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Alle locaties SPUI25 Online Rialto Posthoornkerk Paradiso Odeonzaal Amsterdamse Academische Club (AAC) Doelenzaal Nationale Opera & Ballet De Brug (Roeterseiland) De Duif De Brakke Grond Binnengasthuisstraat 9 Aula Roeterseiland Nationale Opera & Ballet, Odeonzaal Singelkerk OBA Theater Vondelkerk Agnietenkapel

15 12 23

The Danger of Conflation

What is Antisemitism?

Since Hamas’s atrocious attack on October 7 and Israel’s near-immediate retaliatory bombings that have killed more than 18,000 Palestinians, Europe has seen a troubling surge in both state and private efforts to restrict criticism of Israel or support of “the Palestinian cause” with the stated goal of protecting against anti-Semitism. But how is anti-Semitism being defined, why so, and with what results?

12 12 23

Border Forensics: Documenting and Contesting Violence at the External Borders of Europe

Recent developments at Europe’s borders indicate a transformation of the forms of violence inflicted upon illegalised migrants from the Global South. During this event, Charles Heller and Stefan Salomon discuss how forensic practices are used to address these forms of violence, and explore their impact as well as the challenges that these challenges bring about.

08 12 23

The Western Liberal Order from Foundation to Fracture

Geopolitics and Democracy

With the launch of the book Geopolitics and Democracy we explore the fortunes and fragility of the international liberal order, where nation-states invest in international openness and multilateralism on the one hand and in military preparedness on the other. The book provides a novel argument and historical evidence explaining why the Western liberal international order emerged and why it is under threat from anti-globalist forces today.

07 12 23

Art, Technology, and Intimacy: Writing Fiction in the Sharing Economy

In her debut novel The Sharing Economy (Gedeelde liefde in Dutch) Sophie Berrebi brings together art, social media, and love, and explores various, modern modes of intimacy. She will discuss her book and the ways we view relationships with cultural theorist Pınar Türer and author Ilse Josepha Lazaroms.

05 12 23

Making it Political: China, the EU, and Technology Standards

Technological standards are at the center stage of the competition between China and the EU. China promotes their own standards in the EU and on the international stage, which gives them a leading role in the geopolitics of technology. This evening we discuss the nature of this interaction between China and the EU.

04 12 23

LGBTQI+ and Women’s Rights in The Face of Democratic Erosion

The rise of transnational conservative networks in Latin America and Europe forms a threat to LGBTQI+ and women’s rights. This event aims to discuss the challenges that arise in the LGBTQI+ and women’s rights movement in Latin America and Europe, as well as the role of civil society and academia in counteracting these challenges.

29 11 23

Update Language: On Current (Sign) Linguistics

In Update Language 2023, two of the UvA’s leading linguistics researchers talk about current trends in their specific take on linguistics. Floris Roelofsen and Titia Benders will each give a lecture about their respective research fields: sign languages and spoken languages. Afterwards they will engage in conversation about the current research developments in their fields.

24 11 23

Debating Muslim Marriage

Unconventional Muslim marriages have been topics of heated public debate around the globe. Religious scholars, policy makers, political actors, media personalities, and women’s activists discuss, promote, or reject unregistered, transnational, interreligious and other boundary-crossing marriages. Couples entering into such marriages, however, have different concerns from those publicly discussed. At this event, we will present chapters from a newly published book that examines these debated marriages: Muslim Marriage and Non-Marriage. Where Religion and Politics Meet Intimate Lives, edited by Julie McBrien and Annelies Moors.

23 11 23

Against Aggression: Monstrous and Resonant Forms of Uncontrollability

In his book The Uncontrollability of the World (2020), German sociologist Hartmut Rosa argues that the late modern human being desires to control the world. However, to truly experience “life” and achieve resonance with the world, we must be open to its uncontrollability. Tonight, Rosa will be in conversation with philosophers Daniel Loick and Beate Roessler.

21 11 23

Why we fall for it – and how we build immunity

Diagnosis: Disinformed

In all its various forms, disinformation is one of the great threats to modern democracy. Especially in times of crisis, fake news and conspiracy theories fall into fertile ground. Through new technologies and social media channels, disinformation spreads at lightning speed—and divides society. We saw that happening during the corona crisis and we see it now in the war in Ukraine. Indeed, disinformation can radicalize people and incite them to violence. Putin’s war, but also the right-wing attacks in Halle and Hanau in Germany and the burning of 5G transmission masts in the Netherlands are examples of this.

21 11 23

Double Book Launch with Carolyn Birdsall and Elodie A. Roy

Sonic Objects of Desire?

