Population Forecasting as a Scientific Instrument of Population Control

Planning from the future. Population Forecasting as a Scientific Instrument of Population Control

7th 2022 Session of CEFRES Seminar 

When: Wednesday 11 May 2022, 4:30–6:30 pm
Where: At CEFRES and online (to register, please contact claire(@)cefres.cz)
Language: English

Host: Nikola Ludlová (CEFRES)

Abstract

Predictions of the size and other demographic characteristics of human populations at specified future dates have played an important role in the shaping of population policies. The interest in envisioning future development as part of state governance dates back to antiquity, but the modern population forecasting as a scientific enterprise emerged along with the constitution of statistics and demography as scientific disciplines during the 19th century. Continue reading Population Forecasting as a Scientific Instrument of Population Control

The Philosophical Horizon as a Singularity of French Anthropology

The Philosophical Horizon as a Singularity of French Anthropology

6th 2022 Session of CEFRES Seminar 

When: Wednesday 20 April 2022, 4:30–6:30 pm
Where: At CEFRES and online (to register, please contact claire(@)cefres.cz)
Language: English

Host: Emmanuel Désveaux (EHESS)

Abstract
From Durkheim to Descola, via Mauss, Lévi-Strauss, Clastres and Godelier, and even Alban Bensa, a constancy is observed in French anthropology: the quest for universals in the gift, the exchange of women, the nature of government, or even the perception of nature and the significance of power relations. Continue reading The Philosophical Horizon as a Singularity of French Anthropology

Belarus and the Russian Invasion in Ukraine

Belarus and the Russian Invasion in Ukraine

2nd session of “CEFRES Webinars for Ukraine” organized in partnership with the GDR Connaissance de l’Europe médiane

Date: Wednesday 20th April 2022, 12:00-13:30
Location: online (to register, write at the address cefres@cefres.cz)
Language: English

Convenor and moderation: Ronan Hervouet (CEFRES / University of Bordeaux)

With the participation of

  • Milàn Czerny, Belarus Observatory, Oxford University
    Belarus, Still a Sovereign State?
  • Yauheni Kryzhanouski, Sciences Po Strasbourg
    The Ukrainian Conflict Seen by the Belarusian Society
  • Anna Talarionok, Charles University
    Belarusian Exiles Caught in the Ukrainian Conflict

A complete presentation of the seminar is available and downloadable here.

Continue reading Belarus and the Russian Invasion in Ukraine

Psychoanalysis in Czechoslovakia (1918-1939)

Psychoanalysis in Czechoslovakia (1918-1939):
Freud’s Theories Between Czech and Slovak Art, Literature, Philosophy, and Politics 

1st session of the Seminar “Rethinking Psychoanalysis in Central Europe: Interdisciplinary and transnational perspectives“ 

When: Tuesday, April 19, 2022, 4:00–6:00 pm
Where: At CEFRES and online (to register, please contact claire(@)cefres.cz)
Language: English

Coordinator: Agnieszka Sobolewska (University of Warsaw/Sorbonne University/CEFRES)

Guest-speaker : Adam Bzoch (Slovak Academy of Sciences)

Discussants:

  • Paweł Rodak (University of Warsaw)
  • Jean-François Laplénie (Sorbonne University)

How to study Romanian conservative intellectuals?

How to study Romanian conservative intellectuals in transnational perspective?

5th session of CEFRES Seminar

When: Wednesday 6 April 2022, 4:30 pm
Where: CEFRES and online (to register please contact claire(@)cefres.cz)
Language: English
Host: Anemona Constantin (CEFRES/Charles University)

Abstract:

“Populist,” “illiberal,” “nationalist,” or “conservative”: these are some common ways to refer nowadays to political actors, social movements, or intellectuals who criticize liberalism. These overused, worn-out, and often abused labels have been reinvented despite some obvious theoretical flaws and methodological biases. Perhaps, because these terms are fulfilling a vital social and political function – naming and shaming what appears to be at the climax of the ideological undesirability – they continue to be widely used in the media and by social scientists. A few questions emerge naturally: how to engage with a research field undermined by so many negative preconceptions? How to study an object labeled in such a derogatory way? Which research methods would allow us to break with the common beliefs and approach the conservative mobilizations more reflexively?

To answer these questions, the presentation examines a specific case: the Romanian conservative intellectuals and their contribution to the political debates that have challenged since 2007 the “liberal consensus” established in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) after the demise of state- socialism. By “liberal consensus,” I understand discourses that have accepted and promoted human rights (including minority rights and tolerance towards cultural, religious, and gender diversity), the market economy, the rule of law, and the European integration. By “conservative” intellectuals, I understand public figures who define themselves as such.

Continue reading How to study Romanian conservative intellectuals?

Affects, Everyday Writing Practices, and the Origins of Self-Analysis

Affects, Everyday Writing Practices, and the Origins of Self-Analysis. The Case of Julian Ochorowicz and Sigmund Freud.

4th 2022 Session of CEFRES Seminar 

When: Wednesday 30 March 2022, 4:30 pm
Where: At CEFRES and online (to register please contact claire(@)cefres.cz)
Language: English
Host: Agnieszka Sobolewska (Warsaw University/Sorbonne University/CEFRES)

Abstract:

In what ways everyday writing practices (such as keeping a journal or writing letters) are related to science in the second half of the nineteenth century? How the differences between self-reflective techniques (such as introspection and self-analysis) are reflected in the generic divergencies between journal and epistolary practices? During this presentation, I will take a closer look at the important shift in the nineteenth century psycho-medical literature which was closely related to the question of psychological introspection and the emergence of psychoanalytic self-analysis in the late 1890s. This shift can be closely observed in life writing of the nineteenth-century psychologists, physicians, and future psychoanalysts, and was crucial for future understanding of the self in the twentieth century.

Continue reading Affects, Everyday Writing Practices, and the Origins of Self-Analysis