This seminar series brings faculty and doctoral students from different disciplines closer together and facilitates the development of new collaborative projects in research, teaching, or outreach. It creates a forum for sharing insight on selected topics, refining existing projects and activities, and identifying new possibilities for cross-unit collaboration.
UNIVERSITY-WIDE SEMINARS IN 2021-22
Epistemologies of Academic Freedom
Date: 4 October 2021, 3.30 - 5.00 pm (online)
Academic freedom is an elusive and multi-dimensional concept. This university-wide seminar proposes a discussion about how the epistemology, or epistemologies of academic freedom impact its conceptualizations, regulatory frameworks and practice. Opening the debate, Liviu Matei will discuss the rationalist tradition, which is largely socially insensitive, embedded in the European conceptualizations, and juxtapose it to the North American approaches. Maria Kronfeldner will question the so-called “argument from truth”, the claim that we need academic freedom to further the “advancement of knowledge”, but with a constructive goal in mind, namely, to find a better epistemological foundation for defending academic freedom. Milica Popović will discuss the concept of epistemic injustices (coined by Miranda Fricker), unpacking their both testimonial and hermeneutical sides. Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua will discuss the “epistemic decolonization” in Africa, through a review of academic freedom and its critical role in the African context, which is to disrupt epistemic coloniality.
Panelists:
Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua, School of Law, University of Ghana
Maria Kronfeldner, Department of Philosophy
Liviu Matei, CEU Provost
Milica Popović, OSUN Global Observatory on Academic Freedom
UNIVERSITY-WIDE SEMINARS IN 2020-21
Socialism: Tragedy of an Idea
Date: 29 April 2021, 3.30 - 5.00 pm (online)
Based on a recent book by Lajos Bokros and in the tradition of the CEU University-Wide Seminars, the event brings together scholars from different academic disciplines to discuss a topic of common interest from different intellectual, theoretical and methodological perspectives. Questions to be addressed include:
- How was "socialism" understood, in particular from the perspective of political economy, by some of the most remarkable scholars who have studied it before and after the fall of communist regimes of Central and Eastern Europe.
- How scholars who have both studied and "lived" socialism, before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall, understood it?
- Socialism and freedom ("what is freedom"?)
- The relationship between economic system and political regime.
- How socialism worked outside the communist camp of Central and Eastern Europe.
Panelists:
Lajos Bokros, School of Public Policy
Roger Berkowitz, Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and the Humanities, Bard College
Cristina Corduneanu-Huci, School of Public Policy and Doctoral School of Political Science, Public Policy, and International Relations
Julius Horvath, Department of Economics and Business
The politics of nostalgia
Date: 7 April 2021, 3.30 - 5.00 pm (online)
In an attempt to get to the core of the complex phenomenon of nostalgia and its apparent upsurge in the contemporary epoch, this seminar brings together five scholars to discuss with members of the CEU community approaches to, and the use of, nostalgia in the political field. They represent various scholarly and professional perspectives: history, political science, sociology, museum studies and anthropology. Questions addressed by the panelists, using evidence and findings from their own research and professional experience, will include: What is the heuristic value of the concept of “nostalgia”, if any? How does nostalgia act in the field of politics? What are the strategies behind the use of the nostalgic label in politics? Does nostalgia play a role in the rise of populism? Is nostalgia just a banal sentiment of un-adapted subjects?
Panelists:
Alexandra Kowalski, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology
Balázs Trencsényi, Department of History
Milica Popović, OSUN Global Observatory on Academic Freedom
Oksana Sarkisova, Blinken OSA Archive
Matti Bunzl, Wien Museum
Decolonizing the Curriculum at CEU: Variety, Obstacles, Results
Date: 2 March 2021, 3.30 – 5 pm (online)
There have been various initiatives in recent years at CEU challenging the continued dominance of Western-White scholarship and academics at the University. In this session of the University-Wide Seminar we will discuss ongoing practices and initiatives aimed at decolonizing the curriculum, intellectual and practical difficulties encountered in the process, and strategies and resources that can be helpful in achieving the aim. A second session on this topic, entirely student-led, is planned to be organized within a few weeks.
