August 20: "The EU and the World," 2008 EU Summer Seminar for High School, Community College, and In-Service Educators, Husky Union Building (HUB) 200, University of Washington, Seattle campus. Join faculty from the Jackson School of International Studies to learn about the EU and its relationship with the rest of the world. The changing relationship of Russia with the rest of the world, along with the recent rise of the Asian economies has shifted the balance of power that made the EU and US global economic leaders since World War II. EU development aid to Africa is essential in the fight to end global poverty. The EU-US relationship also continues to evolve and is a crucial link in supporting the economy of the Pacific Northwest. At this workshop, speakers will discuss the current relationship between the EU and the rest of the world: EU, US, and Russia (Former Ambassador Darryl Johnson), China and the West (David Bachman), Africa and the EU (Speaker TBD), and Trans-Atlantic Relations (Phil Shekleton). Participants are also invited to a workshop dinner at a local European restaurant. Afternoon language break-out sessions will be offered in English, French, and Spanish. The French and Spanish sessions, offered by the Alliance Française of Seattle and the Center for Spanish Studies, respectively, will be offered in the target language and will provide pedagogical strategies, as well as topical information about workshop themes for the foreign language classroom. For more information, visit the EU Summer Seminar website or contact the European Union Center of Excellence at 206-616-2415 or euc@u.washington.edu.
August 15-21: "Godard's '60s," SIFF Film Series. Modern film was born in the 1960s and Jean-Luc Godard was its father. For one pivotal decade, this founding father of the nouvelle vague created work that rewrote the grammar of cinema, each film more innovative than the last. SIFFÂ has selected nine of their favorite films from this incredible period. The Godard's '60s Film Festival plays at SIFF Cinema August 15-21. Showtimes are Daily around 8:00pm / Saturday and Sunday around 2:00pm and 8:00pm. SIFF Cinema is located at 321 Mercer Street at 3rd Avenue, McCaw Hall, in the heart of Seattle Center's Theatre District. Visit www.siff.net for more information!
June 25 - 26: "Life Cycle Rituals and Traditions across Cultures," 2008 Jackson School of International Studies Summer Seminar for Educators, Grades 6 and Up, University of Washington, Seattle campus. This year's summer seminar for educators will focus on the major rites and rituals that underpin cultures around the world and that create community identity. With presentations featuring anthropologists, sociologists, historians, and political scientists, this seminar will also encourage teacher-participants as they work together designing classroom strategies centered on the seminar's theme. This two-day seminar is designed for middle school, high school, and community college educators. The registration deadline is June 20, 2008. Registration forms are available here. For more information, please contact Felicia Hecker at 206-543-4227 or via email at fhecker@u.washington.edu.
June 9: "Cultural Capital and Stratification in Contemporary Britain," Mike Savage, University of Manchester, United Kingdom, 2:30-4:00 pm, Condon Hall 311, University of Washington, Seattle. This talk will report findings from the most extensive survey of cultural taste and participation in the areas of music, reading, visual arts, television and film, sports ever conducted in the UK. Multiple correspondence analysis is used to develop a 'cultural map' which shows the existence of contested cultural field especially with respect to music and the visual arts. Savage argues that the concept of the 'cultural omnivore' developed by Peterson and his associates needs to be elaborated and radicalized to recognize the continued existence of key 'fault lines' in cultural taste which are rarely crossed. This talk is part of the Center for West European Studies Politics and Society Colloquium series. For more information, contact the Center for West European Studies at 206-543-1675 or via email at cwes@u.washington.edu.
May 27: "Populist Radical Right Parties of Europe," Cas Mudde, University of Antwerp, Belgium, 12:00 pm, Communications Building 202, Simpson Center of the Humanities, University of Washington, Seattle. This talk is sponsored by the Ellison Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies and the Center for West European Studies.
May 22 - June 15: "Seattle International Film Festival," Seattle. The Center for West European Studies will be sponsoring one film this year. For more information, visit the SIFF website.
May 19: "Our Ancestors the Sighted: Making Blind People French and French People Blind, 1750-1991," Catherine Kudlick, UC Davis History Department, 1:30 pm, Balmer Hall 212, University of Washington, Seattle. This talk uses a 1991 book designed to teach blind people the principles of architecture as a point of departure to explore the intersections among disability studies and post-colonialism in the aftermath of the French Enlightenment. This talk is part of the Center for West European Studies Culture Colloqium and is sponsored by CWES and the Departments of History and French and Italian Studies. For more information, please call the Center for West European Studies at 206-543-1675 or email cwes@u.washington.edu.
