Distinguished W. E. B. Du Bois Lectures
To the same extent that the increasing integration of the European Union diminishes the role of nation-states and creates something like a new European identity, a self-critical and open exchange with an America whose culture seems so similar and so different at the same time becomes, especially in the aftermath of September 11th, ever more urgent. For the United States, Europe in the process of unification provides a strong challenge for comparison and self-reflection. Social and cultural developments that have often been experienced and denounced as effects of an "Americanization" of the world, can be seen in this wider comparative perspective as tendencies of globalizing postindustrial societies and their accompanying, locally very different processes of transculturation, which in many respects have most penetratingly been analyzed by American critics.
The Distinguished W. E. B. Du Bois Lectures offer new contributions to this intercultural dialogue by inviting outstanding American scholars and public intellectuals to give a lecture and teach a seminar addressing important issues of public culture, of the social and political role of cultural differences, of intercultural translation, and of the interactions between cultures, seen from a transatlantic perspective.
The lectures have been named to honor W. E. B. Du Bois as one of the most influential intellectuals, scholars, public figures, and writers of 20th century America. He was a doctoral student at Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, the first African American to receive a PhD from Harvard University (in 1895), and was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from Humboldt-Universität in 1958.
December 4, 2012
Philip D. Murphy (The Ambassador of the United States of America):
"The Changing Face of Demographics in America: The Path to a More Perfect Union"
6:30pm s. t., Senatssaal, Hauptgebäude, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin
invitation to this lecture
February 11, 2009
Bharati Mukherjee (University of California, Berkeley):
"Towards a Post-Racial Society. An American Experiment"
6pm s. t., Reuter-Saal, Dorotheenstr. 24, house 2
June 25, 2008
Hortense Spillers (Vanderbilt University):
"The Idea of Black Culture. Some Aspects of Diaspora"
6pm, room 2003, main building
April 15, 2008
David Levering Lewis (New York University and American Academy Berlin):
"W. E. B. Du Bois in Germany and Germany in W. E. B. Du Bois"
6.30pm, Senatssaal, main building
February 12, 2008
Kevin Maynor with Eric Olsen:
"Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. A Celebration of the Architects of Global Movements Towards Peace — with Music and Text"
6.30pm, Reuter-Saal, Dorotheenstraße 24, house 2
October 16, 2007
E. L. Doctorow:
"Notes on the History of Fiction"
introduction: Paul Nolte (History and Cultural Studies, Freie Universität Berlin) and Prof. Dr. Eva Boesenberg (American Studies, Humboldt-Universität)
moderation: Georg Diez, DIE ZEIT
6pm, Audimax, main building
October 30, 2006
Tony Robert Judt (Erich Maria Remarque Institute, New York University):
'"The World We Have Lost?' Some Transatlantic Reflections on European History Since 1945"
introduction: Paul Nolte (History and Cultural Studies, Freie Universität Berlin)
6pm, Senatssaal, main building
July 10, 2006
welcome address: Prof. Dr. Christoph Markschies (president of the Humboldt-Universität)
introduction: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kaschuba (Department of European Ethnology, Humboldt-Universität)
S. E. William R. Timken, Jr. (ambassador of the USA):
"Immigration in the 21st Century"
7pm s. t., Senatssaal, main building
invitation to this lecture
June 27, 2005
Nancy Fraser (New School University, New York):
"Parity of Participation. A View of Justice for a Globalizing World"
introduction: Renate Hof (Humboldt-Universität)
6pm, Senatssaal, main building
invitation to this lecture
May 31, 2005
K. Anthony Appiah (Princeton University):
"Ethics in a World of Strangers"
introduction: Gary Smith (American Academy Berlin)
6pm, Senatssaal, main building
invitation to this lecture
May 23, 2005
Seyla Benhabib (Yale University):
"Crises of the Republic. Reconfigurations of Sovereignty and Citizenship"
introduction: Günter H. Lenz (American Studies, Humboldt-Universität)
6pm, Audimax, main building
invitation to this lecture
July 15, 2004
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (Faculty of Arts and Sciences, New York University):
"From Memory Palace to Performance Space. The Development of the Museum as an Art Practice"
7.30pm, Senatssaal, main building
invitation to this lecture
June 24, 2004
Iris Marion Young (Dept. of Political Science, University of Chicago):
"Structural Injustice and the Politics of Difference"
6pm, Senatssaal, main building
February 11, 2004
Karsten D. Voigt (coordinator for the German-American cooperation in the Auswärtiges Amt):
"Transatlantische Beziehungen. Wertegemeinschaft oder 'Clash of Civilizations'?"
6pm, Senatssaal, main building
invitation to this lecture
December 1, 2003
Henry Louis Gates (W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of the Humanities & Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute of Afro-American Research, Harvard University):
"W. E. B. Du Bois and the Encyclopedia Africana"
6pm, Senatssaal, main building
invitation to this lecture
June 24, 2003
Mark Poster (University of California, Irvine):
"Towards a Planetary Culture (and Its Discontents)"
6pm, Senatssaal, main building
invitation to this lecture
April 30, 2003
Hayden White (Stanford University, University of California):
"Historical Revisionism"
6pm, Senatssaal, main building
invitation to this lecture
January 20, 2003
Richard Sennett (New York University):
"Du Bois' Paradox. On Welfare, Racial Integration, and Resisting the State"
6pm, Senatssaal, main building
invitation to this lecture
June 17, 2002
Daniel R. Coats (Ambassador of the United States of America):
"American Cultural Diplomacy. A Transatlantic Perspective"
6pm, Senatssaal, main building
invitation to this lecture