Panelists:
Guntra Aistara, Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy
Alexandra Ghit, Postdoctoral Researcher
Xymena Kurowska, Department of International Relations
Nadia Gailani, Department of Gender Studies
Susan Zimmermann, Department of History & Department of Gender Studies
Dorit Geva, Director UG Programs
Prem Kumar Rajaram, Sociology and Social Anthropology
Michael Kozakowski, Center for Teaching and Learning
On Consolation: Finding Solace in Dark Times
Date: 11 February 2021, 3.30 – 5 pm (online)
“When we lose someone we love, when we suffer loss or defeat, when catastrophe strikes—war, famine, pandemic—we go in search of consolation. Once the province of priests and philosophers, the language of consolation has largely vanished from our modern vocabulary, and the places where it was offered, houses of religion, are often empty. Rejecting the solace of ancient religious texts, humanity since the sixteenth century has increasingly placed its faith in science, ideology, and the therapeutic.”
This seminar is planned as an interdisciplinary dialogue informed by the book of the Rector (release upcoming in late 2021), which also gives the title of the event.
Panelists:
Maria Kronfeldner, Philosophy Department
János Kis, Democracy Institute; Political Science Department
Tim Crane, Philosophy Department
Michael Ignatieff, President and Rector
PAST UNIVERSITY-WIDE SEMINARS
Populism, Exclusion and Xenophobia - France, Italy and Hungary
Held on: 27/5/2019, 15:00 Monument building, Hanak room (#201)
Panelists:
Daniele Joly, Warwick University UK, Maison des Sciences de L'Homme Paris
Antimo Farro, Sapienza University Rome
Dorit Geva, CEU Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology
Szabolcs Pogonyi, CEU Nationalism Studies Program
Introductory remarks:
Liviu Matei, CEU Provost
Abstract:
Populism tends to give new color and impetus to attitudes and practices such as xenophobia and social exclusion. The cost is high for the groups directly concerned and for the society as a whole. Members of the panel will discuss this phenomenon in a comparative perspective, using research focusing on three European countries: France, Italy and Hungary.
The Demise of Constitutionalism: Constitutional Courts and Resilience
Held on: 29/04/2019
Speakers: Prof.(em) Alexander Blankenagel, Berlin; Prof. Andras Sajo, Vice-President (ret.) European Court of Human Rights; Dr Olga Sidorovich, Director, Institute for Law and Public Policy, Moscow
Moderator: Prof. Renata Uitz, CEU
University Autonomy and Academic Freedom in Europe: Diverging Paths
Held on: 15/05/2018
Speakers: Liviu Matei, CEU’s Provost and Pro-Rector; Renáta Uitz, Professor at the Department of Legal Studies, CEU; Matthias Mahlmann, Recurrent Visiting Faculty at CEU and Chair of Philosophy and Theory of Law, Legal Sociology and International Public Law at University of Zurich
Chaired by Julia Iwinska, Yehuda Elkana Center for Higher Education
See the pictures from the event!
Crisis and Ethno-populism: In Search of a New Framework of Interpretation
Held on: 05/12/2017
Panel I: Populist Weltanschauungen: Ideological resources and narratives
Constantin Iordachi, Department of History, CEU; Mikkel Thorup, Department of Culture and Society, Aarhus University; Juan Francisco Fuentes, History, Complutense University Madrid; Tomasz Zarycki, Institute for Social Studies, University of Warsaw; Andras Bozoki, Department of Political Science, CEU
Panel II: Mobilization and institutionalization
Paula Diehl, Department of Social Sciences, Humboldt University; Renata Uitz, Department of Law, CEU; Agnes Batory, School of Public Policy, CEU; Bela Greskovits, Department of Political Science, Department of International Relations, CEU; Sanjay Kumar, Department of History, CEU; Andrea Pirro, Political Science, SNS Pisa
Convener: Balazs Trencsenyi, Department of History, CEU
See the pictures from the event!
Scaling gender research: Understanding inequalities from millions of observations to in-depth fieldwork
Held on: 07/11/2017
Speakers: Dorit Geva, Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology; Ancsa Hannak, Research Fellow at the Center for Network Science; Maria Kronfeldner, Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy; Anna May, Student at the Department of Economics and Business; Daniel Monterescu, Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology; Hadley Renkin, Assistant Professor at the Department of Gender Studies; Roberta Sinatra, Department of Mathematics and its Applications and Center for Network Science; Balazs Vedres, Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology and Center for Network Science
See the pictures from the event!
Energy transitions: optional, necessary or just inevitable?
Held on: 27/04/2017
Speakers: Frank Geels, University of Manchester; Jessica Jewell, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis; Aleh Cherp, Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy
Panelists: Alexios Antypas, Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy; Michael Dorsch, School of Public Policy; Michael LaBelle, CEU Business School / Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy
Moderator: Karl Hall, Department of History
See the pictures from the event!
