Past Events

On Monday, François Hollande became the first French Socialist candidate elected president since 1981. He campaigned for higher government spending and taxation. Does this signal a new economic approach to Europe’s financial problems? What might happen to austerity? And what is the Socialist economic approach? Dr. Alberta Sbragia, University of Pittsburgh Vice Provost and former Director of the European Studies Center and the European Union Center of Excellence addresses these questions, and talks about the future of the EU.

Regulating Unregulated Migration:
European and U.S. Reactions to Immigration

Friday, May 4th
9:00-9:30 Continental Breakfast
9:30-10:00 Welcome and Introductions
Suzanna Crage, Department of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh
Ronald Linden, Director, European Union Center of Excellence/European Studies Center

10-11:30 The EU & U.S.: Demographic trends
Martin Schain, Department of Politics, New York University

11:30-1:30 Lunch (for registered participants)
Presentation: Public opinion about migration in the US and selected European countries
Hamutal Bernstein, German Marshall Fund

1:45-3:15 US migration politics, Arizona immigration laws, US Courts
Marc Rosenblum, Congressional Research Service, U.S. Library of Congress
Luis F.B. Plascencia, Dept. of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Arizona State University

3:30-5:00 Approaches to controlling migration in Pennsylvania, Alabama, and Texas
Jan Ting, Beasley School of Law, Temple University
Shay Farlay, Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice Inc., Montgomery, AL
Faye Kolly, De Mott, McChesney, Curtright & Armendáriz, LLP, Immigration and Criminal Defense Attorneys, Austin, Texas

Saturday, May 5th

8:30-9:00 Continental breakfast

9:00-10:30 EU politics, policies, and practices
Kris Pollet, European Council on Refugees and Exiles, Brussels, Belgium
Adam Luedtke, Political Science Dept., Stockton College

10:45-12:15 Migration control in the Mediterranean
Nick Vaughan-Williams, Dept. of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick
Cetta Mainwaring, International Relations, Wadham College, Oxford University

All panels are free and open to the public.
Organized by Suzanna Crage, Dept of Sociology

"Speaking in Tongues" Lecture Series

More details about the lecture will follow.

From medieval pogroms to modern racial science, Jewish history in Europe has come to stand as a test case for thinking about problems of historical continuity and change, embodied most clearly in the tension between narratives emphasizing a timeless antisemitism and arguments for the distinctive mentalities associated with discrete historical periods. Our colloquium, “The Holocaust and the Middle Ages,” seeks to reexamine Jewish history as a multi-layered problem of narrative and conceptualization, in which deeply interested anti-Jewish narratives from the premodern world form points of explosive contact with modern literary and historical modes of analysis. Part of our work is to examine how later historical lenses, such as the interests of post-Reformation history and the consuming project of Holocaust history, have substantially dictated the terms of modern understanding of Jewish-Christian relations, often with distorting effects. At the same time, medieval paradigms of religious conflict continue to operate as the unacknowledged foundations for contemporary efforts to think about problems of political conflict rooted in religious difference.

Our objective is to bring together a small group of scholars and encourage significant interdisciplinary dialogue between medievalists and specialists in later fields, including particularly Reformation history and Holocaust studies. In doing so, we hope to move beyond generalities about the evolution of Western patterns of religious conflict to gain critical purchase on the ways in which our narratives for thinking about these problems are deeply imbricated in the assumptions, needs, and theories at work within discrete moments of historical thought.

For more information, please visit our website (www.medren.pitt.edu) or contact the Director, Professor Jennifer Waldron (jwaldron@pitt.edu).

The events collectively described as the “Arab Spring” are marked, at the local level, by the invention of novel modes of social and political action. On a transnational scale, these events are reshaping global alliances and raising pressing questions about the relationships between international political institutions and social movements driving change in North Africa and the Middle East. In the context of this rapidly evolving political landscape, this conference considers the implications of the Arab Spring for European politics and cultures. As a way of promoting a broad and interdisciplinary dialogue, the conference sets the Mediterranean, conceived of as an “in-between” space of multiple cultural flows, as its conceptual center.

Screening of THE QUEEN will be introduced by Director, Stephen Frears. Q&A session with Colin MacCabe.

Known for making provocative, stylized, and tightly budgeted films about people living on society's social and/or sexual fringes,
British director Stephen Frears is renowned as one of his country's most vibrant and recognizable filmmakers. Regarding his
tendency to make films that branch into unfamiliar territory, Frears has said that he likes "making films about different cultures...I'm interested in things that I've never encountered before. I try to put myself in the audience's position." Born in Leicester, Frears studied law at Cambridge University before turning to the arts. He became involved with London's Royal Court Theatre, where he served as an assistant to director Lindsay Anderson and to actor Albert Finney. He started his career in the film industry as an assistant director to Karel Reisz, with whom he worked from 1966 until 1972.

Scripted by Peter Morgan, 2006's THE QUEEN took a comic-yet-sympathetic look at the P.R. nightmare that
ensued after Princess Diana's death in 1997. Bolstered by Helen Mirren's universally acclaimed work as Queen
Elizabeth II, the film enjoyed a healthy arthouse run through awards season, when Frears found himself the recipient
of countless Best Director nominations from critics' organizations, as well as the Golden Globe Awards.

B. Burcak Basbug-Erkan is an assistant professor of Statistics at the Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara. She acts as the director of the METU Disaster Management Research and Implementation Centre since 2008. She holds a B.Sc. in statistics, METU, a M.Sc. degree in statistics, University of Warwick, the UK and a Ph.D. in statistics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, the UK. Her main research interest is disaster risk management, extreme event modelling, insurance and actuarial analysis and financial risk management of disaster losses. She teaches disaster risk management, linear models, insurance and actuarial analysis, probability and stochastic processes.

Next Wednesday (April 11), the Society and Honors College will proudly play host to a prominent intellectual historian of our generation: J.G.A. Pocock, author of Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law, Machiavellian Moment, and a multi-volume work on Edward Gibbon. An emeritus professor at Johns Hopkins, Pocock is noted for developing a novel approach to the study of history often referred to as the Cambridge School of intellectual history. His work encompasses a broad range of intellectual endeavors, including not only history, but also political science, philosophy, and literature. Professor Pocock will lecture at 602 Cathedral of Learning at 4:00 PM, and we'd love for you to come along and help Pitt show its support for history as an intellectual exercise.

