HIDDEN at the European Social Science History Conference, March 2025
The 15th European Social Science History Conference Leiden, The Netherlands, 26 – 29 March 2025 was held at Leiden University, The Netherlands from the 26th to the 29th March 2025. This conference brought together over 1600 researchers from all over the world to share their research in several strands.
HIDDEN was well represented in several panels, directly sponsoring three panels at the conference. On Wednesday 26th March the ETHN-05: Gender, migration and historical identity documentation: case studies from European women’s history was organised by HIDDEN Chair Jennifer Redmond, and members Sergiu Gherghina, Francesca Piana, Tatjana Saric, Marie Ruiz, and Luciana Jinga.
Jennifer Redmond spoke about ‘Regulating Citizenship: Identity documents as a window into gendered migration patterns among Irish migrants to Britain in the Second World War’ drawing on the research that inspired the creating of the HIDDEN network and emphasising the value of identity documentation to women’s history.
Luciana Jinga shared her developing research on ‘Where are the women? A gendered analysis of Romanian migration during the Cold War’ while Tatjana Saric shared her research in a paper on ‘Unveiling the Hidden: Women in Mixed Marriages and Intelligence Operations’. Marie Ruiz, Chair of the recently completed COST Action WeMov contributed her new research on ‘Qualification credentials and women’s migration in the 19th century British Empire’. The panel was joined by a PhD student at Utrecht, Yowali Kabamba who spoke about her ongoing research on ‘The labour integration of non-Western migrant women in the Netherlands since the 1970s’. We wish her the very best for the completion of her studies! The panel was extremely well attended – chairs had to be borrowed from the next room to fit all the audience. This panel showcased the strength of gender and women’s history within the network.
Members of the network attended the conference reception in the historic Peterskerk, which was a spoken word and musical performance that also reflected on identity and migration with performances by Kevin-Ahn Kwang Soo-Groen.
On Saturday 29th March Panel: POL-13 on ‘Migration, Integration and Rights: From Barriers to Opportunities’ was organised by HIDDEN members Sergiu Gherghina, Jennifer Redmond, Yvette dos Santos, Thomais Rousoulioti, and Aisling Shalvey. The first presentation was by HIDDEN Vice Chair Aisling Shalvey who presented her work on ‘Child migrants and healthcare self-advocacy in the aftermath of the Second World War’. The next presentation was another historical examination of identity documents and citizenship and was given by Yvette dos Santos who spoke about her Marie Curie research on ‘Portuguese migrants in France between the wars and individual strategies to counter undesirability’. Finally, Thomais Rousoulioti gave a presentation on ‘Reconsidering citizenship exams’ which gave an overview of different EU countries with a particular focus on Greece.
The last panel organised by HIDDEN was also on Saturday 29th March which was Panel ETHN-14 on ‘Paperwork Histories: Uses and Abuses of Identity Documents in Modern Europe’, described by one audience member as a highlight of the conference. This panel was organised by HIDDEN members Sigrid Wadauer, Beate Althammer, and Edward Higgs. It featured a focus on the visual and material culture of identity documentation including a presentation by curator and art historian Eszter Polonyi who gave a presentation on ‘I’m not a crook; I’m an artist:’ the Many Lives of the Photograph on the Identity Document’. Cristina Diac gave a presentation on ‘Concealed Identities, Co-produced Identities. The Romanian Bolsheviks’ Travels Abroad with Forged Papers’ while Sigrid Wadauer gave a presentation on ‘Legitimate Means of Movement? (Un-)wanted Use of Identity Documents in Late 19th and Early 20th Century Austria’ in which she handed around an original primary source identity booklet as part of her presentation. Beate Althammer spoke on her research ‘How to Recognize a Foreign Pole: Verifying Citizenship and Nationality (Prussia, 1890-1914)’ and Edward Higgs provided concluding remarks while also chairing the session.
HIDDEN members also participated in other panels including: Patrizia Rinaldi who gave a presentation on ‘Ius scholae: an obstacle race for citizenship’; Ilkay Yilmaz who presented on ‘Ottoman Passports: Security and Geographic Mobility (1876-1908)’; Speranta Dumitru whose paper was on ‘The ethics of abolishing passports in the French interwar newspapers’; Vukašin Zorić who presented his paper on ‘Historiography and Yugoslavism: Historians and Nation- Building in Interwar Yugoslavia’; and Francesca Piana who gave a paper on her research ‘The limits of humanitarian aid: the role of the International Committee of the Red Cross on behalf of political prisoners in Germany (1933-1938)’.
Throughout the conference the Chair and members of HIDDEN met with publishers, attended panels, including one hosted by the European Research Council and actively recruited new members to our network. We are excited by the new connections made and the research we were able to hear about at the conference as well as advertising our own research strengths and the existence of the network.
Each panel had lively audiences, lots of questions and discussions, exchange of resources and new connections made between researchers inside and outside the network. We are thankful to the Leiden University, the convenors of the ESSHC and especially conference co-convenor and editor of the Journal of Migration History Prof Marlou Schrover who actively engaged with the group and provided essential support. The next ESSHC conference will be in Lyon in 2027 and we hope that connections created through HIDDEN will continue beyond the end of the Action in 2026 and we are able to come together again at this wonderful conference.
You can look up the contact details for the HIDDEN presenters on our site here: https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA21120/#tabs+Name:Working%20Groups%20and%20Membership
