“The Trial. Prague, 1952”. Open debate with Ruth Zylberman

On the occasion of Ruth Zylberman’s The Trial. Prague, 1952 documentary devoted to the Slanský trial premiere, at the French Institute in Prague, CEFRES proposes an open debate on history and memory, testimony and transmission, bringing together the film director, historians and sociologists Muriel Blaive, Kateřina Čapková and Françoise Mayer, and the public.

Where: CEFRES library
When : Friday, September 27, 2022, at 10:00 am
Language: English

The discussion will be driven by
Muriel Blaive, film’s historical advisor,
Kateřina Čapková, Institute of Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences and
Françoise Mayer, Paul Valéry University, Montpellier

Ruth Zylberman is a filmmaker and author.
Among her latest films:
Le dernier été (France Télévisions, Zadig Productions, 2019, 60’)
Les Enfants du 209 rue Saint-Maur, Paris Xe (2017, Arte-Zadig Productions, 110’)
Maurice Nadeau, Le chemin de la vie (2011, Arte-Zadig Productions, 52’)
Dissidents, les Artisans de la Liberté (2009, Arte-Zadig Productions, 100’)

She is also the author of La direction de l’Absent, (Christian Bourgois, 2015) and the narrative 209 rue Saint-Maur, Paris Xe, Autobiography d’un immeuble (Le Seuil/Arte Editions, 2020).

CEFRES webinars for Ukraine

CEFRES webinars for Ukraine

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine marks the return of war to Europe. Although the war dates back to the 2014 armed conflict in Donbas, with the war of aggression against Ukraine, it is now taking on an unprecedented scale. This war is also fought in the field of information and interpretation, posing major challenges for the humanities and social sciences. Located in the heart of Central Europe directly affected by the war, CEFRES is hosting a series of webinars dedicated to the analysis of the war and its effects in the region from the position of humanistic and social scientific inquiry. 

Coordination: Jérôme Heurtaux (Director of CEFRES), Michèle Baussant (CNRS-CEFRES), Ronan Hervouet (CEFRES).

Webinar 1

The challenges of hosting refugees from Ukraine in Central Europe

Date: Tuesday, 22nd March 2022, 12:00 – 13:30 (CET)
Location: online: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83104476667 (in case of any problems, write to cefres@cefres.cz)
Language: English

A Webinar organized in partnership with the GDR “Connaissance de l’Europe médiane”.

On the front line in hosting refugees from the war in Ukraine, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe are facing major challenges. How are they responding to this unprecedented demand for hospitality? Which actors (governments, local authorities, NGOs, etc.) are involved, and what are their resources and capacities? How does this new wave of Ukrainian migration differ from the previous ones? What are the contours of the solidarity shown by Central European societies? This webinar offers a comparative perspective by bringing together different experts to discuss the situation of Ukrainian refugees in Central and Eastern Europe (Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Romania).

With :

  • Dr. Olena Babakova, freelance journalist, an expert on Ukrainian migration to Poland.
  • Prof. MUDr. Vladimir Krčméry DrSc. academic, physicist, founder of St. Elisabeth Private University of Health and Social Work in Bratislava
  • Dr Ondřej Kopečný, analyst, STEM – Institute of Empirical Research (Prague).
  • Dr. Anemona Constantin, political scientist, a post-doctoral researcher at CEFRES.

Moderated by: Michèle Baussant (CNRS-CEFRES)

Illustration photograph by Martin Mádl (6/3/2022)

 

Central Europe in French Humanities Publications

A roundtable discussion organized at „Book World Prague“ – „Svět knihy“ among events devoted to France, the guest of honour of the 2021 edition of the book fair

Where: Prague, Výstaviště, Ateliér Evropa
When: 24 September 2021, 11h-12h50
Language: French with a simultaneous translation into Czech

For many years now Central Europe has been the subject of interest on the part of French publishing houses focusing on humanities. This curiosity, however, is often marginal, and only intensifies in the light of major historical events. French publishers and social scientists debate Central Europe‘s publishing potential in France.

With the participation of:
Astrid Thorn-Hillig (Publishing house of Maison des sciences de l’homme),
Gwendal Piégais (Codex Publishing),
Miroslav Novák (author of Le Printemps de Prague, 1968. Une révolution interrompue ?, Codex, 2021)
Ronan Hervouet (author of Le goût des tyrans. Une ethnographie politique du quotidien en Biélorussie, Lormont, Le Bord de l’eau, 2020).

Moderation: Jérôme Heurtaux, director of CEFRES, author of Pologne 1989. Comment le communisme s’est effondré, Codex, 2019.

Security Issues in Post-Brexit Europe: Views from the Czech Republic, France, Germany and Poland

The Center for French Studies at the University of Warsaw and the French Research Center in Humanities and Social Sciences are glad to invite you to its roundtable on security issues in Post-Brexit Europe.

