European Studies Program

IICAS launched the European Studies Initiative in 2002 to build a focal point for faculty, students, and members of the San Diego community who share an interest in contemporary Europe. The central aim of the Initiative is the construction of a European Studies program at UCSD.

The European Studies undergraduate minor is a brand new program at UCSD. For more information about the European Studies undergraduate minor, click here.

European Studies Program Director:
Roddey Reid (Professor, Literature) web site

2009-10 European Studies Events

IICAS European Studies Roundtable: "Remaking the Public University in the 21st Century" Thursday, November 19, 2009 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM Dugout Conference Room RIMAC Annex Refreshments provided. Please email iicasintern@ucsd.edu to register for this event. The current international economic crisis, which has thrown into question free market-based economic and state policies, has paradoxically deepened trends in many regions to privatize state-funded universities and reconfigure their mission as a public service and good along the lines of market-oriented models. The roundtable will seek to explore these trends and their fallout in terms of access, curricula, and research in order to reach a transnational perspective on these developments whose roots go back several decades. Presenters: Marcel Henaff, UCSD Literature & Political Science - France Christine Hunefeldt, UCSD History & CILAS - Spain & Latin America Ping-hui Liao, UCSD Literature - East Asia Isaac Martin, UCSD Sociology - California & United States Charles Thorpe, UCSD Sociology - United Kingdom For directions to the Dugout Conference Room click here.

"Cents and Sensibility: Economic Valuation and the Nature of 'Nature' in France and America" Professor Marion Fourcade University of California, Berkeley Friday, November 20, 2009 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM Social Sciences Building (SSB), Room 101 Please email iicasintern@ucsd.edu to register for this event How do we attribute a monetary value to "invaluable" things? In this presentation, I offer a general sociological approach to this question, using the value of nature as a paradigmatic case. I first propose a theoretical analysis of the cultural and institutional conditions through which the relationship between subjective value and objective (monetary) value gets constructed in society. I argue that a full-blown sociology of valuation must solve three problems: the "why," which refers to the general place of money as a metric for subjective value in society; the "how," which refers to the specific techniques and arguments laymen and experts might use in order to elicit monetary value where value is hard to produce; and the "then, what" or the feedback loop from monetary valuation to social practices and representations including, of course, subjective value. I use the case of nature to demonstrate how this sequence works empirically. I rely on an empirical investigation of three major environmental pollution legal cases -the maritime oil spills caused respectively by the tankers Amoco Cadiz and Erika in Brittany (France) in 1978 and 1999 respectively, and by the Exxon Valdez in Alaska in 1989- to study how French and American plaintiffs and institutions understood the damage done to nature and sought to turn it into monetary value. I then show how these processes of monetary valuation ended up, by and large, reproducing the very conceptions of nature that had motivated them in the first place. Marion Fourcade (PhD Harvard University) is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. A comparative sociologist, she is interested primarily in investigating and theorizing about how individuals in different countries think about the world and act in it, where these differences come from, and what their macro-social consequences might be. She has worked comparatively on the formation of knowledge, disciplines and professions; the making of economic policies; the forms of political organization; and international processes and dynamics. Her first book, Economists and Societies (Princeton University Press 2009), explores the institutions and cultural forces that have shaped the professional identities, practical activities and disciplinary projects of economists in the United States, Britain, and France in the twentieth century. The place of economic expertise and measurement technologies across cultures is also at the core of her next book project on the roots and consequences of social classifications (tentatively titled Measure for Measure: Social Ontologies of Classification). Fourcade's work has appeared in numerous professional outlets, such as the American Journal of Sociology, the American Sociological Review, and Theory and Society. IICAS European Studies is a co-sponsor of this event with the Department of Sociology, Culture and Society Workshop, and Comparative Historical Workshop. The IICAS European Studies Speaker Series at UC San Diego is sponsored by the Institute for International, Comparative, and Area Studies (IICAS). IICAS promotes interdisciplinary research, discussion and information exchange on international, comparative, and cross regional topics.

2009-10 Past European Studies Events

"Knut Hamsun Today," hosted by Prof. Kaare Strom, UCSD Political Science.
With Regine Hamsun, author's granddaughter, and Prof. Arne Lunde, UCLA Scandinavian Studies, introducing the film, The Telegraphist, based on Hamsun's novel Svaermere (Dreamers)
Thursday, November 12, 2009, 6:00 PM, Dugout Conference Room, RIMAC Annex
IICAS European Studies Speaker Series is a co-sponsor with the UCSD Department of Political Science.

