On Thursday 22 May Julia Peters, future post-doctoral fellow at ECLA, helped us to understand the notoriously difficult ideas of German philosopher G.W.F. Hegel. In a focused lecture, Peters traced Hegel’s argument for the institution of private property as a necessary condition for human freedom. Hegel endorses the idea that institutional constraints allow for freedom
Aileen Douglas ‘A home of her own: female independence in Jane Austen’s Emma’
On 19 May ECLA welcomed Dr. Aileen Douglas of Trinity College Dublin, for a lecture on Jane Austen’s Emma. As in other Austen novels, Emma explores the relationship between marriage and property, connecting the development of the characters and the unfolding plot with wealth and proprietary status. However, Emma represents an exception, in that the
“Vengeance is mine; I will repay. Kleist, Kohlhaas, and the quest for justice” by Sean Allan
On Wednesday 14 May, Sean Allan from Warwick University gave a comprehensive introductory lecture to Michael Kohlhaas and to the background of its author, Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist. Pointing out the paradoxical subtleties within the character of Kohlhaas, Sean Allan warned against one-sided readings of the novella’s plot, which regard the character as either a
ECLA Annual Conference Panel Discussion: ‘Berlin’s Water Management – an Example for others?’
One of the student initiatives during the Annual Conference was to stage a panel discussion, the focus of which would be the issues surrounding the ownership and management of Berlin’s water. This would be placed in the context of global concerns about water access and water management, both in general, and with specific reference to
ECLA Annual Conference – Student Project: Water Fund
During the Annual Conference, projects initiated by students complemented the theoretical framework generated by the guest lectures and the seminars offered by ECLA professors. Such a project, initiated by ECLA student Cholpon Degenbaeva (Kyrgyzstan), under the guidance of the ECLA professor Rafael Ziegler, had as its goal research and proposals which would go into the
ECLA Annual Conference Lecture: Petra Dobner on ‘Crossing the Jordan: Global Water and Transnational Constitutionalism’
On Friday 9 May Dr. Petra Dobner visited ECLA to deliver a guest lecture, ‘Crossing the Jordan: Global Water and Transnational Constitutionalism’, as part of Annual Conference. It was fitting that Dr. Dobner’s lecture should be the last of the Annual Conference series, as it served to bring together many aspects of water addressed throughout
ECLA Annual Conference Lecture: Ing. Michal Kravcík
On 8 May 2008, the fourth in the lecture series of the ECLA Annual Conference on Water, Ing. Michal Kravcík expounded a new paradigm of thinking about water. In the old water paradigm, we believed that humanity has little impact on the natural water cycle and that this cycle has a negligible effect on global
ECLA Annual Conference Lecture: Tony Allan on ‘Global systems enable local security: virtual water – the water, food and trade nexus brings water security and sustainability’
ECLA was particularly honoured to receive Tony Allan to deliver a Annual Conference lecture. Just over a month before his arrival, Professor Allan was awarded the 2008 Water Laureate prize by the Stockholm Water Committee for his ‘pioneering and long lasting work in education and raising the awareness internationally of interdisciplinary relationships between agricultural production,