Past Events

Interpreting Migration: An International Multidisciplinary Conference

April 28–30, 2017

At a time when refugees as well as those migrating for better work and study opportunities or a more democratic life make headline news, thematize presidential debates and EU membership referendums, when national identity is increasingly defined against the free movement of people, the issue of migration could not be more topical as a focus of rigorous intellectual debate. Thus, our conference aimed to bring together experts from all disciplines of the humanities and social and political sciences to discuss the phenomenon of migration, in all of its complexity, taking into account both its challenges and potential dangers to migrant and society, and its potential to be positive and enriching. Without any pre-conceived agenda or claim, we invited open-minded scholars with a belief in the fertilizing and liberating power of academic debate from the whole range of the political spectrum.

Thus, our conference tackled such issues as migration, diaspora, exile, persecution, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia, as well as related topics from various perspectives offered by ethnography, anthropology, social geography, sociology, political science, history, philosophy, as well as literary, media and cultural studies. General presentations, case studies and specific analyses are equally welcome.

The primary aim of the conference was to discuss and exchange methodologies, research models and theoretical knowledge about issues of migration, minority status and border crossing.

You can find more information (including the complete and final program) at the conference's website.

The Continuities of American Xenophobia Trump's Wall and the Chicago Race Riot

Public Lecture by Bruce Barnhart, Ph.D.
associate professor, Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages, University of Oslo

November 30, 2017
Building P - Room P102 - 6:00 pm

The Borders and Migration Research Group and the English Department cordially invite you to a public lecture held by Bruce Barnhard on the issues of race, borders and xenophobia in US politics.

The presentation is followed by a Q/A session, allowing for a discussion of the topic and its general context.

Borders, Transgression and Transnational Turns in the Art of Sixto Rodriguez, JR and John G. Rives

Public Lecture by Dr. habil. Réka M. Cristian, Ph.D.
director, Inter-American Research Center, University of Szeged

November 24, 2017
Building P - Room P300 - 12:30 pm

The Borders and Migration Research Group and the English Department cordially invite you to a public lecture held by Réka M. Cristian on the issues of borders and transnational existence, as represented in the art of the singer-songwriter Sixto Rodriguez, the street artist JR, and performace artist and storyteller John G. Rives.

The presentation is followed by a Q/A session, allowing for a discussion of the topic and its general context.

Crossing the Molvanian Border A European Country Unlike Any Other?

Public Lecture by Prof. Andrei Rogatchevski
Border Poetics / Border Culture Research Group, University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway

October 3, 2017
Building P - Room P100 - 4:10 pm

The Borders and Migration Research Group and the English Department cordially invite you to a public lecture held by Prof. Rogatchevski on the fictional travel guide Molvania: A Land Untouched by Modern Dentistry in terms of its representation of Eastern European stereotypes and its symbolically liminal position at the imaginary border of East and West.

The presentation is followed by a Q/A session, allowing for a discussion of the topic and its general context.

Prof. Rogatchevski's (2014) publication on the topic can be downloaded from here (after registration).