CCGES is pleased to be a co-presenter of the conference “Veiled Constellations: The Veil, Critical Theory, Politics and Society” which will be taking place at both York University and the University of Toronto from June 3-5, 2010. This interdisciplinary conference is designed to problematize the prevailing discourses surrounding the veil while exploring its subversive potential.

Keynote speakers at the event is Prof. Ellie Ragland (University of Columbia-Missouri) who will present on “The Masquerade, The Veil and The Phallic Mask” on June 3 at 6:00 pm.

For more information on the conference, including details on the event schedule, please visit: http://www.veiledconstellations.com/index.html

Terry Maley

Prof. Terry Maley is an assistant professor in York’s Department of Political Science and a CCGES faculty affiliate. In this paper he will argue that there is a complexity in Weber’s view of democracy that has been obscured in the recent Anglo-American reception of Weber as a liberal defender of rights.  There is a tension between two sides of Weber’s view of the political, one which sought to defend liberal-democracy against more reactionary political forms, and the other which sought to contain the radical left and the ‘unruly’ ‘politics of the street’ that accompanied the revolutionary turmoil in Germany right after WWI. Weber struggles to include both, and to defend capitalism, in his ‘realist’ model of parliamentary democracy, a struggle that is prescient today as both his model and capitalism (freed from the Protestant Ethic) falter in the west.

This talk is co-presented by CCGES and the Graduate Program in Social and Political Thought.

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

CCGES is pleased to be co-sponsoring the conference “Landscapes and Societies in Medieval Europe East of the Elbe: Interactions Between Environmental Transformations and Cultural Settings” on March 26/27, 2010 in the Conference Room on the 5th floor of the York Research Tower (Building #95 on this map).

Ancient and medieval Europe east of the Elbe presents a fascinating field for the investigation of landscape transformations. The area is characterized by many features that clearly distinguishes it from the Mediterranean regions throughout the period – absence of Roman traditions, late appearance of Latin culture, colonization movement, chartered towns, independent developments concerning society, economy, and religion. The conference will bring together a group of scholars from North America and Europe working in the fields of archaeology, history, palaeobotany and palaeozoology. A strong emphasis will be put on aspects of methodologies, interdisciplinary approaches and reflections overlapping areas and periods.

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On Monday, March 22nd, CCGES is pleased to present a talk by Temenuga Trifonova, Assistant Professor of Film Studies in York’s Department of Film and a Centre Faculty Affiliate.

Her presentation will examine the relevance of Gianni Vattimo’s concept of pensiero debole (weak or post-foundationalist thought) to the debate around national and post-national European Cinema. The notion of pensiero debole refers to the exhaustion—but not the vanishing—of the project of modernity (the belief in reason, progress, history, the nation-state etc.) In European Cinema after 1989 Luisa Rivi relies on Vattimo’s ideas to make the argument that rather than discarding the concept of ‘national cinema’ in favor of ‘post-national cinema’ we should approach post-1989 European cinema as ‘weak’ or ‘declined’ national cinema, one that acknowledges the different ways in which transnational forces and supranational bodies are altering the borders of the nation-states in Europe. Trifonova will examine recent European films in light of Rivi’s idea of ‘weak national cinema’ in order to draw attention to some important shifts in the ways contemporary European films engage with history, national identity, and ‘European’ identity.” (CONTINUE READING)

As part of the CCGES Film Series, we are pleased to present a free screening of Summer in Berlin, an enchanting comedy, full of human warmth, sincerity and delightful humor – a film about life. The film will be shown on Monday, March 22nd at 2:30 pm in room 749, York Research Tower (building #95 on the map found here).

Written by Wolfgang Kohlhaase, who this year won the Live Time Achievement Award at the Berlinale, and directed by Andreas Dresen, Summer in Berlin is the story of two girlfriends, who, from their balcony – between heaven and earth – gaze down at their turbulent and difficult universe. Nike has a job as nurse, Katrin has a son, Ronald drives a truck, Tina’s a waitress, Oskar and Helene are old and alone. At the beginning, middle or end of their lives – they all ask the same question: Can love last through the seasons? Or is it something affecting the brain that just comes and goes?

All are welcome and the film will be shown in German with English subtitles.

Time: 2:30-4:30 pm
Location: 749 York Research Tower