Europe: Consider it all!
We are just starting to gear up for the 4th annual Consider it All! Conference. We will soon post the 2025 schedule and call for proposals.
This student-initiated and student-led event examines the field of Contemporary European Studies and addresses important gaps. We are interested in aspects of the field that have gone under-studied and also relevant professional paths which receive little attention. We hope you will get involved in the third iteration of this conference!
Please meet our 2025 organizational team comprised of TransAtlantic Masters (TAM) students and graduates:
Martha Carey ’26 is from Dublin Ireland. She completed her BA at Trinity College Dublin where she studied European Studies with a specialization in Italian language and culture. While on an Erasmus program at the University of Milan, Martha took a number of courses on the sociology of organized crime, leading her to write her thesis on the Sicilian Mafia. In August 2023, Martha was the first non-Italian student to attend Prof. Nando Dalla Chiesa’s (ex-member of parliament) summer course ‘Unitinerante’, studying the spread of organized crime in Cesenatico, Italy. Additionally, in July 2022 Martha received a scholarship from the University of Milan to represent Ireland at the prestigious Feltrinelli Italian language and culture course in Gargnano, Lake Garda. In her spare time, Martha has been an environmental advocate, presenting the Irish youth perspective at European forums while advancing sustainability awareness through her involvement in events such as European Youth Week 2019 and the Sustainable Ireland National Conference. After spending the academic year 2024-25 in Chapel Hill, Martha will continue on to the University of Siena, Italy
Chloe Kofman ’24 grew up in Wisconsin but now proudly calls North Carolina home. She graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2022 with a student-designed major in Religious Studies and a second major in Italian Studies. Her research interests span many subjects, including geography, food studies, and European-Jewish history and culture. TAM’s Transatlantic Studies track led her to spend a semester in Bath and then an academic year in Siena, after which she felt compelled to return to the world of Italian Studies. She graduated from TAM in August 2024 and started her doctoral work in Italian Studies at UNC-CH that same month. Chloe has been involved with the conference since its inception.
Daniela Liberatore ’24 is a half-Italian and half-German TAM graduate. She majored in Political Science and International Relations at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” and wrote her thesis on conditionality and the protection of the rule of law in the European Union. Her research interests include European Union policy, particularly environmental and fiscal policies. She studied in Chapel Hill in her first TAM year and then in Berlin at the Humboldt University. She earned degrees from both institutions in 2024. She now works at the Aspen Institute in Berlin.
Jalyn McNeal ’23 is a two-time graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Youth Development, Morocco), and a Boren Award recipient (Arabic, Morocco). While in the TAM program, Jalyn was able to spend an extensive amount of time studying and working between France and Morocco. His graduate thesis explored France’s relationship with secularism and the French government’s critical focus on Islam and Muslims (primarily of Maghrebi background) from the early 18th century through 2021. Jalyn holds an M.A. in Political Science, a Graduate Certificate in Middle East Studies, and a B.A. in Global Studies from UNC-CH. He now lives in DC and works for the US Department of State.
Dale Seufert-Navarro ’25 graduated from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in 2023, receiving degrees in both Political Science and Sociology. Graduating with honors, his thesis was awarded the Terry Sanford Award for Excellence. He is now in his second year of the Transatlantic Master’s Program, studying at the Bremen University in Germany. Dale is a Section Editor with the Carolina Political Review, where he was also a 2023 Spring Writing Fellow. His research has been published in the North Carolina Journal of European Studies and is forthcoming in the Journal of Foreign Affairs at Carolina. Dale’s research interests are firmly rooted in studying the causes and consequences of economic inequality and varying welfare state efforts to address it.
Our 3rd annual Consider it All! Conference took place in April 2024.
This student-initiated and student-led event examines the field of Contemporary European Studies and addresses important gaps. We are interested in aspects of the field that have gone under-studied and also relevant professional paths which receive little attention. We hope you will get involved in the third iteration of this conference!
Last year, Professor Harry Jol, Ambassador Dr. Ana Polak Petrič, and Dr. Vanni Xuereb served as our Keynote Speakers.
Harry Jol earned his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from Simon Fraser University and Ph.D. from the University of Calgary. Before heading to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, he was a Killam Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Calgary followed by a 2-year NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow at Simon Fraser University. Harry Jol is presently a Professor within the Department of Geography and Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America. Harry has conducted research with ground penetrating as more than 1400+ sites in North America, Europe, Israel, China, New Zealand, Australia, and Antarctica. He has a broad background in the earth sciences, particularly geomorphology, stratigraphy, and geoarchaeology. The research with colleagues has resulted in numerous conference presentations and publications, including 3 co-edited GPR volumes (Ground Penetrating Radar in Sediments, Stratigraphic Analysis using GPR, and Ground Penetrating Radar: Theory and Applications). His research has been highlighted by multiple news outlets such as New York Times, CNN, Fox Science News as well as numerous documentaries including BBC and NOVA.