Matt Zwick, a student at the Law School, and local attorney David Rosenberg will present a paper they co-authored, entitled "Legal Professional Privilege: Comparing Different Approaches Within the United States and the European Union."

The 2012 Jean Monnet Symposium hosted by the European Union Center of Excellence and European Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh will bring together historians and political scientists to discuss empires old and new. Its goal is to advance the current discussion of how to define empire, look at how empires have defined themselves in the past, and build upon our understanding of historical empires to refine new categories of analysis applicable to the European Union of the present. Featured presenters include Patrick Manning and Daniel Bisbee, Martha Chaiklin, and Peter Karsten from the Department of History at the University of Pittsburgh; along with Magali Gravier (Copenhagen Business School), Josep Colomer (George Washington University), and Joshua W. Walker (German Marshall Fund).

Co-sponsor: World History Center

INFORMATION SESSION: Career and Internship Opportunities with the U.S. Dept. of State

Tom Armbruster
Senior Foreign Service Officer
Diplomat in Residence
City College of New York

Date: April 4th, 2012
Time: 1:00
Place: 4130 Posvar Hall

Come see how you can contribute to and join Secretary Clinton’s foreign policy professionals who manage America’s relations with the world. The Foreign Service offers the opportunity for public service, challenge, lifelong learning, foreign language study, and the chance to live and work overseas. On Wednesday, April 4, Senior Foreign Service Officer Tom Armbruster, most recently U.S. Consul General in Vladivostok, Russia, will present a discussion on State Department internships, both in American embassies and consulates abroad, and at State Department headquarters in Washington. Mr. Armbruster will also describe the process for becoming a Foreign Service Officer and the 13 dimensions that successful candidates demonstrate. Foreign Service officers serve in these career tracks: Consular – touching the lives of others through American citizen service and visa adjudications; Management – making diplomacy work and keeping our Embassies and Consulates running; Economic – promoting economic partnerships, free markets and trade; Public Diplomacy – explaining American values and policies through speakers, exchanges, and cultural programming; Political - analyzing political events and advising Washington and the “country team” at the Embassy, headed by the Ambassador.

Join us on Tuesday, April 3rd as three alumni of the European Studies Center discuss how their interests in
Foreign language and international studies have shaped their postgraduate lives. Panelists include Christopher Burdick, Policy Advisor for the U.S. Treasury; Benjamin Keller – lawyer for DLA Piper in N.Y.C.; Carrie Weintraub, International Relations graduate from the London School of Economics. Some of the issues to be discussed include: pursuing graduate studies in Europe, preparing for law/graduate school, the importance of networking, what it’s like working for law firms and/or the government, and what tips and suggestions they would offer undergraduates in European or international studies programs now. International Studies and pre law counselors from the Career Center will also be available to answer questions and provide information about resources and planning strategies. If you have questions about this event, please contact Steve Lund, Assistant Director of the European Studies Center, at slund@pitt.edu, 412-6248-7422.
Sponsored by: European Union Center of Excellence & European Studies Center

The Seventh Annual Graduate Student Conference on the European Union will welcome graduate students from around the world to present the research on "Crisis, Cooperation, and Change in the EU."

Colloquium, Ruth Bottigheimer (Stony Brook), “What’s Eastern and What’s Western in the Arabian Nights?” with responses from Susan Andrade (English) and Giuseppina Mecchia (French and Italian).

With financial crises looming in Europe, the world is bracing for new shocks. How will it all play out? Will the euro and the European Union survive? These and many other questions engage students at the University of Pittsburgh. Join us to learn about some of the initiatives that Pitt graduate students from varying disciplines are creating to bring the EU to campus (or bring the campus to the EU)! Don’t miss out on this chance to meet colleagues who have similar research, professional or extracurricular interests in the EU. And, of course, pizza will be served.

French Immersion institutes are designed for middle and high school French teachers, as well as French majors to broaden their cultural understanding of current events and international studies regarding French-speaking countries, to strengthen their French listening and speaking skills, and to share strategies for the teaching of French language and culture. We will be offering the following workshop spring, 2012

Topic: "Les Elections Présidentielles et Législatives Françaises de 2012

With Jean-Dominique Le Garrec, Consul Honoraire de France and Jean Pierre Collet, Ancien Consul Honoraire de France

Program Director : Bonnie Adair-Hauck, Ph.D.
Time: 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Room: 5200 Posvar Hall
Cost: $10.00 per workshop
Includes: ACT 48 credit, workshop; continental breakfast; lunch

Pennsylvania ACT 48 credit available for participants.

*****************All activities are conducted in French*****************

Dr. Erik Gray is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He is the author of The Poetry of Indifference: From the Romantics to the Rubáiyát (Massachusetts 2005) and Milton and the Victorians (Cornell 2009), as well as the editor of Tennyson's In Memoriam (Norton 2004) and Spenser's The Faerie Queene, Book 2 (Hackett 2006). He has also published articles on a range of poets including Virgil, Sidney, Donne, Milton, Pope, Gray, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, Tennyson, the Brownings, and Christina Rossetti. This talk is drawn from his current book project on love poetry.

Katie Trumpener, Emily Sanford Professor of Comparative Literature and English and director of graduate studies in comparative literature at Yale University

This graduate seminar is in English and open to all graduate students.

Katie Trumpener is one of the most innovative scholars in the field of comparative cultural studies. Her research spans the modern period (the late 18th century to the present) and explores a broad range of topics, from the history of the British and European novel to Anglophone fiction (especially from Scotland, Ireland, and Canada); from European film history to visual culture and music; nationalism, regionalism, and traditionalism; literature and culture of World War I, World War II, and the Cold War; the history of children’s literature (18th century to the present); and female novelists.

