Nov-Dec 2008: Studium Generale: Lectures, Debates, Theatre, Comedy, Music

Studium Generale offers a program with academic and cultural activities for students and members of university staff. The program consists of lectures, debates, concerts and theatrical performances. Although the majority of the scheduled events are Dutch-spoken, a number of events are English spoken . See www.SG.unimaas.nl for actual information, or to subscribe to the Newsletter.

———————————————————————–

SG Science Café on the Presidential Elections in the US

Out on a drink with science

Tuesday, 4 November, 8 p.m.
Selexyz Dominicanen, Dominikanerkerkstraat 1
free admission

On November 4, 2008 the American Election will take place. Many Europeans have paid a lot of attention to the pre-election phase and are very curious about the outcome. Who is going to win – Obama or McCain? What influence will the result have on the European-American relation?

Lately, this relation has faced many difficulties. How will the two candidates deal with matters such as the developments in the NATO, the current financial crisis and climate change? Can one of them change the American reputation in Europe and the world?

Have you also observed the election campaigns and are you interested in discussing these issues? Then join Science Café! Several academics and experts are going to debate these topics with you. Interactive media live with opinion poll results and interim voting analysis will accompany our speakers throughout the evening.

Guest speakers: Denny Merideth, special political advisor (the American Embassy in The Hague), Dr. Jaap Hoogenboezem and Dr. Andrea Tyndall from the faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and Prof. John Haagedoorn (Professor of Strategy and International Business, FEBA).

In cooperation with Concordantia

The SG Science Café is a meeting place for scientists, university students and other people interested in science. The café provides an opportunity for anyone and everyone to debate – or learn to debate – with scientists in an informal atmosphere. Scientists talk about their passions and their work. You can get a drink, enjoy the live music, and chat with the speakers. It’s a great chance to experience the fascination of science, ask questions, acquire knowledge, interrogate scientists and form your own opinions.

———————————————————————–

Battle of the Bands - Round I

Wednesday, 5 November, 9 p.m., doors open at 8 p.m.

Muziekgieterij, Bankastraat 3

Admission: students: 4,- / others: € 6,-

Reservations: www.SG.unimaas.nl or (043) 388 5 388

The battle goes on! The winner takes it all and the looser has to fall…. Tonight’s battle promises sweat and tears and a whole bunch of music. Funk versus Punk versus Hip-hop versus Indie versus Rock! After the successful first edition, the subscription of this season’s battle, organised in cooperation with student association SV KoKo, is open to any band. During the first two rounds all bands will be judged by a professional jury and, of course by the audience. Only two of tonight’s four competing bands will be placed in the finalw taking place in April. Help your favourites to the finale! Get carried away with the music, tonight. Come and dance in the new temple of pop in Maastricht!

Wanted: The best band! Then, sign up for the battle by: mail@sg.unimaas.nl

———————————————————————–

Caspian Hat Dance, Energetic Balkan Beat Music

Friday, 7 November, 8.30 p.m.

Muziekgieterij, Bankastraat 3

Admission: € 10,- / students € 6,-

Reservations (043) 388 53 88 or via www.SG.unimaas.nl

The Amsterdam´s Caspian Hat Dance can change every ordinary night into a dazzling party. The band plays original and traditional gypsy music, klezmer music, misbehaved drunken village wedding music, southern Italian pizzica, and pretty songs sung in Roma on Bolivian mountaintops. They played nearly everywhere conceivable in Amsterdam and have toured Holland, Germany and eastern Europe. It is a street band that plays in sold-out concert halls and a concert-hall band that plays in plazas and squatted buildings. They use the Kurdish-Iranian daf, Arabic darbuka, African dum-dum, violins, accordion, guitar, mandolin, eternal tambourine, double & electric bass, andean charango & quena, concert flute, gypsy water-can, and their own voices. They sing in German, Italian, Roma, Dutch, English, Spanish, and some languages they made up themselves. Afterparty with DJ Ramazan