In contemporary culture, outdated ideas persist about sound media, such as radio, as being for the ears only. Yet sound media cultures have also variously engaged vision, touch, smell, and taste. This event will focus on the cross-sensory and material qualities of sound media by a double book launch of new books in Media Studies by Carolyn Birdsall and Elodie A. Roy.

13 11 23

Data and Social Justice

From #BlackLivesMatter to #DalitLivesMatter

Appearing on Twitter/X for the first time in 2014, #DalitLivesMatter (#DLM) is one of the latest chapters in a long history of offline and online cross-fertilisation between Dalit and African American struggles for social justice. What can a digital humanities approach tell us about the productive and counterproductive effects of this association, and by extension about such activist associations in general?

10 11 23

‘The family’ in migration politics

Strange(r) Families

“Family” is the main reason why migrants are permitted to move to European countries. But who decides what a ‘proper’ family is? Or what families are ‘deserving’ enough to live here? Families which include “strangers” – meaning non-citizens – require state permission to live together in Europe. For families which are “strange” – who diverge from the norm – such state permission is not self-evident. Same-sex families or polygamous families are commonly denied family migration rights. Who and what states consider “family” is therefore key to defining who gets to legally migrate to and reside in Europe.

09 11 23

Growing Prominence and Influence of the EU’s Eastern Member States

Europe’s Periphery at the Core

Almost twenty years after the accession of the first post-communist countries to the EU, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) today is a crucial venue of Europe’s geopolitics. Not only do current events such as the war in Ukraine take place within the broader Eastern European sphere, but the member states of the region themselves have become ever more assertive and influential on a number of terrains.

03 11 23

Activists and Scholars on Security and Peace

How to Build a Caring Feminist Foreign Policy?

Last year the Dutch government announced that it would pursue a Feminist Foreign Policy, which was to be developed in consultation with civil society and knowledge institutions. On 1 and 2 November 2023 the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosts an international conference on ‘Shaping Feminist Foreign Policy’, thereby profiling itself as the latest adopter of a Feminist Foreign Policy. But whose voices and knowledge have actually made it into the Dutch Feminist Foreign Policy? And whose voices and knowledge have been sidelined?

03 11 23

Objects, Emotions, Connections

Soviet Cultural Entanglements During the Cold War

On the occasion of the publication of the book Journeys of Soviet Things: Cold War as Lived Experience (Routledge 2023) by Sudha Rajagopalan, we explore the subject of Cold War era cultural connections between the Soviet Union and the world. Putting “things” at the centre of the history of the Cold War, a panel of three speakers will share their research about the role of everyday objects in shaping popular imagination at a time of a deep ideological divide between East and West.

31 10 23

Power and the Future of the Digital Society

Eaten by the Internet

Our world is eaten by the Internet. This means that those who control the Internet control the bounds of public speech, economic production, social cohesion, and politics, making its infrastructure a core political terrain in the networked age. This evening we honor a new book about the power of Big Tech and the future of the digital society, Eaten by the Internet. The discussion with the book’s authors and editor will make Internet infrastructure visible as a key force of political power and urge us to ask how can we ensure the Internet will sustain us, rather than consume us?

30 10 23

NIAS Talk

Voting in Turbulent Times: the Dutch Elections in a Comparative Perspective

On 22 November Dutch voters will cast their ballot in the Parliamentary Elections, bringing new urgency to questions that have been occupying politicians, pundits, and political scientists for years. How has the electoral behavior of key social groups such as the working class changed in the last decades? Are we witnessing a crisis of the Left or is there new hope for social democratic and other parties? Have political elites in the Netherlands and Europe become more diverse, and (why) does it matter who our representatives are?

27 10 23

A Hundred Years Of Republican Turkey

The year 2023 marks the centenary of the Republic of Turkey. The recently published book A Hundred Years of Republican Turkey: A History in a Hundred Fragments, a project of Leiden University’s Turkish Studies, explores Turkey’s complex history since 1923 through one hundred expertly curated fragments of historical sources. Our panel will discuss this innovative new exploration of Turkey’s past century.

24 10 23

Satanic Panic

In response to the brand new documentary Satan Wants You, which will premiere at the Imagine Fantastic Film Festival this October, our panel discusses the so-called “satanic panic” in the 1980s and how it relates to contemporary moral panic about ritual child abuse.

