Albert Camus Colloquium: April 22-23, marking the 50 years since his death

Albert Camus: 50 ans après — International Colloquium, April 22, 23
All events are free and open to the public

This colloquium will reexamine Camus' literary and political writings on the occasion of this watershed anniversary marking 50 years since his death.

Presenting will be an array of national and international scholars, including André Abbou, Université de Paris XIII and Paris IV, and Martine Mathieu-Job, Université de Montaigne Bordeaux III.

The keynote speaker, André Abbou, will give his address at The University Club at 6 p.m.  Please note: most of the presentations will be in French.

For more information, see: www.uwcifs.wisc.edu

Program information:

• Thursday, April 22 at the French House, 7:30p:  Public reading of selected Camus works. Note: readings will be in French.
• Friday, April 23 at the Pyle Center, Room 232, starting at 8:30a: Presentations from visiting scholars
• Friday, April 23 at the University Club, 7:30p: Keynote Adress: André Abbou

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March 19, 20: 'What is a German Department?' at UW

"What is a German Department?" — the 12th annual Graduate Student Conference of the German and Dutch Graduate Student Association —
will take place on March 19 and 20, 2010.

The two day conference will be hosted at the Pyle Center and will feature a variety of scholars and experts.

This year's keynote speaker is Claire Kramsch (University of California, Berkeley), "Language departments as privileged sites for the study of meaning."

For more information: "What is a German Department?"

This conference is made possible by the generous support from the Department of German, the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies, the Language Institute, Center for German and European Studies, the Center for European Studies, University Lectures Committee, the UW Anonymous Fund and ASM. 

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+700 Wisconsin high school students, teachers participate in World Languages Day

On November 18, 2009 the Language Institute hosted over 700 Wisconsin high school students and teachers at the ninth World Languages Day held on the UW-Madison campus. 

The popular outreach program introduces Wisconsin students to languages and cultures around the globe through workshops, presentations and performances led by UW-Madison faculty, staff and students. 

Workshops at World Languages Day span the globe and this year's event included:

• "Icons and Idols: A Journey into Argentine Popular Culture"
  
• "Write Your Name and Say Hello in Russian!"
  
• "Journey to the West, and through Chinese Characters"
• "Bollywood and Beyond: Hindi Songs in North India"
  

World Languages Day continues to be a popular field trip opportunity for high schools, attracting new schools each year.  This year, eights schools of 27 attended for the first time. 

Through World Languages Day, high school students discover and take home new interests that they might pursue in their future studies. 

One teacher said of the experience, "World Languages Day gave my students a taste of a college campus and opened their eyes to what was available for them to learn."

World Languages Day was made possible by the generous support of the College of Letters & Science Anonymous Fund; African Studies Program; Center for East Asian Studies; Center for European Studies; Center for Russia, East Europe and Central Asia; Center for South Asia; Global Studies and Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies. 

Category: Area Studies
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Units team up, host successful 'The Wall Came Down' conference

Continuing the "Fall of the Wall" events this year, the Department of German rolled out the 42nd Wisconsin Workshop: "The Wall Came Down."

This international conference was organized by Professors Marc Silberman and Venkat Mani and was held at the Pyle Center from Nov. 5-7.

Interdisciplinary scholars and graduate students from the fields of German studies, history, anthropology, communication studies and geography assessed retrospectively how Germany came to terms with national and political division as well as the dynamics of contemporary scenarios of peoples divided against themselves.

Keynote speaker Professor Konrad Jarausch (University of North Carolina), a UW Madison history alumnus (PhD'69) who discussed the nature of the 1989 event. 

The successful conference attracted overflow audiences interested in the cultural and social dimensions of borders, boundaries, and exclusions as well as bridges and crossings. 

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Symposium marks anniversaries of avant-gardes authors

On October 9-10, 2009, the symposium Marinetti and Ungaretti: Futurisms and Avant-Gardes took place at the French House and at the Pyle Center.

The year 2009 marks the centenary of the publication of Filippo Tommaso Marinettis manifesto of foundation of Futurism and the 50th Anniversary of the publication of Giuseppe Ungarettis collected poems.

The two authors — born in Alexandria of Egypt by Italian parents — at the beginning of the 20th Century moved to Paris, where they both started writing poems in French and translating French poets into Italian.

Marinetti and Ungaretti played an important role in promoting the avant-gardes in Europe in the first half of the 20th Century.

Organized by Ernesto Livorni with the generous support of Anonymous Fund, Center for the Humanities, Center for European Studies, Italian Institute of Culture in Chicago and the Department of French and Italian, the event was also sponsored by the Institute for Research in the Humanities, Visual Culture Center, Department of Theater and Drama, Department of Comparative Literature and the Department of Art History.

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Lecture: "Greenland's Way to Self-Government"

Visiting Fulbright Professor, Dr. Kirsten Thisted (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) will give a free lecture "Greenland's Way to Self-Government" on Wednesday, November 18th at 7pm, Room 1418 Van Hise. The lecture will be followed by a reception and a chance to talk to the presenter.

On June 21, 2009 — the 30 year anniversary for Greenlandic Home Rule — the Act on Greenland Self-Government took effect.

Greenland is still a part of the Danish realm, but the Self-Government Act recognizes the Greenlanders as a people according to international law, makes Greenlandic the official language of Greenland, gives Greenland a say in international affairs, and expands Home Rule to 30 areas, including police, courts, and the coast guard. 

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Fulbright Scholar brings Greenland expertise to Scandinavian Studies

The Department of Scandinavian Studies is proud to have a visiting Fulbright Scholar on campus this year.

Professor Kirsten Thisted specializes in Greenlandic literature and her work includes several books and articles about the oral tradition and the modern written literature.

Thisted – who taught at Ilisimatusarfik, the University of Greenland in Nuuk – is an associate professor at the Minority Studies Section in Institute of Cross Cultural and Regional Studies at the University of Copenhagen.

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