even describe as “care” (Krzywoszynska): Farmers are required to adapt flexibly to constantly changing circumstances, to develop a sense of necessities on the farm. What characterises farming practices and farmers’ knowledge in comparison to other producers and industries? How do farming practices differ? How do farmers acquire their knowledge and how do they pass it on?
21 October 2024, Rural History Forum 93, NÖ Landesbibliothek, St. Pölten
Zsuzsanna Varga: Actors and actions in the Hungarian countryside during the 1956 Revolution
4 December 2023, EURHO online event via Zoom
20th anniversary of the Institute of Rural History
After the Covid-pandemic years, a new series of on-line event was initiated aiming to revitalise our community, the EURHO members. The first event on Zoom was held before our Uppsala Conference. It was devoted to the book series „Rural History in Europe” published by Brepols Publishers. The second event in May 2023 was devoted to the 20th anniversary of the Archives of Rural History (AfA), Bern.
The online discussion will continue the series with another anniversary celebration as the Institute of Rural History (IRH) in St. Pölten, Austria was founded in the same year as the AfA. The institute will present some new insights into their work with the vast amateur film collection “Niederösterreich privat” and discuss their current and future research perspectives on the history and present of rural areas – from (re)defining borders and economic mobility after 1989 to food security and adapting agriculture in times of climate change. The discussions will build upon the IRH’ German-language on-site event “Land und heute. Zwei Jahrzehnte Institut und Jahrbuch für Geschichte des ländlichen Raumes“ on 23 and 24 November 2023, the programme of which can be found here: https://www.ruralhistory.at/de/veranstaltungen/workshops-konferenzen/2-jahrzehnte-institut-und-jahrbuch-fuer-geschichte-des-laendlichen-raumes
More information...14 June 2023, Rural History Forum 86, NÖ Landesbibliothek, St. Pölten
Alexandra Ghiț: Women’s Labor Activism and Gendered Tobacco Work in Rural Southern Romania, 1930s to 1950s
4–5 May 2023, International Conference, FH St. Pölten
Migration, Time, and Temporality
Conference Conveners: Annemarie Steidl (University of Vienna), Oliver Kühschelm (zhmf/IGLR), Anne Unterwurzacher (FH St.Pölten), Mirjam Milharčič Hladnik, Aleksej Kalc, Miha Zobe (Slovenian Academy of Science and Arts).
The second conference in the series (Researching) Migration: On New Paths, in Each Direction? is a collaboration of first – Research Network for Interdisciplinary Regional Studies with the Department of Social and Economic History at the University of Vienna and the Slovenian Migration Institute at the Slovenian Academy of Science and Arts.
12–13 May 2022, International Conference, University of Vienna
Spaces and Locations of Migration
Conference Conveners: Annemarie Steidl (University of Vienna), Oliver Kühschelm (zhmf/IGLR), Anne Unterwurzacher (FH St.Pölten), Mirjam Milharčič Hladnik and Aleksej Kalc (Slovenian Academy of Science and Arts).
The conference is a collaboration of the Department of Social and Economic History at the University of Vienna with first – Research Network for Interdisciplinary Regional Studies and the Slovenian Migration Institute at the Slovenian Academy of Science and Arts.
8 November 2021, Rural History Forum 76, Virtual Lecture
Amalia Ribi Forclaz: A Light, a Bed, and possibly a Pillow. The International Labour Organization and Housing Conditions in Agriculture, 1920–1940