Malte Fuhrmann (Relevance of the Humanities Fellow, Mar – Jul ‘25) will present his work on:

Roads to Happiness, Roads to Despair. Transport Infrastructure, Emotions, and Politics in Southeast Europe, 1839-1956

20 February 2025 (Thursday), at 16:30

Moderated by Stefan Peychev.

Abstract: With the ongoing protests in Serbia and Greece, transport infrastructure politics have become the main site to challenge the legitimacy of officeholders in Southeast Europe. The deadly accidents of Tempe and Novi Sad due to criminal neglect have catalyzed hundreds of thousands into action. I argue that these movements became possible because transport infrastructure (roads, railways, airports, metros) have played a major role in politics since the 18th c. Claiming legitimacy by providing good connectivity to the subjects or, by contrast, challenging leaders for their failure to do so has a long history. The talk will trace our ways of discussing transport infrastructure today back in time until the mid-19th century.