Nothing suspicious about a European identity: study by the Collegium Europaeum ****************************************************************************************** * Nothing suspicious about a European identity: study by the Collegium Europaeum ****************************************************************************************** “The Collegium Europaeum is an open community of researchers from Charles University and t Sciences of the Czech Republic,” says PhDr. Petr Hlaváček, Ph.D., founder and coordinator Europaeum research group. Last year the Collegium presented to the public a new book entit elita (‘The Displaced Elite’) and this year it plans to start publishing a specialist jour Vertigo. Could you give a brief introduction of the Collegium Europaeum? The Collegium Europaeum was created in 2008 as a joint research project of Charles Univers Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. At the time I wa a similar ‘set-up’ in Leipzig, the Centre for the History and Culture of East Central Euro I wanted to look into something that many people regard as somewhat suspicious: European i Collegium’s agenda exceeds the bounds of the academic community – we have cooperated with, Austrian Cultural Forum, the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic and the Václav How can one become a member of the Collegium? The Collegium is an open community of researchers from Charles University and the Academy the Czech Republic. It currently consists of four scientific staff, two postgraduate stude of our colleague with whom we are engaged in loose cooperation. In addition to this we organise an annual Collegium Europaeum experimental seminar for pos students of the CU Faculty of Philosophy, irrespective of institute and field, featuring l philosophers, historians, sociologists and political scientists. These seminars are quite Are you also involved in publishing activity? Yes, we publish two book series: Europeana Pragensia focuses on European intellectual hist regularly publish a series about the Bohemian Reformation in English called The Bohemian R Religious Practice. We also publish some part that are not part of these series, for examp ve veřejném prostoru [‘The Intellectual in the Public Space’], Vytěsněná elita [‘The Displ book about the forgotten Jewish scholars of the German University in Prague, and Kacířská Heretics’ University’], which traces the history of the university during the Bohemian Ref currently preparing a book entitled České vize Evropy [‘Czech Visions of Europe’], which w this year to mark the tenth anniversary of the Czech Republic’s membership of the European You mentioned the book Vytěsněná elita. What makes it, in your opinion, exceptional? The book was published in Czech in January 2013. During its formal launch in the Jewish Mu Czechoslovak exile in Basel Pavel Chabr, came to me and suggested that we publish the book He immediately contacted his friend Erhard R. Wiehn, emeritus professor at the University is quite close to Czech affairs – he has been visiting the Czech Republic as a sociologist since the 1960s and was personally affected by the tragedy of Czechoslovakia in August 196 Pavel Chabr then translated the book over the course of several months and it was publishe Hartung-Gorre under the title Verdrängte Elite in the Shoáh & Judaica / Jewish Studies ser now available to German readers. Do you see a symbolic significance in its publication in German? Certainly. It concerns, after all, forgotten personalities in the history of the German la those of Jewish origin, as well as the now-forgotten Charles-Ferdinand University in Pragu German part. In its time the German University represented a specific intellectual in the environment of Prague. What does your work schedule look like for this year? Right now we’re preparing to start another journal. It will be called Vertigo – like the U Hitchcock film – with the subtitle ‘Revue for European debate’. ‘Vertigo’ in Latin means d turnaround; and we, too, sometimes feel a sort of dizziness from European topics. Vertigo kind of dialogue bridging the gap between the academic community, any interested members o maybe even the political elite. The year 2014 will, in any event, be a real adventure. PhDr. Petr Hlaváček, Ph.D. [ URL "http://dejinystarsi.flu.cas.cz/index.php?option=com_cont occasional blogger. He studied at the CU Faculty of Arts and Bern, Switzerland. Amongst ot 2008 founded the Collegium Europaeum FF UK & FLÚ AV ČR, which he heads as coordinator. He Marginalité, économie et christianisme project in Paris.