Christmas Baking

It’s that time of the year again—the time of pomegranates, peanuts, and these tiny baby oranges that seem to have a thousand different names, which has so far led to quite a few heated lunch break discussions. December has started, and what would have been a better way to begin it than with a Christmas

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The Hoffmann Collection of Contemporary Art

As a culmination of the autumn term’s art history elective on Representation a group of ECLA students visited the Hoffmann private collection of contemporary art on December 3, 2011. The gallery, owned by Erika and Rolf Hoffmann, occupies two floors of an apartment building located at Sophienstraße near Hackescher Markt. Walking to the gallery is

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Claudia Baracchi on Book X of the Republic

On December 5, ECLA was happy to welcome Claudia Baracchi, professor at the University of Milano–Bicocca and Visiting Professor at the New School for Social Research. Claudia’s main areas of expertise include Ancient philosophy, nineteenth- and twentieth-century Continental philosophy, philosophy of history, feminist thought, philosophy of art, political philosophy, and ethics.  Claudia was invited to

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Marx vs. Socrates: Considering Time on Questions of Woman and the Family

What connection can be made between Socrates and Marx, men separated by over two thousand years, but both hugely influential on the history of Western civilization? Are they both intellectuals? Certainly. Both philosophers? Possibly. Both revolutionaries? Not necessarily. The question that ECLA gathered on November 18 to discuss was their relevance for contemporary controversies over

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Tobias Joho on the Peloponnesian War

This past November, the ECLA community was glad to welcome Tobias Joho from the University of Chicago for two guest lectures on Thucydides’ text, The Peloponnesian War.  Currently a PhD candidate with a BA in Literae Humaniores from Oxford and an MA in Classical Languages and Literatures, one of his main research interests includes Thucydides,

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“Toonite”: Animated Shorts Screening

On Friday, November 18th, ECLA students organized a screening of short animation films called “TOONite”. The evening presented us with the challenge and pleasure of revisiting the perspective of a child, questioning our normal conception of reality and imagination. Thanks to the organizers, Jelena Ðjokic and Irina Stelea, we traveled to different parts of the

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