13 10 23

Between Gender, Space and Racialization

Prisons and Urban Inequalities

How do criminal justice interventions impact urban inequalities? Conversely, what would the criminal justice system look like if we were to center the resolution of inequalities instead of crime? These are questions that lead the Amsterdam-based research project The Principle of Inequality: Between City District and Criminal Justice System in Amsterdam. As this project draws to an end, the research team has organized an international colloquium, bringing together critical research on prisons and inequalities from around the world. Dr. Rashad Shabazz will share his work on the ways in which carceral power interacts with urban planning, and the policing and confinement of Blackness.

11 10 23

A Multi-Species Perspective

War Pollution and the Environment

Across the globe, military action and warfare have caused detrimental social, environmental, and multi-species harm. How does war pollution, particularly resulted from explosives and chemical warfare, continue to impact humans, other species, and their ecosystems? How do local and international efforts to address these legacies intersect with our heightened concerns over climate change? Bringing together scholars who research different socio-political contexts, this roundtable is aimed at facilitating a comparative discussion of these questions.

10 10 23

Gender and Self-Fashioning at the Intersection of Art and Science

In her forthcoming book, art historian Catherine Powell explores the intriguing life of Agnes Block, a remarkable seventeenth-century Dutch woman who we can find at the intersection of art and science. Powell will share her findings in a lecture, followed by comments by botanical philosopher Norbert Peeters and a presentation by literary scholar Feike Dietz.

06 10 23

A Conversation with Mark Rowe

J.L. Austin: Philosopher and D-Day Intelligence Officer

Mark Rowe has just published the first full length biography of the celebrated ordinary-language philosopher, J.L. Austin. The book reveals the true complexity of Austin’s character, and the full range and significance of his achievements, including his lesser known role in planning the D-Day landings. Tonight, Rowe will talk about his new book with philosopher Tamara Dobler and English Literature scholar Rudolph Glitz.

02 10 23

Book Launch

Forum Groningen: New Views on Public Space

Forum Groningen gives a kaleidoscopic view on the genesis of the architectural Forum project – the new cultural centre in the inner city of Groningen. This festive book presentation aims to explore the broader significance of this remarkable building by connecting the architects, book makers, invited critics and you, the audience. The panel reflects on the local and international meaning of the Forum in Groningen as a new form of public space that connects diverse cultural functions and merges architecture with cityscape. A large model of the Forum is present to illustrate the speakers’ views. Moderation by writer Dirk van Weelden.

28 09 23

Stories of Climate Breakdown: Emotions and Inequalities

Climate change is having profound and distressing impact across the world. The ways in which the effects of climate breakdown are felt, lived, and experienced are deeply varied and uneven. In this event we will discuss the role of emotions in these lived experiences, exploring in particular the place of storytelling and narratives in emotional responses to climate breakdown.

19 09 23

Platform Perspectives

Navigating the Sharing Economy and Its Transformative Impact

Have you ever shared your house, your car, your household items or borrowed a dress via a sharing platform? Or are you curious, but still a bit weary to try it?

19 09 23

Systems Thinking for Our Future

What can a systemic view of the Earth teach us about our future? Does the current understanding of the socio-ecological crisis give us the necessary tools to catalyze meaningful transformation? In this talk, Arthur Keller develops an in-depth overview of the systemic and interconnected challenges we face in our volatile, unpredictable, complex, and ambiguous world and suggests novel transformation strategies.

15 09 23

Sexual Self-Fashioning: Iranian Dutch Narratives of Sexuality and Belonging

Anthropologist Rahil Roodsaz investigates Iranian Dutch narratives of sexuality and belonging in her book Sexual Self-Fashioning: Iranian Dutch Narratives of Sexuality and Belonging. During this programme Roodsaz will present her new book, addressing the ways in which sexuality and gender have come to serve as measures for cultural belonging in discussions of the position of Muslim immigrants in multicultural Western societies. Roodsaz’ lecture marks the opening of the Amsterdam Research Centre for Gender & Sexuality’s new academic year.

13 09 23

How we got here, why they matter, and what our technological future will look like

“Chip Wars”

Computer chips have taken center stage in the current geopolitical conflicts. Many debates tend to depict these issues as new challenges, but they are not. The geopolitics of computer chips has a deep and complicated history. In this sixth event of our “Geopolitics of Technology” series, we will discuss how decades of globalization have built and re-built our supply chains; why and how states have always played a key role in chip markets; and how and why concepts of economic, political and military power intersect particularly in this technological field.

12 09 23

Decolonising La Mer Mortelle: The Experiences of Migrants at the European Borders

EU countries have the most mortal borders of the world, with thousands of deaths of African and Middle Eastern people each year and many more detained or living under deplorable circumstances as “illegal”—which makes them easily exploitable and deportable people. In this first edition of Decolonising La Mer Mortelle, we center the experiences and ideas of refugees themselves to explore alternatives for today’s lethal situation. How to get out of the current dynamic in which public empathy surges at dramatic moments, but is succeeded by policies that supposedly “prevent” dramas, yet actually worsen refugees’ situation?

