This weekly digest is a collection of news, upcoming events and other opportunities from the Faculty of Social Sciences, Lund University and the wider area, compiled for Graduate School students.
On the times and spaces of borders
Seminar
Linn Axelsson is a researcher of cultural geography at Stockholm University. In this talk, Linn Axelsson reflects on their journey within critical border studies, examining borders not as fixed lines but as fluid, spatially and temporally ambiguous constructs. Initially drawn to the temporal dimensions of borders — how deadlines, time limits, and intervals shape migrants’ mobility, and their inclusion and exclusion — they soon realized that these temporal dynamics cannot be understood in isolation from their spatialities. Thus, building on the somewhat fragile notion of border time-paces, Linn Axelsson explore how borders, in their evolving spatiotemporal forms, create shifting tempos and rhythms of connectivity and discontinuity, insides and outsides, and presences and absences.
Date and time: 20 February 2025 13:00 to 14:00
Location: This seminar is held on Zoom
Register here
CMES Public Lecture with Aron Lund: “Syria after the Assads”
Welcome to a CMES Public Lecture with Aron Lund (Swedish Defence Research Agency, FOI) on the future of Syria.
Aron Lund is Middle East analyst at the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), where he studies the politics and security of the Arab World and the eastern Mediterranean region. He is a fellow at Century International and the Centre for Syrian Studies at St Andrews University. Between 2013 and 2016, he worked for the Middle East Program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and in 2019 he was a guest researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Between 2018 and 2020, he studied Syrian armed groups in a project supported by the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation.
Date and time: 20 February 2025 15:15 to 16:30
Location: Eden Auditorium (Allhelgona kyrkogata 14, Lund)
For more information, visit this page.
Afterwork with Skissernas Museum & Illustratörcentrum
Welcome to a creative afterwork where you can sketch, sip and chat!
What happens when the Museum of Sketches and the Illustrators’ Center join their creative forces? It will be an evening filled with creative joy and inspiring meetings. Here you will have the opportunity to draw and participate in simple, engaging exercises that keep your creativity at its peak. Add a cold pilsner, good company, atmospheric music and a unique environment and you have the perfect recipe for a creative AW!
We look forward to meeting you! Who is welcome? Everyone! Whether you are a seasoned illustrator, hobbyist illustrator or just want to try something new, this evening is for you. All materials are provided! Illustrators’ Center members have free admission to the museum’s exhibitions all evening – even more opportunities to fill up on inspiration!
Date and time: 20 February 2025 17:00 to 20:00
Location: Skissernas Museum
For more information, visit this page.
Human Rights Lunch: The Sovereign Human Being: Carl Schmitt, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Responsible Decision-Making
Seminar
Valentin Jeutner, Faculty of Law, will talk about the central themes inhis book “The Sovereign Human Being: Carl Schmitt, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Responsible Decision-Making. The book argues that sovereign is anyone who makes decisions and that anyone who makes decisions is responsible for those decisions. The book develops these two arguments by comparing the theories of sovereignty of Carl Schmitt and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Carl Schmitt was an influential jurist of Nazi Germany. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran priest hanged for his involvement in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. In many ways, the two men could not be more different. But they both struggled with the question of how to maintain order and how to prevent violence at times of crisis (see more)
Date and time: 21 February 2025 12:15 to 13:00
Location: Zoom
For more information, visit this page.
Academic freedom in times of polarization
Seminar
Increasing social and political polarization has over the past few years affected academia globally as well as nationally. How do we safeguard academic freedom and scientific debate in the context of this growing polarization?
Presentations by:
Shirin Ahlbäck Öberg, Uppsala University
Rebecka Lettevall, Malmö University
Mia Huovilainen, Lund University Student Union Association (LUS)
Discussion moderated by Johan Östling, Lund University
Date and time: 5 March 2025 13:00 to 15:00
Location: Eden Auditorium, Eden, Allhelgona kyrkogata 14, Lund