Otherness: acceptance or refusal?
Held on: 02/20/2017
Speakers: Gerhard Jaritz, Professor at the Department of Medieval Studies; Tijana Krstić, Associate Professor at the Department of Medieval Studies and the Department of History; Prem Kumar Rajaram, Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology; Michael Laurence Miller, Head of the Nationalism Studies Program, Jewish Studies Program; Balázs Trencsényi, Professor at the Department of History;
Discussants: Jan Hennings, Assistant Professor at the Department of History; Hadley Z. Renkin, Assistant Professor at the Department of Gender Studies
Moderator: Gábor Klaniczay, University Professor at the Department of Medieval Studies
Amazing Potential and Dark Side of Big Data
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Held on: 12/07/2016
Speakers: Janos Kertesz, Professor at the Center for Network Science; Chrys Margaritidis, Dean of Students; Roberta Sinatra, Assistant Professor at the Center for Network Science and the Department of Mathematics and Its Applications
Discussants: Gábor Kézdi, Professor at the Department of Economics, Kate Coyer, Director of the Civil Society and Technology Project, Center for Media, Data and Society
Moderator: Miklós Koren, Professor at the Department of Economics
See the pictures from the event!
Watch the video from the event!
Markets or Geopolitics? The Changing International Political Economy of Oil and Gas
Held on: 11/25/2016
Speakers: Nick Sitter, Professor at the School of Public Policy; Andreas Goldthau, Professor at Royal Holloway, University of London; Svein S. Andersen, Professor at BI Norwegian Business School
Chair and Discussant: Karl Hall, Associate Professor at the CEU Department of History.
Symbolic capital in the 21st century: Managing status, reputation and influence in a changing world
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Held on: 05/25/2016
Speakers: Alexandra Kowalski, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology; Alexander V. Astrov, Associate Professor, Department of International Relations; Karl Hall, Associate Professor, Department of History; Xymena Kurowska, Associate Professor, Department of International Relations
Moderator: Liviu Matei, Provost
See the pictures from the event!
Listen to the podcast here!
Open Societies and Free Minds. Hannah Arendt and the Idea of Open Society
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Held on: 03/18/2016
Speakers: Nenad Dimitrijevic, Professor, Department of Political Science, CEU; Alex Soros, CEU Trustee; Zeljko Jovanovic, Director, Roma Initiatives Office, OSF; Roger Berkowitz, Associate Professor of Political Studies and Human Rights; Academic Director, Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and the Humanities, Bard College
Moderator: Liviu Matei, Provost
Watch the video from the event!
Chance and Necessity in Discovery and Innovation: An opportunity for social minds?
Held on: 02/25/2016
Speakers: Maria Kronfeldner, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy; Balazs Vedres, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology/ Center for Network Science; Guenther Knoblich, Professor, Department of Cognitive Science/ Social Mind Center
Moderator: Natalie Sebanz, Department of Cognitive Science/ Social Mind Center
The politics and aesthetics of violence: ISIS and analogous phenomena
Held on: 01/22/2016
Speakers: Aziz Al-Azmeh, University Professor, Department of History - Center for Religious Studies; Matteo Fumagalli, Associate Professor, Department of International Relations and Department of Political Science; Dorit Geva, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology; Constantin Iordachi, Professor, Department of History
Moderator: Liviu Matei, Provost
Foundations of Social Science
Held on: 11/4/2015
Presenter: Eric Beinhocker, Executive Director, INET Oxford and Visiting Professor, School of Public Policy
Discussant: Jean-Louis Fabiani, Professor, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology
Comments by: George Soros, CEU's Founder and Honorary Chairman of the Board of Trustees; Jonathan Cole, Columbia University Provost and Dean, Emeritus, CEU Trustee
Moderator: Liviu Matei, Provost
Closing Space for Civil Society
Held on: 10/28/2015
Presenter: Christopher Stone, President of the Open Society Foundations and CEU Trustee
Discussant: Hanoch Ben-Yami, Professor, Department of Philosophy
Moderator: Liviu Matei, Provost
Policy Making in the Age of Cognitive Science. Nudging: Risks and Challenges
Held on: 6/24/2015
Presenters: Andres Moles, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and Department of Philosophy; Christophe Heintz, Assistant Professor, Department of Cognitive Science