Chapter 15: SSEC On Berlin 2016: A Summation and Reflection

The SSEC conference in Berlin was in June 2016, but the planning for such a meeting started long before, and it is difficult to summarize the conference proceedings without reflecting on the instances that created such sessions and the people behind that success. Thus, much of this chapter will seemingly move backwards before concluding with a fuller summation of the successes and disappointments within the conference.

This conference, Mending Walls: Historical, Socio-Political, Economic and Geographic Perspectives, was initially conceived with Berlin as the star attraction, and to have all of the sessions in or around Berlin to highlight its beauty, history, and cultural perspectives (without actually anthropomorphizing the city). Later discussion made Berlin the perfect metaphor for the perspective of “mending walls,” both literally and metaphorically. I proposed Berlin as the site for this conference because of its beauty, location, and my personal contacts with people in the city, most specifically those at the German Fulbright Commission. Since SSEC attempts to hold conferences both domestically and internationally, Berlin seemed most appropriate for both the organization’s desires and my familiarity.