The holder of the Ganshof van der Meersch Chair 2021-2022, Professor Paul Betts, from Oxford University, will be welcomed at the IEE-ULB by the President of the Institute for European Studies, Professor Ramona Coman, and by its Director, Professor Nicolas Verschueren, in the framework of the “Rotating international Chair” course coordinated by Prof. Coman.

The Ganshof van der Meersch Chair was created in 1995 in memory of Walter Jean Ganshof van der Meersch, founder and President of the Institute for European Studies, holder of the Chair of Public Law at the ULB, Public Prosecutor at the Belgian Court of Cassation and Vice-President of the European Court of Human Rights. The Chair consists of a course given at the ULB by a Cambridge or Oxford professor on European integration (in its economic, political, historical and legal aspects) or law, in particular public law.

In his course, entitled ‘Europe in the 20th Century, 1914-2000: National, Transnational and International Histories’, Prof. Betts will analyse how notions of Europe as a whole are shaped by the history of the European Union. In his course, entitled ‘Europe in the 20th Century, 1914-2000: National, Transnational and International Histories’, Prof Betts will analyse how notions of regional, national and international history have been used to structure and interpret the history of Europe in the 20th century.

About Professor Betts

Paul Betts is Professor of Modern European History at St Antony’s College, Oxford University. His research and publications focus on the cultural history of modern Europe in general and twentieth-century German history in particular. Professor Betts is particularly interested in the relationship between culture and politics over the course of the century, and has worked on the themes of material culture, cultural diplomacy, photography, memory and nostalgia, human rights and international justice, death and changing notions of privacy.

His publications include the books Within Walls: Private Life in the German Democratic Republic (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010; paperback, 2012), which received the Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary History from the Wiener Library, and The Authority of Everyday Objects: A Cultural History of West German Industrial Design (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004; paperback, 2007). In November 2020, my new book Ruin and Renewal: Civilising Europe after World War II will be published by Basic Books in the US and Profile Books in the UK.

Sessions for IEE students

Professor Betts will deliver a series of lectures at the IEE:

  • Session 1: Political Geographies: Regions, Nations, Empires
  • Session 2: Varieties of Political Representation
  • Session 3: Internationalism and Rights
  • Session 4: Consumption Regimes
  • Session 5: Boundaries and Identities

These lectures are reserved for students registered in the course Rotating International Chair of the Specialised Master in EU Interdisciplinary Studies, organised by the IEE-ULB and coordinated by Professor Ramona Coman. In addition, Professor Betts will also give a public lecture.

Public lecture

On Thursday March 10, Prof. Betts, will give a public lecture at the ULB entitled ‘A Re-Civilising Mission: The Cultural Reconstruction of Europe after 1945’. The lecture (in English) will take place at 18:00 on the Campus du Solbosch (avenue Franklin Roosevelt 50, 1050 Brussels, see map) in room UD2.208 (building U, entrance D, level 2) and will be followed by a reception, conditions permitting.

For more information, and to register, please visit the FWA website here.