The gap between the art and the science involved in producing Early Modern bird’s-eye views has long puzzled historians. On a visual level, city views were posited as being oriented toward a single perspective while simultaneously opening up vast, impossibly elevated cityscapes. Frequently they included the artist–cartographer’s self-portrait within the image, often shown sketching the city from a high hilltop—as if to verify the view as something witnessed and drawn directly from life. Considering that such views were almost always products of the studio stitched together from multiple site drawings and instrument-aided measurements, why did cartographers, artists, and geographers continually play down the scientific underpinnings of the viewmaking enterprise, treating it as a realm of direct, unmediated observation? This talk traces the theoretical and visual discourses concerning the purpose of the city view in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It will detail how measurement was translated into convincing perspectival pictures, and will further address the significant reversal that occurred in those discourses around 1600, when the emphasis upon the artist–cartographer’s transformative abilities would be replaced by a new stress upon the neutralizing power of scientific instruments.

Mark Rosen is Assistant Professor of Aesthetic Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas. He received his Ph.D. in the History of Art from the University of California, Berkeley, and has held a National Endowment for the Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Medici Archive Project in Florence as well as a two-year Samuel H. Kress Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence. He has published in The Art Bulletin, Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, Oud Holland, Archives Internationales d’Histoire des Sciences, Nuncius, and other journals. His book manuscript, The Painted Map in the Age of Print and the Era of Exploration, is currently under review.

Saskia Beranek, PhD Candidate, History of Art and Architecture - University of Pittsburgh

In the 1630s, the most prominent aristocrats in the United Provinces, Frederik Hendrik and Amalia van Solms, commissioned a series of paintings from the Italian play Il Pastor Fido for Amalia’s private rooms in their new palace of Honselaarsdijk. Though the palace itself no longer exists, extensive documentation of both the design of the palace and its decoration survive. Previously, it has been suggested that these scenes contained a portrait of their patron. This paper furthers this hypothesis through a consideration not only of the iconography and political allegory of the cycle, but also through an examination of how portraits became an active element within elite spaces in the early modern period. Using two other examples of site specific allegorized portraiture of the same patron, this paper not only explores the artistic policies of a significant female patron, but also raises issues about the interaction of architectural spaces and their decoration and the dynamic and flexible power of the portrait.

Shirin Fozi, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Northwestern University

Tomb effigies have long formed a cornerstone of the modern study of Gothic and Renaissance art; it is well known that they were popular across western Europe during the thirteenth through sixteenth centuries, and attracted a broad spectrum of patrons and artists. The origins of the effigy format, however, have been very nearly overlooked in the past century: while a few of the rare, early Romanesque effigies are known to specialists in the field, a comprehensive study of the rise of this sculptural type in the eleventh and early twelfth centuries has yet to be published. This talk introduces a few key monuments from the formative period of the figural tomb effigy, and proposes that these Romanesque effigies were distinct from their Gothic and Renaissance counterparts not only in form, but also in function.

One Book, One Community Lecture Series:

"The Worldwide Fusarium Keratitis Epidemic of 2004-2006: What Would Dr. John Snow and Dr. Henry Whitehead Have Done?"
John Bullock, MD, MPH, MSc. Bullock is an infectious diseases epidemiologist at Wright State School of Medicine.

Also, part of the C.F. Reynolds Medical History Society Lecture Series.

The Tournées festival features a series of recent French films that will be screened in 35mm in Alumni Hall. It is an exciting group of films, and we hope you'll come and bring your friends, family, and students.

Feb. 23, 7:30 PM - "Welcome"
Feb. 24, 6:00 PM - "La Belle Endormie" (The Sleeping Beauty):
Feb. 24, 8:00 PM - "Boarding Gate"
Feb. 25, 7:00 PM- "35 Rhums" (35 Shots of Rum)
Feb. 25, 9:15 PM - "Hadewijch"

To view the full schedule & film descriptions: http://www.frenchanditalian.pitt.edu/documents/TourneesFrenchfilmseriesf...

Opening Reception to follow Welcome in the Alumni Hall Auditorium Lobby.

www.facecouncil.org

The squatting of physical spaces is an important form of protest in European social movements. From
the 1970s onwards, activists began to occupy abandoned buildings transforming them in spaces
where to experiment alternative lifestyles and elaborate radical politics. In Italy, squatted spaces,
usually named “Self-Managed Occupied Social Centers” and first established in the 1970s, became
the backbones of national and transnational social movements that emerged late in the 1990s. Far
from being dismissed, this form of collective action continues to be used in order to create spaces of
resistance and struggle in societies. Through a diachronic perspective, the meeting discusses: the
characteristics and ideological orientation of Social Centers; interactions between Social Centers and
public institutions; the role of Social Centers in social movement scenes.

Prof. Gianni Piazza is Professor of Political Science at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Catania. He
works on squatted spaces, territorial conflicts and social movements in Italy. Among his recent publications:
Which models of democracy? Internal and external decision-making processes of Italian Social Centers in a
comparative study (2011, CSPS-WP Series); Voices of the Valley. Voices of the Straits. How protest creates
communities (2008, with Donatella della Porta).

Dr. Alice Mattoni is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh. She works on
media practices, precarious workers and social movements in Italy. Among her recent publications: Media
Practices and Protest Politics. How Precarious Workers Mobilise (2012); Mediation and Social Movements
(2012, with Bart Cammaerts and Patrick McCurdy, eds.).

This year's undergraduate Model EU will take place on the campus of Washington & Jefferson College. The following schools are sending students:
Bowling Green State University
Kent State University
John Carroll University
Washington & Jefferson College
University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg

Sylvia Kofler, from the Washington Delegation of the European Union will attend and give a presentation, as will EUCE Director Ron Linden.

Work-in-Progress Series, "Soccer, its Fans and its Nation in German Literature and Film," Gavin Hicks (ABD)

This talk revisits the concept of orientalism in a long chronological context, including 4th Century BC Athens, Elizabethan and Caroline England, Enlightenment Europe, and colonial and contemporary New Zealand.
It seeks to identify a specifically geographic component of this construct, which historians have neglected.

