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 →
Seventh 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 April 25, 2025, from 10 am
Language: French
Speaker: Silvestr TRNOVEC (Institute of Oriental Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences)
Discussant: Jakub ŠTOFÁNIK (Masaryk Institute and Archives, Czech Academy of Sciences)
Abstract Continue reading (Czecho)slovak History and French Colonial Space in Africa →
A European Middle Ages. Circulation of Objects, Practices, and Techniques between Central and Western Europe (1000–1600)
Fourth PhD Students Workshop organized within the cooperation agreement signed by EHESS, CEFRES, Charles University and the Czech Academy of Sciences.
Date: April 24, 2025
Location: CEFRES, Na Florenci 3, Prague 1 (and online, to get the link, register at the address cefres@cefres.cz)
Language of the workshop: English
Convenors:
- Lise Saussus, Center of historical research, UMR 8558, School of Higher Studies in Social Sciences
- Jakub Sawicki, Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague
- Tomasz Cymbalak, National Heritage Institute, Prague
- Nicolas Thomas, National Institute of Preventive Archeological Research, Laboratory of Western Medieval Studies, Paris
8th 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, April 15, 2025 at 4:30 pm
Language: English
Jan MUSIL (Faculty of Arts, Charles University / associated at CEFRES)
Chair: Hélène Martinelli (CEFRES / École Normale Supérieure de Lyon)
Text to be read: Gorer, Geoffrey. “The Pornography of Death.” Encounter., vol. 5, no. 4, 1955.
Abstract:
With the christian idea of afterlife gradually fading away, 20th century rediscovered death as a real possibility and ultimate termination of individual life, only to make it into an insufferable, abjected topic and a taboo that is, as Geoffrey Gorer provocatively suggests in 1955, only accessible to the Western culture in hypertrophied genres of literature and film that he calls collectively the pornography of death. Continue reading Thanatographies. Staging Grief and Literary Afterlife →
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.
Between Poland and the Ottoman Empire: Armenian Chronicles from Ukraine during the Thirty Years’ War
Fifth session of the 2024-2025 CEFRES Francophone
Interdisciplinary Seminar The Map and the Border
Already 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: March 28, 2025, from 10am to 12pm
Language: French
Speaker: Petra Košťálová (Institute of Ethnology , Czech Academy of Sciences)
Discussant: Radu Paun (CERCEC/CNRS) & Laurent Tatarenko (CCFEF, Warsaw)
Abstract Continue reading Armenian Chronicles from Ukraine →
