Academics: Regional Studies
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Czech Studies
2012 Events
Tuesday, March 27 - Thursday, April 19, 2012
4th Floor Atrium - International Affairs Building
EXHIBIT: VÁCLAV HAVEL
THE POWER OF THE HEROIC IMAGINATION
Václav Havel's life and career interconnected three main roles and ideas: a dissident and a critical citizen defending basic human freedoms, a politician struggling to cope with questions of power and compromise, and a public intellectual commenting on the topics of global responsibility and identity.
The idea of human rights and dissidence-with which Havel's life story is closely linked -provides a lesson that connects local history with a global present. Here, the Charter 77 initiative played a particularly important role and became an inspiration for similar movements throughout the world. Havel's essay "The Power of the Powerless" empowers people today just as it did when it was written in 1978. The role of the critical citizen is now important both locally and globally more than ever.
As Philip Zimbardo argued, Havel internalized and utilized the power of the heroic imagination "to crystallize beliefs and values into social, political action. Such a belief system enables any of us, when faced with situational forces that make us feel powerless, to rise above and beyond those limitations and gain strength to act wisely and nobly."
Photographs by Oldrich Skacha, Karel Cudlin and Ota Pajer
Curated by Jaroslav Andel, Artistic Director, DOX Centre for Contemporary Art
This exhibit originated at the DOX Center for Contemporary Art in Prague where Havel celebrated his last birthday. DOX seeks to explore some of Havel's ideas in its exhibitions and debates on democracy and social change.
2010 Events
Czech Foreign Policy After the Fall of Communism
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
International Affairs Building, Room 1512
Harriman Institute
Lecture with Jiri Paroubek
2008 Events
The Myth of the Golden Republic: Czechoslovak Myth and Propaganda, 1914-1918.
September 18, 4 - 6 p.m.
1118 IAB
Andrea Orzoff will describe the Czechoslovak propaganda effort, and the nationalist myth contained within it, in a talk presenting her forthcoming book, Battle for the Castle: Czechoslovak Myth and Propaganda, 1914-1948: Oxford University Press, 2009.
2007 Highlights
Dealing with the Past in East Central Europe
December 2-3, Schedule
1501 IAB
An international conference with: Jon Elster (Columbia University), Marek Kornat (Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw), Zdislaw Krasnobebski (University of Bremen), Pawel Machcewisz (University of Torun), John Micgiel (Columbia University), Piotr Naimski (Higher School of Business, National-Louis University, Nowy Sacz), Lavinia Stan (Concordia University, Montreal), Rafal Stobiecki (University of Lodz), Oldrich Tuma (Institute of Contemporary History, Prague), Helga Welsh (Wake Forrest University), Bronislaw Wildstein (Rzeczpospolita)and Artur Wolek (Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw).
With generous funding from the Semper Polonia Foundation, Warsaw and The Kosciuszko Foundation, New York City
Call for Papers: 9th Annual Czech Workshop, April 25-27,2008 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, EVANSTON AND CHICAGO, IL
The Ninth Annual Czech Workshop welcomes papers on Czech, Bohemian, Moravian, and Czechoslovak topics, broadly defined, in all disciplines. In the past this interdisciplinary conference has drawn participants from colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. Areas of interest have included anthropology, architecture, art, economics, film, history,language methodology, literature, music, philosophy, politics, religion, sociology and theater. Work in progress is appropriate for this workshop format. Junior faculty and advanced graduate students are particularly encouraged to participate.
Please send your abstract of approximately 250 words to:
Czech Workshop at Northwestern University
Roberta Buffett,
Center for International and Comparative Studies
1902 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208-4005
Or submission via e-mail to r-koryan@northwestern.edu
Please include name, full address,institutional affiliation, daytime telephone, fax, and email address.
For more information contact Prof. Benjamin Frommer,
Department of History, Northwestern University
b-frommer@northwestern.edu Deadline for submissions is Friday, December 7, 2007.
The Prague Centre for Public Policy's European Spring Institute on the Future of Europe: Lobbying in Brussels
The European Spring Institute 2008 is a seven-day academic program designed to bring together 30 undergraduate and graduate students of various nationalities and academic backgrounds.
The program provides students with an exciting opportunity to deepen their knowledge of the current EU politics through exchange of ideas with academics, policy practitioners and fellow students from different cultural environments. The ESI2008 combines intensive academic courses with cultural, social and
recreational opportunities.
The Spring Institute will take place in Prague, March 29-April 5, 2008.
Early Bird application deadline is February 1, 2008. The final deadline is February 15, 2008