Jonathan Scott is Professor of History at the University of Auckland.
Among many other books and articles, he is the author of When The Waves Ruled Britannia: Geography and Political Identities, 1500-1800 (Cambridge, 2011), Commonwealth Principles: Republican Writing of the English Revolution (Cambridge, 2004), and England's Troubles: Seventeenth-Century English Political Instability in European Context (Cambridge, 2000).

Barbara Tsakirgis, Associate Professor of Classics and Art History; Chair, Department of Classical Studies, Vanderbilt University

Greek houses of the Classical and Hellenistic periods incorporated a number of features that were designed for the safe-keeping of the entire oikos, the homeowner, his family and slaves, and their possessions. While many of these security measures do not survive intact in the archaeological record, they can be reconstructed from both scant remains and from literary and epigraphical accounts.

The physical provisions for security in Greek houses were many, including stoutly built doors and window shutters. Such means served both to enhance the actual security and the impression of it.

Additionally, human and divine protection alike were features of domestic security. Slaves were stationed at the street door and images of Hermes were placed there to add to that protection. Still other divinities, including Herakles Alexikakos, were also called upon to protect the home. On the other hand, while Classical Athens possessed a police force of Scythian archers, there is no evidence that this police force was charged with protecting private property.

Outside of urban areas, householders in the countryside gained added protection from the towers which were a common feature of farmhouses. Square or round in section, these towers were used both to protect the family and as storage places for grain.

TUESDAYS & THURSDAYS, STARTING FEBRUARY 2, 2012
“EUROPE AT 8:00” Eurochannel Short Films Tour
8:00 – 9:30 p.m., 4130 WWPH
Discover the newest perspectives of the European film scene through a series of short films from fifty-four film directors. The Eurochannel Short Films Tour has a strong regional footprint, revealing the creative genius of how cinema can be very diverse and surprising. Shaped by geographical and cultural features, those shorts films are as much charming as a work of the director’s passion. Stories of love or friendship in an adult’s brutal world, paintings of childhood feelings, stories of war or poverty, and comedies with unpredictable humor, Europe at 8:00 brings you the complexity of humanity as the European artists of the new generation see it. This series reflects unknown and unfamiliar dimensions of European reality.
Sponsored by: the European Union Center of Excellence/European Studies Center, the Russian & East European Studies Center

Europe at 8:00 – Film Schedule

Thursday, February 2
From Luxembourg: X on a Map, by Jeff Desom 13 minutes
From Portugal: Alfama, by João Viana 15 minutes
From France: Port of Call, by Eléa Gobbé-Mévellec 6 minutes
From Belgium: The End of the World, by Michael Havenith 10 minutes
From Azerbaijan: Theatrical Life, by Ilqar Najaf 22 minutes
From Latvia: Signs of Light, by Ilze Kunga 18 minutes

Tuesday, February 7
From Switzerland: Scribbling & Tingling, by Amaury Berger 13 minutes
From England: I’ll Tell You, by Rachel Tillotson 10 minutes
From Spain: Worstward Ho, by Alex Brendemühl 12 minutes
From Scotland: A Cheeky 20, by Chris Fallen 3 minutes
From Austria: Little World, by Marco F. Zimprich 18 minutes
From Poland: Endless Beginners, by Justyna Nowak 30 minutes

Thursday, February 9
From Bosnia & Herzegovina: I Don’t Dream in German, by Ivana Lalovic 13 minutes
From Italy: The Other Half, by Pipo Mazzepesa 9 minutes
From France: Last Markdown, by Nicolas Slomka 14 minutes
From Georgia: The Highway, by Sandro Japaridze 10 minutes
From Slovakia: Viliam, by Veronika Obertová 8 minutes
From Russia: Nail, by Michael Lockshin 13 minutes
From Albania: Snowdrops, by Robert Budina 26 minutes

Tuesday, February 14
From Belgium: Marie, by Jozefien Scheepers 17 minutes
From Switzerland: Parents, by Fernando Tiberini 11 minutes
From Spain: Lala, by Esteban Crespo Garcia 19 minutes
From Kosovo: The Dinner, by Blerta Zeqiri 17 minutes
From the Netherlands: Cat & Mice, by Nova van Dijk 9 minutes

Thursday, February 16
From the Czech Republic: Saharan Sands, by Josef Tuka 18 minutes
From Croatia: That Little Hand of Yours, Sara Hribar 23 minutes
From Ireland: The Ballad of Kid Kanturk, by John Butler 12 minutes
From Italy: From the 41st Minute, by Matteo Pellegrini 9 minutes
From Hungary: With a Little Patience, Laszlo Nemes 14 minutes
From Denmark: Peaceforce, by Peter Gornstein 19 minutes

Tuesday, February 21
From Serbia: Old Mountain, by Goran Stankovic 18 minutes
From Malta: .303, by David Serge 11 minutes
From Spain: Let’s Go to Plan B, by Paz Piñar 14 minutes
From Turkey: Snow, by Erol Mintas 22 minutes
From Wales: Skimming Pebbles, by Tariq Ali 9 minutes
From Romania: The Cage, by Adrian Sitaru 17 minutes

Thursday, February 23
From Montenegro: Masks, by Andro Martinovic 13 minutes
From Germany: Lumen, by Philip Koch 29 minutes
From Sweden: The Last Things, by Levan Akin 20 minutes
From Lithuania: Grandpa, by Andrius Paskevicius 11 minutes
From Moldova: Sasa, Grisa & Ion, by Igor Cobileanski 11 minutes
From Macedonia: Glow, by Tamislav Aleksov 15 minutes

Tuesday, February 28
From Switzerland: Laterarius, by Marina Rosset 3 minutes
From Cyprus: Trachoni, by Nick Kapros 10 minutes
From Ukraine: Her Seat is Vacant, by Bohdana Smymova 17 minutes
From Northern Ireland: Paint, by Ryan Tohill 9 minutes
From Iceland: Safe Journey, David Óskar Ólafsson 22 minutes
From Norway: A Tale of Balloons, by Torfinn Iversen 14 minutes
From Spain: Duck Crossing, by Koldo Almandoz 12 minutes

