Events Spring Term 2025

Lecture: March 13, 5:00–6:30 PM, Unitobler, Room: F-105

Reading Seminar: March 14, 10:00 AM–12:00 PM, Mittelstrasse, Room: 220

Based on her book, Portrait and Place, Giulia Paoletti will discuss the histories of photography in Senegal, at the intersection of Black Atlantic, Islamic, and African cultures. In her talk, Paoletti will offer a visual journey from the 1840s, when the oldest-surviving daguerreotype from West Africa was made, to the 1960s, when photography became the most popular medium as Senegal achieved its independence. She will discuss Africa’s most celebrated modernists, such as Mama Casset, and also offer insights into lesser-known photographers like Oumar Ka and once-anonymous figures such as Macky Kane. In considering a variety of genres and media including glass painting and lithography, this study privileges the close study of photographs as constantly engaged in a dynamic process of circulation, negotiation, and conversion, within, across and beyond the colonial empire. As such, the photograph appears as a moving image that demands we stop looking at it and “instead start watching it,” as it negotiates the visible.

Guest Lecture & Reading Seminar, April 29^th, 16.30-18.45, Unitobler, room: F 005

A new approach to the study of the past has been rising since the two thousand aughts: transimperial history. Its practitioners are revisiting themes as varied as war, race, and science by focusing on state and non-state relationships across empires. Their approach is of consequence, for interlinked empires have been the world’s politically most powerful states, and economically and culturally influential ones to boot. A key historiographic and disciplinary question that transimperial historians are facing is the relationship of “their” approach to global history. In which ways do they draw on the latter field? Push back against it? Complement it? This talk first outlines some key features of transimperial history, with special attention to the modern period, and then reflects on its relationship to global history.

At the Global Studies Retreat, doctoral students in Global Studies can exchange ideas outside the university environment.

The retreat takes place at Hotel Schloss Münchenwiler near Murten, which features a large park. The program will be adapted to meet the needs of the participants.

The monthly Global Studies coffee break is held on the last Tuesday of each month (25.2, 25.3, 29.4 at 3.30 PM) at Café Sattler. This event offers an opportunity to share and exchange ideas, such as planning workshops and suggesting upcoming events, ask questions about the Global Studies program, or simply enjoy a casual conversation with fellow phd students over a cup of coffee