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Tuesday, 10. November 2020


All day	Exhibition: For Women’s Suffrage! Call for conference papers: Parliament as a ring for elites?


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Aktuality

3. 11. 2020

Online Seminar in Jewish History by Justyna Majewska: The Days of Future Past – Thinking about the Jewish Life to Come from within the Warsaw Ghetto

Online Seminar in Jewish History by Justyna Majewska: The Days of Future Past – Thinking about the Jewish Life to Come from within the Warsaw Ghetto

Datum konání:
3. 11. 2020, 18:00
We are coridally inviting you to the next session of our online Seminar in Jewish History.

Justyna Majewska (Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw)

Please join us in the Zoom meeting room 88495340849.

Tuesday, 3. November 2020, 6:00PM (CET)

If you require any further information, feel free to contact Daniela Bartáková at bartakova@mua.cas.cz

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9. 11. 2020 to 12. 11. 2020
Call for conference papers: Parliament as a ring for elites?
Call for conference papers: Parliament as a ring for elites?

Datum konání:
9. 11. 2020, 0:00 to 12. 11. 2020, 0:00
Academic conference
Date: November, 9–12, 2020
Venue: Faculty of Science, Charles University Prague / Vila Lanna Prague

The study of both elites and parliamentarianism has had a long tradition and has been conducted across various social sciences and humanities. In our conception, the parliament represents a place where political powers, embodied by various types/kinds of elites, conduct the legislative process and decide about further development of a particular state and its society, or rather societies. However, parliament also represents an imaginary ring/tiltyard, where not only participation and cooperation exist, but where sharp political conflicts and clashes of interest arise. Moreover, decisions made in parliament are subject to pressure from the executive and their proper implementation depends, in practice, on the availability of the latter, especially of the administrative elite, whose agenda is not always similar to that of the parliament. These conflicts do not occur only on the political level (between opposing parties and interest groups), but they may be viewed as conflicts of elites of a different type and character, elites who are formed in various ways and retain power by adopting diverse tactics. Contacts and conflicts of elected representatives of the society and its elites with unelected members of the executive are particularly striking in the parliamentary environment. These two groups, varied in type, but with similar social background, play an important part in the decision-making process in the parliament and determine further development of the state and its society/ies.
Executive and representative elites are formed in different processes and ways and they also retain power using different methods, but they come from the same or very similar social strata and they are connected by countless diverse links, which might not be visible on the parliamentary or political scene at all. To complicate matters further, the representatives of the parliamentary elite and those of the executive and administrative elite often play interchangeable roles, depending on the specificities of the political system. Not infrequently the ministers were members of parliament, the senior administrative officials were former and future members of parliament, while some parliamentarians were former and / or future civil servants, for whom the representative mandate served both as a prestige marker and a springboard for an office which would otherwise have been considerably more difficult to reach. Thus, it is usual for an atmosphere of conflict to be often followed by an atmosphere of purposive cooperation. At times a phase of an external conflict coincides with a phase of backstage harmony and cooperation.

The aim of the conference is not only to connect the research of both these diverse and still socially similar elites, but mainly to consider new methodological approaches, which are now
offered by the dynamic development of digital humanities tools. At the forthcoming conference, which focuses on the period 1848–1938 and the geographical area of Central Europe, we would like to cover three basic topics:

1) Elites and their transformations

This session will include papers dealing with theoretical concepts of the research of political elites. We invite proposals or presentations of research results related to these questions:

How did the understanding of the term “elite” change from the viewpoint of the society in the period studied? Who was considered a member of the elite?

Is it possible to speak about a hierarchy of the elites (which position was more prestigious – a deputy or a state official)?

What factors were important in order to consider somebody a member of the elite?

Did the position of a deputy change in this context and in what way?

To what extent was the actual composition of the parliament influenced by the fact that deputies were again chosen by the elites? How did the gradual change of the suffrage influence this point?

