Students from the Europe Confronts the Refugee Challenge course will present their research and experiences from their studies throughout the semester and a spring break trip to Berlin, Germany. This course, taught by William Donahue, the Rev. John J. Cavanaugh, C.S.C., Professor of the Humanities, treats contemporary European responses to the influx of migrants and refugees. It explores issues such as:Germany's policies toward asylum-seekers; the relationship between these policies and the European Union; policies to integrate refugees and migrants into German society; and the political impact of these policies.While in Berlin, students met with stakeholders and leaders from many sides of the response in Europe and Germany, in particular. This timely topic transcends national lines, especially in the European Union. Students will share what they have learned and how we can frame our understanding of migration globally, as well as the challenges of particular groups as they seek to interact with and integrate within European states. All Notre Dame students, faculty, and staff are warmly invited to join this insight-filled evening. Light refreshments will be offered at a small reception. You are welcome to drop in and out throughout the event based on your availability. This event is made possible through collaboration between the Nanovic Institute and the Department of German and Russian Languages and Literatures. Originally published at nanovic.nd.edu.

Join us for an engaging conversation on the multifaceted ways in which climate change affects the health and well-being of the world. Featured Speakers:Jason Rohr, Ludmilla F., Stephen J. and Robert T. Galla College Professor and Department Chair, Department of Biological SciencesTracy Kijewski-Correa, William J. Pulte Director, Pulte Institute for Global Development; Professor of Engineering and Global Affairs; Academic Director, Integration LabModerated by:Ellis Adjei Adams, Associate Professor of Geography and Environmental Policy, Keough School of Global AffairsThis event is sponsored by the Eck Institute for Global Health, the Global Health Club of Notre Dame, and ND Energy.    Originally published at globalhealth.nd.edu.

Featuring David R. Armitage, Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History, Harvard UniversityApril 10-12, 2024Professor David Armitage, a leading scholar of political thought and international law, will give a trio of lectures on the topic of his next book—on the surprising connections between opera and international thought—which will be open to all students, faculty, and the public. All lectures and receptions will be held in the Morris Inn's Smith Ballroom.          April 10, 3:30-5:30pm, reception to follow until 6:30pm. David Armitage (Harvard), "Diplomatic Mozart." Commentator 1: Jennifer Pitts (Political Science, University of Chicago). Commentator 2: Pierpaolo Polzonetti (Music, UC Davis-Arts). Featuring a performance by the local bass-baritone vocal artist, Ian Williams, with pianist Dror Baitel.April 11, 3:30-5:30pm, reception to follow until 6:30pm. David Armitage (Harvard), "Death at Sea: Wagner to Klinghoffer." Commentator 1: Eric Nelson (Government, Harvard) & Commentator 2: Christopher Chowrimootoo (Program of Liberal Studies/ Sacred Music, Notre Dame). Featuring a performance by the soprano vocal artist and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music at Notre Dame, Deborah Mayer, with pianist Dror Baitel.April 12, Noon-12:30pm, lunch reception. Final lecture, 12:30-2:30pm, with concluding reception to follow until 3:30pm. David Armitage (Harvard), "Refugee Songs." Commentator 1: Mira Siegelberg (History, Cambridge) & Commentator 2: Martha C. Nussbaum (Law, Philosophy, Classics, Political Science, University of Chicago).  Featuring a performance by the soprano vocal artist and Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor of Voice in the Department of Music at Notre Dame, Anne Slovin, with pianist Dror Baitel.Please contact the faculty organizer, Professor Eileen M. Hunt (ehunt@nd.edu), or the graduate student assistant, Shasta Kaul (skaul2@nd.edu), with any questions.--- The Niemeyer Lectures honor the contributions and memory of the late Gerhart Niemeyer (1907-1997), professor of political philosophy at the University of Notre Dame from 1955 to 1997. This biennial lecture series is made possible by the generosity of Notre Dame alumnus Raymond Biagini. Originally published at politicalscience.nd.edu.

The Kroc Institute proudly hosts a new series focused on intersectionality as a beneficial framework and methodology to pair with peace studies. Led by Assistant Professor Ashley Bohrer and featuring a variety of guest presenters, the series will address the potential of intersectional analysis for peace studies scholars, with an ability to transform timely global conversations and issues. Likewise, the series will illustrate how peacebuilding in its many forms contributes to the strength and value of intersectionality as an analytical tool and concept. Intersectionality is a useful concept in peace and conflict research, but perhaps not adequately understood and used. In this talk, Swati Parashar, professor of peace and development studies at the School of Global Studies at the University of Gothenburg, will offer a nuanced critique of the concept of intersectionality, arguing that a lack of understanding could lead to division, incompatibility, or conflict within social or cultural groups that are seeking emancipation. Using relevant examples from India, Parashar will discuss the various perceptions of these groups — including women, dalits, adivasis and transgendered people — who are seeking autonomy and freedom from oppression. She will also explore the dichotomy of well-researched theories that are not put into practice and how it contributes to the challenge of deploying intersectionality in contemporary times. Panelists: Welcome and Introduction by Asher Kaufman John M. Regan, Jr. Director, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies; professor of history and peace studiesSwati Parashar Professor in peace and development studies, School of Global Studies, University of GothenburgAshley Bohrer Assistant Professor of gender and peace studies  This event is cosponsored by the Notre Dame Initiative on Race and Resilience and the Gender Studies Program. Originally published at kroc.nd.edu.

