Let’s Talk About History!

L’émergence d’une « puissance africaine » postcoloniale ? L’exemple du boycott des Jeux olympiques de Montréal en 1976 - Pr Nicolas Bancel, 30 avril 2024
2024-04-30 18:30 - 20:30 (Europe/Helsinki) | Université du Luxembourg – Maison des Sciences Humaines, 11, porte des Sciences, Esch-sur-Alzette, L-4366
Après les indépendances des pays colonisés au cours des années 1950-1960, les pays africains participent progressivement aux grandes compétitions sportives internationales. Parallèlement, dans la lignée d’un panafricanisme postcolonial, ces nations africaines, à travers l’érection de l’Organisation de l’unité africaine (OUA), cherchent à agir sur la géopolitique mondiale.
En 1976, une controverse émerge quant à la participation de la Nouvelle-Zélande aux Jeux Olympiques de Montréal, la Nouvelle-Zélande continuant d’entretenir des relations sportives avec l’Afrique du Sud de l’Apartheid, en dépit des recommandations successives de l’ONU. Sur ces bases, un boycott des nations africaines prend corps immédiatement avant le début des Jeux. Quelles sont les circonstances historiques qui éclairent cette décision ? Et quels en sont les enjeux géopolitiques et sportifs ? Plus largement, comment ce boycott interroge la « politique de l’apolitisme » du Comité international olympique ?
Le lecteur: Pr. Nicolas Bancel (Université de Lausanne)
Nicolas Bancel est historien, professeur ordinaire à l’Université de Lausanne, directeur de l’Institut des sciences du sport de l’Université de Lausanne et chercheur au Centre d’histoire internationale et d’études politiques de la mondialisation. Il est spécialiste d’histoire coloniale, postcoloniale et de l’histoire du sport et du corps. Il a notamment publié ou codirigé une soixantaine d’ouvrages dont Décolonisations ? Élites, jeunesses et pouvoirs en Afrique occidentale française (1945-1960), Publications de la Sorbonne, 2022 ; Le Postcolonialisme, Presses universitaires de France, 2022 ; Une histoire mondiale de l’olympisme, 1896-2024, Atlande-Atlantique, 2023. Il est directeur scientifique depuis 2019 du programme « Histoire, Sport & Citoyenneté » autour de l’histoire des Jeux Olympiques.
Venue: MSH, Black Box
Programme
18h30 : Inscription
18h45 : Présentation
19h30 : questions et discussion
20h00 : Réception

Avec le soutien de C²DH, IHIST, et Historic.ul

Childhood of Central European Habsburgs in the Early Modern Period - prof. Martin Holý
2024-10-08 17:15 - 19:00 | Université du Luxembourg – Maison des Sciences Humaines, 11, porte des Sciences, Esch-sur-Alzette, L-4366
Based on the results of the Czech Science Foundation project, the lecture focuses on selected aspects of childhood at the court of the Central European Habsburgs in the 16th to 18th centuries. Based on the analysis of a wide range of historical sources, its primary focus will be on two areas in particular: childcare from the prenatal period to adulthood (pregnancy, births, baptisms, daily care of children, their relationships within the family, future plans, etc.), and education and training (basic knowledge of reading, writing and arithmetic, language training, specific skills such as fencing, horse riding, music and art education, etc.). In both of these broad spheres, the aim is to capture some general tendencies in boys’ and girls’ childcare and education, but also the specificities of the monarchical environment, as well as the key developments that can be observed during the early modern period, which affected the whole of society, including the social elites.
Speaker: prof. PhDr. Martin Holý (University of Prague)
Martin Holý is a Professor of History at Prague University, specializing in the cultural, intellectual, and educational history of the Czech lands in the 16th and 17th centuries. His research focuses on the upbringing and education of the Bohemian and Moravian nobility, as well as networks and relations between Bohemia and other parts of the Holy Roman Empire during the early modern period. He has published extensively on the history of education in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Times, specifically focusing on the academic networks of young elites, oftentimes adopting a European perspective.
Since 2006, Holý has actively participated in international research projects with universities throughout Europe. He also serves on the editorial boards of several academic journals, including the Czech Historical Review and Folia Historica Bohemica. His research has earned him the Otto Wichterle Prize in 2009 and the Academy of Sciences Award in 2012. Most recently, he received the Academia Prize in 2022 and continues to work on the history of education of the elites as part of multiple projects at the Historical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.
Venue: Maison des Sciences Humaines, DHLAB
Program
17h15 – Registration & welcoming words
17h30 – Presentation
18h15 – Questions & discussion
18h45 – Cocktail