May 9: "Europe Day: The Historical Impact of European Integration," Luc Veron, Minister Counselor for Political Affairs European Commission Delegation to the United States, 2:00-3:30 pm, Parrington Hall Forum, University of Washington, Seattle. For more information, please call the European Union Center of Excellence at 206-616-2415 or email euc@u.washington.edu. To read the article written about Luc Veron's talk, click here.
May 8: "Flying High: How Open Skies Benefits US Travelers and Businesses," Luc Veron, Minister Counselor for Political Affairs European Commission Delegation to the United States, 7:30 - 9:00 am, World Trade Center Seattle (2200 Alaskan Way). The EU-U.S. Air Transport Agreement, commonly referred to as the "Open Skies Agreement," signed in 2007, will come into force at the end of March, enhancing competition in the transatlantic air travel market by allowing American and European airlines to fly between any EU and any US destination. The agreement has been predicted to result in 26 million additional passengers crossing the Atlantic, generate more than $25 billion in benefits for consumers, and create 80,000 new jobs in the EU and the US over a five-year period. The impact of the Open Skies Agreement can already be seen in some of the plans US and European airlines have made to expand transatlantic services, including the new Northwest/KLM direct service between Seattle and London-Heathrow. Luc Veron from the European Commission Delegation in Washington will discuss how this agreement will benefit European and US businesses and consumers, and how upcoming EU-US negotiations may lead to further liberalization. For more information or to register, click here.
May 5: "Why and How Does the EU Become (More) Democratic?," Frank Schimmelfennig, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, 12:30-2:00 pm, Gowen 001A, University of Washington, Seattle. This is a brown bag lunch. For more information, contact the European Union Center of Excellence at 206-616-2415 or via email at euc@u.washington.edu.
May 1 - 2: "The European Union After Enlargement: Policies and Politics in a New Context," University of Washington, Seattle. For more information, visit http://jsis.washington.edu/euc/enlargement/ or contact the European Union Center of Excellence at 206-616-2415 or via email at euc@u.washington.edu.
April 30: "Revolution's Aftermath: Twenty Years of Polish Democracy," Adam Michnik, Editor-in-chief, Gazeta Wyborcza, 7:00 pm, Kane Hall 220, University of Washington, Seattle. Adam Michnik, a former dissident, and one of Europe's leading journalists, has been Editor-in-Chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland's first independent daily newspaper, since its inception in 1989. A life-long activist for human rights, he spent a total of six years in prison between 1965 and 1986 for his opposition to the communist regime. As a longtime advisor to Solidarity, Michnik participated in the Roundtable negotiations that ended communist rule in Poland and was subsequently elected to Poland's first non-communist parliament in 1989. He has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award in 1986, the OSCE Prize for Journalism and Democracy in 1996 and, most recently in 2006, the Dan David Prize for being the journalist most associated with the collapse of the Soviet bloc and the rise of freedom in Eastern Europe. This event is sponsored by The Ellison Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies, Center for West European Studies, The EU Center of Excellence, UW Polish Studies Endowment Committee, The Graduate School, Department of History, Baltic Studies, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures and The Evans School of Public Affairs. For more information call 206-543-4852 or email reecas@u.washington.edu.
April 30: "Pushing States' Rights? Reforming Federal Structures in Germany," Werner Reutter, Humboldt University, Berlin, 11:30 am, Thomson Hall 235, University of Washington, Seattle. One of the most important goals of the reform of the federal system in 2006 was to restructure legislation. At the level of the central state the reform was to make legislation more efficient and transparent and the legislative procedure less time-consuming. In addition, legislative competencies of the central state have been transferred to the Laender level in order to reduce the veto-power of the federal council and infuse competitive elements into a system that used to be rightfully coined cooperative federalism. Finally, in a number of areas the Laender received the right to deviate from federal regulations by adopting their own laws. The talk will bring some shortcomings of this reform to the fore. It shows that the changes adopted in 2006 will at best partly realize what the reform was supposed to accomplish. For more information call 206-616-2415 or email euc@u.washington.edu.
April 30: "Polygamy and Empire: Civilizing the Jewish Family in Colonial Algeria," Joshua Schreier, Vassar College, 1:30 pm, Thomson Hall 317, University of Washington, Seattle. This series is sponsored by the University of Washington's Jewish Studies Program, Departments of History, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, Near Eastern Languages and Civilization, Comparative Literature, and Spanish & Portuguese, Middle East Center and Center for West European Studies of the Jackson School, Division of French & Italian Studies, and Simpson Center for the Humanities.
