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Max Kade Center for European and German Studies Newsletter for the Spring 2015 Director: Joy H. Calico Max Kade Center Associate Professor of Musicology & European for European and German Studies Studies MAYMESTER ABROAD 2015: SWITZERLAND OR VIENNA? EUS 260.02: International Health, Social Justice, and Romantic Poetry — By Robert Barsky, Professor of English, French, Jewish Studies and Comparative Literature EUS offers two Maymester upholding human rights. Another reason is the access to archives of work from courses abroad in 2015. sheer grandeur and impenetrability of the high political radicals, notably Christoph Zeller’s course on Alps has led to the establishment of specific Reclus, Kropotkin and Vienna and Modernism is a kinds of political regimes that have been largely Bakunin, as well as documents perennial favorite (see previ‐ protected by repeated incursions and allowed for relating to Swiss experiments ous issue). Below Robert a certain protective neutrality. in radical reform, including the Barsky describes his new work of the Jura watchmakers. EUS course in Switzerland. In this Maymester, Professor Robert Barsky will The class will then visit make this link between radicalism and creativity, Montreux, where they will Despite (or perhaps because safe haven and international law, medicine and encounter the worlds of Byron, of) the conservatism of the international engagement, by exploring Mary and Percy Shelley and Swiss and the image of Swit‐ others through visits to the zerland as a place of politi‐ regions so dear to all of them, cal neutrality, banking and including the Chateau Chillon watch‐making, the Swiss and the Villa Diodati. From Alps have sheltered and I Geneva we head to Chamonix inspired generations of Mont Blanc, the very height of radical creative and political the Swiss Alps, the most work, by a host of artists, famous icon for the Romantic Romantic poets writers. (i.e. Wordsworth, Shelley and Byron), anarchists We follow up our hiking and (Bakunin, Kropotkin and Romantic explorations through the Jura Federation), and, in a five day séjour in Grindewald, Ascona, an incredible group where explore the sublime of visiting artists and writers heights of the Eiger and the (Mary Wigman, Hermann institutes, specialists and natural settings in the surrounding valley that have Hesse, D.H. Lawrence, Alps of Switzerland, Italy and France. Beginning inspired so many artists, writ‐ Isadora Duncan, C.G. Jung, in Geneva, the students will be introduced to the ers and philosophers. We will Franz Kaa, Paul Tillich international legal and non‐governmental organ‐ then travel to Zurich, where we and Max Weber). One izations that uphold international laws, notably will stay for 3 days, exploring reason for this is that the the Red Cross, the World Health Organization, its remarkable literary and cul‐ conservative Switzerland is the International Organization for Migration, the tural history, most notably tightly guarded, and ruled UN, UNICEF, the ILO, the WTO, Doctors With‐ connected to DADA. On May in accordance with interna‐ out Borders, and the United Nations High Com‐ 18th, we will return to the US tional legal instruments and mission for Refugees. There, students will meet for a 10 day exploration of in‐ laws that have made it a safe with high‐ranking officials from those organiza‐ ternational organizations and haven for persecuted tions, and witness firsthand the kinds of work national offices in Washington persons, and a fertile that is directed from the Geneva offices. While DC, to both complement and ground for international based in Geneva, we will also undertake a day complete the ideas amassed in organizations charged with trip to Lausanne, where students will also have Switzerland. Page 2 Max Kade Center for European Studies Spring 2015 Events The Max Kade Center sponsored several successful On February 19th Professor Sabine Hake, the events in Spring 2015, representing the rich diversi‐ University of Texas at Austin Chair of German ty of work in European Studies. We were pleased to Literature and Culture, gave an intriguing lec‐ welcome visiting scholars whose expertise ranged ture on the life and philosophy of Ferdinand from thick mapping in the digital humanities to the Lassalle, “The First Socialist Celebrity.” German‐Guatemalan connection to the transatlan‐ In March Professor Dana Renga of The Ohio tic experience of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. State University discussed contemporary Italian On January 16th Professor Adelheid cinema and culture, specifically with regard to Voskuhl, Chair of the Science, Technology, the role of Masculinity and (Male) Melodrama and Society Program at The University of Penn‐ in the Mafia. Professor Renga’s talk was cospon‐ sylvania, discussed the terms technology sored by the Department of French and Italian. (Technik) and culture (Kultur) among engi‐ Our penultimate event on March 27th featured neers and philosophers in Germany between Professor Kira Thurman, who spoke about the 1890s and the 1930s. "The Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1870's Germany." February was a busy month at the MKC. On Thurman, Assistant Professor of History at The February 5th and 6th, Professor Todd Pres‐ University of Akron, specializes in the field of ner was our guest. Presner is Professor of Ger‐ modern central European history. Her visit was manic Languages, Comparative Literature, and cosponsored by the Bishop Joseph Johnson Jewish Studies at UCLA, as well as Chair of the Black Cultural Center, the Department of Musi‐ Digital Humanities. He gave two talks in cology and Ethnomusicology, American Stud‐ which he demonstrated the efficacy of the digi‐ ies, and African American and Diaspora Studies. tal humanities for scholarly work in history and Our final event was Professor Ann literature. His visit was cosponsored by Jewish Schmiesing’s March 31st lecture on the role of Studies, the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise disability and able‐bodiedness in several of the and Public Policy, cmap@vanderbilt, and the Brothers Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Dr. Schmiesing is Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humani‐ an Associate Professor of German and Nordic ties. He is pictured at right with Professors Joy Studies at the University of Colorado. H. Calico, Peggy Setje‐Eilers and Elizabeth S. Meadows. On February 13th Professor Glenn Penny spoke on the history of German settlement in Guatemala. His respondent and partner in in‐ terdisciplinary conversation was Ted Fischer, Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Vanderbilt Center for Latin American Studies. Penny is Professor of Modern European History at the University of Iowa. This event was co‐ sponsored by the Vanderbilt Center for Latin American Studies and the Department of An‐ thropology. Max Kade Center Page 3 International Summer School on Fraternity (July 5‐11, 2015) Antwerp, Belgium The Max Kade Center is pleased to announce another European study abroad opportunity for Vanderbilt students this summer: the 2015 Inter‐ national Summer School on Fraternity, in Antwerp, Belgium. The theme of this summer school cycle is “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity,” and this year’s iteration focuses on Fraternity. This was the motto of the French Revolution (1789) and it encapsulates the founding ideas of modern Europe. The summer school considers what remains of these core values in Europe in the 21st century. Joy H. Calico will deliver the school’s key‐ note lecture, with an investigation into the importance of fraternity in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and its political appropriations. The summer school is multinational and interdisciplinary in character. It consists of interactive lectures, student‐led workshops, study visits, and dialogues with local actors. The school offers accommodation and full board, course materials and excursions. For more information about the program, including the 2015 summer school on Fraternity, please visit http://lefsummerschool.eu/. Vanderbilt’s Robyn Du and Ethan Conner have been accepted to this year’s summer school, but there is still time to apply! If you are interest‐ ed in participating in the 2015 Summer School on Fraternity in Antwerp, Belgium, contact Sahil Thiruvengadam at [email protected]. Read about his LEF Summer School experience in 2014 here: http:// as.vanderbilt.edu/europeanstudies/sahilutrechtexperiencefinal.pdf FNI Conference at Vanderbilt March 5‐7 2015: Names and Naming in Early Modern Germany The Max Kade Center was a proud sponsor of the Seventh International Conference of the Frühe Neuzeit Interdisziplinär (FNI), which took place from March 5th to March 7th at Vanderbilt University. The FNI supports and promotes interdisciplinary research on the culture, politics, and society of German‐speaking Central Europe during the early modern period (1400 to 1750). The FNI was founded by Max Reinhart of the University of Georgia in the early 1990s. From its inception the confer‐ ence group has brought together scholars from all branches of the arts and sciences in an effort to promote innovative scholarship about German society and culture in this era. Professor Joel Harrington (at right), former director of the Max Kade Center, is the FNI president and hosted the conference. The conference sought to address the nature and influence of naming in early modern Germany. All of the diverse social and cultural develop‐ ments in German lands between 1450 and 1750 were characterized by an explosion of new names and the appropriation or redefinition of existing names, in each instance shaping individual and collective understanding of those very changes. The conference consisted of
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