7 p.m. – Global Village – presentation by AIESEC

———————————————–

The First World War as “die Urkatastrophe” of the 20th century

Wednesday, 12 November

4 p.m., Aula Minderbroedersberg 4-6

Free admission

Prof. K. Koch, Professor in International Relations, University Groningen

The First World War created the modern world. This conflict of unparalleled violence destroyed the relative peace and prosperity of the nineteenth century and its concomitant belief in steady progress of the Age of Enlightenment. In the First World War, the forces were unleashed that shaped the twentieth century: total war, genocide, nationalism and racism. The war signaled the end of the Old Europe of the Empires and started the New Europe and its continuing problems (Yugoslavia, the Caucasus, the Middle East). The war ended the Euro-centered world, others powers (the US, and later the SU) took the world stage took the stage in a decisive way. Also, the war signaled the beginning of anti-colonial movements in the Third World. In this lecture, some of these aspects will be highlighted as well their relation with the causes and courses of the battles of the First World War.

———————————————————————–

Joana Amendoeira, Fado Music

Wednesday, 12 November, 8 p.m.

Muziekgieterij, Bankastraat 3

Admissions: €16,- / students € 6,-

Reservations: (043) 388 53 88 or via: www.SG.unimaas.nl

Joana Amendoiera is considered one of the most important Fado singers in the last 10 years. In her singing, Fado gains a new glow, a new attitude, yet without deviations from tradition.

Since a very young age, she initiated her voyage throughout Fado’s world by the hands of her parents and brother, Pedro Amendoeira, himself one of the grand talented Portuguese guitar players. This young lady once a promise is now a certainty in the panorama of national and international contemporary music, with concerts all over the globe, and her fifth album released last year. In her voice, she reaches moments of sublime harmonies, subtle and sensual at a time. Amongst her rich register, the album À flor da pele impresses a particular mark, revealing to us the feelings that are actually “under the skin”, with unique interpretative sensibility.

———————————————————————–

International Comedy Night: Op Sterk Water

Wednesday, 12 November, 8 p.m.

Kumulustheater, Herbenusstraat 89

Admission: students: 6,- / others: € 10,-

Reservations: www.SG.unimaas.nl or (043) 388 5 388

This comedy night for internationals will showcase a worldwide première! For the first time the most famous impro-comedy collective of the Netherlands Op Sterk Water will exclusively perform a whole night of comedy just in English. “On the spot” these fine masters of impro will attack you with their unforgettable hilarious and unique sketches and songs solely based on the audience’s suggestions.

Op Sterk Water is wild, crazy, brutal and always in for a joke. Op Sterk Water is impro-comedy at its best: fast, funny, clever and never the same! Be prepared for their high joke density, their musical spirits and an absolute laughter-guarantee. Get ready for their wild ride of humour!

This International Comedy Night will be completed by a jazzy performance.

www.opsterkwater.nl

———————————————————————–

Tanslecture
The Israel-Palestine Conflict: What we can learn from Gandhi

Thursday, 13 November, 8 p.m.

College Hall, Tongersestraat 53

Free admission

Norman Finkelstein, publicist

In the first part of his lecture Finkelstein suggests that the Israel-Palestine conflict is among the least controversial in the contemporary world. He argues that a consensus exists among historians on the past; among human rights organizations on the present; and among the legal-diplomatic community on the future and how to resolve the conflict.

In the second part of the lecture Finkelstein looks at aspects of Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violent resistance. His focus lies on three key questions: Whom does Gandhi want to reach: the oppressors or the bystanders? How does he want to reach them: through the mind or through the heart? What needs to be done to reach them: to display suffering or to display dignity? The ideas brought forward show that Gandhi’s philosophy is replete with gaps and contradictions. However, it also endows on the fact that the consensus in the international community for resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict lays the foundation for a successful application of Gandhi’s strategy. We need only practice what he called Satyagraha: Hold on to the Truth!