April 29 - May 9: "Europe Contested," Canadian Interdisciplinary Summer School on Europe and Germany, the Institute for European Studies at the University of British Columbia. Jointly organized by the UBC Institute for European Studies and the Canadian Centre for German and European Studies at York University, Le Centre canadien d'etudes allemandes et europeenne at Universite Montreal and with the financial support of the German Academic Exchange Service, this year's interdisciplinary summer school for graduate students will deal with the economic, political, and cultureal challenges of a Europe in flux. Renowned scholars from Canada and Europe will analyze the pressing problems of confronting Europe. Ranging from migration and the multi-faceted aspects of security policies in an age of terrorism to the area of domestic and foreign economic policy as well as national identity policies, the summer school will present in-depth analyses and offer the opportunity to network with faculty and graduate students from all over Canada as well as from Europe. For more information, visit http://www.ies.ubc.ca/ or contact Dr. Kurt Huebner by emailing kurt.huebner@ubc.ca.
April 26: Jackson School International Knowledge Bowl! Thomson Hall 101, 10:30 am - 12:00 pm. As part of Washington Weekend, the Jackson School invites you to test your global IQ in a fun interactive knowledge bowl sponsored by the Outreach Centers of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies. Professor Wolf Latsch will host this educational and entertaining 90 minute session covering topics from geography and history to current events and political figures. All ages are encouraged to participate. Don't miss the fun, prizes will be awarded! For more information on this Jackson School event please contact Allison Dvaladze at dvaladze@u.washington.edu or call 206-221-7951. For more information on Washington Weekend, visit http://www.washington.edu/alumni/weekend/index.html or contact the UW Alumni Association at 206-543-0540 or email uwalumni@u.washington.edu.
April 17: "The Economic Feasibility of Comprehensive Welfare States in a Comparative Perspective," Heiner Gansmann, Free University, Berlin, Germany, 1:30 pm, Sieg Hall 226, University of Washington, Seattle. This talk is part of the Center for West European Studies Politics and Society Colloquium series. For more information, contact the Center for West European Studies at 206-543-1675 or via email at cwes@u.washington.edu.
April 16: "Tax Protest in European Welfare States," Isaac Martin, University of California, San Diego, 3:30 pm, Condon Hall 311, University of Washington, Seattle. This talk is part of the Center for West European Studies Politics and Society Colloquium series. For more information, contact the Center for West European Studies at 206-543-1675 or via email at cwes@u.washington.edu.
April 16: "The China-Taiwan-US Triangle," David Bachman, Associate Director and Professor of International Studies, 7:00 p.m., Walker Ames Room, Kane Hall, University of Washington, Seattle. This talk is part of the Hot Spots lecture series. For more information, contact Canadian Studies at 206-221-6374.
April 8: "Mass Culture or Counter-Culture? Czech Catholicism and American Catholicism: A Comparison of Their Social, Cultural, and Political Situation and Impact," Martin Putna, Professor, Charles University, Czech Republic, 3:30 - 5:00 pm, Smith 405. A look at the historical background and present situation of Catholicism in both the Czech Republic and the U.S., addressing issues such as the role of the Church in politics, the split between liberals and conservatives, and the rise of non-ecclesial religiousity. Martin Putna is a literary historian and docent in comparative literature at Charles University. He is the author of a number of scholarly works, including a study of Czech Catholic literature from 1848-1918. Putna is presently in the United States as a Fulbright Scholar at the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College, where he is studying non-fundamentalist Christian thinkers and writers in the U.S.
April 4: "Redeeming Jews: Sephardic Intermediaries in the Early Modern Mediterranean," Gillian Weiss, Case Western University, 12:00 p.m., Thomson Hall 317, University of Washington, Seattle. This series is sponsored by the University of Washington's Jewish Studies Program, Departments of History, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, Near Eastern Languages and Civilization, Comparative Literature, and Spanish & Portuguese, Middle East Center and Center for West European Studies of the Jackson School, Division of French & Italian Studies, and Simpson Center for the Humanities.
April 2: "Russia, the European Union and the US: Soul Mates?," Darryl Johnson, former US Ambassador, 7:00 p.m., Walker Ames Room, Kane Hall, University of Washington, Seattle. This talk is part of the Hot Spots lecture series. For more information, contact Canadian Studies at 206-221-6374.