International Conference: Intellectual and Discursive Battles over Palestine

Apart from their geopolitical implications, recent developments in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict have ignited intense discussion, particularly within academic and intellectual circles throughout the world. There is a widening gap between opposing interpretive communities, with evident power imbalances: in parts of the West, critiques of Israel’s destruction of Gaza may be conflated with antisemitism, with significant repercussions. In the US in particular, the presidents of Penn and Harvard Universities were compelled to resign over accusations of “tolerating antisemitism,” while in Germany, the traditionally stringent policy regarding public criticisms of Israel has impacted university life, resulting in the termination of contracts for some academics expressing solidarity with Palestinians. At the same time, although all relevant documents by the International Court of Justice and the UN Secretary General highlight the continuous occupation of Palestinian territories by Israel, only non-European countries are vocal in their critiques of Israeli policies, with some even advocating for the suspension of diplomatic relations. In December 2023, South Africa launched a legal campaign to label Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide, leading to the opening of an ongoing case at the ICJ. However, amidst these dynamics, genuine antisemitism exploits the context of the conflict: the appearance of the sign ‘Jews not allowed’ in a bookstore in Istanbul in late October 2023 was a worrying sign of these blurring boundaries between solidarity with Palestinian civilians on one hand, and hatred against Jews, on the other.Our international conference aims at comprehensively examining these complexities, with a specific focus on the intellectual and discursive battles over Palestine and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The conference seeks first and foremost to promote and defend the right to critique, and confront practices that endanger academic freedom and critical thinking over power, hegemony, war, civic rights and human dignity.Conference Dates: 4-5 October 2025

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM – ROMANIAN AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Dear Colleagues,

Dear Students,

We have the great joy and honor of welcoming you to the International Symposium “Romanian as a Foreign Language. Language and Culture: Entities in Continuous Re-Harmonization“, 2nd Edition, taking place from May 16 to 17, 2025, at the Universityof Macedonia in Thessaloniki, Greece.

This year’s event provides a space for knowledge and direct communication for international students learning the Romanian language: within the Romanian language, culture, and civilization Lectureships established by the Institute of the Romanian Language, Bucharest (ILR), at various universities worldwide, in the Preparatory Year programs, as well as in the undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral programs of universities in Romania or abroad. These students come from very diverse cultural backgrounds, from Europe, Asia, and Africa. Furthermore, the theme proposes a valuable exchange of experience among specialists, as well as the opportunity to examine the process of teaching-learning-assessment of Romanian as a foreign language, in relation to the current European level.

With the liberalization of borders and movement, and the opportunity to engage with various cultures and mentalities, people have become increasingly eager to learn as many foreign languages as possible. These languages are progressively demonstrating their role as cultural connectors, prolific means of intercultural communication, and pathways to access the global cultural and linguistic heritage.

The reality of the moment opens up to the mutual understanding of so many cultures, driven by the common desire to achieve a harmonious and coherent transcontinental dialogue. From this perspective, the use of the Romanian language emerges as one of the most desirable and useful instruments of cultural and social mediation, serving as an effective factor in addressing the new demands of the socio-human environment. Intercultural dialogue gains new perspectives, and this fact requires and stimulates the improvement of the means of mastering the mechanisms necessary for linguistic communication.

The organizers

Dragi Colegi,
Dragi Studenţi,
Avem deosebita bucurie și onoare de a vă întâmpina la Simpozionul Internațional aniversar Româna ca limbă străină. Limbă şi cultură: entități în continuă rearmonizare – Ediția a II-a. cu desfășurare între 16 – 17 mai 2025, la Universitatea „Makedonía” din Thessaloniki, Grecia. Evenimentul din acest an oferă crearea unui spațiu de cunoaștere și comunicare directă pentru studenții internaționali care învață limba română: în cadrul Lectoratelor de limbă, cultură și civilizație românească din diverse universități ale lumii, înființate de Institutul Limbii Române, București (ILR), în programele de An Pregătitor, în programele de licenţă, masterat, doctorat ale universităţilor din România sau din exterior. Acești studenți provin din spații culturale foarte diverse, din Europa, Asia, Africa. De asemenea, tema propune un schimb util de experiență între specialiști, precum şi posibilitatea examinării procesului de predare-însușire-evaluare a românei ca limbă străină, în raport cu nivelul european actual.
Odată cu liberalizarea frontierelor și a circulației, a posibilității de a intra în contact cu diferite culturi și mentalități, oamenii au devenit din ce în ce mai doritori să învețe cât mai multe limbi străine. Acestea își demonstrează din ce în ce mai mult rolul de conectori culturali, mijloace prolifice de comunicare interculturală și de căi de acces la patrimoniul cultural și lingvistic global.
Realitatea momentului se deschide spre cunoașterea reciprocă a atât de multor culturi, în dorința comună de a realiza un dialog transcontinental, armonios și coerent. Plecând de aici, utilizarea limbii române apare ca unul dintre cele mai dezirabile și utile instrumente de mediere culturală și socială, ca factor eficient pentru soluționarea noilor cerințe ale mediului socio-uman. Dialogul intercultural câștigă noi perspective, iar acest fapt solicită și stimulează perfecționarea modalităților de însușire a mecanismelor necesare comunicării lingvistice.
Organizatorii