Panelists William Chandler, Political Science Frank Biess, History Armin Owzar, DAAD Visiting Professor
"Germany's 11/9, Twenty Years After the Fall of the Wall: The 2009 Bundestag Elections in Historical Perspective"
Monday, November 9, 2009, 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM, Social Sciences Building (SSB) Room IICAS European Studies Speaker Series is a co-sponsor with UCSD Political Science Department.

Professor Enrique Larana, Complutense University of Madrid
"The Social Construction of Citizenship"
Thursday, October 1, 2009, 3:30- 5:00 PM, Deutz Room, Institute of the Americas
CILAS Speaker Series, co-sponsored by IICAS European Studies.

2008-09 European Studies Events

2008-09 European Studies Program Director:
Roddey Reid (Professor, Literature) web site

Laurent Cohen-Tanugi, Author
The Shape of the World to Come: Charting the Geopolitics of the New Century
Wednesday, October 15, 2008, 12:00- 1:30 PM, ERC 115 for the Academic Lecture, 7:00 - 8:30 PM, IOA Hojel Auditorium for the General Lecture
Sponsored by the European Studies at IICAS.
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Azouz Begag, Former French Minister, Author, Visiting Professor UCLA,
"The Politics of Anti-Racism in France: Lessons from Government"
Monday, November 10, 2008, 4:00- 5:30 PM, SSB 107, followed by a reception.
To stream a recording of this enlightening lecture, click this
Sponsored by the European Studies at IICAS.

Dr. Joerg Himmelreich, Visiting Professor at UCSD
"Putin's Authoritarianism and Russian History: Implications for the U.S."
Friday, November 21, 2008, 12:00- 1:30 PM, ERC 201
Sponsored by the European Studies at IICAS.
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Professor Jeff Weintraub, University of Pennsylvania
"The Dynamics of Ethnic Simplification in Eastern Europe and the Middle East: From 1923 to 1948 to the 21st Century"
Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 12:30- 2:00 PM, ERC 115
Sponsored by the European Studies at IICAS.
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Nancy Green, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
"Immigration History, Memory, and Museums in France and the United States"
Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 12:30- 2:00 PM, SSB 107
Sponsored by the European Studies at IICAS.
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2007-08 European Studies Events

Dr. Andreas Pretzel , from the Technical University of Berlin:
"Homosexual Survivors of the Nazi Concentration Camps and their Post-war Struggles"
Thursday, October 4, 2007, 5:00- 6:30 PM
Social Sciences Building (SSB), Room 104
Co-sponsored by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Resource Center; the UCSD Department of Literature; the UCSD Critical Gender Studies Program; the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Issues; and European Studies at IICAS.
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Dagmar Herzog, from City University of New York;
Atina Grossman, from The Cooper Union;
Andreas Pretzel, from the Technical University of Berlin:
"Eros and Jewish Fate in Modern Germany"
Lunch Seminar
Friday, October 5, 2007, 12:00-1:30 PM
Social Sciences Building, Room 107
Co-sponsored by the UCSD Judaic Studies Program and European Studies at IICAS.
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Cinema Sud, The Art of Italian Cinema
www.cinemasud.com
October 12th - 25th, 2007
Hosted by the Museum of Photographic Arts: Directions

Professor Esra Ozyurek, from the University of California, San Diego:
"Turkish Christians and German Muslims: Cultural Racism, Fears of Religious Conversion, and National Security in the New Europe"
Thursday, January 31, 2008, 12:30 - 2:00 PM
Social Sciences Building (SSB), Room 107
Sponsored by European Studies at the Institute for International, Comparative, and Area Studies (IICAS).

Professor Armin Owzar, from the University of Münster, Germany:
"Rivalry and Competition, Catholicism, Protestantism and Islam in German East Africa"
Thursday, February 7, 2008, 4:00 - 5:30 PM
Humanities and Social Sciences Building (HSS), Room 6008
Co-sponsored by European Studies at the Institute for International, Comparative, and Area Studies (IICAS), and the German Studies Program at the University of California, San Diego.

"The Lives of Others / Das Leben der Anderen"
with introdution and discussion by UCSD Professor Emeritus Cynthia Walk
Monday, April 14, 2008, 6:00 - 9:00 PM
Social Sciences Building (SSB), Room 104
The German Film Series: Moving History is part of the Literatures of the World 4B: History and Memory in Germany course. Co-sponsored by European Studies at the Institute for International, Comparative, and Area Studies (IICAS), the Judaic Studies Program, and the Department of Literature.

