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Conference | Central Europe and Francophone Africa in the aftermath of the Second World War: Crossroads

To mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, the Centre universitaire francophone of the University of Szeged, in partnership with the Regional Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Department of Modern History and Mediterranean Studies of the University of Szeged, is organising a conference entitled ‘Central Europe and Francophone Africa in the aftermath of the Second World War: crossroads’.

This event has been created in partnership with the French Research Center in Humanities and Social Sciences – Prague (CEFRES) and the French Institute in Hungary.

When: May 19 and 20, 2025
Where: Regional Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Szeged

READ THE FULL PROGRAM HERE

Argumentary

This conference aims to interrogate post-history in two distinct regions that, at first glance, appear to share little in common, maintaining only distant relationships. However, when the fighting ended, both regions—considered peripherical—and their respective nations and populations experienced, simultaneously, an ambiguous and debatable liberation. With this paradox in mind, the conference seeks to highlight the inherent issues present in both regions within the broader perspective of the post–World War recomposition of the world, from which neither the European nor the African continent was exempt. The year 1945 marked the end of the dominance of traditional European powers and laid the foundations of the bipolar world order. These transformations had numerous repercussions for these regions, situated at the center of the superpowers’ geopolitical chessboard.

Taking a comparative approach, this conference positions itself as an open window into exploring the inherent or shared dynamics between Central Europe and Francophone Africa from the very end of hostilities onward. It also aims to describe the profound transformations, without losing sight of the fact that, although the year 1946 marked a rupture and a new beginning, it also belonged to the continuity of the old world.

Hence, the conference seeks to offer a space for reflection and dialogue between specialists of both regions—PhD students, early-career researchers, lecturers, and established scholars alike—to better understand the impact of the end of the Second World War on the contemporary history of Francophone Africa and Central Europe. The key perspectives proposed for discussion include:

  • Central Europe at the end of the Second World War
  • France and Central Europe from 1940 to 1950
  • Francophone Africa in 1945
  • The decolonization movements
  • Gaullism and Africa

Grand entretien – Mali or Bohemia?

Mali or Bohemia ? “Grand Entetien” with François-Xavier Fauvelle and Ladislav Varadzin

Date : May 22, 2024 at 6:00 pm
Location : French Institute in Prague, Štěpánská 35, Prague 1
Language : french and czech (simultaneous translation)

Partners of the event : CEFRES, French Institute in Prague, Institute of Archaeology, Czech Academy of Sciences

François-Xavier Fauvelle and Ladislav Varadzin will discuss about Africa’s cultural diversity and various historical paths of african societies. The will think about characteristics of a “global” Middle Ages including Central Europe and several regions of Africa. Engaging the exercice (inevitably risky) of historical comparaison, they will share their thoughts about medieval written documentation (including arabic and jewish works) available for these two regions, the role of archaeology, the emergence of the State, meeting of Central European and African societies with Christianity or Islam, “broker” States and business and more. They will mention the kingdoms of Bohemia, Moravia, Ghana, Mali and Ethiopia.

François-Xavier Fauvelle is professor at the Collège de France, holder of the chair of history and archaeology of African worlds at the Collège de France and currently director of the French Research Center in Jerusalem. He worked in South Africa, in Ethiopia where he excavated the Christian site of Lalibela and discovered several Muslim towns, and in Morocco where he excavated the medieval city of Sijilmasa. Among some twenty books translated into a dozen languages, he is the author of Zlatý nosorožec : Příběhy o africkém středověku (Prague, 2021).

Ladislav Varadzin is a researcher in the Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague. A specialist in recent prehistory and ancient history of societies in North-East Africa and Central Europe, he worked in Sudan and in Egypt, and he excavated the medevial site of Vyšehrad in Prague. He is the author of more than a hundred scientific articles and book chapters.