On 21 June 2023, the UCB-QUB Strategic Partnership launched the Belfast-Berkeley Conversation Series. The first Conversation between the historians Professor John Connelly (UCB) and Dr Alexander Titov (QUB) took place in the Emeleus Theatre at QUB and focused on the theme of Conflicted Europe. The event, organised and moderated by Professor Maruška Svašek (co-lead of the partnership) in collaboration with the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics and the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, was opened by Professor Richard English (Director of the Mitchell Institute) and Dr Merav Amir (co-lead of the partnership).

Svašek started off asking the two speakers to reflect on their personal connection to Europe and their experience of Europe as a space of conflict. This was followed by a discussion about the historical dynamics of geographical borders and cultural boundaries in Europe, conflicts around ethnicity, nationhood and democracy, questions around empire and conquest, and longer-term dynamics of geopolitics within and beyond Europe.

Before the event, the speakers had been asked to choose an artwork that triggered questions about Europe and its contested nature. Dr Titov spoke about a painting by Vasily Surikov (1848 –1916), entitled The conquest of Siberia by Yermak Timofeyevich (1895). Professor Connelly zoomed in on The sacking of Heidelberg by General Mélac, painted by Feodor Dietz (1813–1870) in 1856. The Conversation ended with an invitation by Svašek to think about the ways in which the theme of emotions can be integrated in historical research, in particular when analysing conflicts in, and contestations about Europe.

 

The meeting ended with a twenty-minute Q&A in which members of the audience brought up a wide variety of themes, from the significance of socialism in relation to nationalism to the content of national anthems.

Watch the full recording of the event below.

Speakers

Dr Alexander Titov is Lecturer in Modern European History at the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, Queen’s University Belfast. He is a historian of modern Russia, focusing on its foreign policy, Russian nationalism, and the political history of the USSR after Stalin. Currently working on a book for Agenda Publishers on Russia and its foreign policy, he is a regular commentator on current affairs relating to Russia. His work has appeared in national and international media, including the Conversation, the Irish Times, the Independent and the BBC History Magazine.

Professor John Connelly is Professor of History, University of California in Berkeley. His specializes in the history of Central and Eastern European, and his publications include From Peoples Into Nations: A History of Eastern Europe (Princeton, 2022), From Enemy to Brother: The Catholic Revolution in Teaching about the Jews (Harvard, 2012), and Captive University: The Sovietization of East German, Czech and Polish Higher Education (Chapel Hill, 2000). In 2020, he was Fulbright Fellow at Queen’s University Belfast.