Norman G. Finkelstein studied politics at Princeton University. For many years he taught courses in political theory and the Israel-Palestine conflict. He is currently an independent scholar. Finkelstein is the author of: The Rise and Fall of Palestine: A personal account of the intifada years 1996; A Nation on Trial: The Goldhagen thesis and historical truth (with Ruth Bettina Birn), 1998; The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the exploitation of Jewish suffering, 2000; Beyond Chutzpah: On the misuse of anti-Semitism and the abuse of history, 2005; A Farewell to Israel: The coming break-up of American Zionism, to be published in 2009.

The Dr. J. Tans Lecture is held every year in commemoration of Sjeng Tans, PhD, one of the founding fathers of our university.

———————————————————————–

Freedom of Movement

Films and debates
Monday 17, Tuesday 18 and Wednesday 19 November, 7.30 p.m.

Lumière Cinema, Bogaardenstraat 40B

Admission: € 5,- (including 1 drink)

Reservations: www.lumiere.nl, (043) 321 40 80

Migration within and into the European Union is a topic which draws attention in the media and in the political arena. Whilst the European economy needs an increasing number of highly skilled foreign migrants, the attitude towards economic refugees has become progressively stricter. This is reflected in the development of the so-called Bleu Card and police patrols at the borders of Mediterranean countries. In Europe, migration patterns have changed due to the recent EU enlargements. More and more migrant workers from Eastern Europe travel to the West, out of which also Roma and Sinti. Adding to that, scandals in the media, human trafficking, criminality, integration of minorities and cultural differences have resulted in populist discourse on migration. Clearly there are missing points in European policy areas dealing with migrants, and in lawmaking at various levels.

How to accommodate freedom of movement inside the EU on the one hand, whilst ensuring security and safety of its citizens, on the other? This mixture of issues on freedom of movement and migration within and into the EU is covered in a unique festival showing movies and documentaries, followed by discussions, keynote speeches and music.

Monday, 17 November

> Introduction of the festival & Movie: It’s a Free World (Ken Loach, 2007)

Tuesday, 18 November

> Discussion on European Migration Policy & Documentary: Dijarama (Gus Barrera, 2007)

> Discussion on human trafficking & Movie: True North (Steven Hudson, 2006)

Wednesday, 19 November

> Discussion on migration from Eastern Europe & Movie on the situation of Roma and Sinti (see webpage for title)

> Discussion on cultural identity & Documentary: All White in Barking (Marc Isaacs, 2007)

Two parallel programmes on Tuesday and Wednesday.

More information: http://www.maastrichtdebates.net

This event is organised in cooperation with Maastricht Debates, Maastricht Graduate School of Governance and Lumière Cinema.

———————————————————————–

In Concert: Marike Jager & Band

Wednesday, 19 November, 9 p.m., doors open at 8 p.m.

Muziekgieterij, Bankastraat 3

Admission: students: 6,- / others: € 10,-

Reservations: www.SG.unimaas.nl or (043) 388 5 388

Marike Jager is back! Tonight, Celia Trigger the remarking title of her new album, released on October 31st will be presented in Maastricht. This successful, young singer-songwriter earned already high praise with her honoured debut album The Beauty Around. Musical light-footed but still profound, she won an “Essent Award” and turned the Lowlands-festival upside-down with her strong performance. Marike and her band have now made an enormous step forwards; their strong new songs are more grown-up and more energetic. A “must-see” for everybody, who loves good touching songs. Strength and melancholy varied with a nice portion of moving energetic happiness. And Marike? She is her disarming and typical self. After the show, a professor turns the tables…

www.marikejager.com

———————————————————————–

My Personal Journey towards the Understanding of Mao

Wednesday, 26 November, 8 p.m.

Aula Tongersestraat 53

Free admission

Jung Chang, co-author of Mao, The Unknown Story
Co-reference: Dr. J. Hoogenboezem, specialized in political leadership, defence and war studies, Faculty of Arts and Culture, Department of Political Science

Chang argues that despite being born into a peasant family, Mao had little concern for the welfare of the Chinese peasantry. She holds Mao responsible for the famine resulting from the Great Leap Forward. He exacerbated the famine by allowing the export of grain to continue although China did not have sufficient grain to feed its population. Mao had many political opponents arrested and murdered. He was a more tyrannical leader than had previously been thought. His decisions during the Long March were not really as heroic as people have generally believed: Chiang Kai-shek deliberately “let Mao go” because his son was being held hostage in the Soviet Union. Mao sacrificed thousands of troops simply in order to get rid of individual rivals from within the Communist Party.