Professor Ian Hunter, from the Centre for the History of European Discourses, University of Queensland, Australia:
"Instituting the Other: Poststructuralism as Academic Discipline"
Friday, April 18 , 2008, 12:00 - 1:30 PM
Social Sciences Building (SSB), Room 101
Co-sponsored by European Studies at the Institute for International, Comparative, and Area Studies (IICAS), the Department of Literature, and the Department of Sociology.

Nina Zhiri, from the UCSD Department of Literature;
Kaare Strom, from the UCSD Department of Political Science;
Harun Kucuk, from the UCSD Department of History:
"What is Europe? A Roundtable Discussion"
Tuesday, April 29, 2008, 12:30 - 2:00 PM
ERC Admin Building, Room 115
Co-sponsored by European Studies at IICAS.

"The Unknown Soldier / Der Unbekannte Soldat"
with introdution and discussion by SDSU Professor Lawrence Baron
Monday, May 5, 2008, 6:00 - 8:30 PM
Social Sciences Building (SSB), Room 104
The German Film Series: Moving History is part of the Literatures of the World 4B: History and Memory in Germany course. Co-sponsored by European Studies at the Institute for International, Comparative, and Area Studies (IICAS), the Judaic Studies Program, and the Department of Literature.

Professor Isaac Martin, from the University of California, San Diego:
"Tax Protest in European Welfare States"
Monday, May 12, 2008, 12:00- 1:30 PM
Social Sciences Building (SSB), Room 104
Sponsored by the European Studies at IICAS.

"Sonnenalle"
with introdution and discussion by UCSD Professor Patrick Patterson
Monday, May 19, 2008, 6:00 - 8:30 PM
Social Sciences Building (SSB), Room 104
The German Film Series: Moving History is part of the Literatures of the World 4B: History and Memory in Germany course. Co-sponsored by European Studies at the Institute for International, Comparative, and Area Studies (IICAS), the Judaic Studies Program, and the Department of Literature.

2006-07 European Studies Events

Patrick Patterson, from the University of California, San Diego:
"In Defense of Christian Europe? Religious Politics and the Future of Islam in Europe after 1989"
Lunch Seminar
Thursday, April 26, 2007, 12:00-1:30 PM
Social Sciences Building, Room 104
Co-sponsored by IICAS and the IGCC

Ferruh Yilmaz, from the University of California, San Diego:
"Islamaphobia: How the right culturalized politics in Europe"
Lunch Seminar
Tuesday, May 8, 2007, 12:30- 2:00 PM
Social Sciences Building, Room 104
Sponsored by IICAS

Andy Markovits, from the University of Michigan:
"Sports Cultures on Two Continents: Metaphors for My Life”
Lunch Seminar
Wednesday, May 16, 2007, 12:00 - 1:30 PM
Faculty Club
Co-sponsored by IICAS and the IGCC

Andy Markovits, from the University of Michigan:
"Understanding the Rise of Anti-Americanism in Europe"
Wednesday, May 16, 2007, 7:00 - 8:30 PM
Robinson Auditorium
Co-sponsored by IICAS and the IGCC

Bill Chandler, from the University of California, San Diego:
“Interpreting the French Presidential Election of 2007”
Lunch Seminar
Wednesday, May 23, 2007, 12:00 -1:30 PM
ERC Admin Building, IICAS Seminar Room 115
Co-sponsored by IICAS and the IGCC

Hans Wendler, from the University of California, San Diego:
"Comparing 11/9 and 9/11 - A European Point of View"
Lunch Seminar
Thursday, June 7, 2007, 12:30 - 2:00 PM
Social Sciences Building, Room 107
Co-sponsored by IICAS and the IGCC

2005-06 European Studies Events

Joerg Himmelreich, from the German Marshall Fund, DC:
"Germany after the Election: A New German Foreign Policy? "
Lunch Seminar
Monday, October 3, 2005, 12:00 - 1:30 PM
ERC Admin Building, IICAS Seminar Room 115
Co-sponsored by IICAS and the American Council on Germany

Christian Deubner:
"France and Europe"
Lunch Seminar
Tuesday, November 1, 2005, 12:00 - 2:00 PM
ERC Admin Building, IICAS Seminar Room 115
Co-sponsored by IICAS and the American Council on Germany

Christian Deubner:
"France and Europe After the Referendum 'NON' "
Tuesday, November 1, 2005, 5:00 - 6:30 PM
Cognitive Sciences Building, CSB, Room 001
Co-sponsored by IICAS and the American Council on Germany