11 07 23

‘Strategic foresight’ building ‘strategic preparedness’ for a rapidly evolving world

Navigating the Future

In a rapidly evolving world driven by innovation, the ability to anticipate and prepare for future advancements is crucial. ‘Technological foresight’ has become paramount for policymakers as they navigate the path ahead, serving as a compass to evaluate the potential societal impacts of complex scientific and technological developments. It also aids decision-makers in gaining a more strategic understanding of the issues they must address.

29 06 23

German and Dutch Perspectives

Debating Holocaust and Colonial Memory Culture: Historikerstreit 2.0

In 2021, a heated debate ignited what the Australian historian A. Dirk Moses called “The German Catechism.” Moses criticized the German consensus on the uniqueness of the Holocaust. While defending this uniqueness, comparisons with other genocides are often not taken into account. Moses depicted German intellectuals as “high priests” who by all means defend their ideas. Simultaneously, they tend to overlook the colonial context of German atrocities in Eastern Europe, as well as wider debates on a variety of memory cultures. In his lecture, historian Michael Wildt sheds light on this new “Historikerstreit.”

27 06 23

Algorithmic Injustice

Algorithms play an increasingly important role in our daily life but come with serious societal risks. In recent years we have seen many cases of algorithms that show unfair biased behavior towards particular groups or individuals, for instance the Dutch Toeslagenaffaire. This leads to growing concerns about harmful discrimination and reproduction of structural inequalities once these technologies become institutionalized in society. During this evening on algorithmic injustice we explore and discuss both the philosophical and technical aspects as well as the lived experiences of people who suffered from unfair algorithms.

26 06 23

The 1981 Massacre in Iran: Uncovering a Forgotten Mass Atrocity

June 2023 marks the 42nd anniversary of the 1981 massacre in Iran, the most extensive massacre in its recent history. In the past few years, a group of scholars and investigative journalists formed a research collective (Rastyad Collective) and studied this highly neglected massacre. In this event, the speakers will discuss the historical, legal, and political significance of the 1981 Massacre and reflect on the results of this research project.

22 06 23

Character assassination and antiliberalism in (pre-)Revolutionary France

Tyranny and Terror

Character assassination and antiliberalism often go hand in hand. Two distinguished British historians will speak about character assassination and antiliberal elements in the 1700s. While Enlightenment ideals led to a surge of liberalism and sparked the birth of Europe’s first liberal democracies, these developments also triggered strong counter reactions.

20 06 23

Book Launch

The Lost Future and How to Reclaim It

The future seems increasingly uncertain. Our democracies are failing to prevent financial crises, energy shortages, climate change and war—so how can we look to the future with confidence? In his new book, The Lost Future: And How to Reclaim It, Jan Zielonka argues that it is democracy’s shortsightedness that makes politics stumble in our increasingly connected world. Tonight, he will discuss his book with Caroline de Gruyter and Luiza Bialasiewicz.

15 06 23

The road from state socialism through liberal democracy to autocracy

Democratic Erosion: The Case of Hungary

In the last decade, Hungary has received international attention for its democratic erosion. The country has been the first institutionally consolidated democracy to turn into an autocracy. How has this effect of ‘backsliding’ been possible? And what has marked the transition from democracy to autocracy? In this lecture the process of democratic transition as well as the main factors that allowed the Hungarian government to undergo the development without meaningful push-back will be discussed.

14 06 23

Uncommon Transitions? Memory and Forgetting between Eastern and Western Europe

Why do memories of transitions in the late 1980s and 1990s remain disconnected between Eastern and Western Europe? This NIAS talk explores the diverging interpretations and memory cultures of this turbulent time in history that have emerged in the ‘former East’ and the ‘former West’. Together with experts working on different parts of Central and Eastern Europe, we shed light on how these transitions are remembered and forgotten in the Netherlands as well as in other countries of the ‘former West’.

05 06 23

Rethinking Our News Diet: On Polarisation and Online News Consumption

When talking about polarization, populism, and misinformed publics, we often focus on the role of echo chambers, fake news, and radical rabbit holes on social media. A new project argues this is the wrong focus. Instead, we should turn our eye on our news diet and – specifically – on the alarming lack of quality news in this diet. This lack is a risk to democratic societies because less informed citizens are more susceptible to populist and manipulative messages. Join the presentation of this project and a discussion on how to increase our news exposure.