CEU Podcasts CEU

In this interview, Martin Bauch, the leader of a group researching medieval climate history and climate change at the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO) in Leipzig, discusses his research into the eruption of the Samalas volcano in 1257 in Indonesia.  Based on a wide range of information sources, including chronicles from Europe, the Middle East and the Far East, dendrochronology and ice-core dating, Martin explains how this massive eruption had an impact on world-wide climate patterns over several years.  Martin’s focus is on central and southern Europe, and here he demonstrates how the shifting climate influenced economics, trading patterns, public health and potentially even the design of cultural artefacts. The effect of the Samalas eruption was noted throughout the world, often, but not always, with a negative impact. As many of the changes wrought by the eruption and subsequent change of weather patterns were long term or permanent, Martin describes this as a truly global moment in the Middles Ages.This podcast is part of a series of interviews covering central Europe in the medieval period for MECERN and CEU Medieval Studies.

This podcast episode explores the role of art criticism, especially the question whether critics can establish a standard for determining what constitutes beauty in art. For this episode, I took inspiration from my thesis where I assessed three thinkers who offer contrasting perspectives on this matter: David Hume, Pierre Bourdieu, and Alexander Nehamas.Hume, in his work Of The Standard of Taste, suggests that although aesthetic judgments are subjective, they can be assessed by competent critics. This is not to say that there is an objective standard for beauty, but that judgements made by those possessing certain qualities that make for a good critic hold more weight. Pierre Bourdieu, in his work Distinction, contends that taste is shaped by social factors, such as cultural upbringing and class distinctions, thereby challenging the notion of such a standard and arguing instead that taste is a marker of social class that perpetuates already existing hierarchies. In order to show that elitism and social power is not all there is to art criticism, I introduced Alexander Nehamas' ideas from his book, Only a Promise of Happiness, presenting a view of critics who, instead of imposing a standard, are encouraging us to engage with artworks on a personal level, inducing a diversity of interpretations and evaluations.In this podcast episode, I will take these thinkers as my inspiration for interviewing Katrin Heinrich, an art historian and critic based in Vienna. She studied art history and comparative literature at the University of Vienna, and currently she works in research support at the University of Music and Performing Arts. Kathrin is also a doctoral candidate at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, where she was on a scientific staff from 2020 to 2022, has taught courses and co-organized a research project called Addressing Amnesia, Performing Trauma. Her writing has been published in newspapers and magazines like Der Standard, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Frieze, Texte zur Kunst, Springerin, Eikon and PW Magazine. In 2018, she was awarded the AICA Austria Prize for Young Art Criticism. (music for intro and outro is by Lili Kátai, playing an improvised version of Debussy's Arabesque L. 66 No. 1 in E Major on piano)Special thanks to Thomas Aichinger and Cathy Mason.

In this interview, Maria Vargha, Assistant Professor for Spatial Approaches to Medieval Studies at University of Vienna, discusses her recent and current research into early Christianisation on the edges of what came to be known as the Holy Roman Empire.Using a vast amount of archaeological and historical data, and spatial and network analysis, Maria shows how different regions of Central Europe were Christianised and the power dynamics that were involved.  Her innovative approach focusses on the lowest rungs of society, the rural peasants, and the networks of churches that served them. This research will result in an open-access data base of archaeological and historical data covering Central Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries.  The data base will include all known settlement and burial sites, and all known data of secular and sacred power of the period.This podcast is part of a series of interviews covering central Europe in the medieval period for MECERN and CEU Medieval Studies.

The UrbanCommunity podcast elevates voices from community led initiaitves for sustainable and just cities.In this episode, originally recorded in 2023, Giulia from The Space_coolhaven in Rotterdam talks about why commons in cities are places of connection, creativity, and civic engagement. She shares her own experience creating them, the fun and unexpected things that arise, and how to help others create more urban commons spaces. Learn about The Space here: https://www.instagram.com/thespace_coolhaven/

The OSUN Network Collaborative Seminar Cultures of Hate and Oppression was coordinated address the complexities of these topics that are of urgent global importance in our era of continuing discrimination, forced migration, socially sanctioned violence – and war. This 3rd podcast gives insights into the work of the students. View Andrea Peto’s talk about the importance of this course on YouTube:https://youtu.be/eQ0D07Eo0vY?si=4xl47a5yGLCufPPlPodcast with responses by students:About the academic year 2022-23:https://podcasts.ceu.edu/content/experiences-osun-collaborative-seminar-antisemitism-holocaust-colonialism-gender-connectingAbout the academic year 2023-24:https://podcasts.ceu.edu/content/experiences-osun-collaborative-seminar-cultures-hate-and-oppression-connecting-conversations

Pető Andrea a legtöbbet idézett és legtöbb nemzetközi díjjal kitüntetett magyar történész. Munkássága előtt tisztelgő kiadvány jelent meg Aki kimondja, amit ki kell mondani címmel, visszautalva egy korábbi kötetének címére (Elmondani az elmondhatatlant) a Balassi Kiadó gondozásában és Virányi Péter és Klacsmann Borbála szerkesztésében. Ezt a kötetet mutatja be a podcast.