video: Women at Universities in East-Central Europe: In a Search for New Narratives, with Martina Bečvářová (Prague), Aleksandra Derra (Toruń), Anna Maria Kola (Toruń), Jan Surman (Prague)

 Women at Universities in East-Central Europe: In a Search for New Narratives, with Martina Bečvářová (Prague), Aleksandra Derra (Toruń), Anna Maria Kola (Toruń), Jan Surman (Prague). URL: https://youtu.be/nc0aG65K_E8

Virtual platforms "Gender History of Central and Eastern Europe" and "HPS.CESEE: History of Science in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe" are proud to present the global book talk "Women at Universities in East-Central Europe: In a Search for New Narratives." Jan Surman (Prague) will join with Aleksandra Derra (Toruń), Anna Maria Kola (Toruń) and Martina Bečvářová (Prague) to discuss their recently published books "Niewidzia(l)ne. Kobiety i historia Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu [The Unseen Women and History of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń]" (Toruń 2020) [1] and "Doktorky matematiky na univerzitách v Praze 1900–1945 [Female Doctors of Mathematics at Universities in Prague 1900-1945]" (Prague 2019) [2], in a discussion moderated by Adela Hîncu (Jena). Taking examples from both books as the point of departure, we discussed not only spaces for women in the academia, but also historians' strategies to question the narrative of masculinity of universities and find the relevant materials. The discussion was a part of a series of open zoom events aiming to foster the discussion of new books and approaches within the history of science and scholarship (broadly understood) in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe.

[1] Aleksandra Derra, Anna Maria Kola and Wojciech Piasek (eds.): Niewidzia(l)ne. Kobiety i historia Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu [The Unseen Women and history of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń], Toruń: Wydawnictwo UMK 2020.

[2] Martina Bečvářová, Doktorky matematiky na univerzitách v Praze 1900–1945 [Female Doctors of Mathematics at Universities in Prague 1900-1945]. Nakladatelství Karolinum, Praha 2019.

Participants:

Martina Bečvářová is mathematician and historian at the Czech Technical University in Prague. She works on history of mathematics in Bohemia and Czechoslovakia, as well as on international contacts between mathematicians. Her most recent publications dealt with history of women in mathematical disciplines at Prague universities, and with history of mathematics in the interwar period.

Aleksandra Derra is philosopher, translator, and philologist and works at the Institute of Philosophy of the Nicolaus Copernicus University (NCU) in Toruń. Her work focuses on gender, subjectivity, and body problems in contemporary philosophy and cognitive science. Her publications are located within the field of contemporary feminist philosophy and (feminist) science and technology studies.

Adela Hîncu studied world and comparative literature at the University of Bucharest and modern history at Central European University. She received her PhD in Comparative History from CEU in 2019 with a dissertation on the history of social thought and sociology in state socialist Romania (“Accounting for the ‘Social’ in State Socialist Romania: Contexts and Genealogies, 1960s–80s”). Currently she is research fellow at Imre Kertész Kolleg Jena.

Anna Maria Kola is assistant Professor and Vice Dean at Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun. She specialises on elite education in Poland and in the world, and pursues research in the field of higher education and science and social work. Most recently she has been expert in the Micro-credentials consultation group established by the European Commission.

Jan Surman is a historian of science and scholarship, focusing on Central and Eastern Europe in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His work was concerned with history of universities in the Habsburg Empire and with history of scientific languages. Currently he works at the Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague with projects on transnationality of Central European science in the 20th century.