Thursday, March 1
From Belarus: Life is Infinite Return, by Vladimir Piskunovic 17 minutes
From Armenia: Ararat, by Renaud Armanet 13 minutes
From Bulgaria: Someone Else’s Steps, by Neda Morfova 4 minutes
From Greece: Samurai, by Theo Papadoulakis 26 minutes
From Finland: Kirkonkyla Kyrkby, Elise Pietarila 14 minutes
From Estonia: Champion, by Kaupo Kruusiauk 13 minutes

During the French Revolution, all possessions of the church and former monarchy were declared to be the national property of the new French Republic. In order to deal with the influx of material, the government established storage dépôts in former monasteries and convents where the “objects of art and science” could be collected, sorted, and disseminated for public education. Under the direction of Alexandre Lenoir, the funerary monuments, sculpture, and architectural decoration stored at the Petits-Augustins dépôt evolved into the Musée des Monuments français. The artifacts were organized into a chronological sequence of “century rooms” representing the rise and fall of French arts and civilization. The symbolic memory of the monarchial and ecclesiastical past was embedded in the artifacts, and this material legacy needed to be reframed for the Revolutionary present. By prioritizing historical and temporal specificity rather than former purposes and contexts, Lenoir transformed the artifacts into “historic monuments” and organized them into a new symbolic history of France. For Lenoir, the chronological sequence was a layered political tool about the educational enlightenment of the individual, which he described as the “regeneration” of man. According to Lenoir, the overall “physiognomy” of each historical period was dominated by the ruling monarch, while the rise and decline of artistic development was indicated by the prevalence or lack of individual artistic achievements. The century room sequence was followed by the Élysée, a picturesque garden filled with tombs and monuments dedicated to great figures from French history. Within the chronological sequence of the century rooms, Lenoir created a container for the politically charged educational dissemination of the monarchial history of France. Enlightened by the rise and fall of individual accomplishment through the century rooms, the visitor left the monarchial past in the last century room and entered the atemporal Élysée, which represented the eternal Revolutionary present and which was dedicated to the timeless heroic deeds and intellectual accomplishments of exceptional historical figures. The Musée des Monuments français was an evocation of the progress of human agency.

EU simulation on Turkish accession to the European Union.

In the Renaissance, studying nature meant (most of the time) encountering nature. But these encounters, as Peter Dear has indicated, tended to generate a discussion (in the period and in the historiography) between unmediated sensory experiences and experiences organized by prior conceptual categories. This paper focuses on anatomical encounters, when anatomists articulated that distinction with clarity, in order to reconsider the significance of ephemeral and permanent anatomy theaters.

The relationship between the two is usually described chronologically:
theaters were temporary before they were permanent. This has encouraged a second view, namely that temporary theaters initiated the study of anatomy through human and animal dissection (the encounter with nature), and permanent theaters further developed that study. This paper will argue against such a seamless transition. Even when the permanent anatomy theater was built and in use in Padua, temporary theaters continued to provide more immediate, sensory experiences for professors as well as students.

This talk is sponsored by the working group on Medicine, Philosophy, and the Scientific Revolution (http://www.pitt.edu/~pmd17/MPSR.html) and supported by the Center for Philosophy of Science. The event is free and open to the public.

On January 17th,2012, the European Union Center of Excellence/European Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh will host an interactive videoconference devoted to the current European financial crisis. To be held from 12-1:30 p.m. in 211 David Lawrence Hall, the session is entitled “Is the Future of the Eurozone the Future of Europe?” This is the first in a series of “Conversations on Europe,” in which participants and audiences will be linked across several sites by video. This first session will feature some of the country’s top experts on the European Union, including Dr. Alberta Sbragia, Vice-Provost of Graduate Studies at the University of Pittsburgh; Dr. Christiane Lemke, Max Weber Chair in German and European Politics at New York University and Professor of Political Science at the Leibniz University of Hannover, Germany; and Larry Neal, Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics. Audiences at all three sites will be able to ask questions of the experts. This event is open to the public.

Sarah Beckwith works on late medieval religious writing, medieval and early modern drama, and ordinary language philosophy. In this seminar, we will discuss chapter three of her most recent book, Shakespeare and the Grammar of Forgiveness (Cornell, 2011). Professor Beckwith is also the author of Signifying God: Social Relation and Symbolic Act in York's Play of Corpus Christi (Chicago, 2001), and Christ's Body: Identity, Religion and Society in Medieval English Writing (Routledge, 1993). She is currently working on a book about Shakespearean tragedy and about philosophy's love affair with the genre of tragedy.

Marianne Novy and Ryan McDermott will offer responses to the pre-circulated reading. Reply to this email in order to receive the reading attachment.

The text for discussion is “Repairs in the Dark: Measure for Measure and the End of Comedy.” If you have questions, please email Professor Jennifer Waldron (jwaldron@pitt.edu).

*Professor Beckwith will also give a lecture at Duquesne University on Thursday, January 12th at 4:00 in 324 Fisher Hall.*

Mr. Lionnet’s thesis explores sovereignty, hegemony, and human rights in EU-ACP (African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States) relations. His project seeks to get beyond the ideology of Eurafrica to better understand development policies in the 1950s and 1960s. For his research, Mr. Lionnet has come to the University of Pittsburgh to make use of the European Union Delegation Collection housed at the University Library. The Collection is a virtually complete assemblage of official European Community documents published since the early 1950s. In his work on development, Mr. Lionnet has had occasion to work in European archives in addition to this one. He has generously agreed to speak with Pitt grad students about his experiences in the University’s Depository Collection, how it compares to others, what he has found, and how it all informs his larger research project. Please join us then for Pizza & Politics…& Archives.

Randall Halle is the Klaus W. Jonas Professor of German Film and Cultural Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. He studied at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, the University of Freiburg, the University of Utrecht, and the Free University in Berlin. He received his PhD from Madison in 1995. Halle works primarily on film, visual culture, and social philosophy. He is currently pursuing two different projects tentatively entitled Interzone Europe: Social Philosophy and the Transnational Imagination as well as Visual Alterity: Seeing Difference. Halle has received numerous grants. Academic year 2004-2005 he was a Senior Fellow in the Berlin Program for Advanced German and European Studies at the Free University. In 2006 he was offered the honor of being the first occupant of the Jonas Chair at the University of Pittsburgh. Academic year 2009-2010 he was a Senior Fulbright Researcher in Berlin.