2) Historical databases and digital humanities tools used for the research of political and social elites in the modern history

At the conference we would like to discuss new approaches which can be applied to the research of the above mentioned topics thanks to the usage of databases containing data about members of historical populations. In this context we would like to concentrate on the following issues:

Possibilities and limitations of using historical databases for the study of elites

Possibilities of reconstructing basic demographic data for the period studied

Ways of analysing collected data (statistical methods, text analysis, GIS-based methods, graphic visualisations)

Work with incomplete data

Possibilities of reconstructing relationship networks of individuals

3) Deputies’ clubs

Insufficient attention has been paid to deputies’ clubs in the research of the history of the Central European parliamentarianism. We know that they existed. We know who their members were, what parliamentary coalitions and formations they were integrated into and we know their programmatic profile. However, we do not know much about their inner world. Since this conference on political elites has a wide scope of interest, we want to give special attention to deputies’ clubs. At first sight it is a classic political topic, but it contains dimensions which are omitted in traditionally presented political history. Clubs primarily represent a space where deputies cooperate when promoting political or other interests together. At the same time, they are a living organism comprised of strong personalities. Based on an example of selected deputies’ clubs we would like to focus on these themes:

Deputies’ clubs and their position within the parliamentary culture of Central Europe

Formulating unwritten and written rules of deputies’ clubs, the problem of inclusion and exclusion among elected political elites

The authority versus democracy in running of clubs, resolving political and personal conflicts in clubs

The selection of club elites and structuring the club hierarchy (inherited vs. newly acquired prestige, prestige vs. capability), executive tools and methods of leading deputies’ clubs, establishing club oligarchy

The conference will be conducted in English and German. Abstracts (up to 300 words) and a short biographical note should be sent to klecacky@mua.cas.cz by May 31, 2020. Applicants will be notified by June 30. Selected papers will be published.

Program committee:

Martin Klečacký, Masaryk Institute and Archives of the CAS, v. v. i. (klecacky@mua.cas.cz)
Vlad Popovici, Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca/ Masaryk Institute and Archives of the CAS, v. v. i. (vladutpopovici@yahoo.com)
Luboš Velek, Masaryk Institute and Archives of the CAS, v. v. i. (velek@mua.cas.cz)
Alice Velková, Faculty of Science, Charles University (alice.velkova@natur.cuni.cz)

The conference receives funding from the grant project of the Czech Science Foundation (GACR), N. 20-19463X Social mobility of elites in the Central European regions (1861–1926) and transition of imperial experience and structures in nation-states and DG18P02OVV025, Building of modern parliamentary culture in the Czech Lands and Czechoslovakia, grant project NAKI II supported by Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic

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16. 11. 2020 to 18. 11. 2020
Online conference: Rhythm in Music and the Arts in the Late Middle Ages
Online conference: Rhythm in Music and the Arts in the Late Middle Ages

Datum konání:
16. 11. 2020, 15:00 to 18. 11. 2020, 19:00
International Interdisciplinary Conference

organised by the Masaryk Institute and Archive of the Czech Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague

Project Old Myths, New Facts: Czech Music in Centre of 15th–Century Music Developments

Monday 16. 11. 2020 – Wednesday, 18. 11. 2020,
via ZOOM
Please register here: https://forms.gle/YCFr2ArMqz8uP45a9

Conference Program

Monday, 16. 11. 2020, 15:00–19:30 CET

15:00–15:15 Conference Opening and Instructions

15:15–16:15 Cantus Fractus Repertory in the Period of Konstanz and Basel Councils

Chair: Paweł Gancarczyk, Polish Academy of Sciences

Cantus Fractus in CA 6 and 11 and the Council of Basel

Barbara Haggh-Huglo, University of Maryland, College Park

Cantus Fractus in Vernacular Chant of the 1420s: Lost Genres and Transcription Challenges

Hana Vlhová-Wörner, Czech Academy of Sciences

16:15–16:30 Break

16:30–17:30 Rhythm and Notation

Chair: Luisa Nardini, University of Texas in Austin

How the Rhythm Was Lost: Progressive Decline of Nuance in Beneventan Notation

Giulio Minniti, Harvard University

Rhythm and Revision

Miriam Wendling, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

17:30–18:00 Break

18:00–19:30 Keynote

The Vestiges of an Elusive Artistic Circle: Plainchant Embellishments at Tournai Cathedral from the Fourteenth through Sixteenth Centuries

Sarah Long, Michigan State University

Tuesday, 17. 11. 2020, 15:00–19:30 CET

15:00–16:00 The Rhythm and the Arts

Chair: Hana Vlhová-Wörner

Rhythm and Architecture in Prague around 1400: Changing Architecture Paradigmas at St. Vitus‘ Lodge

Klára Benešovská, Czech Academy of Sciences

Visions, Apparitions and Body Movements: Work Rhymes and Work Rhythms in the Scandinavian Poetry of the Viking Age

Jiří Starý, Charles University Prague

16:00–16:30 Break

16:30–18:00 Rhythm in Late Medieval Song

Chair: Marco Gozzi, Università di Trento

Reconstructing Rhythm in Central European Songs with Chant Notations

Jan Ciglbauer, Charles University Prague

From Judgement to Comfort: Audi tellus, audi magni maris limbus in the Sixteenth Century

