From Peasants’ War to Arab Spring – Scholars to discuss social movements

Awakening meets with resistance, reform efforts meet with repression: social movements often follow a similar pattern. From the Peasants’ War 500 years ago to the more recent Arab Spring and protests in Iran, the question arises of how people call for change and what happens when they question existing power structures.

This year’s Bonn Humboldt Award Winners’ Forum being held from 14 to 16 October will look at 500 years of social movements and religious renewals. Sixty-five researchers from 22 countries will use the forum to examine historical parallels and current relevance. These researchers will include the historian and Humboldt Research Award winner Lyndal Roper (University of Oxford) who presented a highly praised analysis of the German Peasants’ War in her book Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants’ War.
The scientific directors of the conference are Thomas Kaufmann (University of Göttingen), Barbara Potthast (University of Cologne) and Gerd Schwerhoff (Dresden University of Technology).

The conference will offer an opportunity to gain a comprehensive overview of research being done on social upheavals around the world. The conference also aims to raise Bonn’s profile as a centre of science and scholarship. Held every year, the Bonn Humboldt Award Winners’ Forum promotes more intensive networking between Humboldt Award Winners with early career researchers and German research institutions.

Journalists are welcome to attend! We will be glad to arrange interviews. Conference languages: German and English

Wednesday, 14 October 2026, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Siebold Saal, 5:00 p.m.
Opening and Welcome

• Markus Zanner, Secretary General of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
• Thomas Kaufmann, University of Göttingen

Keynote Lecture “Freedom and Revolution: The German Peasants’ War”, Lyndal Roper, Professor of History, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Followed by a panel discussion and reception

Thursday, 15 October 2026, and Friday, 16 October 2026
Kranz Parkhotel Siegburg, starting 9:00 a.m.
Lectures and flash talks by scholars from Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Peru, Senegal,the USA and other countries.
You will find the complete programme here.

Every year, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation enables more than 2,000 researchers from all over the world to spend time conducting research in Germany. The Foundation maintains an interdisciplinary network of well over 30,000 Humboldtians in more than 140 countries around the world – including 64 Nobel Prize winners.