As the European Union confronts one of the deepest crises of its history, the frustration of a number of member states at the apparent hegemony of the “Franco-German couple" has become vocal and public. With elections approaching in 2012 in France and 2013 in Germany, it is worth considering what a transfer of power from the current governing parties to the major opposition parties, the Parti Socialiste (PS) and the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD), might harbor for the future of the European integration project. In this presentation, I examine how these parties handled past crises, both when in government and in opposition. I explore policy continuities and evolution over time through an examination of these parties’ roles in the Empty Chair Crisis, President Mitterand’s program for socialist transformation, German reunification, the proposal for a European constitution, and the current financial and debt crisis.

Please join us for a talk: Lyle Scruggs is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Connecticut. He is a candidate for the senior position in comparative politics in the Department of Political Science.

Cultural night out at Jozsa Hungarian restaurant for GSPIA graduate students.

Dr. Maloy (Econ) & Dr. Alexiadou (Political Science) will be giving their take on the economic and social/political implications of the new Greek debt deal and the debt crisis in Europe in general.

Internship panel for GSPIA Master's students looking for internships abroad.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21
Pizza & Politics: What’s Next For Italy? A Conversation with Alberta Sbragia
Dr. Alberta Sbragia, Vice Provost, University of Pittsburgh
12:00 PM, 4217 WWPH
Alberta Sbragia, former EUCE/ESC Director and current Vice-Provost for Graduate Studies, will host a round table discussion about the current economic and political crisis in Italy. Please join us for pizza and a lively discussion about the implications for the Euro and the future of the European Union. As a Mark A. Nordenberg University Chair and the Jean Monnet Professor ad personam in the Department of Political Science, Dr. Sbragia served as the Director of the European Union Center of Excellence/European Studies Center from 1984-2010, as chair of the European Union Studies Association, now headquartered at the University of Pittsburgh, and as President of the Conference Group on Italian Politics.
Sponsored by: European Union Center of Excellence/European Studies Center

A workshop with Dr. Eszter Zsofia Toth (Hungarian State Archive) and Professor Ulf Brunnbauer (University of Regensburg, Germany). Dr. Toth is one of the leading historians of the history of everyday life of Communist countries. Her work includes her much acclaimed oral history study of a women's brigade in a socialist factory in Budapest, her PhD project which investigated the profound problems of gender, class, and life-styles in the Kadar era. Professor Ulf Brummbauer has worked extensively on the problems of social history, nationalism, identity constructions and historiography in South Eastern Europe, especially Bosnia, Macedonia, Albania, and the Western Balkan countries.

The Annual Commemoration of Kristallnacht (The “Night of Broken Glass” on November 9-10, 1938)

Survivor’s Account by Ruth Drescher
Music by Susanne Ortner-Roberts (clarinetist)
Readings by Pitt Students

This program is made possible with the support of the Jack Sittsamer Holocaust Studies
Enrichment Fund in the Jewish Studies Program.

Professor Picciotto pre-circulated her essay to facilitate discussion on the relationship between Protestantism, experimental science, the public sphere, and intellectual labor itself.

Dr. Alberta Sbragia appearence on Bloomberg TV.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/pomboy-says-surge-in-italy-bond-y...

Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- In response to recent developments in the European Debt Crisis, Stephanie Pomboy, president of MacroMavens LLC, Irene Finel-Honigman, adjunct professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University, Alberta Sbragia, a professor at University of Pittsburgh, and Stephen Wood, chief market strategist at Russell Investments, talked about Europe's sovereign debt crisis and its implications for the U.S. Treasuries. They spoke with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television's "Taking Stock."

Matteo Galli, who teaches at the University of Ferrara, is one of the foremost German Studies scholars in Italy and is also an expert on German cinema. He has published books on Elias Canetti, Thomas Mann, and E. T. A Hoffmann, and he has translated works by Jens Sparschuh and Uwe Timm, among others. He is also the editor of a major volume on the history of German cinema, Da Caligari a Good Bye, Lenin! (2004).

Historian Elina Gertsman will present a lecture entitled "Holy Anatomy, Animate Substance: the Shrine Madonna as a Performing Object" on October 27, 2011. Elina's work combines more traditional methods of art historical scholarship with an interest in performance studies and cognitive science (or "embodied cognition"). She is the author of *The Dance of Death in the Middle Ages: Image, Text, Performance* (2010) and has also published several articles and edited the collection, *Visualizing Medieval Performance: Perspectives, Histories, Contexts* (2008).

Foreign Visiting Professor Dr. Bernhard Schloh will present the first of this year’s two annual Jean Monnet lectures on European Union Law. The lecture is titled “The Present Situation of the European Union: Legal and Political Reflections.” Professor Dr. Bernhard Schloh is a former member of the Legal Service of the Council of Ministers of the European Union and is Professor Emeritus at Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium.

The French Immersion Institute, Directed by Bonnie Adair-Hauk, Ph.D., organized this workshop for middle and high school teachers to broaden their cultural understanding of current events and international studies regarding French-speaking countries, to strengthen their French listening and speaking skills, and to share strategies for teaching of French language and culture.

A professional ACTFL trainer will present this four-day workshop on administering and rating Oral Proficiency Interviews to assess students' foreign language proficiency. Following the workshop, participants will be prepared to complete the ACTFL certification process for OPI testers. Please note that this event is open to invited language instructors only.

In this talk, Toker lays out the problem of understanding seven especially perplexing tombs out of the 130 graves he excavated when directing the archaeological campaign below the Cathedral of Florence.