Date: Friday 18th June 2021, 15h – 17h
Place: Online, link of the webinair: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86944135144
ID: 869 4413 5144
Language: English

Organizer: Amélie Zima (Center for French Studies, University of Warsaw, Poland)

Welcoming remarks:

  • Jérôme Heurtaux (Director of CEFRES)
  • Nicolas Maslowski (Director of Center for French Studies at the University of Warsaw, Poland)

Speakers:

  • Monika Brusenbauch-Meislova (Brno University, Czech Republic): Choppy Seas, or Calm Waters? Brexit Challenges for Czech Security and Defence policy
  • Delphine Deschaux-Dutard (Grenoble Alpes University, France): France, Germany and European Strategic Autonomy after Brexit: Squaring the Circle
  • Amélie Zima (Center for French Studies, University of Warsaw, Poland): Polish Defence Policy in Post-Brexit Era: Back to Atlancism?

Chair: Marek Madej (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Credits: European Takuba Task Force, DICOD/EMA

Gender, Political Struggle and Academic Freedom

An International webinar organised by Institut du genre, CEFRES and CEMCA (French Center for Mexican and Center American Studies)

This webinar will focus on the relationship between academia and political struggle, with an emphasis on gender studies and the critical knowledge associated with them. We will first discuss the current terms of the conservative backlash against gender studies, the forms of pressure and censorship against them depending on the powers and political contexts, and the political and economic issues of academic autonomy.

We also aim to re-anchor this reflection into the historicity of the debates that the institutionalization of gender studies has aroused over the past thirty years. In different places, this field has arised in conjunction with democratic-liberal transitions. It also has been accused of depoliticizing feminist studies dissolving them in a scientific “new empire” strongly marked by the intellectual influence of the USA, or by the neoliberal globalization. This field of knowledge supposedly homogeneous in the eyes of its detractors continues to span across various and sometimes divergent approaches. It is on this basis that we will question the current forms of social resistance and the reorganization of this field of study.

Finally, by looking beyond the European perspective, we will consider the role of academic space and gender studies as a base for feminist demands (about gender-based violence in Mexico). And, we will ask how the efforts to constitute or consolidate this field of study are currently being carried out in academic spaces that still unwilling to give them a place in their own right, except under the unique angle of “development” (about gender studies in Cameroon).

This international webinar is organized in partnership with the Institute of Gender in France (IDG), the Center for Mexican and Central American Studies (CEMCA) and the French Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences (CEFRES) in Prague on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the latter.

Date: 15 June 2021, 3–5 pm
Language: English
Place: online on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81104662184 ID: 811 0466 2184

Program

Welcome and introduction:

Moderation:

Speakers:

  • Andrea Pető, Central European University, Vienne
    Science policy of illiberal polypore state
  • Patrick Awondo, Université de Yaoundé
    What academic freedom does to gender as a subject of research in Cameroon
  • Verónica Rodriguez Cabrera, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Xochimilco (Mexique)
    Academic freedom and gender studies: the question of violence against women 

 

Featured photograph: Marek Madl, Warsaw, October 2020

Knowledge, Power and Academic Freedom in Europe (and Beyond) – Part 1

Part 1 of CEFRES 30th Anniversary Conference

The French Center for Research in Humanities and Social Sciences (CEFRES) is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary this year. CEFRES has been both an actor and an observer of the reshaping of research in Central Europe after 1989. It has first accompanied the remarkable restoration of academic freedom and the takeover of its destiny by the academic world. Thirty years of activity in the heart of Central Europe have made CEFRES a witness to the growing importance of the European level in the structuring and financing of the research sector, to the internationalization and the intensification of international competition, and to the structural transformations that affect the social sciences and humanities. This is the reason why CEFRES and its privileged partners, the Czech Academy of Sciences and Charles University, as well as the CEFRES Alumni Association, are devoting this thirtieth anniversary conference to the great transformation of the academic world from the point of view of the recompositions of the relationship between academic knowledge and power, as well as to academic freedom.

The first part of the conference will be held in Prague in a hybrid format (face-to-face/remote) on May 27th and 28th 2021. It will be opened on Thursday, May 27th at 5 pm by an inaugural conference moderated by Mr Jérôme Heurtaux, Director of CEFRES, and introduced by Mr Clément Beaune, Secretary of State for European Affairs of the French government (by video), Ms Eva Zažímalová, President of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Mr François-Joseph Ruggiu, Director of the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences at CNRS and Mr Tomáš Zima, Rector of Charles University, with, as guest of honour, Mr Michael Ignatieff, Rector and President of the Central European University. On Friday, May 28th, the conference will gather 26 representatives of the academic and diplomatic world, former directors and researchers of CEFRES, who will discuss past and future of the Czech-French relationship in the European context, the challenges of knowledge transmission and internationalization.  The day will begin with a keynote lecture by Mr Pierre-Michel Menger, Professor at the Collège de France.

