February 1, 2009

The third annual Kenneth Weisinger Memorial Lecture will feature speaker Andreas Huyssen (Villard Professor of German and Comparative Literature, Columbia University).

February 1, 2009

Howard Caygill (Professor of Cultural History, Goldsmiths College, University of London) will give a lecture on "Kafka and the Survival of Shame."

December 1, 2008

Hugo Loetscher will give a lecture on "Plea for a Mobile Identity." This lecture focuses on the conception of identity from both a Swiss and an international perspective. On the basis of personal experiences, the conflict between personal, national and global identity is debated. The focus is on variation and on the multiplicity of identities instead of uniqueness. As such, identity is not seen as fixation or as an orthodox uniform, but rather as a field of tension and a possibility of interaction with others. Hugo Loetscher was born in Zurich in 1929. He worked as editor-in-chief of the political…

November 1, 2008

Jan Donkers will lecture on "Provo and After: Second Thoughts on Amsterdam’s Playful Revolution in the Sixties." For decades, the Dutch have taken pride in the playful and relatively non-violent nature of the Provo Movement that shook Dutch society in the sixties. The way the protest movements of that decade were swiftly encapsulated was typical of the traditional Dutch ability to compromise. For a while it seemed that the basis of a permissive society was agreed upon by all. But when the backlash eventually did arrive, it came with a hint of vengeance. Jan Donkers is this year’s Regents’ Lecturer…

November 1, 2008

Iso Camartin will give a talk titled, "Advertising a Strange Case." The thematic focus of this lecture is multilingualism and cultural diversity in Switzerland. Related aspects are: political and cultural loyalty, modern survival strategies in economically marginal regions, cultural priorities in a globalized world, revivifying the "think global, act local"- philosophy. Iso Camartin was born in Graubünden in 1944. His mother-tongue is Romansh but he is fluent in the four official languages of Switzerland. From 1974 to 1997 he worked as a research fellow at the Centre for European Studies at Harvard University. From 1985 to 1997 he was Professor…

November 1, 2008

Daniel Weidner (FU Berlin) will give a lecture on "The Martyr is the Message. Representation, theatricality and secularization in German Baroque drama."

November 1, 2008

Roger de Weck will lecture on "Multicultural Identity in Europe: The Swiss Model." Switzerland has traditionally been associated with snow-covered mountains, yodelers, cuckoo-clocks and Heidi as a tourist-fantasy of harmony, purity and order. The purpose of this project is to look behind such clichés that depict Switzerland as a complacent island of wellness and stability in a chaotic world and to critically reflect on the Swiss model of multicultural and multilingual identity, neutrality and direct democracy. Three prominent Swiss guests have been invited discuss the future of the Swiss model, the Swiss relationship with the European Union, and immigration as…

November 1, 2008

Eric Vanhaute will give a lecture titled, "From Famine to Food Crisis: Lessons and Limits of the European Experience." In the beginning of the 21st century, the world is confronted with what seems to become the first global food crisis. What are its historical roots? What is new? How did past societies cope with 'food security'? What can we learn from 'the big escape' from famine in the Western world? What are the limits of these lessons? This lecture tries to entangle the past and present relationship between the production of food and the production of famine. Eric Vanhaute is…

April 1, 2008

Chad Wellmon (University of Virginia) will lecture on "Kant and the Feelings of Reason."

March 30, 2008

David Wellbery (University of Chicago) will lecture on "Precarious, Unhoped-for Happiness: Remarks on classical German literature."