In his remarkable career as a journalist, Werner Sonne has reported on some of the most significant changes in our world. As radio and TV correspondent for the German channel ARD, he covered German chancellors Willy Brandt, Helmut Schmidt, Helmut Kohl, Gerhard Schroder and Angela Merkel. He followed, from close up, Germany’s emergence from a divided country in the Cold War, traumatized by a terrible, self-inflicted past, unsure of its future, through the process of re-unification to the current position as strongest partner in the European Union, still struggling to find its place in the world. He saw the world from the perspective of a foreign correspondent for 11 years, on both sides of the then still-existing Iron Curtain. In recent years he has covered the Middle East conflict and German involvement in the Afghanistan war.

Over a period of more than twenty years, while residing mostly in England, the Italian writer, literary critic, and lexicographer Giuseppe Baretti (1719-1789) kept a personal reading and writing log. Surveying this 270-page zibaldone has helped to map out the cultural itinerary followed by this eighteenth-century intellectual immigrant, and has led into the exploration of such topics as the psychology of authorship, the role of memory in literature and in second language learning, the practice of translation and its uses and purposes.

Dr Anthony R. Zito, Reader in Politics and Joint Editor of Environmental Politics, Co-Director of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence at Newcastle University will present a lecture entitled “Can Environmental Agencies Manage their Environment”.

http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/pils/strminfo/zito_2011l.mov

Helmut Berghoff, CEO of the German Historical Institute, will present a lecture entitled "Persistence or Demise of the Classic 'Mittlestand'? Small and Medium-sized Family Firms in the Federal Republic of Germany" on September 21, 2011 at 12pm in 101 Mervis Hall.

The EUCE/ESC would like to welcome students, faculty, and friends of the Center to the start of a new year. Please join us for refreshments and conversation on Wednesday September 14 at 4:00pm in 4130 Wesley W. Posvar Hall

Harvard Economist Dani Rodrik described how "Unconditional convergence is alive and well, but that we need to look for it within manufacturing industries rather than the economy as a whole. Industries that start at lower levels of labor productivity grow faster, regardless of the quality of policies or institutions in their home economies." For more, see Professor Rodrik's blog: http://rodrik.typepad.com/dani_rodriks_weblog/2011/09/unconditional-conv....

European Union simulation on dealing with the Greek sovereign debt crisis. Students will debate the issue from the point of view of their respective nations and attempt to reach an agreement on how the EU should respond to the crisis.

Part of the Pizza & Politics Series. Some theorists speculate that it is the rise in individualism more than the often suspected increases in education and urbanization that has caused the latest drop in fertility rates across Europe. Certainly, the growing attention being paid to various forms of intimate citizenship support this hypothesis. Croatia is currently undergoing intense Europeanization, thus examining Croat approaches to reconstructing intimate citizenship within the context of reproductive decision making gives us the opportunity to learn something about the impacts of Europeanization - both on reproduction and on Croatia.

Brittany Rast is a third year PhD student in the Anthropology Department. She received her B.A. with concentrations in Women's Studies, Sociology and Anthropology from Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, GA. She is currently working on a Graduate Certificate in East European Studies and a research project in Croatia. Her interest in reproductive decision making was sparked by several internships at various women- and health-centered organizations, including the DeKalb Domestic Violence Center and the CDC.

The World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh is accepting applications for candidates to participate in a study tour to Europe. The trip to Paris, Brussels and an eastern European city is scheduled for June 25-July 2, 2011. The trip is tailored to the interests of secondary school teachers, administrators, and curriculum coordinators, as well as university faculty. Participant fee is $500, with airfare, accommodations, some meals, and local travel will be provided by the World Affairs Council. Made possible through a grant from the European Commission, the study tour will focus on current cultural, political, economic and security issues facing Europe as well as U.S.-European relations. Please contact the World Affairs Council for application information.

This lecture will focus on Poland's relationship with the European Union (EU) in the wake of it becoming an EU member state. The implications of Poland's experience for future enlargements of the EU will also be examined.

Dr. Trzaskowski is a member of the European Parliament's (EP) Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) from Poland. He is Vice-Chair of the EP's Committee on Constitutional Affairs and a member of the Delegation for Relations with the United States.

The EU Studies Summer Program in Brussels offers advanced undergraduates the opportunity to study the emergence of a united Europe in its dynamic core and is intended for students interested in the politics of the European Union. The five week program features lectures nd seminars, as well as meetings with European officials and site visits to major EU institutions and organizations.

The EU Studies Summer Program in Brussels offers advanced undergraduates the opportunity to study the emergence of a united Europe in its dynamic core and is intended for students interested in the politics of the European Union. The five week program features lectures nd seminars, as well as meetings with European officials and site visits to major EU institutions and organizations.

This is a live streaming of the GLOBSEC 2011 Bratislava Security Forum, the most prestigious security forum in Central Europe.

Professor Fabrizio Tonello, the 2011 University of Pittsburgh History Department Italian Fulbright Visiting Professor, will offer a personal view of Italian politics and government.

This conference is for the purpose of reviewing a manuscript of a book that shares the title of the conference. Expert reviewers will provide critiques of major sections of the draft book.

Michael Kaeding, Christine Mahoney, Nils Ringe, and Jennifer Victor will engage in a panel discussion that provides illumination on the role of information and expertise in policy making within the EU Parliament. A reception will follow.

The deadline for applications is Feb. 15, 2011. Additional details are available at http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/llp/funding/2011/call_jean_monnet_action_ka1_2..., or from:

Belen Bernaldo de Quiros

Head of Unit

European Commission - Directorate General for Education and Culture

Directorate A - Lifelong Learning: horizontal Lisbon policy issues and international affairs

Unit A3 - Jean Monnet; partnerships; relations with the Agencies

+32-2-296.03.12 (direct phone)

+32-2-296.31.06 (fax)

The Jean Monnet Program has as one of its strategic aims to ensure the continuation of high quality teaching on European integration across generations. In this context, the call for proposals invites Jean Monnet applications from both senior scholars and those who are still in the early stages of their academic careers (after the PhD). Such applications not only strengthen the reputation of scholars' Jean Monnet activities, they also constitute a necessary bridge to the future.

Applications for Jean Monnet Modules are the traditional 'entry level' for the Jean Monnet network. Such Modules can be taught or co-taught by members of the higher education teaching staff at the level of lecturer and assistant professor.