With the suppory of C²DH, IHIST, Historic.ul

Women and Leadership in the Early Years of European Integration
2024-11-13 17:30 - 19:00 | Université du Luxembourg – Maison des Sciences Humaines, 11, porte des Sciences, Esch-sur-Alzette, L-4366
This public lecture explores the scarcity of women in leadership roles in the early years of European integration, with notable exceptions. In these years, a woman, Käte Strobel, ascended to leadership within a major political group and was appointed vice-chair in a non-traditional policy committee, marking significant breakthroughs in gender representation. Drawing on insights from European Studies and Gender Studies and applying Henriette Müller and Ingeborg Tömmel’s analytical frameworks, this analysis identifies how opportunities can enhance representation at the highest offices, as well as how institutional settings and political culture constrain women’s success. The study addresses when and why these cases occurred and how windows of opportunity at the European level in the early years can be explained.
Speaker: Dr. Simona Guerra (University of Surrey)
Dr. Simona Guerra is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Surrey, specializing in Euroscepticism, European integration, and Central and Eastern European politics. Recently, she has contributed to key volumes such as Euroscepticism as a Transnational and Pan-European Phenomenon and the Routledge Handbook of Euroscepticism, as well as an ECPR volume on populism’s impact on party systems. Her research covers topics including Brexit, democracy, populism, religion and politics, and transnational Euroscepticism. Currently, she is focused on the early women of European integration (1950-1960) and has been awarded an ESRC IAA Impact Exploration Grant. Dr. Guerra has held many prestigious visiting positions, more recently at Sapienza University and the College of Europe.
Venue: Maison des Sciences Humaines, Black Box
Program
17h15 – Registration & welcoming words
17h30 – Presentation
18h15 – Questions & discussion
18h45 – Cocktail

With the support of C²DH, IHIST, Historic.ul

Óðinn, Þórr, Loki and His Children: Old Norse Myth in Anglophone Popular Culture
2025-03-04 17:30 - 19:00 | Université du Luxembourg – Maison des Sciences Humaines, 11, porte des Sciences, Esch-sur-Alzette, L-4366
This lecture will examine the ways in which three principal figures of Old Norse myth have been made to signify in recent Anglo-American culture. Exploring the figures of Óðinn, Þórr and Loki (and his monstrous children) in novels, films, TV shows and operas, I will argue that these figures are indeed, as journalists like to say, ‘having a moment’ in the present-day popular imagination, in ways that differ considerably from their roles in previous nineteenth- and early twentieth-century works. The cultural functions they fulfil are closely related to their depictions in medieval sources – indeed, their ‘authenticity’ in relation to medieval source material for example is a subject of lively debate in fan communities – but these characters have also fundamentally re-tooled and re-imagined in order to reflect on key contemporary concepts such as patriarchy, masculinity, queerness, adolescence and alterity in popular discourse.
Speaker: Prof. Carolyne Larrington
Carolyne Larrington is Emerita Professor of medieval European literature at the University of Oxford, and Emerita Research Fellow of St John’s College, Oxford. Her research spans such fields as Old Norse literature, Arthurian studies, folklore, emotions in medieval literature and medievalism. Her most recent academic book is Approaches to Emotion in Middle English Literature (2024). She also writes books for the general reader, including The Old Norse Myths that Shape the Way We Think (2023) and two books on Game of Thrones. Her next trade book, The Little Book of Trolls, for the British Library, is published on May 15th, 2025.
Venue: Maison des Sciences Humaines, Black Box
Program
17h15 – Registration & welcoming words
17h30 – Presentation
18h15 – Questions & discussion
18h45 – Cocktail