Allen Scott, Oklahoma State University

Poetry, Prosa and Regular Rhythmic Structures in Music around 1400 Canticum boemicale Otep myry in the Context of Credo Settings in Cantus Fractus

Lenka Hlávková, Charles University Prague

18:00–18:30 Break

18:30–19:30 Performance Workshop with Corina Marti, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis

Wednesday, 18. 11. 2020, 15:00–19:00 CET

15:00–16:00 Repertory and Genres

Chair: Lenka Hlávková

Monophonic Credos and their Cultural Background in the Late Medieval Period (1300–1500)

Harrison Russin, Duke University

Cantus Fractus in a Hussitic Graduale from Kutná Hora (A-Wn 15501)

David Merlin, University of Vienna

Cantus Fractus in South Tyrol

Giulia Gabrielli, University of Bolzano

16:00–16:15 Break

16:15–17:15 Late Transmissions and Developments

Chair: Jan Ciglbauer

Rhythmic Chant and Chant-Based Polyphony in the Annaberg Choirbooks

Paul Kolb, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

An Early Cantus Fractus Complete Mass Ordinary by an Italian Nobleman

Kathleen Sewright, Winter Springs, Florida

17:15–17:30 Break

17:30–19:00 Closing Discussion

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8. 9. 2021 to 10. 9. 2021
Call for Conference Papers: Local Administration during the First and Second World Wars
Call for Conference Papers: Local Administration during the First and Second World Wars

Datum konání:
8. 9. 2021, 0:00 to 10. 9. 2021, 0:00
Venue: Vila Lanna, V sadech 1, Prague

Organization: Jan Vondráček (Masaryk Institute and Archives of the CAS, Prague)

Deadline for submission: 17. 3. 2020

The type of rational, legal administrative staff is capable of application in all kinds of situations and contexts. It is the most important mechanism for the administration of everyday affairs. For in that sphere, the exercise of authority consists precisely in administration.

Max Weber

Local administration has always played a key role in securing, implementing and stabilizing the authority of the modern state. After the outbreak of the First World War, the warring countries were confronted with a difficult supply situation, including famine, disease, refugees and labor shortages. The clerks of the local administration were responsible for implementing new policies and solving problems. They were the ones in direct contact with local populations which were often multi-ethnic and presented a broad variety of needs.

In many cases, local administrations were reorganized to deal with vast and unprecedented tasks and problems. In other cases, the German Empire and Austria-Hungary established military occupation administrations which depended on existing local administration, for example in Belgium, Serbia and Ukraine.

Not only military defeat but also the failure of overtaxed local administrations to solve substantial problems such as obtaining sufficient food supplies for the population led to revolts in the German Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy.

This drastic experience prompted Nazi Germany in particular to undertake a reorganization of local administration shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. Even after large parts of Europe were under German occupation, local administrations remained largely responsible for the daily life needs of local populations, such as organizing production, distribution and rationing of food and other basic goods, such as heating fuel and clothing. Since state food allotments were often insufficient to meet basic needs, local populations reacted with the development of a variety of illegal practices. Farmers evaded compulsory levies of food and sold undocumented, illegally butchered meat. Hidden stores of products, food and ration stamps were traded for other goods as part of a comprehensive black market. Although nominally supervised by German occupiers, the actual prosecution of these new economic crimes generally fell in the responsibility of local administrations and courts. Local courts continued to hear non-political cases and disputes within local populations as well.

Recent research in Holocaust Studies have showed that local administrations not only played an important role in making the mass murder of the European Jews possible, but that it was often local administrations that took the initiative.

This conference aims to bring together scholars who work on specific aspects of local administration in the First World War and the Second World War and analyze and compare a diversity of methodologies, findings and approaches.

We are particularly interested in papers that are dealing with the following historical focuses:

The relationship between the occupying power and local administration.

Local administration and the war economy

Local courts under occupation

Continuity and change in staffing aspects of local administration under occupation

Questions of local administration and local interpretation of collaboration

Prof. Jonathan Gumz will give a keynote address on local administration and the First World War.

Prof. Dieter Pohl will give a keynote address on local administration and the Second World War.

At the moment we are able to cover accommodation and parts of the travel costs, we are still looking for funds for travel costs.

The conference language is English.

Please send your abstracts of approximately 500 words by 17 March 2020 to: Jan Vondráček, vondracek@mua.cas.cz

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