Ana Polak Petrič currently serves as Ambassador of Slovenia to Germany; from 2019 to 2022, she was Ambassador to Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines. She is also an Assistant Professor of International Law, Diplomacy, and European Law at the European Faculty of Law, New University, Slovenia. Previously, she worked as a High Representative of Slovenia for Succession Issues to the former Yugoslavia and the Assistant Agent of the Republic of Slovenia at the European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg. She completed her PhD in law at the European Faculty of Law, New University, Slovenia (2014), and M.A. in advanced international studies at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna and University of Vienna, Austria (2007).
Dr. Vanni Xuereb has been fulfilling the Ambassador of Malta to Germany role since September 2020 and served as Ambassador of Malta to Spain from 2019 to 2020. Dr Xuereb’s career has centered on EU affairs. He served as a Legal Research Officer at the Permanent Delegation of Malta to the European Communities and as a Legal Consultant on EU Law to the then Malta External Trade Corporation, now part of Malta Enterprise. In May 2008, Dr Xuereb was entrusted with spearheading the process of reactivating the Malta-EU Steering and Action Committee (MEUSAC). Vanni Xuereb obtained his PhD in Law from the University of Malta, and he then pursued post-graduate studies in Advanced European Legal Studies at the College d’Europe in Bruges, Belgium, from 1988-1989.
Conference Schedule for Saturday, April 6th:
9am EST / 3pm CET: Opening Remarks – Professor Priscilla Layne, Director of the UNC-CH Center for European Studies
9:15am EST / 3:15pm CET: Technology Panel
Moderator: Jasmin Singh ’25
Emma Sougli: Computer vision and pattern recognition: the non-discrimination framework and the recent AI Regulation COM 2021/0206 Please link to the video here.
Chloe Kofman ’24: The Turn of the (Static) Tides: Radio as a Weapon in 20th-Century Europe Please link to the video here.
10:00am EST / 4:00pm CET: Country Focus: Germany Panel
Moderator: Tracy Ridley
Lauren Gaillard’17: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: From American utopian ideal to emerging profession in Europe Please link to the video here.
Emily Voncannon: The Prevalence and Popularity of far-right movements in the Regions of the Former East Germany Please link to the video here.
Mohamad Othman: The Power of Perspective: Impact of Experiential Simulation Workshops on Attitudes Towards Syrian Refugees Please link to the video here.
11:00am EST / 5:00pm CET: Central and Eastern Europe Panel
Moderator: Daniela Liberatore ’24
Elton Smole ’25: European Union Enlargement in the Western Balkans Please link to the video here.
Kelsi Rae Quick: Democracy, Deficits, and Division: Perceptions of Deficits in National Sovereignty in the Central and Eastern European Union
11:45 EST / 5:45pm CET: The Ambassador of Slovenia to Germany: Dr. Ana Polak Petrič and Dr. Vanni Xuereb, Ambassador of Malta to Germany. Moderator: Irina Goršič, Minister Plenipotentiary at the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia.
12:45pm EST / 6:45pm CET: 30 MINUTE BREAK
1:15pm EST / 7:15pm CET: Keynote Speaker, Dr Harry Jol, Dept. of Geography & Anthropology at University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, Mapping of historic Jewish Sites in Lithuania, with an introduction by Chloe Kofman ’24
2:15pm EST / 8:15pm CET: Migration and Immigration Panel
Moderator: Jalyn McNeal ’23
Guy Butler-Felton: Is Offshoring the Future of Migration? Please link to the video here.
Dale Seufert-Navarro: For Our Own! Welfare Chauvinism, Immigration, & Partisan Welfare State Recalibration Please link to the video here.
Will Morton: Irish Brain Drain Please link to the video here.
3:15pm EST / 9:15pm CET: Concluding Remarks – CES Executive Director, Katie Lindner
Panelist Bios:
Guy Butler-Felton is a UNC-CH junior undergraduate double majoring in History and Global Studies with a a focus on the Middle East and minor in Medieval and Early Modern Studies.
Lauren Gaillard ’17 is a TransAtlantic Masters (TAM) graduate. She serves as the Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Bard College Berlin in Germany. Before assuming this position, Lauren served as the co-director and co-founder of the Techstart Program at CODE University of Applied Sciences where she supported people from historically marginalized communities, specifically those with a forced migration or migrant background to up-skill in tech and find an entry-level position in the field of digital product development across Germany.
