SovereignPerformance team at EWIS Izmir 2026

The SovereignPerformance team participated in the 13th European Workshop in International Studies in Izmir (1-3 July 2027). In a workshop co-organized by Marc Sanjaume and Bart Klem, the team discussed the conceptual foundations of the project and the way in which they will be applied in the three case studies. On top of the insightful feedback provided during the discussion, this workshop was an outstanding opportunity to engage with scholars doing research on international relations, political science, political geography, and beyond.

New vacancy: Post-doctoral Researcher on Sovereignty and Aesthetics Politics

The SovereignPerformance project is recruiting a new Post-doctoral researcher to work on the aesthetic politics of aspiring sovereignty. The successful candidate will contribute to the project’s second work package, which focuses on the aesthetics dimensions of the political repertoires of the Catalan independence movement, the autonomous region in Northeast Syria known as Rojava (and Kurdistan more widely) and the Sri Lankan Tamil nationalist movement. You can find more information on our Team & Vacancies page.

UGent Conflict Research Group Book Launch: Contested States in War and Law

On 2 June, the CRG Book Launch series will feature the book Contested States in War and Law (edited by Janis Grzybowski, Giulia Prelz Oltramonti, and Agatha Verdebout). Focusing on some of the most entrenched conflicts around the world, this book reveals how different actors, including de facto governments, parent and patron states, local populations, and international courts, navigate the grey zone as they redraw, or work around, the fault lines of war and law. This event will be a conversation between Laura Luciani (Ghent Institute for International and European Studies) and Janis Grzybowski (Université libre de Bruxelles), Gaëlle Le Pavic, and Bart Klem (Ghent University). You can find more information here, and register at this link.

Reading Sovereignty: New Seminar Series

The SovereignPerformance project will organise a series of reading seminars to critically examine sovereignty and related issues from a broad array of theoretical and empirical perspectives.

Hosted by Ghent University, these seminars will be an opportunity for researchers and scholars across social science disciplines to engage with the literature on and around sovereignty, challenging its assumptions and fostering a discussion that uncovers new perspectives to study sovereign aspirations and their performance.

On top of laying the groundwork to develop a network of academics that are committed to the questions raised by the project, these seminars will also foster the consolidation of a robust research agenda that seeks to improve our understanding of sovereign aspiring entities.

Two new post-doc researchers starting their work

We are welcoming Demet Arpacik and Francesco Colin, who will both start their work as post-doctoral researchers in the project. Both academics come with a wealth of experience. Demet will lead the ethnographic work on the Kurdish case. Francesco will lead the ethnographic work on the Catalan case.

SovereignPerformance hosts the Sri Lanka Roundtable

We are pleased to announce that the next Sri Lanka Roundtable will be held at Ghent University on 5-7 May. This academic event will bring together over 50 researchers working on Sri Lanka to present their work and debate current affairs in the country. As a vibrant intellectual community, the roundtable offers vital inputs for the Sri Lanka case study of SovereignPerformance.

ECPR workshop on self-determination

SovereignPerformance is co-organizing a workshop of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) in Innsbruck on 7-10 April. The workshop is co-convened by Marc Sanjaume-Calvet and Bart Klem. It is titled “Self-determination and democratic backsliding: New directions in the study of secession and minority rights”, and it brings together thirteen specialists form across political science, international relations, anthropology and geography.

EWIS workshop on secession and autonomy

SovereignPerformance is co-organising a workshop of the European Workshops in International Studies (EWIS) in Izmir on 1-3 July. The workshop is co-convened by Marc Sanjaume-Calvet and Bart Klem. It is titled “Self-Determination in an Era of Democratic Shifts: New Directions in the Study of Secession, Autonomy and Minority Protection”. Details will soon be announced.

New article in Citizenship Studies

“Contested citizenship in the liminal spaces of a divided Cyprus” (authored by Nasia Hadjigeorgiou and Bart Klem) combines the critical citizenship literature with political geography. It studies three supposedly “out of place” communities on the divided island Cyprus, to conceptualize the interplay between law, political conflict dynamics, and people’s everyday practices.

New article in Political and Legal Anthropology Review 

“Legalizing Oneself”: Citizenship,Waiting, and Fake Fakeness in Northern Cyprus (authored by Bart Klem) reflects on citizenship constellations in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). The article presents four life histories to map out how the unrecognised status of the TRNC affects different kinds of citizens differently. Conceptually, it combines three theoretical strands: the idea of “citizenship as claim”, reflections on the subjectivity of waiting, and the notion of faking fakeness.

Reading Sovereignty: New Seminar Series

The SovereignPerformance project will organise a series of reading seminars to critically examine sovereignty and related issues from a broad array of theoretical and empirical perspectives.

Hosted by Ghent University, these seminars will be an opportunity for researchers and scholars across social science disciplines to engage with the literature on and around sovereignty, challenging its assumptions and fostering a discussion that uncovers new perspectives to study sovereign aspirations and their performance.

On top of laying the groundwork to develop a network of academics that are committed to the questions raised by the project, these seminars will also foster the consolidation of a robust research agenda that seeks to improve our understanding of sovereign aspiring entities.