Pitt undergraduates with a research interest in the EU are encouraged to apply for participation in this year's Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union. The deadline for submission of a research topic for the 2011 conference, to be held April 7-8, 2011, is February 12, 2011. Among the awards for top papers delivered at the conference, this year the Institute of European Studies at UC Berkeley will award three places in a six-day study tour to Brussels to visit EU institutions, NATO, and the College of Europe.

William Sewell presents and Seymour Drescher responds in this Humanities Center Colloquium.

Students will learn about international studies and study abroad opportunities and internationally oriented careers.

University of Pittsburgh graduate students will interrogate and challenge the definitions of 'national' and 'transnational' through an investigation of American, German, Russian, Israeli, Palestinian, Mexican, South Korean, and Japanese screen cultures.

Aaron Abbarno is a PhD candidate in the University of Pittsburgh's Dept. of Political Science.

This lecture addresses the challenge to devise legally sound and politically palatable options in light of the specific interests of African states, specifically: how can ICC prosecutions be reconciled with peacemaking initiatives when one party is under indictment and what is the proper role of the Security Council in the undertakings of the ICC?

Sharon Kinoshita,works in Mediterranean Studies with Brian Catlos (History, UCSC), she co-directs the UCSC Center for Mediterranean Studies as well as the University of California Multicampus Research Project Initiative in Mediterranean Studies (http://mediterraneanseminar.org).

Three sessions will be presented: Texts in Context; Deferral, Other, Boundary; and Subjects in Crisis.

Lecture given by Jarmila Curtiss, Senior Researcher at the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Central and Eastern Europe (IAMO), Halle (Saale), Germany, Center Associate, Center for International Studies (European Union Center of Excellence and Center for Russian and Eastern European Studies) University of Pittsburgh, and Visiting Scholar, Department of Political Science, Duquesne University

Through an analysis and dialogue of the theories of space and place outlined by Michel De Certeau, Michel Foucault, Henri Lefebvre, and Edward Soja, Ms. Jonsson will examine how the 'other spaces' (both public and private) are re-coded with informal and invisible meanings and rituals. This allows for a new lens through which we can read Francophone texts from different regions and time periods such as Patrick Chamoiseau's Solibo Magnifique, Assia Djebar's Les femmes d'Alger dans leur appartement, and Azouz Begag's Le Gone du Chaaba.

The deadline for the submission of applications for the 2010-11 Faculty European Grant Competition is December 3, 2010. Application forms and grant information are available from the EUCE/ESC Web site:

The deadline for graduate students in fields other then Fine Arts, Performing Arts, Dance, and Architecture to submit applications for the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Services) Student Scholarships and/or Research Grants to the New York office is November 15, 2010. For detailed information and application procedures, please go the EUCE/ESC Web site:

Lina Insana, Pitt Faculty Fellow, will lead this colloquium.

Pieter Judson is a professor at Swarthmore College and currently serves as editor of the Austrian History Yearbook. He is the author of Exclusive Revolutionaries: Liberal Politics, Social Experience and National Identity in the Austrian Empire 1848-1914.

Philipp Gassert has recently taken over as Chair at the University of Augsburg. His research focuses on 20th century international history, the history of transatlantic relations, National Socialism, and post-1945 contemporary German and European History. He received his PhD from the University of Heidelberg. He is the co-founder of the Heidelberg Center for American Studies and was a DAAD Visiting Professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

Arpad von Klimo, Carolyn Warner and Francois Foret will present this panel discussion. Lunch will be provided at 11:30 a.m.

The 2010 Nicholas C. Tucci Lecture will be presented by Theodore J. Cachey, the Albert J. Ravarino Family Director of Dante and Italian Studies, Professor and Chair, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, at the University of Notre Dame.

This lecture will be presented by Anthony Grafton, the Short-term Fellow from Princeton. A reception will follow in the Frick Fine Arts Cloister from 6 pm to 7:30 pm.

Michael Miller of Central European University (Budapest) is the author of Rabbis and Revolution: The Jews of Moravia in the Age of Emancipation (Stanford University Press).

In this video-conference, Matthias Peter Sonn and Patrick Crowley will analyze the 2010 European Financial Crisis as well as its implications for fiscal sustainability, growth, and financial markets.

Professor Bonnie Adair-Hauck will present this workshop in French for High School and Post-Secondary teachers of French. Act 48 credit is granted for this workshop.

Ernst-Peter Brezovszky, Austrian Consul General, will conduct a roundtable discussion with faculty and students.

This videoconference, in coordination with the Center for Transatlantic Relations at SAIS at Johns Hopkins, will be moderated by Daniel Hamilton and will feature Philip H. Gordon, Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs in the United States Department of State.

Ana Kladnik and Adelina Stefan present their PhD research on consumerism and tourism in three different socialist states.

Elizabeth Otto will present this lecture.

DAAD (German Academic Exchange Services) will visit both the University of Pittsburgh and CMU to hold information sessions for undergraduate students, graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and faculty about funding opportunities for study and research in Germany. Previous knowledge of German is not required for these awards.

Want to prepare yourself for the global marketplace? Learn first hand from students on how to internationalize your studies at Pitt by earning an international studies certificate or the Bachelor of Philosophy (BPHIL) in International and Area Studies. Students can develop a more concentrated and in-depth understanding of a world region or a global theme. For any major on campus! Learn from students on how they benefit from affiliations with the Centers for Latin American Studies, Russian and East European Studies, Global Studies, Asian Studies, European Union and the European Center for Excellence and the African Studies Program. Food from around the world served.

President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, will give a lecture via videoconfernce on the topic 'Europe, the Systemic Consequences of the Slowly Abating Crisis and the Need to Re-Formulate the Case for Capitalism.'

The Union for the Mediterranean: Continuity and Change in European-Mediterranean Cooperation.

The Union for the Mediterranean, formerly known as the Barcelona Process (1995), was created at the Paris Summit in July 2008. The new multi-lateral framework for Euro-Mediterranean cooperation introduced many innovations. This talk will examine the different aspects related to the genesis and the evolution of a French initiative.