Chloe Kofman ’24 is a TAM student studying in Siena now.
Will Morton is a Senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is double-majoring in Peace War and Defense and Global Studies, with a focus on Russia.
Mohamad Othman is a recent Master’s graduate from Humboldt University in Political Science, a Directing manager at Refugee Voices Tours, and a researcher with the Berlin-based NGO Mnemonic.
Kelsi Rae Quick is a first-year PhD student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign specializing in Comparative Politics with a focus on EU studies. She is currently a Research Assistant at the European Union Center at UIUC and will be starting a FLAS Fellowship in German this summer in preparation for her future dissertation.
Dale Seufert-Navarro’25 is a current TAM student who will study in Bremen next year.
Elton Smole’25 is a current TAM student in North Carolina. He will be in Berlin next year.
Emma Sougli earned her LLB from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She is currently
a postgraduate student in the MA Program Digital Transformation: e-Diplomacy,
e-Campaigning, Digital Law at Panteion University and works in the Legal
Department of the Thessaloniki Bar Association. Emma has been a Youth Fellow in the International Youth Think Tank of the University of Gothenburg since 2021, diving into the research of the interconnection between digitalization and global democratic governance.
Emily VonCannon is a Senior at UNC-Chapel Hill double majoring in Contemporary European Studies & Political Science, with a minor in German. Emily is completing her Senior Honors Thesis on the presence of Far-Right movements in the Former German Democratic Republic. In the Spring of 2022, she studied abroad in Berlin, Germany as a part of the Free University of Berlin’s European Studies Program (FU-BEST).
Moderators: Conference organizers listed below will serve as moderator as will Jasmin Singh.
Jasmin holds a Bachelor of Arts from Queens University of Charlotte, North Carolina. While at Queens, she studied International Relations, focusing on International Law and Organization. Jasmin was also a dual sport Division II collegiate athlete playing Women’s soccer and lacrosse. Upon graduation, she had a small stint playing professional women’s soccer in Quito, Ecuador. After her time in Ecuador, she moved to Washington, DC, where she started her career in International Development. She worked directly with US government agencies on entrepreneurship, civic engagement, and technology programs. Jasmin joins TAM through the European Governance track. She plans to spend the program’s second year at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain. She is a FLAS recipient for the academic year 2023-2024 and summer 2024 for Turkish. Her research interests include comparative social policy, specifically immigration policy, and integration.
Schedule for Third Annual Consider it All! Conference (2024)
Late October 2024 – Call for Proposals to become available
January 5, 2024 – Deadline to submit a proposal
January 30, 2024 – Notification
February 28, 2024 – Deadline to submit paper / presentation draft
March 10, 2024 – Run through of conference presentations – optional
April 6, 2024 – Third Iteration of the Consider it All! Conference
Call for Proposals 2024:
The Center for European Studies at UNC-CH invites presentation proposals for the third annual “Europe – Consider it all!” conference. This event will take place on Saturday, April 6th, 2024 in Chapel Hill, NC, in Berlin, Germany and on zoom.
We are interested in hearing from students, recent graduates, academics and practitioners about under-considered topic, career paths, and emerging areas of inquiry relevant to contemporary Europe. What goes unexamined and under studied in this field? What are some relevant professional opportunities students of contemporary Europe seldom consider? Your 10-15 minute presentation may take the shape of a paper or multimedia exploration.
Possible topics include but are not limited to:
Expanding Knowledge of Relevant Careers
Emerging Professional Topics
Beyond the Borders: Geographic Identities
Omitted Histories/Underexplored Histories/History Uncovered
What is European Identity?
In April 2024, the conference will again engage students and graduates, as well as academics and practitioners, in the US and Europe and will involve an in-person component for some participants based in the RTP region of NC and in Berlin. In addition to live sessions in Chapel Hill and Berlin, we will offer a remote participation option as well.
Schedule: One-page Presentation Proposals due: January 5, 2024
January 30, 2024 – Notification
February 28, 2024 – Deadline to submit paper / presentation draft
March 10, 2024 – Run through of conference presentations
April 6, 2024 – Third Iteration of the Consider it All! Conference
Please email proposals to tam@unc.edu and indicate in which time zone you will be for the April conference. Your time-zone information will help us to schedule the panels.