Jung Chang worked as a peasant, a steelworker and an electrician during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). She left China in 1978 and obtained a PhD in Linguistics in 1982 at the University of York. She wrote the best-selling books Wild Swans - Three Daughters of China, and Mao: The Unknown Story (co-written with Jon Halliday).

———————————————————————–

Cradle to Cradle - Remaking the Way We Make Things

Thursday, 27 November, 8 p.m.

Lecture Hall, Tongersestraat 53

Free admission

Albin Kälin, CEO of EPEA and former CEO of Rohner Textil AG

With the influential 2002 bestseller, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, Braungart helped establish a framework for the next Industrial Revolution. This book makes the case that human industry can be transformed through ecologically intelligent design to benefit nature, people and business. This lecture gives insight into the Cradle to Cradle thinking, the design for “re-incarnation”. There is no concept of waste anymore, because every material becomes beneficial for the next process, whether within the technosphere or within the biosphere. This approach means changing how we think about the life cycles of manmade goods, industrial systems and the built environment. The “opportunistic design” of the first Industrial Revolution, and its unintended environmental consequences, can and must be replaced by sustainable practices driven by human ingenuity.

Albin Kälin is CEO of EPEA and former CEO of Rohner Textil AG. He was born 1957 in Switzerland. He initiated an ongoing process of fundamental change towards more sustainable business practices.

Rohner Textil AG was rewarded in the 1990´s with several international design awards and it has taken a pioneering role in economic and ecological issues. In 1996 Rohner Textil was as one of the first companies certified according the environmental management system ISO 14001 and EMAS.

In 2005 Albin Kälin joined Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart´s consulting company EPEA to become CEO. With this move he will help the team of scientists at EPEA to further implement Cradle to Cradle Product Design in various industries, e.g. cosmetics, textiles, apparel, shoes, automotive, white goods, etc.

———————————————————————–

Open Mic

Wednesday, 3 December, 8 p.m.

Kumulustheater, Herbenusstraat 89

Admission: students: 4,- / others: € 6,-

Reservations: www.SG.unimaas.nl or (043) 388 53 88

Are you that undiscovered talent? Have you always been dreaming of standing on stage, performing your act in front of an enthusiastic audience? Then, the Open Mic is your big opportunity! As always, the subscription for this spectacular night is open to everybody. For fifteen minutes you are standing in the spotlight, the overwhelming applause is only yours. Have the guts, dare to perform and enjoy your new fame!

Or come along. Come laughing and listening. Be amused and amazed by a varied, entertaining night with lots of music, cabaret, dance and the always surprising acts of the Open Mic. One or two acts might be in Dutch.

Wanna shine in the spotlight and taste the stage?Then, sign-up for the Open Mic at: mail@sg.unimaas.nl.

———————————————————————–

The Responsability to Protect: UN Human Rights and Regional Conflicts

Wednesday, 10 December, 8 p.m.

Aula Tongersestraat 53

Free admission

Sir M. Goulding, former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations

Sir Goulding discusses peacekeeping operations and ethical perceptions of UN missions, and the change in attitude within the UN about its role in ending regional conflicts. Relating to current conflicts (e.g. Myanmar and Sudan), Goulding questions why innocent civilians suffer terribly in modern warfare, and what procedures exist for their protection. A new procedure has been proposed, entitled “The Responsibility to Protect”: governments, it said, are responsible for the protection of their citizens; if a government is unwilling and/or unable to fulfil that responsibility, other governments should be entitled to do so. Should this procedure become part of public international law? Is this feasible? Are existing Human Rights Conventions adequate? Is the new UNHCR making any impact? What more can be done in this field? Are the Geneva Conventions out of date? This lecture coincides with the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Sir Marrack Goulding served as Under-Secretary-General of the UN, from 1986 until 1993. He headed sixteen peacekeeping operations. According to experts this period “may come to be regarded as its heyday”.

