Past Events

	Title	Date	Type	Speakers
	Spielarten des "sanften" Autoritarismus	Wed, 03.03.2021, 18:00	Lecture	Dirk Rupnow Shalini RanderiaTilmann Märk	Spielarten des "sanften" Autoritarismus Wie Demokratien demokratisch ausgehöhlt werden Wed, 03.03.2021, 18:00 Speakers: Dirk Rupnow Shalini RanderiaTilmann Märk Series: Lecture Im Mittelpunkt des Vortrags steht der widersprüchlich anmutende Begriff des „sanften“ Autoritarismus (soft authoritarianism). Er bezieht sich auf Demokratien, die in vielen Teilen der Welt von zunehmend autoritären Praktiken gekennzeichnet sind. Gegenwärtig werden liberale Werte wie Institutionen mit formalen, rechtstaatlichen Mitteln von durch Wahlen legitimierten Politikern unterminiert, die somit die Grundlagen von Demokratie von innen aushöhlen. Anhand von Beispielen wie voter suppression und gerrymandering in den USA, autocratic legalism in Polen und Ungarn sowie Angriffen auf die Pressefreiheit, auf zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen oder die Universitätsautonomie in der Türkei, wird im Vortrag hinter die „sanften“ Züge dieser neuen Ausprägung von Autoritarismus geblickt. Ferner wirft der Vortrag die dringliche Frage nach den Möglichkeiten sowie Grenzen zivilgesellschaftlichen Widerstands gegen diesen weichgezeichneten Autoritarismus auf. Read more
Spielarten des "sanften" Autoritarismus Wie Demokratien demokratisch ausgehöhlt werden Wed, 03.03.2021, 18:00 Speakers: Dirk Rupnow Shalini RanderiaTilmann Märk Series: Lecture Im Mittelpunkt des Vortrags steht der widersprüchlich anmutende Begriff des „sanften“ Autoritarismus (soft authoritarianism). Er bezieht sich auf Demokratien, die in vielen Teilen der Welt von zunehmend autoritären Praktiken gekennzeichnet sind. Gegenwärtig werden liberale Werte wie Institutionen mit formalen, rechtstaatlichen Mitteln von durch Wahlen legitimierten Politikern unterminiert, die somit die Grundlagen von Demokratie von innen aushöhlen. Anhand von Beispielen wie voter suppression und gerrymandering in den USA, autocratic legalism in Polen und Ungarn sowie Angriffen auf die Pressefreiheit, auf zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen oder die Universitätsautonomie in der Türkei, wird im Vortrag hinter die „sanften“ Züge dieser neuen Ausprägung von Autoritarismus geblickt. Ferner wirft der Vortrag die dringliche Frage nach den Möglichkeiten sowie Grenzen zivilgesellschaftlichen Widerstands gegen diesen weichgezeichneten Autoritarismus auf. Read more
	The Sociological Truth of Fiction	Mon, 01.03.2021, 16:00	Seminars and Colloquia	Jan Vana Kapka Kassabova Ludger Hagedorn	The Sociological Truth of Fiction the Post-Communist Novel as Social Theory of Normalization in Czechoslovakia Mon, 01.03.2021, 16:00 Speakers: Jan Vana Kapka Kassabova Ludger Hagedorn Series: Seminars and Colloquia Social scientists often refer to literary fiction as a source of inspiration, social understanding, and deep insights into the “Zeitgeist” or “episteme”. In passing, they often subsume literature into conceptual frameworks, approaching it as “fictional” data to be translated or converted into “factual” scholarly discourse. This presentation tried to develop an epistemological-theoretical model which treats novels as allies endowed with their own agency – not passive objects to be gutted by sociological theory. Read more
The Sociological Truth of Fiction the Post-Communist Novel as Social Theory of Normalization in Czechoslovakia Mon, 01.03.2021, 16:00 Speakers: Jan Vana Kapka Kassabova Ludger Hagedorn Series: Seminars and Colloquia Social scientists often refer to literary fiction as a source of inspiration, social understanding, and deep insights into the “Zeitgeist” or “episteme”. In passing, they often subsume literature into conceptual frameworks, approaching it as “fictional” data to be translated or converted into “factual” scholarly discourse. This presentation tried to develop an epistemological-theoretical model which treats novels as allies endowed with their own agency – not passive objects to be gutted by sociological theory. Read more
	A Short History of Prison Noise	Tue, 23.02.2021, 18:00	Lecture	Felix Ackermann Iryna Vushko Timothy Snyder	A Short History of Prison Noise The 1902 Brygidki Unrest and the Agency of Criminal Prisoners in Habsburg Lemberg Tue, 23.02.2021, 18:00 Speakers: Felix Ackermann Iryna Vushko Timothy Snyder Series: Lecture Noise can be understood as sonic violence and analysed as a central means of communication during the recurring prison riots in the early 20th-century Habsburg Empire. For both prison administrators and state-appointed public prosecutors, silence was synonymous with discipline and order. This definition gave criminal prisoners an opportunity to bargain silence in exchange for legally slight yet routine-revising changes within the regime of incarceration. Noise wielded such powerful leverage because it spread inmates’ demands from inside the prison to nearby streets – in this case, those of the Habsburg city of Lemberg. Inmates were able to use their prison buildings as a space of resonance – in both physical and symbolic ways. Read more
