International annual conference “Conflicts over Property”

Date: October 4 to 6, 2023
Venues: Augustinerkloster and Town Hall, Erfurt
Target Audience: About 80-100 scientists, graduate students, professionals, and other interested individuals.

Property, particularly private property, is an essential feature of modern societies, shaping today’s society, economy, and culture. While private property is often viewed from a liberal standpoint as a guarantee of individual freedom and economic prosperity, critical perspectives emphasize its contribution to social inequalities and the diffusion of responsibility. However, the ongoing commodification of commons and public goods and emerging dynamics in the knowledge and bioeconomy (e.g. the open access to digital goods) have repeatedly led to conflicts over (private) property. Whether it is the privatization of public housing, the appropriation and commercial use of personal data, or the unequal distribution of wealth, various conflicts are waged today that characterize modern societies. To understand conflicts over property, it is crucial to examine the property orders that encompass formal and informal elements such as codified laws, customs, traditions, and cultural values.In this context, diverging social logics and dynamics emerge, especially when property conflicts are publicly and politically debated: Recent examples include disputes over the distribution of rents (Deutsche Wohnen & Co. Enteignen, the campaign to expropriate big landlords in Berlin), the role of strategic infrastructure (debates over Chinese investment in European port infrastructure), or the damages caused by climate change (lawsuits against the German transnational energy company RWE). In other contexts, property conflicts are not articulated as political conflicts and remain concealed, such as gendered wealth inequality or issues of generativity.

The conference will explore the development of conflicts over property by analyzing property orders, key social actors, claims, and dynamics. It will bring together scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and countries to assess the current state of conflicts over property. The conference is organized by the Collaborative Research Center 294 “Structural Change of Property” at the University of Erfurt and the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, with funding provided by the German Research Foundation.

Early career event 

Before the annual conference starts there will be an early career event “Challenging Conventions in Academia”. This workshop is organised by the Mid-level Representatives and will take place on 4 October from 1 to 5 pm. You can find more information here.

Download the conference programme here

October 4, 2023, Town Hall (Ceremonial Hall)

6:00 pm – 6:15 pm       Welcome address

6:15 pm – 8:00 pm       Keynotes and Discussion: “Conflicts over Property: Inflation, Profit and Wealth”

                                       Money or Life – How Our Irrational Relationship to Money Divides Our Society
                                       Marcel Fratzscher (German Institute for Economic Research)

                                       Inflation in Times of Overlapping Emergencies: Profits, Social Conflict and Why Not All Prices Are Created Equal
                                       Isabella Weber (University of Massachusetts Amherst) (online)

8:15 pm                         Reception

October 5, 2023, Augustinerkloster

9:00 am                        Registration

9:30 am – 10:30 am     Discussion: A Typology of Conflicts over Property
                                       Florian Peters, Jonathan Rinne, Robin K. Saalfeld, Stefan Schmalz, Amelie Stuart, Lydia von der Weth (SFB)
                                       Comments by: Johanna Hoerning (TU Berlin); Markus Wissen (Berlin School of Economics and Law)

10:30 am – 11:00 am    Break

11:00 am – 12:30 pm    Capital and Labor: Ownership of Companies – Part I 
                                       _{Panel 1.1 (IN GERMAN)}
                                       Property and Socio-ecological Transformation Conflicts.
                                       The Automotive Industry Between Conservation, Crisis, and Conversion
                                       Nora Räthzel (Umeå Universitet)
                                       Markus Wissen (Berlin School of Economics and Law)
                                       Klaus Dörre; Steffen Liebig, Kim Lucht (SFB)

                                       Property and Political Conflicts – Part I
                                       _{Panel 2.1}
                                       The Role of Property for Political (In)Equality and Representation
                                       Mads Elkjær (University of Copenhagen)
                                       Lea Elsässer (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz)
                                       Marion Reiser, Jonathan Rinne, Lars Vogel (SFB)

12:30 pm – 2:00 pm     Lunch Break

2:00 pm – 3:45 pm      Plenary Session: Commodification – (New) Spheres of Property
                                       Eva von Redecker (Author and Philosopher, Berlin)
                                       Mariana Walter (Autonomous University of Barcelona)
                                       Timo Seidl (University of Vienna)
                                       Varun Patil (SFB)

3:45 pm – 4:15 pm        Break

4:15 pm – 5:45 pm        Capital and Labor: Ownership of Companies – Part II
                                       _{Panel 1.2 (ONLINE)}
                                       Paths to Worker Participation in the Decision-making of Companies – the opposed Approaches of
                                       German and US Labor Law
                                       Thomas C. Kohler  (Concurrent Professor of Law and Philosophy, Boston College Law School)
                                       Helene Langbein, Achim Seifert (SFB)

                                       Property and Political Conflicts – Part II
                                       _{Panel 2.2}
                                       Conflicts over  Privatisation and Restitution of Property after 1989   
                                       Beata Siemieniako (Lawyer and Activist, Warsaw)
                                       Kerstin Brückweh (Berliner Hochschule für Technik)
                                       Florian Peters, Joachim von Puttkamer (SFB)

05:45 pm – 7:00 pm    Break

7:00 pm – 8:30 pm      Keynote and Discussion

                                       Rethinking Property Relations in Climate Coloniality
                                       Farhana Sultana (Syracuse University) (online)
                                       Comments by Kim Lucht, Verena Wolf

October 6, 2023, Augustinerkloster

9:00 am – 10:30 am     Property Conflicts around Generativity – Part I
                                       _{Panel 3.1 (IN GERMAN)}
                                       Conflicts over Property in Intimate Relationships
                                       Sarah Speck (Goethe University Frankfurt)
                                       Agnieszka Althaber, Robin K. Saalfeld, Sylka Scholz (SFB)

                                       Public Goods and Infrastructures of Property – Part I
                                       _{Panel 4.1}
                                       The Role of and the Conflict over Private Property in Professional Football – Germany and England Compared
                                       Christoph Breuer (German Sport University Cologne)
                                       David Webber (Solent University)
                                       Andrea Dietl, Mike Geppert (SFB)

10:30 am – 11:00 am     Break

11:00 am – 12:30 pm    Property Conflicts around Generativity – Part II
                                       _{Panel 3.2 (IN GERMAN)}
                                       Property in the Body? Conflicts around the Political Economy of Generativity
                                       Caroline Arni (University of Basel)
                                       Susanne Schultz (Goethe University Frankfurt)
                                       Stefanie Graefe, Susanne Lettow (SFB)

                                       Public Goods and Infrastructures of Property – Part II
                                       _{Panel 4.2}
                                       Conflicts over Chinese Infrastructure Investments in the EU: Transportation and Data  
                                       Giles Mohan, Samuel Rogers (The Open University)
                                       Stefan Schmalz, Lea Schneidemesser (SFB)

12:30 pm – 1:00 pm     Break

1:00 pm – 2:30 pm       Brown Bag Discussion: Beyond Private Property
                                       Silke van Dyk, Tilman Reitz, Hartmut Rosa (Friedrich Schiller University Jena and University of Erfurt)

If you want to register for the event, please send an email to the following address: