November 13, 2008

Considering an International Internship?

Dr. Kit Belgum

Learn the basic information you need to get started on your search for an international internship, including: • The basics of writing international resumes and cover letters; • The best resources for finding internships abroad; • Ideas for creating your own internship opportunities; AND • Information about Germanic Studies scholarships and other financial resources to support an internship. Come with an idea ~ Leave with a plan!

November 11, 2008

Samuel Beckett's Doodles
Bill Prosser explores Beckett's doodles

Bill Prosser
University of Reading

LECTURE: Bill Prosser of the University of Reading explores Samuel Beckett's doodles and discusses doodling as an under-appreciated art form.

November 6, 2008

Italian Film
"La bestia nel curoe"

La bestia nel cuore (The Beast in the Heart), is a 2005 film directed by Cristina Comencini, based on the novel written by herself.

It was nominated for Golden Lion prize at the Venice International Film Festival. It was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film category in the 78th Academy Awards.

Sabina has a regular life. She is satisfied with her job and her love for Franco. Lately nightmares start disturbing her, and almost in the same time she discovers to be pregnant. Step by step she remembers her childhood spent within a severe middle-class family. But a big secret is hidden within her heart. Sabina wants to contact again her brother, a University teacher in the US, to try to understand what is happened in their past. What is the secret? She is determined to bring clarity and serenity in her life. She finally manages to free herself from her "beast in the heart".

from wikipedia

November 5, 2008

Talk by Edmond Préteceille
Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo Dual cities? A comparison with Paris

Edmund Préteceille, visiting scholar at Harvard University and Director of Research of CNRS, speaks on "Comparative Segragation: Paris and Sao Paulo." The talk free and open to the public.

The research project analyses segregation in Rio and São Paulo using detailed occupation categories derived from the French "catégories socioprofessionnelles", giving a fine grain description of the complete social structure instead of the exclusive focus on the poor which characterize many Brazilian studies of segregation. The first part of the presentation will present the results for socioeconomic segregation, comparing with Paris. The second part will discuss ethno-racial segregation and its interaction with socioeconomic segregation in Rio and São Paulo.

November 4, 2008

German Film Series, Fall 2008 - Sexual Revolutions in German Cinema
I am My Own Woman (Rosa von Praunheim, 1992)

I am My Own Woman (Rosa von Praunheim, 1992)

One of Von Praunheim's best known films, I am My Own Woman is a fascinating look at the life of famed Berlin transvestite Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. The film, moving freely between documentary sequences and nostalgic reminiscence, is a queer look at nearly a century of German history through the figure of Von Mahlsdorf: from Weimar, through the Third Reich, the Cold War and up into unified Germany. In this, Von Praunheim offers an exploration of the places where personal sexual histories and official narratives collide.

October 30, 2008

Italian Film
"Suspiria"

Suspiria is a 1977 Italian horror film directed by Dario Argento, and co-written by Argento and actress Daria Nicolodi, with whom Argento was romantically involved at the time. Nicolodi claims the plot was inspired by an experience of her grandmother's. The setting was originally to be a children's school but was later changed to a dance school for older teens. Suspiria is often considered Argento's finest film and a classic of the horror genre. Entertainment Weekly rated it #18 in its top 25 scariest movies of all time, saying it had "the most vicious murder scene ever filmed", and it was rated #24 on the cable channel Bravo's list of the "100 Scariest Movie Moments".

Suspiria is the first film in a trilogy Argento refers to as "The Three Mothers", about evil forces attempting to break through to the earth and wreak merciless havoc. Argento's next film, Inferno (1980), was the second in the trilogy, and the third is The Mother of Tears.

In a poll of film critics conducted by the Village Voice, Suspiria was named the 100th greatest film made during the 20th century.

The film is also famous among filmmakers as the final feature film to be processed in Technicolor before the processing plant was shut down.

from wikipedia

October 29, 2008

Diaspora: Homelands in Exile

French photographer Frédéric Brenner

The Harry Ransom Center presents French photographer Frédéric Brenner in a Focus on Photography event on Wednesday, October 29, at 7 p.m.

Since the late 1970s, Brenner has travelled the world photographing Jewish families. His book, Diaspora: Homelands in Exile, was published in 2003. Brenner will discuss his work, a visual anthology of the Jewish Diaspora that spans 25 years and more than 40 countries.

Seating is free, but limited.

October 29, 2008

The World Watches: The 2008 American Presidential Race in Cyberspace
Faculty Discussion to Include Professor Paul Adams

In the fall of 2008 the United States will elect either its first African American president or its first female vice president. Either way this is news, and interest in this news does not stop at the borders of the United States. Our goal is to understand the nature and tenor (mood, attitude, feeling) of this discussion in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa. A multilingual research team to study a discussion that crosses many linguistic and spatial boundaries was formed. This talk will be an opportunity for faculty to discuss these events and their impact around the world.

October 27, 2008

Odyssey Speaker Series Presents Dr. David F. Crew
Visualizing Genocide: The Holocaust in Photographs Since 1945

Dr. David Crew
Professor, Department of History, UT-Austin

This lecture series draws upon the concept of borders--political, philosophical, cultural, social--to provide Odyssey participants with a fascinating look at some of history's most compelling stories.

Organized through the Institute for Historical Studies, this series features dynamic professors from the Department of History

October 24, 2008

The Europe of Elites: Dimensions and Determinants of European Identity Among Political and Economic Elites
Prof. Heinrich Best

Prof. Best is a leader of the massive EU-funded study of elite and mass identities in all member states. He is co-author of two books reporting an earlier and equally far-reaching study: Parliamentary Representatives in Europe, 1848-2000 (OUP 2002) and Democratic Representation in Europe (OUP 2007).

October 21, 2008

German Film Series, Fall 2008 - Sexual Revolutions in German Cinema
My Father is Coming (Monika Treut, 1991)

My Father is Coming (Monika Treut, 1991)

A comical and racy look at a young woman's attempts to come to terms with her sexuality and conservative background. When her provincial father comes to visit her in NYC, Vicky initially conceals her relationship with her girlfriend from him. He finds out and is shocked at first. In the end, though, her father surprises her by finding his own sexual liberation with the help of erotic film star Annie Sprinkle. This one is not to be missed!

October 20, 2008

Performance: Music from the Collections: Medieval Manuscripts

The Division of Musicology and Ethnomusicology at the Butler School of Music, in collaboration with the Harry Ransom Center and the Programs of Medieval Studies, Religious Studies, and Italian Studies, is hosting the residency of the ensemble Micrologus during the Fall semester of 2008.

During their residency, the ensemble will offer a concert, a concert-recital and meet with interested students to work on issues of performance practice, research methods on medieval music, and career perspectives in the field of early music. In connection with the upcoming exhibition of the Harry Ransom Center, The Mystique of the Archive, performances and instructional activities will incorporate materials from the Center's collections transcribed by Professor Luisa Nardini and her students. The ensemble Micrologus is one of the most distinguished groups of medieval music with an impressive repertory that spans from sacred and secular monophonic music to early Renaissance repertory. Their performances are based on a scholarly approach to manuscript sources, organology, iconography, and an awareness of methods and results achieved in the field of ethnographic research on the musical traditions of the area of the Mediterranean. They have released 22 CDs, some of which r

October 13, 2008

Institute for Historical Studies Workshop Series Presents Dr. Gary Wilder
Decolonization without National Independence: Léopold Senghor's Utopian Vision of Postwar France

Dr. Gary Wilder
Associate Professor, Department of History, Pomona College

All are welcomed. As lunch will be provided, please rsvp to Courtney Meador by 9:00a.m., Friday, October 10, 2008. For a copy of the pre-circulated paper please Courtney Meador as well.

October 9, 2008

Italian Film
"Nirvana"

Nirvana is a science fiction movie, produced in Italy in 1997 by director Gabriele Salvatores, starring Christopher Lambert, Diego Abatantuono and Stefania Rocca.