GlobalMed Séminaire de recherche hybride: “Impérialismes” 16/05/2025

The second session of the GlobalMed network research seminar will be held on 16 May 2025 at the École française d’Athènes, starting at 14:30 EEST (Eastern European Summer Time). Organised in hybrid format, it is accessible by videoconference upon registration (see link or QR Code on the attached programme).

This session, co-organised with the École française d’Athènes and the University of Macedonia, will focus on the theme of ‘Imperialism’.

The aim of this session is to take account of the historiographical and epistemological dynamism surrounding the notions of empire and imperialism, and its effects on Mediterranean studies. By examining situations spread over the long term, whether they place the Mediterranean in relation to the rest of the world or call for comparisons between the Mediterranean and other areas, we will address the dual question of the universal nature of the notions of empire and imperialism (are their definitions valid in all times and places?) and the reasons for their mobilization in certain situations and under certain conditions in the production of knowledge about history and societies. We will also examine the relationship between the notions of empire and imperialism and other categories (kingdom, nation and nationalism, capitalism, colonies and colonialism), and question the discrepancy – where tension does not exclude porosity – between their use as descriptive or analytical categories on the one hand, and as categories of political action on the other.

You are cordially invited to attend and take part in the debates.

The third volume of the journal Culture-Borders-Gender/Studies

https://ojs.lib.uom.gr/index.php/cbgs/index

Contents

Anthropology in the city: ethnographic approaches and critical perspectives on “neighbourhood”
Ioannis Manos

Conceptualizations and practices of ‘Corruption’ in the cultural context of post-war development and modernization processes in Greece – a case study of the former refugee settlement of Kato Toumba, Thessaloniki
Miltiadis Zerboulis

A century of refugee movement, 1922–2022: the 100memories research project
Eleni Kyramargiou, Olga Lafazani

The coffeeshops, the exchangeable property, the crisis – The Efimeris ton Valkanion (Newspaper of the Balkans) in Ano Poli: a series of articles in the spring of 1933
Yorgos Koumaridis

The wall as a housing threshold for refugees: the case of kastroplikta in Ano Poli, Thessaloniki
Haris Tsavdaroglou

Μετακινούμενες, εργαζόμενες στην κατασκευή ενδυμάτων στη Θεσσαλονίκη
Elina Kapetanaki

Transformations of an urban «neighborhood» in the center of Thessaloniki: an auto-ethnographic account
Eleftheria Deltsou

Between the local and the transnational: proximities and encounters of post-soviet Greeks in search of a cultural ‘familiarity’
Dimitris Kataiftsis, Tasos Grigorakis

From below – within the walls
Pafsanias Karathanasis

MOMus – Museum of Modern Art: an international museum in Western Thessaloniki
Maria Tsantsanoglou

Ano Poli in photography from the 20th to the 21st century: politics of nostalgia and urban branding
Evi Papadopoulou

Dowry dialogues: displacement and memory in the work of Persefoni Myrtsou and Adi Liraz
Christina Grammatikopoulou

Television representations of the neighbourhood, nostalgia, and cultural memory
Eleni Sideri

Atelier anti-tour inside/outside the walls of Thessaloniki: pilgrimage/tour in the neighborhoods of the absent, the invisible and the subaltern bodies
Fotini Tsibiridou

Call for applications for the Summer school: Religious Interactions, Juxtapositions and Imbrications in the Mediterranean and the Balkans: Ritualities, Materialities, Representations, 

June 30 – July 4, 2025, at the French School of Athens (Greece).

This international summer school, open to PhD and Master students from different disciplines, will focus on the phenomena of connections, porosities and interreligious interactions in the Mediterranean in general, with a particular attention on the Balkans. It will be organised around theoretical and methodological proposals, case studies, and experiences using visual, digital and multimodal approaches.

Applications should be made before February 28, 2025, at the following link: https://www.efa.gr/appel-a-candidatures-religious-interactions-juxtapositions-and-imbrications/