As part of the 60th birthday of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the following activities will be organised:

Monday 8 December, 7.30 p.m. - Lumière - The devil comes on a horseback, film

Tuesday 9 December, 7 p.m. – FEBA, Lecture Room C 1.03, Tongerstraat 53 - Genocide: the Role of Bystanders, lecture by prof. dr. Fred Grunfeld, UM – lecture fully booked

Wednesday 10 December, 1 p.m. till 4.30 p.m. - patio Maastricht Graduate School of Governance - Writing Afternoon for Amnesty International

Wednesday 10 December, 5 p.m. – Torchlight procession – from central station Maastricht to “de Kakeberg”

Wednesdag 10 December, 6 p.m. - patio Maastricht Graduate School of Governance - collective dinner

www.amnesty-maastricht.nl

In cooperation with: Amnesty Maastricht and Maastricht Graduate School of Governance.

———————————————————————–

Paco Diatta, African Music from Guinee

Friday, 12 December, 8.30 p.m.

Muziekgieterij, Bankastraat 2

Admissions: €10,- / students € 6,-

Reservations: (043) 388 53 88 or via: www.SG.unimaas.nl

Paco Diatta, born in the South of Senegal, is a talented artist, astonishing the audience with a multitude influences. This artist’s exceptional gift is also reflected in a way we call conjugation of the starts to his favour: he is author, composer, guitarist and singer, a rare appearance of our days, inspiring an exclusive relationship with providence. Next to acoustic and base guitar, he also plays traditional instruments such as the tama and the kontine.

At a young age, Paco left for adventure, guitar under the arm, and a bag on the shoulder. His roaming is the one of poets, and artists in perpetual search of the universal values. Managing to trace his road with determination, he drew inspiration from contemporary issues: human condition, wars and their consequences, exile, immigration, crime and the dangers of power. By tracing specifically African concerns: education, history, young generation’s future and hopes, traditional African values endangered, his texts mirror a variety in topics and a successful cultural mix. The complexity continues, Paco singing in different languages: Wolof, Diola, Balante, Mandinka, Créole, French and English.

Recently, he formed a band, Mandinka. Don’t miss this unique style mix between modern, traditional, afro-raggae and mbalax!

www.pacodiatta.com

———————————————————————–

In Concert: Hotel
The soul of Calexico, Mano Negra and the Amsterdam Klezmer Band

Wednesday, 17 december, 9 p.m., doors open at 8 p.m.

Muziekgieterij, Bankastraat 3

Admission: students: € 6,- / others € 10,-

Reservations: www.SG.unimaas.nl or (043) 388 53 88

Hotel is a band with impressive roots. Chile on percussion, Mexico on bass, the Netherlands on guitar, Argentina on drums and Kurdistan & the Balkans on accordion & vocals. Their sound is at times lightly melancholic swing, only to be followed by enthusiastic rhythm ’n blues with heavy Latin accent.

Since their debut some months ago, positive reactions are pouring in: “Amsterdam is now enriched by a nine-stars hotel, but in the shape of an orchestra which delivers universal rock & roll served on a guitar edge. They unite the soul of Calexico, Mano Negra and the Amsterdam Klezmer Band, through a unique vitality and vibe. Guitarist, blow instruments, percussion and accordion frame the incredible voice of singer Arjan Amin, a lively geezer reminding us of familiar voices such as Mink Deville”.

This band is a new multicoloured face on the Dutch podia! With or without the hornsection, it will be party time to the max. Check them out, amigo!

Support Act: Celluloid Gurus

———————————————————————–
Information

Studium Generale

Postbus 616 - 6200 MD Maastricht
T. (043) 388 53 07 (mon – thur, 9h00–17h00)
mail@sg.unimaas.nl

Bonnefantenstraat 2, Kamer C-0.03, Maastricht

www.SG.unimaas.nl