A Short History of Prison Noise The 1902 Brygidki Unrest and the Agency of Criminal Prisoners in Habsburg Lemberg Tue, 23.02.2021, 18:00 Speakers: Felix Ackermann Iryna Vushko Timothy Snyder Series: Lecture Noise can be understood as sonic violence and analysed as a central means of communication during the recurring prison riots in the early 20th-century Habsburg Empire. For both prison administrators and state-appointed public prosecutors, silence was synonymous with discipline and order. This definition gave criminal prisoners an opportunity to bargain silence in exchange for legally slight yet routine-revising changes within the regime of incarceration. Noise wielded such powerful leverage because it spread inmates’ demands from inside the prison to nearby streets – in this case, those of the Habsburg city of Lemberg. Inmates were able to use their prison buildings as a space of resonance – in both physical and symbolic ways. Read more
	Whose Story? Which Sacrifice?	Mon, 08.02.2021, 16:00	Seminars and Colloquia	Ludger Hagedorn Marci Shore	Whose Story? Which Sacrifice? Gender Identity in Sacrificial Stories Mon, 08.02.2021, 16:00 Speakers: Ludger Hagedorn Marci Shore Series: Seminars and Colloquia Sacrifice may be a topic of intense philosophical-theological academic debate, but it is also the everyday experience of millions of ordinary people. Scholarly reflection on sacrifice has produced an ambiguous discourse which stretches across numerous disciplines from anthropology, to religious and social studies, to ethics. Sacrifice has of course developed within the religious-cultic context and can be traced in global religions and local cults alike. Read more
Whose Story? Which Sacrifice? Gender Identity in Sacrificial Stories Mon, 08.02.2021, 16:00 Speakers: Ludger Hagedorn Marci Shore Series: Seminars and Colloquia Sacrifice may be a topic of intense philosophical-theological academic debate, but it is also the everyday experience of millions of ordinary people. Scholarly reflection on sacrifice has produced an ambiguous discourse which stretches across numerous disciplines from anthropology, to religious and social studies, to ethics. Sacrifice has of course developed within the religious-cultic context and can be traced in global religions and local cults alike. Read more
	Putin’s Memory War. Russia’s Battles over the History of World War II	Tue, 26.01.2021, 18:00	Lecture	Clemena Antonova Sergei Medvedev Timothy Snyder	Putin’s Memory War. Russia’s Battles over the History of World War II Tue, 26.01.2021, 18:00 Speakers: Clemena Antonova Sergei Medvedev Timothy Snyder Series: Lecture In the past decade, memory politics has become greatly contested. Russia under Putin launched a major propaganda offensive ahead of the 75th anniversary of victory in World War II (8 May in the rest of the world, 9 May in Russia), aiming to fight the “falsifications” of war history by the West, and to deny the crimes of Stalinism during the War. This presentation explored the implications of this memory war on Russia’s relations with Europe, and its role in legitimizing the ruling regime. Read more
Putin’s Memory War. Russia’s Battles over the History of World War II Tue, 26.01.2021, 18:00 Speakers: Clemena Antonova Sergei Medvedev Timothy Snyder Series: Lecture In the past decade, memory politics has become greatly contested. Russia under Putin launched a major propaganda offensive ahead of the 75th anniversary of victory in World War II (8 May in the rest of the world, 9 May in Russia), aiming to fight the “falsifications” of war history by the West, and to deny the crimes of Stalinism during the War. This presentation explored the implications of this memory war on Russia’s relations with Europe, and its role in legitimizing the ruling regime. Read more