With the suppory of C²DH, IHIST, Historic.ul
Photo: Wallpaper from the God of War Series by Sony Entertainment, https://www.goodfon.com/games/wallpaper-god-of-war-god-gow-god-of-war-5-gow5-gow-5-demi-god-viking-5.html

The Impact of Empire: Carrying capacity of Eastern Mediterranean landscapes under societal and climatic constraints - Prof. Ingmar Unkel
2025-09-29 18:30 - 20:00 | Université du Luxembourg – Maison des Sciences Humaines, 11, porte des Sciences, Esch-sur-Alzette, L-4366
The lack of water is a serious threat to all societies at all times, especially in regions such as the Mediterranean. However, a simple, linear relationship between less rainfall and the decline of societies falls short of the mark. While archaeologists often approach the topic of water scarcity and its impact on socio-economic systems in terms of economic or political mechanisms, Ingmar Unkel focuses on natural water availability for plants and the consequences that follow. The resilience of societies to (hydrological) natural hazards depends on the land-use potential of the region: Which locations are suitable for which type of land use? What is the quality of the soil? How much agricultural land is available at all? Ultimately, it is a social question of how land-use potential was dealt with in the past in various areas of governance, and whether this can still be seen in geoarchaeological archives.
Speaker: Prof. Ingmar Unkel (Heidelberg University)
Ingmar Unkel is Professor of Physical Geography of the Anthropocene at Heidelberg University, where he is also a Fellow of the Marsilius Kolleg, an interdisciplinary center that fosters exchange between the cultural and natural sciences. Previously, he was Professor of Environmental History at Kiel University for over ten years, serving on the executive board of the Cluster of Excellence ROOTS (“Social, Environmental, and Cultural Connectivity in Past Societies”) and as a principal investigator in the Collaborative Research Center 1266 (“Scales of Transformation”). He obtained his PhD from the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences with a dissertation on the radiocarbon chronology of the Nasca Culture.
Venue: Maison des Sciences Humaines, Black Box
Program
18h30 – Registration & welcoming words
18h45 – Presentation
19h30 – Questions & discussion
20h00 – Cocktail

With the support of C²DH, IHIST, Historic.ul

Small State Studies and History. Thoughts on Imperialism and Luxembourgish foreign policy - Dr. Yves Schmitz
2025-10-13 17:30 - 19:00 | Université du Luxembourg – Maison du Savoir (MSA), 2, avenue de l'Université, Esch-sur-Alzette, 4365, Luxembourg
What difference does small make? – this lecture will weigh the possibilities and problems in applying methods and findings from the field of Small State Studies to two historiographical fields that in terms of size seemingly could not be further apart: Modern Western Imperialism and Luxembourg’s Foreign Policy towards a decolonising Africa. As historical figures, from Danish and Portuguese diplomats to Luxembourgish ministers, have put the size of their country at the forefront, the question remains if the rhetoric has had a meaningful impact on the policies applied. Were the colonial policies of states such as Belgium or the Netherlands different to France or Great Britain due to state size? Can the decisions taken by the Luxembourgish foreign ministry always be boiled down to their inherent smallness? The paper will touch on a variety of case studies, helping to enable a meaningful exchange between these different strands of research.
Speaker: Dr. Yves Schmitz (Hildesheim University)
Yves Schmitz has studied history at the Universities of Hamburg and Exeter, and completed his PhD in comparative imperial history at Marburg University in 2021. Since then, he has worked at different post-doc position at the Universities of Bremen, Hagen and Duisburg-Essen. In 2024, he has published an award-winning introduction to the colonial history of Luxembourg with the Luxembourgish art-collective Richtung22. Since October, he works as a lecturer (Lehrkraft für besondere Aufgaben) at Hildesheim University.
Venue: MSA 4.510, Maison du Savoir, Belval Campus
Program
17h30 – Registration & welcoming words
17h45 – Presentation
18h30 – Questions & discussion
19h00 – Cocktail

With the support of C²DH, IHIST, Historic.ul
