European Roundtable: The Presence of the Past

What is past is not dead; it is not even past.

~ Christa Wolf

Stanford Continuing Studies is pleased to offer a forum for the presentation and discussion of current economic and political developments in Europe. The European Roundtable began in the Fall of 2004 and will serve as a regular opportunity for listening to, and discussing with, experts on European affairs from Stanford and beyond.

The links between the past and the present are a key to understanding the accomplishments as well as the problems of any contemporary society. This is particularly true in Europe, where long and complex histories continue to shape many of the important aspirations and conflicts of today—the legacies of forced migration and expulsion; the contested history of shifting borders and identities; the academic and political struggles over the interpretation of the Holocaust; the enduring reverberations of European colonial rule around the world; and the complex story of European anti-Semitism over the centuries. Understanding the ongoing presence of the past remains one of our great challenges as we seek to come to terms with the achievements and the contradictions of modern Europe.

SPEAKERS

J.P. Daughton,

Professor in the Department of History and an expert on Modern French History

Presentation:"After the Empire Comes Home: Religion, Citizenship, and the Past in Contemporary France"

Norman M. Naimark, Robert and Florence McDonnell Professor of Eastern European Studies; Senior Fellow, by courtesy, at the Stanford Institute for International Studies and the Hoover Institution; an authority on the history of Central and Eastern Europe.

Presentation: "The Legacy of Expulsion in Contemporary Europe"

James J. Sheehan, Dickason Professor in the Humanities; Senior Fellow, by courtesy, at the Stanford Institute for International Studies; senior scholar on modern German history.

Presentation: "Interpreting the Burdens of History: The Future of the German Past"

MODERATOR

Hans N. Weiler, Professor emeritus, School of Education and Department of Political Science, is a specialist on German politics and teaches a Continuing Studies course on "The Puzzle of European Politics".