	The Coloniality of Migration	Wed, 20.01.2021, 17:00	Seminars and Colloquia	Ayşe ÇağlarPrem Kumar Rajaram	The Coloniality of Migration Seminar Series on Forced Migration with Prem Kumar Rajaram and Ayse Çağlar Wed, 20.01.2021, 17:00 Speakers: Ayşe ÇağlarPrem Kumar Rajaram Series: Seminars and Colloquia Refugees and migrants are often studied as though they have no relation to the racial and class structures and histories of the societies in which they reside. They are taken to be external strangers to be governed by ‘integration’ policy and border management. Migration, and in particular forced migration, can be usefully understood in relation to practices of material and cultural dispossession and value expropriation so as to ensure a steady supply of cheapened labour power. These practices were central to the way colonial capitalism of the 19th and 20th centuries was organised, and remain pertinent to contemporary intersections of politics, economics and culture. The persistent coloniality of contemporary migration is evident in struggles to control and direct the social reproduction of culturally-demeaned others (including migrants and other racialised groups) with the aim of ensuring the regular supply of cheapened labour. Read more
The Coloniality of Migration Seminar Series on Forced Migration with Prem Kumar Rajaram and Ayse Çağlar Wed, 20.01.2021, 17:00 Speakers: Ayşe ÇağlarPrem Kumar Rajaram Series: Seminars and Colloquia Refugees and migrants are often studied as though they have no relation to the racial and class structures and histories of the societies in which they reside. They are taken to be external strangers to be governed by ‘integration’ policy and border management. Migration, and in particular forced migration, can be usefully understood in relation to practices of material and cultural dispossession and value expropriation so as to ensure a steady supply of cheapened labour power. These practices were central to the way colonial capitalism of the 19th and 20th centuries was organised, and remain pertinent to contemporary intersections of politics, economics and culture. The persistent coloniality of contemporary migration is evident in struggles to control and direct the social reproduction of culturally-demeaned others (including migrants and other racialised groups) with the aim of ensuring the regular supply of cheapened labour. Read more
	Innovative Methods of Research in Migration & Refugee Studies	Mon, 21.12.2020, 11:30	Panels and Discussions	Ayşe ÇağlarSandro Mezzadra, Giorgio Grappi, Lydia Potts	Innovative Methods of Research in Migration & Refugee Studies Mon, 21.12.2020, 11:30 Speakers: Ayşe ÇağlarSandro Mezzadra, Giorgio Grappi, Lydia Potts Series: Panels and Discussions This event was part of a two-day teachers’ workshop on Research Methodology and Syllabus Making in Migration & Forced Migration Studies organised by the Calcutta Research Group in collaboration with Institute for Human Sciences (IWM), Vienna. Read more
Innovative Methods of Research in Migration & Refugee Studies Mon, 21.12.2020, 11:30 Speakers: Ayşe ÇağlarSandro Mezzadra, Giorgio Grappi, Lydia Potts Series: Panels and Discussions This event was part of a two-day teachers’ workshop on Research Methodology and Syllabus Making in Migration & Forced Migration Studies organised by the Calcutta Research Group in collaboration with Institute for Human Sciences (IWM), Vienna. Read more
	Junior Visiting Fellows' Conference Winter 2020	Thu, 17.12.2020, 10:00	Conferences and Workshops		Junior Visiting Fellows' Conference Winter 2020 Thu, 17.12.2020, 10:00 Speakers: Series: Conferences and Workshops Morning Session Moderator: Iryna Sklokina Read more

	Refugee Sponsorship: Will Civil Society Keep Stepping Up?	Wed, 16.12.2020, 15:00	Seminars and Colloquia	Ayşe ÇağlarJennifer Hyndman	Refugee Sponsorship: Will Civil Society Keep Stepping Up? Seminar Series on Forced Migration with Jennifer Hyndman and Ayşe Çağlar Wed, 16.12.2020, 15:00 Speakers: Ayşe ÇağlarJennifer Hyndman Series: Seminars and Colloquia For more than 40 years, groups of Canadians have raised funds and offered their time to support over 325,000 refugee newcomers through the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program (PSRP). In 2020, planned numbers for private refugee sponsorship (20,000) in Canada were double the number of government-assisted refugees to be resettled. Based on an original qualitative study, this paper probes how voluntary sponsorship – as a kind of civil society mobilisation – has been sustained over decades. Refugee newcomers who land in Canada as permanent residents become part of the communities and society in which they stay. Many have left family members behind in refugee camps and sanctuary cities without permanent status, and so become sponsors themselves with a view to reuniting in Canada. This phenomenon of ‘family-linked’ sponsorship is a unique, defining and sustaining feature of the program by motivating family members in Canada to team up with experienced sponsors to ‘do more’. Our data show that sponsorship is a community practice that occurs across scales – linking local sites in Canada to countries where human atrocities are common and neighbouring states that host those who flee. Sponsorship connects people in various communities across the world, and these transnational links are important to understanding the sustainability of sponsorship over time in Canada. Read more
