Polish Communities in France and in the United States after WW2 and their Political Practices
9th session of CEFRES in-house seminar
Through the presentation of works in progress, CEFRES’s Seminar aims at raising and discussing issues about methods, approaches or concepts, in a multidisciplinary spirit, allowing everyone to confront her or his own perspectives with the research presented.
Location: CEFRES Library and online (to get the link, write to cefres[@]cefres.cz)
Date: Tuesday, May 27, 2025 at 4:30 pm
Language: English
Speaker: Florence Vychytil-Baudoux (EHESS / CEFRES)
Chair: Françoise MAYER
Text to be read: Michael Werner & Bénédicte Zimmermann, « Beyond Comparison: Histoire Croisée and the Challenge of Reflexivity », History and Theory, 2006, vol. 45, no 1, p. 30‑50.
Abstract:
Between the 1880s and the 1930s, over 12 million people left Polish territories “za chlebem” (for bread). While before WW1 the United States attracted most Polish peasants looking for a better future, it was France that became the main destination for Polish migrants in the interwar period. Continue reading Transatlantic Crossings | CANCELLED →
Reinventing our cities in the face of climate and societal challenges
“La Nuit des idées 2025 – Acting for a Resilient City” is organized by the Institut français de Prague and the French Embassy in the Czech Republic, in partnership with CEFRES, AMO and the festival Les 48h pour l’agriculture urbaine. The project is supported by the Institut français de Paris.
Date: April 14, 2025, 6 PM
Location: Cinema Kino 35, Institut français de Prague,
Štěpánská 35, Prague 1
Language of the workshop: English
How can we build cities that are both sustainable and inclusive in the face of growing environmental and social challenges? What will tomorrow’s city look like? What innovative solutions exist for sustainable urban planning? What tools can help create more inclusive and greener cities?
Join us for a thought-provoking discussion on the future of urban resilience and innovation.
Speakers:
- Barbora CHMELOVÁ (Ministry of the Environment / AMO) – Specialist in public policies for sustainability
- Martin ĎURĎOVIČ (Academy of Sciences / CEFRES) – Researcher in urban planning and ecological transitions
- Flore-Anaïs BRUNET (AFAUP) – Urban agriculture specialist and activist
Moderator: Gilles LEPESANT (Geographer, CNRS / CEFRES)
Key Topics:
- Cities and climate resilience – How can we adapt urban infrastructures to extreme weather events (heatwaves, floods, droughts)? What role can nature-based solutions play in making cities more sustainable?
- Urban planning and new development models – How can we balance urban density, land-use efficiency, and quality of life? What tools are available to create more inclusive and accessible cities?
- Circular economy and social innovation – How can cities promote new modes of production and consumption? What impact do urban commons and citizen-led initiatives have on local governance? What role does urban farming play in strengthening cities’ resilience?
- Mobility and energy transition – What are the alternatives to polluting transportation? How can we foster shared, fair, and sustainable mobility solutions?
Find more informations about all the events here.
EHESS-UMIFRE Workshop
This doctoral programme will consist of four 2-3 hour workshops over two days, each focusing on a dialogue and joint readings.
Date: May 12-14, 2025
Location: CEFRES, Na Florenci 3, Prague 1
Language of the workshop: English, French
Organizers : EHESS, CEFRES (Prague), CRFJ (Jerusalem), IFA SHS (Frankfurt/Main)
Coordination : Falk Bretschneider (EHESS / IFRA-SHS) & Mateusz Chmurski (Sorbonne Université / CEFRES)
Argumentary:
How do we name the things that happen? If this question is always relevant, it is never as sensitive, divisive, or necessary as it becomes in times of crisis. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, followed by the crisis in the Near East that erupted on October 7, 2023—with their respective share of daily tragedies—give this question a cruel and painful urgency. How do we name what is happening to us? Pogrom. Resistance. Colonisation. Terrorism. Genocide. Segregation. Apartheid. War crimes. How do we choose these words, and who chooses them for us? Are these words precise enough to fairly capture reality, while broad enough not to be reduced to the empirical description of isolated events? If imprecision is a necessary attribute of language, how can we be sure that the intentions behind these words are free from manipulation, harmful visions, or dangerous ideologies? To which frameworks—legal, legislative, expert, academic—do these words belong? What do they permit, and what do they silence? How do they mobilise reason, emotion, moral judgement, or ethical and political positions? In what historical contexts were these words created or imbued with meaning, and how much would it cost to free them from those contexts? Indeed, to question, clarify, and correct the words we use as categories to analyse the world as it is—this is no easy task.
Program
Continue reading The Dimension of Words | Doctoral Workshop →
Eighth session of the 2024-2025 CEFRES Francophone
Interdisciplinary Seminar The Map and the Border
In 2023 we started questionning the very act of bordering and representing (a territory, a period, a trajectory). In short, thanks to the interdisciplinarity of our respective disciplines, we began inquiring into the question of the map and the border.
Location: CEFRES, Na Florenci 3, Prague 1
Date: Friday May 23, 2025, from 10 am
Language: French
Speaker: Gilles LEPESANT (CEFRES / CNRS)
Discussant: Barbora Kvasničková (Research fellow at AMO – Association for International Affairs)
Abstract Continue reading Energy and its Renewed Cartography →
When: May 15th and 16th, 2025
Where: Institute of World Literature, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
Language: French, English
Organizers: Katarína Bednárová, Silvia Rybárová, Ján Živčák (Institute of World Literature, Slovak Academy of Sciences)
See the whole CFA
Download the program here.
See the official poster here.
This international conference is organised by The Institute of World Literature of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Faculty of Arts of Comenius University Bratislava and CEFRES.
Photo: Mgr. Lucia Drotárová, PhD. Created with the help of AI.
Program
Continue reading Translation of Humanities and Social Sciences | Conference →
When: 27-29 March 2025
Where: ENS de Lyon, Site Descartes
Language: French, English
Organising Committee:
- Raphaëlle Brin (ENS de Lyon)
- Zoé Carle (Université Paris 8)
- Adrien Chassain (Université Paris 8)
- Sylvia Chassaing (Inalco)
- Hélène Martinelli (CEFRES, Prague)
- Giedrė Šabasevičiūtė (Académie tchèque des sciences, Prague)
