Past Events

Dr. Jensen Suther
Elevhjem Building L166
February 17, 2026 @ 5:30 pm CST

Drawing on the account of a “bio-aesthetics,” I develop in my recent book, True Materialism, I will show that Jameson's provocative idea of the symbolic act fails to live up to its own promise: instead of grasping artistic and literary works as coded representations of class struggle, Marxist criticism must understand narrative not primarily as representation but as an essential dimension of the self-reproduction of animals like us.

Zoom
February 16, 2026 @ 6:00 pm CST - 7:00 pm CST

This talk will aim to better understand Jewish identity in Yugoslavia, and its implication on the wars that saw its dissolution and afterward.

Emily Sneff
February 12, 2026 @ 6:00 pm CST
https://uwmadison.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1UOtwOHvSIOb93RMGB1i5g

This lecture will examine the roles of military leaders, early officeholders, and supporters on the home front, including members of the Muhlenberg family (Peter, Frederick, and Catherine); Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben; Michael Hillegas; Mary Ludwig Hays—better remembered as Molly Pitcher—and other men and women whose influence can still be felt today.

Josh Brown (UW–Eau Claire), Matt Johnson (UW–Madison), Mark Louden (UW–Madison), Sunny Yudkoff (UW–Madison)
UW–Madison Memorial Union, Old Madison Room, 800 Langdon Street
February 3, 2026 @ 4:00 pm CST

This event will showcase poetic works in Yiddish and Pennsylvania Dutch that deal with the concept of place.

1418 Van Hise Hall
February 2, 2026 @ 4:00 pm CST - 5:00 pm CST

This presentation explores why and how young, urban Bulgarians are addressing rural depopulation, and especially how recovery of traditional cultural practices plays into their endeavors.

Dr. Liina-Ly Roos, Dr. Ida Moen Johnson, and Dr. Mary Hennessy
Madsen Room (1312 Van Hise)
January 30, 2026 @ 12:00 pm CST

The discussion will focus on Liina-Ly Roos’s recent publication, The Not-Quite Child (University of Washington Press, 2025). The event will take the form of a conversation among three of our wonderful GNS colleagues: Dr. Liina-Ly Roos, Dr. …

University Club, 432 East Campus Mall, Room 313
December 1, 2025 @ 4:00 pm CST - 6:00 pm CST
https://mki.wisc.edu/event/presentation-exhibit-reception-early-anabaptist-documents-at-the-max-kade-institute/

Join us at the Max Kade Institute to celebrate the recent acquisition of a collection of books, some of them quite rare, published by and about Anabaptists. Donated by J. Denny Weaver, these mostly German- …

Emily Sneff
Virtual Lecture
November 20, 2025 @ 6:00 pm CST
https://mki.wisc.edu/event/virtual-lecture-the-german-audience-for-the-u-s-declaration-of-independence/

Free and open to the public, but registration is required. Click here to register for a Zoom link.   July 4, 2026, will mark the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence. Almost immediately …

Marquee Cinema at Union South
November 16, 2025 @ 3:00 pm CST

Join us for the 2025 Madison Polish Film Festival at the Marquee Cinema at Union South!

Brandon Bloch [UW-Madison, History] Michelle Khan [University of Richmond, History] Liina-Ly Roos [UW-Madison, GNS+] Benjamin Mier-Cruz [UW-Madison, Nordic Studies] Chris Molnar [University of Michigan-Flint, History] Nana Osei-Kofi [Oregon State University, Nordic Studies] Ayşe Parla [Boston University, Anthropology] Leonie Schulte [UW-Madison, Anthropology] Phi H. Su [Williams College, Sociology]
313 Pyle Center
November 14, 2025

This cross-disciplinary one-day workshop brings together six invited scholars and experts (alongside the three organizers) to examine the interlinkages of migration policies and European discourses over historical memory. We interrogate how competing historical narratives (of …