Refugee Sponsorship: Will Civil Society Keep Stepping Up? Seminar Series on Forced Migration with Jennifer Hyndman and Ayşe Çağlar Wed, 16.12.2020, 15:00 Speakers: Ayşe ÇağlarJennifer Hyndman Series: Seminars and Colloquia For more than 40 years, groups of Canadians have raised funds and offered their time to support over 325,000 refugee newcomers through the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program (PSRP). In 2020, planned numbers for private refugee sponsorship (20,000) in Canada were double the number of government-assisted refugees to be resettled. Based on an original qualitative study, this paper probes how voluntary sponsorship – as a kind of civil society mobilisation – has been sustained over decades. Refugee newcomers who land in Canada as permanent residents become part of the communities and society in which they stay. Many have left family members behind in refugee camps and sanctuary cities without permanent status, and so become sponsors themselves with a view to reuniting in Canada. This phenomenon of ‘family-linked’ sponsorship is a unique, defining and sustaining feature of the program by motivating family members in Canada to team up with experienced sponsors to ‘do more’. Our data show that sponsorship is a community practice that occurs across scales – linking local sites in Canada to countries where human atrocities are common and neighbouring states that host those who flee. Sponsorship connects people in various communities across the world, and these transnational links are important to understanding the sustainability of sponsorship over time in Canada. Read more
	Language Policies in Multilingual Countries: Western and Non-Western Approaches	Mon, 14.12.2020, 16:00	Seminars and Colloquia	Volodymyr Kulyk Wolfgang Merkel Miloš Vec	Language Policies in Multilingual Countries: Western and Non-Western Approaches Mon, 14.12.2020, 16:00 Speakers: Volodymyr Kulyk Wolfgang Merkel Miloš Vec Series: Seminars and Colloquia The presentation was based on the nearly completed Ukrainian-language book that examines the varieties of language policy in a number of Western and non-Western multilingual countries, looking not only at those with official bi- or multilingualism but also at those promoting one dominant language. The book seeks to describe and explain their successes and failures in promoting certain languages, ensuring human rights, maintaining social stability, and forging national unity, with a keen eye on identifying those arrangements that could be adopted in today’s Ukraine. In the presentation, however, Volodymyr Kulyk focused on similarities and differences between prevalent patterns of multilingualism and its management by the state in Western and non-Western (post-colonial and post-imperial) countries. He explored sociolinguistic, historical and political factors determining these countries’ choices of language policy and their degrees of success in its implementation. Read more
Language Policies in Multilingual Countries: Western and Non-Western Approaches Mon, 14.12.2020, 16:00 Speakers: Volodymyr Kulyk Wolfgang Merkel Miloš Vec Series: Seminars and Colloquia The presentation was based on the nearly completed Ukrainian-language book that examines the varieties of language policy in a number of Western and non-Western multilingual countries, looking not only at those with official bi- or multilingualism but also at those promoting one dominant language. The book seeks to describe and explain their successes and failures in promoting certain languages, ensuring human rights, maintaining social stability, and forging national unity, with a keen eye on identifying those arrangements that could be adopted in today’s Ukraine. In the presentation, however, Volodymyr Kulyk focused on similarities and differences between prevalent patterns of multilingualism and its management by the state in Western and non-Western (post-colonial and post-imperial) countries. He explored sociolinguistic, historical and political factors determining these countries’ choices of language policy and their degrees of success in its implementation. Read more