The spring lectures are being planned in a hybrid online and in-person format. Please register here.  The Center for Italian Studies is pleased to host a lecture by Professor Martin Eisner (Duke University) titled: Boccaccio, the Disguised Revolutionary   Medieval and renaissance, feminist and misogynist, radical and conservative, class-warrior and aspiring aristocrat, Boccaccio has been interpreted in a variety of contradictory ways since the fourteenth century. Prof. Eisner's lecture proposes a new way of reading Boccaccio's work that puts the Decameron at the center to show how the revolutionary ideas about fleshly desire, language, gender, cultural diversity, and power that Boccaccio identifies in the Author's Conclusion to the Decameron radiate throughout his works.   Martin Eisner is chair of romance studies and professor of Italian at Duke University. He is the author of Dante's New Life of the Book: A Philology of World Literature (Oxford UP, 2021), which won the Howard R. Marraro Prize from the Modern Language Association. His first book Boccaccio and the Invention of Italian Literature: Dante, Petrarch, Cavalcanti, and the Authority of the Vernacular (Cambridge UP, 2013) has recently been published in Italian as Boccaccio e l'invenzione della letteratura italiana (Salerno, 2022). He is currently working on a biography of Boccaccio for Reaktion Books's Renaissance Lives series. He continues to develop the online research project Dante’s Library. His articles on Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch, and Machiavelli have appeared in PMLA, Renaissance Quarterly, Dante Studies, Mediaevalia, California Italian Studies, Quaderni d’Italianistica, Annali d’Italianistica, and Le Tre Corone. His research has been supported by the Mellon Foundation, the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, the American Academy in Rome, the American Philosophical Association, and the Fulbright Foundation. The lecture is co-sponsored by the Medieval Institute.The Italian Research Seminar, a core event of the Center for Italian Studies, aims to provide a regular forum for faculty, postdoctoral scholars, graduate students, and colleagues from other universities to present and discuss their current research. The Seminar is vigorously interdisciplinary, and embraces all areas of Italian literature, language, and culture, as well as perceptions of Italy, its achievements and its peoples in other national and international cultures. The Seminar constitutes an important element in the effort by Notre Dame's Center for Italian Studies to promote the study of Italy and to serve as a strategic point of contact for scholarly exchange.Originally published at italianstudies.nd.edu.

Joe Soss is the inaugural Cowles Chair for the Study of Public Service at the University of Minnesota, where he holds faculty positions in the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, the Department of Political Science, and the Department of Sociology. His research and teaching explore the interplay of democratic politics, societal inequalities, and public policy. He is particularly interested in the political sources and consequences of policies that govern social marginality and shape life conditions for socially marginal groups. His coauthored book, "Disciplining the Poor: Neoliberal Paternalism and the Persistent Power of Race" (2011), was selected for the 2012 Michael Harrington Award (APSA, New Political Science) and the 2012 Oliver Cromwell Cox Award (ASA, Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities), the 2012 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award (American Library Association), and the 2015 Herbert Simon Award (APSA, Section on Public Administration). In 2010, he received the campus-wide Outstanding Faculty Award from the University of Minnesota's Council of Graduate Students (COGS). In 2013-14, he served as Dale T. Mortensen Senior Fellow at the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Aarhus University, Denmark. In 2016, Professor Soss was honored with the University's campus-wide award for outstanding contributions to graduate education, named a Distinguished University Teaching Professor, and inducted into the UMN Academy of Distinguished Teachers. Outside his academic work, Soss is an active musician and recently released an album, The Sound of Sweet Ruin. Professor Soss will be joined by Professor Chloe Thurston. Professor Thurston's research is on American political development, political economy, and public policy, with a particular interest in how politics and public policy shape market inequalities along the lines of race and gender. She is the author of "At the Boundaries of Homeownership: Credit, Discrimination and the American State" (Cambridge University Press, 2018), her research has been published in Studies in American Political Development; Politics, Groups, and Identities; and the Journal of Public Policy, and commentaries have appeared in The Daily Beast, Ms., and The Monkey Cage (Washington Post), among others. Thurston is currently working on two projects related to the politics of credit, debt, and asset inequality in the U.S. The first of these (joint with Emily Zackin) examines the rise and fall of a protective debt relief regime in the United States. The second examines the political economy asset and wealth inequality following key civil rights reforms in the 1960s and 1970s. Thurston received her B.A. in economics and political science from Johns Hopkins University, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. In 2019-2020, she was a member of the School of Social Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Originally published at rooneycenter.nd.edu.