Nirvana is one of the rare Italian science fiction films to use extensive computer generated special effects. The director, Gabriele Salvatores, shot the movie mainly in "Portello" the old Alfa Romeo assembly plant in Milan. The whole place was converted in this sci-fi set where many ethnic sides of the city are shown. From the Indian to the Japanese to the Chinese, the movie moves around the dynamic and the futuristic realms that the future created.

The storyline itself exemplifies several main themes of cyberpunk, such as the Philip K. Dick quote "Living and unliving things are exchanging properties", meaning computers are becoming human, and humans are becoming less so, both by the influence of technology.

Despite a poor box office reception amidst accusations of weak plotting and simplistic rendering of the main themes, Nirvana has achieved something of a cult status, especially in Europe. The title of the film is key to understanding its comparison of reincarnation with being endlessly reborn in a video game.

from wikipedia

October 7, 2008

German Film Series, Fall 2008 - Sexual Revolutions in German Cinema
Coming Out (Heiner Carow, 1989)

Coming Out (Heiner Carow, 1989)

Phillip, a young high school teacher engaged to be married, falls in love with Matthias, a gay man he meets at a party. By the time Phillip comes out to Tanja, his fiancée, Matthias has already discovered that he has been leading a double life and refuses to see him again, which leaves Phillip reeling. Premiered on the same evening the Berlin Wall came down, Coming Out is the only film made in the GDR to deal with homosexuality, and is one of only a few reflections on being gay in former East Germany.

October 7, 2008

1968: A Global Perpective
An Interdisciplinary Conference at UT Austin held in tandem with the fifth Annual Graduate Comparative Literature Conference

The year 1968 has become a central myth for the twentieth century, the purported moment of origin for "the present" -- for current politics, culture, and academics. This conference commemorates the 40th anniversary of 1968 by calling for a reassessment of its local and global impacts, its icons, myths, and images, the traces and absences left in its wake, and the intellectual and cultural heritages that we are still working through, as the collective memory of participants fades into a post-memory of the still incomplete projects of modernization, globalization, and liberation.

The conference aims to create interdisciplinary discussions of the many different 1968 experiences and projects that can be recovered in global, national, and international frameworks. Flashpoints, major players, artistic responses in all media and genres, and (re)theorizings of 1968 and its heritage will be included as conference themes.

Please join us in the fall for this unique event.

October 7, 2008

Lecture by German Professor Jörg Jacobs
"The role of foreign policy in the German federal elections and the process of European integration"

October 1, 2008

Poetry on the Plaza: Ballads and Balladeers

The Harry Ransom Center presents the free Poetry on the Plaza event Ballads and Balladeers on Wednesday, October 1, at noon.

Popularized by the Romantics, the ballad is a unique narrative form of poetry that conveys stories of love, heroes, and tragedies. Students from University of Texas at Austin professor Andrew Cooper's "Romantic Authorship" course read ballads by traditional English poets John Keats, William Wordsworth, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, as well as modern and folk interpretations of the ballad form.

Pick up a free Poetry on the Plaza poster and bookmark with the 2008-09 schedule at the visitors' desk in the Ransom Center lobby.

September 30, 2008

German Film Series, Fall 2008 - Sexual Revolutions in German Cinema
A Woman in Flames (Robert van Ackeren, 1983)

A Woman in Flames (Robert van Ackeren, 1983)

Eva, who has recently left her husband, decides to become a prostitute. She meets Yvonne, and together they start picking up johns. One night she goes home with Chris who she soon learns is a hustler. They move in together and have what at first looks like a good relationship. When Eva begins working as a dominatrix, though, and making more money than Chris, he gets envious and they begin fighting. In a dramatic turn before ending, the film questions the distribution of power in relationships between women and men, and violence as an expression of gender inequality.

September 29, 2008

Symposium: Energy Policy and Technology in France and the EU
Some Implications for the United States

Download more information about the symposium (PDF, 250K)

September 26, 2008

Fifth International Conference on Construction Grammar

Conference Registration Purchase your conference registration now in our online webstore! Conference Webstore: http://utdirect.utexas.edu/txshop/list.WBX?component=0andapplication_name=GMGERMAN For general questions about ICCG-5 please write to: iccg5organization@gmail.com

September 26, 2008

"Monuments We'd Like to Forget"
Dr. Steven Hoelscher

Steve Hoelscher
Chair and Associate Professor, Department of American Studies - UT

"For the past sixty years, the citizens of Vienna, Austria, have struggled with what to do with their city's most notorious monuments. In three centrally-located parks stand virtually all that remains from Vienna's Nazi past: six enormous flak towers -- windowless, indestructible, and water-tight -- that cast dark shadows over Vienna's fabled picturesque landscape. Built between 1942 and 1944 by the Third Reich's Armaments Ministry, the amorphous concrete giants that once served as anti-aircraft and radio towers today function as indestructible monuments in a city that strives to forget its least heralded past. Interrogating their contested presence on the landscape is the purpose of this lecture."

September 26, 2008

Lecture by Professor Mary Pickering
"Auguste Comte: Positivism, Politics, and the Religion of Humanity"

Mary Pickering, who is completing Volume II of the first biography of Auguste Comte, will speak on his concepts of sociology and positivism, demonstrating their links to the social unrest of the nineteenth century. She will reveal her findings about his feminist proclivities, views of the emotions, Religion of Humanity, and epistemology. Having worked extensively in archives in France, England, and the United States for twenty-five years, she will also shed light on why his ideas attracted a wide following.

September 25, 2008

Italian Film
"Il Conformista"

Il conformista (The Conformist, 1970) is a political film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. The screenplay was written by Bertolucci based on the novel The Conformist (1951) by Alberto Moravia. The film features Jean-Louis Trintignant, Stefania Sandrelli, among others.

The drama serves as an analysis of the Fascist mentality which explores a sexual motivation. Marcello Clerici is an Italian coward who spends his life accommodating others and joins the Italian Fascist party as a way of disappearing into the crowd so that he can "belong." Bertolucci makes use of the 1930s art and decor associated with the Fascist mentality and era: the middle-class drawing rooms and the huge halls of the ruling elite.

from wikipedia

September 24, 2008

CIA - Critical Language/Clandestine Information Session
Open to All UT Students

Attire: Business Casual. RSVP is required to attend this event. To RSVP for this event, please email Robert Vega at Liberal Arts Career Services by September 23 at 4:00pm at r.vega@austin.utexas.edu

September 18, 2008

U.S. Department of State - Information Session
Open to All UT Students

Ambassador William Eaton

Attire: Business Casual. Join UT's Diplomat in Residence Bill Eaton to learn more about a career working as a diplomat for the U.S. Department of State. Ambassador Eaton will also discuss the Foreign Service Written Exam, which is the first step to a Foreign Service Career. Regardless of your major, consider a career where you can be a part of making history while experiencing life in the world of diplomacy!

April 10, 2008

European Studies Annual Conference
Making Europe/Making Europeans: The Ethnographic and the Everyday

For more information about our annual conference, please visit http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/european_studies/conferences/making-europe/index/ or go to our main page and follow the link on the right.

April 2, 2008

"Adopting the Euro in New Member States"
Talk by Thedore Pelagidis, Professor of Economic Analysis, University of Piraeur, Greece

Dr. Theodore Pelagidis is a Professor of Economic Analysis at the University of Piraeus in Greece as well as a Senio Visiting Scholar for The Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation. The talk is free and open to everyone.

February 23, 2007

Social Models Conference

A two day conference will feature speakers from the University of Texas as well as throughout the United States and Europe. Panels will feature comparisons between the U.S. and Europe on immigration and race, gender and economic issues. The keynote speaker on Friday afternoon will be Norman Birnbaum, Professor Emeritus at the Georgetown University Law Center and author most recently of "After Progress: American Social Reform and European Socialism in the Twentieth Century" (Oxford). For more information and registration, click the link below.

March 28, 2008

German Studies Workshop
Berlin, City Divided 1945-89