Observations from the University of California, Berkeley

By Julia Nelsen

Part of a global network extending from Vienna to Jerusalem and beyond, the Austria Centers of North America share a common mission to deepen knowledge of Austrian and Central European history, culture and society around the world.

North America is home to both the oldest and the newest of these dynamic hubs for research and education: the Center for Austrian Studies at the University of Minnesota, founded in 1977, and the Austrian Studies Program at the University of California, Berkeley, established in 2017 and unique on the West Coast. These are joined by the University of Alberta’s Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies, the only center of its kind in Canada, and the Austrian Marshall Plan Center for European Studies, launched in 1997 at the University of New Orleans building on longstanding partnerships with Austrian universities dating back to the 1980s.

Each plays a key role in building bridges between students, scholars and innovators across Austria and North America. Through lectures and conferences, publications, research exchanges and outreach activities, the Centers advance scholarship on Austria in a European context, as well as strengthen transatlantic cooperation. Yet, with international mobility and in-person gatherings put on hold by COVID-19, the North American Austria Centers have had to find new ways to connect and collaborate—from a distance. Starting this fall, we have joined forces to pilot a joint online event series designed to make the most of our shelters-in-place.

“The Austrian Lecture Series initiated by the Berkeley Center but executed by all North American Austrian Centers is a great moment of cooperation,” says Günter Bischof, director of Center Austria in New Orleans. “We have not allowed the COVID crisis to stop us but rather worked toward this collaborative initiative.”

Ranging in format, from live Zoom events to pre-recorded lectures paired with interactive Q&A sessions, these virtual forums have made it possible to broaden our Centers’ reach and convene diverse audiences across the miles around the theme of “Austrian Identities.”

UMN’s Center for Austrian Studies kicked off the series in September with the Kann Memorial Lecture by Tara Zahra (University of Chicago) on anti-globalist ideas that swept Austria after World War I, when the former Habsburg empire became the hotbed of a worldwide movement for individual and national self-sufficiency. The parallels were clear between Zahra’s discussion of post-1914 Austria and the current pandemic, which has closed borders, turned countries inward and upended feelings of belonging to a global community.

But if today’s “de-globalization” is precisely what is keeping us from coming together in one place, as Zahra herself pointed out, it has also given the Centers a chance to forge new connections. “As we adjust to our new online platform,” says Minnesota director Howard Louthan, “we are sorry of course to lose the immediacy of our in-person events but are also pleased by what we gain with an ability to reach such a diverse group of participants who would normally not be able to attend, stretching to Belarus and India.”

Continuing the series in October, the UC Berkeley Austrian Studies Program hosted a talk on identity politics and armed civil conflict by Wolfgang Petritsch, President of the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation. Petritsch examined shifting understandings of identity, nation, heritage and memory in the Balkans, with a focus on Bosnia-Herzegovina and Yugoslavia (where he formerly served as the Austrian Ambassador). His lecture is now part of the extensive video library on Berkeley’s European Studies YouTube channel, a further resource for online engagement.

Alberta’s Wirth Institute has also leaned into the virtual space, welcoming Ewa Wylężek (University of Silesia, Poland) for part three in our series with a discussion of contemporary artist Ireneusz Walczak and his exploration of the multifaceted Silesian identity. This lecture is just the latest addition to the Institute’s robust offering of digital content, including a curated selection of Central European art and music, a Mobile Lending Library, and a history podcast by director Joseph Patrouch.

To round out the lineup in November, Center Austria at the University of New Orleans hosted a conversation with Austrian scholar Gerald Steinacher (University of Nebraska) on identity and ethnonationalism in the borderland region of South Tyrol.

Virtual partnerships like this one have further strengthened ties between our Centers, and between Austrian and North American researchers. At the same time, they have encouraged connections across fields of study, highlighting innovative interdisciplinary perspectives on critical questions.

Building on the success of the current series, the North American Austria Centers are already looking ahead to 2021. In the works are more virtual conversations on innovation and sustainability across the disciplines, bringing together researchers from Austria, Canada and the United States in partnership with the Austrian Embassy’s Office of Science and Technology.

Berkeley director Jeroen Dewulf welcomes the opportunity for continued collaboration. “Being part of a global network of Austrian Studies programs has been a great benefit to us. We see this as a first step towards closer cooperation to the benefit of all Austrian Studies Programs in North America.”

Julia Nelsen, Ph.D., is Program Manager, Austrian Studies, at the University of California, Berkeley.

More Information:
https://ies.berkeley.edu/austrian