From Student Internationalism to Erasmus: Globalization and Europeanization of Student Life since 1945
Date: 25 September, 5:30 p.m.
Venue: Vila Lanna, Prague (V Sadech 1/1, Praha 6)
Students are a social group that is often at the forefront of the struggle for political and social change. The roundtable discussion will focus on the shifts in student transnational activism during the Cold War and after the end of it, as well as on factors that induced these shifts. How and why did the practice of student internationalism change? How did decolonization, globalization, and integration processes impact international student politics? How did the massification and economization of education affect student action?
Furthermore, the panel will also discuss long-term continuities in student activism — can we trace the roots of contemporary transnational activism, embodied in initiatives such as Fridays for Future or pro-Palestinian protests at universities, to the Cold War era, or is it a new phenomenon?
Last but not least, the roundtable will focus on the historiographical perspective of the problem. Where does the research on student internationalism stand now and what are the challenges that lie ahead?
The discussion will be held in English.
Participants: Matthieu Gillabert (University of Fribourg), Pia Koivunen (University of Turku), Kostis Kornetis (Autonomous University of Madrid), Daniel Laqua (Northumbria University)
Chaired by Mikuláš Pešta (Institute of Contemporary History of Czech Academy of Sciences)
Introduction by the Swiss Ambassador in the Czech Republic, Urs Bucher, and by the director of the Institute of Contemporary History Czech Academy of Sciences, Adéla Gjuričová
The event is organized with the support of the Swiss Embassy in the Czech Republic.