Lars Vissing, Ambassador, Royal Danish Embassy:
"Cultural Aspects of European Integration"
Lunch Seminar
Monday, November 7, 2005, 12:00 - 1:30 PM
ERC Admin Building, IICAS Seminar Room 115
Sponsored by IICAS

William Chandler & Tracy Strong, UCSD;
Eiko Thielemann, London School of Economics & Political Science;
Maurizio Albahari, Political Science, UC Irvine:
"The French Social Crisis"
Lunch Seminar
Wednesday, November 16, 2005, 12:00 - 2:00 PM
ERC Admin Building, IICAS Seminar Room 115
Co-sponsored by IICAS and the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies

2004-05 European Studies Events

WiTue 11/17/09 9:41 AMl on Germany
Thursday, January 27, 2005, 4:30 - 6:30 PM
Social Sciences Building, SSB 107
Co-sponsored by IICAS and the American Council on Germany

Margaret Anderson, from the University of California, Berkeley
Monday, January 31, 2005, 3:00 - 5:30 PM
Deutz Conference Room, Institute of the Americas
Co-sponsored by IICAS and the Department of History

Akos Rona-Tas, from the University of California, San Diego:
"The Worm and the Caterpillar"
Lunch Seminar
Tuesday, February 8, 2005, 12:00 PM
ERC Admin Building, IICAS Seminar Room 115
Sponsored by IICAS

Stephen E. Flynn, from the Center for Foreign Relations:
"American the Vulnerable"
Monday, February 28, 2005, 4:30 - 6:00 PM
Weaver Center
Co-sponsored by IICAS and the Council on Foreign Relations

Joan Pujolar, from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain:
"Moroccan and West-African Women in Catalan Language Courses in Catalonia: Issues of Identity and Power"
Lunch Seminar
Friday, March 4, 2005, 12:00 - 1:30 PM
Social Sciences Building, SSB 103
Co-sponsored by IICAS, CILAS, and the Departments of Anthropology and Ethnic Studies

David Luft:
"The Austrian Tradition in German Culture: An Intellectual History"
Lunch Seminar
Wednesday, March 9, 2005, 12:00 - 1:30 PM
Social Sciences Building, SSB, Room 107
Sponsored by IICAS

Julian Nida-Ruemelin, former Minister of German culture:
"Cultural Identity and the Future of Europe"
Lunch Seminar
Thursday, March 10, 2005, 12:00 - 2:00 PM
Faculty Club, UCSD
Co-sponsored by IICAS and the Freidrich Ebert Foundation

Peter Katzenstein, from Cornell University:
"Anti-Americanism in Europe"
Lunch Seminar
Thursday, April 14, 2005, 12:00 - 2:00 PM
Social Sciences Building, SSB, Room 107
Sponsored by IICAS

Nina Berman
Friday, April 15, 2005, 3:00 PM
De Certeau Room 3155, Literature Building
Co-sponsored by IICAS and the Departments of Literature and German Studies

Richard Evans:
"The Holocaust on Trial: Truth and Politics in David Irving Trial"
Thursday, April 21, 2005, 3:00 PM
History Department, Galbraith Room
Co-sponsored by IICAS and Judaic Studies

Ruth Kluger:
"Landscapes of Memory", a reading from the best-selling memoir, Still Alive
Tuesday, May 3, 2005, 4:00 PM
Mandeville Center Auditorium
Co-sponsored by IICAS, ERC, and Judaic Studies

Ruud Koopmans:
"Contested Citizenship: Immigration and Cultural Diversity in Europe"
Tuesday, May 17, 2005, 3:00 - 5:00 PM
Eleanor Roosevelt College, IICAS Seminar Room 115
Co-sponsored by IICAS and CCIS

Carol Pfaff:
"Ideological and Political Framing of Bilingual Development: Reflections on Studies of Turkish/German in Berlin"
Lunch Seminar
Friday, May 20, 2005, 12:30 - 2:30 PM
Social Sciences Building, SSB, Room 103
Co-sponsored by IICAS and Ethnic Studies

2003-04 European Studies Events

European Union Enlargement and Transatlantic Relations: A Distinguished Speaker Series

2002-03 European Studies Events

European Union Enlargement and Transatlantic Relations: A Distinguished Speaker Series

About European Studies Faculty Lunches

Last Updated: Tue 11/17/09 9:41 AM