Dates: Thursday 27 may and friday 28 may 2021
Organizers: CEFRES, Czech Academy of Sciences, Charles University, CEFRES Alumni Association
Place: Prague and online (the conference will be streamed at this address: https://www.facebook.com/cefres)
To join the different sessions, please see the links below.
Languages: French, English, live interpretation in English
Participants: download the complete list of participants here.

Program

Thursday, May 27th 2021, 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm

Inaugural Round Table
Place: Czech Academy of Sciences – online
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84680097684
Language: English
Please find the login code here: 846 8009 7684

Chair: Jérôme Heurtaux, Director of CEFRES

  • Clément Beaune, Secretary of State for European Affairs of the French Government (by video)
  • Eva Zažímalová, President of the Czech Academy of Sciences
  • François-Joseph Ruggiu, Director of the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (InSHS), CNRS
  • Tomáš Zima, Rector of Charles University

Guest of Honour:

  • Michael Ignatieff, Rector and President of the Central European University

Friday, May 28th 2021 

Place: Karolinum, Charles University rectorate, Prague  & online
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86543574454
Please find the login code here: 865 4357 4454

9:00 am – 10:30 am : Keynote Lecture (in English)

Chair: Tomáš Kostelecký, sociologist, member of the Academy Council of the Czech Academy of Sciences

  • Pierre-Michel Menger, sociologist, Professor at the Collège de France, holder of the Chair “Sociology of creative work”: Scientific research: A matter of resources, performance, competition and collaboration

10:45 am – 1:30 pm: From Bilateral to European Level: CEFRES in its History

Chair: Nicolas Maslowski, sociologist, Director of CCFEF (Warsaw)

  • Marie-Elizabeth Ducreux, historian, emeritus research Director at CNRS, former Director of CEFRES (1991–1993)
  • Yves Saint-Geours, diplomat, former deputy Director of archeology and social sciences at the MEAE (1990–1993)
  • Antoine Marès, historian, emeritus Professor at the Pantheon-Sorbonne University, former Director of CEFRES (1998–2001)
  • František Šmahel, historian, medievalist, former Director of the Institute of History, then of the Center for Medieval Studies  of Czech Academy of Sciences
  • Pavel Baran, philosopher, President of the Scientific Council of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vice-President of the Research, Development and Innovation Council of the Czech Republic
  • Lenka Rovná, political scientist, Vice-Rector for European Affairs, Charles University
  • Christian Lequesne, political scientist, Professor at Sciences Po, former Director of CEFRES (2004–2006)

Lunch

3:00 pm – 4:45 pm: Intergenerational Dialogues

Chair: Georges Mink, political scientist, emeritus research Director at CNRS, holder of the Chair of European Civilization and History in memoriam Bronisław Geremek at the College of Europe, Natolin, President of the ICCEES, former Director of CEFRES (2001–2003)

  • Marie-Claude Maurel, geographer, Directrice d’études at EHESS, former Director of CEFRES (2006–2010)
  • Taťána Petrasová, art historian, member of the Academy Council of the Czech Academy of Sciences from 2013 to 2021
  • Gábor Sonkoly, historian, Professor at Institute of Historical Studies and Atelier, Department of Interdisciplinary History, ELTE University, Budapest
  • Petr Horák, philosopher, emeritus Professor of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Professor at the University of Pardubice
  • Milena Lenderová, historian, former Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Pardubice
  • Michel Perottino, political scientist, Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University, former General secretary of CEFRES
  • Mátyás Erdélyi, historian, post-doctoral fellow at CEFRES

5:00 pm – 6:30 pm: Researchers Without Borders? Internationalisation and Research Trajectories, 1991-2021
Roundtable of the CEFRES Alumni Association (English)

Chair: Clara Royer, senior Lecturer at Sorbonne University, former director of CEFRES (2015–2018)

  • Florence Vychytil-Baudoux, historian, doctoral student at EHESS, associated with CEFRES
  • Pascal Marty, geographer, Director of the Maison française d’Oxford, former deputy Director of InSHS of CNRS
  • Jana Vargovčíková, political scientist, junior Professor at INALCO
  • Gilles Lepesant, geographer, research Director at CNRS
  • Hana Fořtová, political scientist, translator, researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
  • Luděk Brož, anthropologist, researcher at the Institute of Ethnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences
  • Eloïse Adde, historian medievalist, Marie Curie researcher at the Saint-Louis University in Brussels

You can download the program here.