Prof. Dr. Bernd Lindner

Prof. Dr. Bernd Lindner is a staff member of the Contemporary History Forum in Leipzig, a museum of Germany’s federal government which has focuses on the preservation and telling of the history of East Germany. In this talk, Prof. Dr. Lindner will examine the ongoing process of how the recent past has been made into history in a variety of settings in the former-East Germany. His own experiences as curator for a number of exhibits on various aspects of this history will inform his talk which will take place at CCGES, Room 749 York Research Tower (building # 95 on map found here) on Monday, October 18, 2010 from 12:30-2:00 pm.

In addition to his work with the Contemporary History Forum, Prof. Dr. Lindner also teaches at the Universität Karlsruhe and has published extensively on various aspects of East German life including the peaceful revolution of 1989.

Please note: This lecture will be given in German!

All are welcome, but attendees are asked to RSVP to ccges@yorku.ca

Location: 749 York Research Tower
Time: 12:30-2:00 pm

Jörg Foth

As part of the Centre’s efforts to mark the 20th anniversary of German Unity this October, CCGES is pleased to present a talk and film screening with German filmmaker Jörg Foth on Tuesday, October 19 from 11:30-2:30 pm in the Nat Taylor Cinema (Ross N102, building #28 on the map found here). Born in Berlin in 1949, Foth studied directing at the East Germany’s Academy for Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg from 1972 to 1977. After working as an assistant director at the DEFA Studio for Feature Films and East German television, he made his directorial debut with Das Eismeer ruft. Starting in the early 1980s, Foth lobbied for a role for the youngest generation of DEFA filmmakers in studio structures. He was finally promoted to director in spring 1990, a few months before the studio was closed. Since 1991, Foth has worked in television and film, as well as theater. He lives in Berlin.

Jörg Foth will discuss East German film production around the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall and will introduce his film Latest from the Da-Da-R. In a loose set of cabaret pieces, Steffen Mensching and Hans-Eckardt Wenzel – highly acclaimed East German poets, songwriters and clowns – satirize East German life in its final days and the arrival of new times after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Mr. Foth’s talk will be given in English and the film clips shown will be in German with English subtitles.

All are welcome to this event, but attendees are asked to register at ccges@yorku.ca

Location: Nat Taylor Cinema (Ross N102)
Time: 11:30 am – 2:30 pm

The European Union Centre of Excellence project housed at CCGES is pleased to present a lecture by Dr. Stelios Staviridis (ARAID Senior Research Fellow at the University of Zaragoza, Spain (Research Unit on Global Governance and the European Union) on Wednesday, October 6 from 12:30-2:00 pm in 764 York Research Tower (building # 95 on map found here).

There have been many concepts that have been used to describe, analyze and assess, the EU’s international role over the years. But only one can claim to have been present ever since the launch of the first efforts at producing a European foreign policy in the early 1970s: that of ‘civilian power Europe’. Of course there have been many critical approaches as well. In 2010 the question of whether the concept is still valid remains particularly relevant. Indeed the Lisbon Treaty is supposed to make the EU a full international actor, at long last. (CONTINUE READING)

Dr. Joaquin Roy, EUCE, University of Miami

Prof. Joaquín Roy (Jean Monnet Professor and Director, European Union Center of Excellence, University of Miami) will present a lecture entitled “Latin American Integration and the EU Model” on Wednesday, October 6th from 4:00-5:30 pm in 519 York Research Tower. This lecture is presented as part of the EUROPEAS: EUCE Seminars in European History, Culture and Society, a lecture series of York’s European Union Centre of Excellence, and is co-sponsored by York’s Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC).

Light refreshments will be served.

This lecture is open to all, but attendees are asked to RSVP to euce@yorku.ca.

Dr. Andrea Strutz

On Thursday, September 16th at 4:00 pm, CCGES is pleased to present a talk by Dr Andrea Strutz (Senior Researcher, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Social and Cultural History, Graz, Austria)  entitled “Auch in Kanada blueht oesterreichisches ‘Edelweiss’: Austrian Immigration to Canada after 1945” (Room 749 York Research Tower, building #95 on map found here).

After 1945, Europe faced mass migration triggered by the forced displacement which accompanied the end of World War II. Austria functioned as an important transit country for the resettlement of Displaced Persons to other European countries and to overseas destinations such as Canada, which took in a large number of European refugees. Many Austrian citizens, however, also saw in Canada a land of opportunity in which they might improve their standard of living and left – permanently or temporarily – their home country in the post-war period. By 1970 approximately 30,000 Austrians had relocated to Canada, the majority of whom can be classified as labour migrants. (CONTINUE READING)