Talking Europe: The UCL European Institute podcast

In conversation with the UCL European Institute's Uta Staiger, the historian of modern Germany, Jeff Bowersox, discusses the arrival of Black American entertainers in Central Europe around 1900 - prior to the high modernist forms of American entertainment, including jazz. He also explores what the ambivalent responses of German-speaking audiences and critics tell us about the way Germans saw themselves - in a rapidly and radically changing global order.

Do you have to be in a couple to be a successful adult? In this episode of Talking Europe, we ask how norms around coupledom differ across Europe and how they have changed in recent decades.

The EI’s Claudia Sternberg is joined by Sasha Roseneil, Professor of Interdisciplinary Social Science in the IAS, and UCL’s Dean of Social and Historical Sciences to discuss her latest book ‘The Tenacity of the Couple-Norm: Intimate citizenship regimes in a changing Europe’ (UCL Press, 2020). You’ll also hear from Sasha’s four co-authors and collaborators for this book:

• Isabel Crowhurst, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Essex,

• Tone Hellesund, Professor in Cultural Studies, University of Bergen, Norway,

• Dr Ana Cristina Santos, Senior Researcher, Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal,

• Dr Mariya Stoilova, Researcher, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics.

Together we explore how laws, policies and social institutions in the UK, Bulgaria, Norway and Portugal shape our desires and imaginations, making us want to be in a couple. You’ll also encounter some life stories of individual persons and how they navigate the couple norm.

‘The Tenacity of the Couple-Norm: Intimate citizenship regimes in a changing Europe’ is available as a free e-book and as paperback/hardback from UCL Press.

Podcast editing by Patrick Robinson.

Photo by Katarzyna Grabowska on Unsplash.

Dr. Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi, associate professor in Finnish and minority languages, and PhD candidates, Charlotte Doesberg, and Amanda DiGioia, join “Talking Europe” to discuss their new edited volume, which brings together the fascinating pairing of rock music and research.

The three SSEES researchers are the co-editors of ‘Multilingual Metal Music: Sociocultural, Linguistic and Literary Perspectives on Heavy Metal Lyrics’ (Emerald Publishing, 2020).

Professor Michael Shackleton is Special Professor in European Institutions at the University of Maastricht and Former Head of the European Parliament Information Office in the UK.

In this episode of "Talking Europe," we discuss Michael's latest project, "Collecting Memories: The European Parliament 1979 to 2019." This is an oral archive of stories and memories from former Members of the Parliament, comprised of nearly 100 publicly available interviews and a book titled "Shaping Parliamentary Democracy."

In conversation with EI digital editor Avery Anapol, Michael discusses his experience working on this project with co-editor Alfredo De Feo, and three other former European Parliament civil servants (Francis Jacobs, Gerard Laprat and Dietmar Nickel) and his thoughts about the role of the Parliament in our changing world.

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The 'Collecting memories' interviews are available on the website of the Historical Archives of the European Union - https://archives.eui.eu/en/oral_history/#CM_EP

'Shaping Parliamentary Democracy' is available as an ebook or hardcover from Palgrave MacMillan - https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030272128.

You can find the UCL European Institute on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and online at ucl.ac.uk/european-institute/

In times of urgency, governments habitually concentrate power and restrict citizens’ rights. The current situation is no different: in order to prevent or control the spread of COVID-19, governments around the world have issued stay at home orders and temporarily closed businesses. While such measures are clearly necessary, it remains important that we scrutinise the extraordinary powers conferred upon governments and interrogate whether their legal basis is satisfactory.

We would also do well to think more broadly about what emergencies do to liberal democracies, and how they stretch further the tensions between liberty and constraint, order and justice, that inhere in any rule-of-law state.

In this latest episode of our new podcast series COVID-19: The Pandemic and Europe, EI Executive Director Uta Staiger and guests explore states of emergency from the Roman Republic to today’s UK, from Carl Schmitt to privacy-respecting contact tracing systems.

Featuring:

Jeff King, Professor of Law (UCL Laws) and a Legal Adviser to the House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution, giving advice on the Coronavirus Bill before it was passed by Parliament.

Valentina Arena, Associate Professor in Roman History (UCL History), author of Libertas and the Practice of Politics in the Late Roman Republic (CUP, 2012), and interested in how ancient theories of liberty may contribute to contemporary political debates.

Nomi Claire Lazar, Associate Dean of Faculty (Yale-NUS College), author of States of Emergency in Liberal Democracies (CUP, 2009), and recently member of a panel advising Canada's Chief Science Advisor on rights derogating technologies.

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*This podcast was recorded on Friday, 24 April. The speed of coronavirus developments means there may be new information by the time you listen. In the coming weeks, we will continue to provide more content and analysis as the situation develops. For the latest updates, please subscribe to our email newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

In this episode of our new podcast series COVID-19: The Pandemic and Europe, EI Executive Director Uta Staiger explores the significance of Hungary's newly implemented Coronavirus Protection Law, together with Thomas Lorman, Teaching Fellow in Modern Central European History at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), Sean Hanley, Associate Professor at SSEES, and RonanMcCrea, Professor of Constitutional and European Law.

The UCL European Institute’s Brexit & Beyond podcast is back, with our first episode recorded 100% remotely. In this episode, Brexit research assistant Annisha Jhatakia interviews EI Executive Director, Uta Staiger, and Institute Manager, Oliver Patel, about the many ways COVID-19 is likely to impact the Brexit negotiations.

They discuss whether the transition period will be extended, the realities of conducting negotiations remotely, and the EU's response to COVID-19 more broadly.

This podcast was recorded on Thursday 26 March, before the EUCO videoconference. The speed of coronavirus developments means there may be new information by the time you listen. In the coming weeks, we will continue to provide more content and analysis as the situation develops. For the latest updates, please subscribe to our email newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

In the latest edition of our 'Talking Europe' podcast series, Carlotta Ferrara Degli Uberti (UCL Italian) and Uta Staiger discuss the role and cultural imagination of the Jewish minority in Italy – from the unification of the country into a new nation-state until the end of the First World War. Dr Ferrara’s book investigates key concepts such as family, religion, nation, assimilation and Zionism, as well as the interaction between public and private spheres, as they shift and change over time.

The Will of the People: A Modern Myth

Democracies today are in the grip of a myth: the myth of the will of the people. New political forces use the idea to challenge elected representatives. Politicians, content to invoke the will of the people, fail in their duty to make responsible and accountable decisions. And public contest over political choices is stifled by fears that opposing the will of the people will be perceived as elitist.

In this episode of our Talking Europe series, Albert Weale, Emeritus Professor of Political Theory and Public Policy at UCL, discusses the origins and uses of the notion, arguing that healthy democracies require that choices be challenged, parliaments strengthened, and political leaders called to account. In conversation with Dr Uta Staiger, Director of the UCL European Institute.

More about the book: http://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509533268.

In conversation with the European Institute’s Dr Uta Staiger, Rachel Bowlby, Professor of Comparative Literature at UCL, takes us through some of the thoughts and themes of her new book, Talking Walking: Essays in Cultural Criticism. This podcast explores diverse topics ranging from Greek tragedy to modern family forms, and from translating Derrida to the history of consumer culture.

This podcast is part of our Talking Europe series.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Talking-Walking-Cultural-Criticism-Critical/dp/1845199111