2024 Organizational Team:
Chloe C. Kofman was born and raised in Wisconsin, USA. She graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a student-designed major in Religious Studies and a second major in Italian Studies. Her research interests span many subjects, including geography, food studies, and European-Jewish history and culture. She also enjoys exploring the different aspects of the human experience and how the past and the present work together (or don’t!). While in the TAM program she spent one semester in Bath, UK. For the fall of 2023, she is in Siena, Italy. Outside of the classroom you might find her reading novels, writing, or trying her hand at foreign languages; she’s currently fascinated by Italian and Romanian.
Daniela Liberatore is a half-Italian and half-German second-year TAM student. She graduated in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Rome “La Sapienza” and wrote her thesis on conditionality and the protection of the rule of law in the European Union. Her research interests include European Union policy, particularly environmental and fiscal policies. She studied in Chapel Hill in her first TAM year and is now at the Humboldt University of Berlin.
Jalyn McNeal is a two-time graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Youth Development, Morocco), and a Boren Award recipient (Arabic, Morocco). While in the TAM program, Jalyn was able to spend an extensive amount of time studying and working between France and Morocco. His graduate thesis explores France’s relationship with secularism and the French government’s critical focus on Islam and Muslims (primarily of Maghrebi background) from the early 18th century through 2021. Jalyn holds a M.A. in Political Science, a Graduate Certificate in Middle East Studies, and a B.A. in Global Studies.”
Tracy Ridley is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill. He double-majored in Contemporary European Studies and German. He is a dual citizen of the USA and Germany. Throughout his time at Carolina, he studied abroad in South Korea, Sweden, Germany and interned at the headquarters of Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA. He now lives in Germany and works in Human Resources Services and plans to begin his Master’s degree next year in a German-speaking country.
Dale Seufert-Navarro
Dale graduated from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in 2023, receiving degrees in both Political Science and Sociology. Graduating with honors, his thesis was awarded the Terry Sanford Award for Excellence. He is now a graduate student in the Transatlantic Master’s Program, studying first at UNC-Chapel Hill and then finally at Bremen University in Germany. Dale is a Section Editor with the Carolina Political Review, where he was also a 2023 Spring Writing Fellow. His research has been published in the North Carolina Journal of European Studies and is forthcoming in the Journal of Foreign Affairs at Carolina. Dale’s research interests are firmly rooted in studying the causes and consequences of economic inequality and varying welfare state efforts to address it.
Europe: Consider It All | 2023!
This year’s event was hybrid. Some of us were in person in Berlin or in Chapel Hill and some of us were on zoom. Videos and presentations will be uploaded to this site soon!
Schedule | March 11, 2023
9am EST / 2pm BST / 3pm CET
Welcome and Introduction of the keynote speaker from Prof. Dr. Christiane Lemke
Keynote presentation from Prof. Dr. Kiran Patel: “Broadening the Remit of European Studies: A Historian’s Perspective” Please see the slides here: UNC, Presentation, 3.23
Please watch the video of the keynote here.
10am EST / 3pm BST / 4pm CET – Berlin Session
Presentations from:
- Kara Gilmore ‘24 & Daniela Liberatore ’24 – Populists and Criminalization – introduced by Cate Small ’24
- Maria Karadimitri Staplefeld – Colonial reparations: Towards Decolonialization – introduced by Kellan Robinson
- Zeynep Inal – European Integration as – ‘his-story’ – introduced by Tim Frei ’24
Break
1pm EST/ 6pm BST / 7pm CET – Chapel Hill Session
Presentations from:
- Lauren Resor – European Union Prize for Literature: A Conceptual and Literary Criticism – introduced by Steven Heine ’24
- Siddharth Reddy – Crisis in Ukrainian Orthodoxy: Ecclesial Controversies in the Midst of War – introduced by Jalyn McNeal ’23
- Will Morton – Countering Holocaust Denial in the Bulgarian North Macedonia Dispute – introduced by Tracy Ridley
Closing remarks provided by Chloe Kofman ‘ 24, Neil Doughty ’23, Kellan Robinson, Tracy Ridley and Jalyn McNeal ’23
Keynote Speaker
Conference Organizers
Kellan Robinson graduated from UNC-CH in May 2020. Here, she double majored in Contemporary European Studies and Global Studies (focus on Africa and International Politics) and minored in French and African American and Diaspora Studies. During her collegiate career, Kellan spent a semester in Paris studying French and volunteering, served as an agent for social change, and became a published author in Spring 2020 with an article about women’s rights in Tunisia.
Shortly after graduating from UNC with distinction and as an inductee of The Phi Beta Kappa Society, Kellan joined Cincinnati City Councilmember Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney’s office as an intern and later served as the Councilmember’s Assistant Legislative Director.
Jalyn McNeal is a TransAtlantic Masters (TAM) student who is now in Grenoble, France in the Transatlantic Studies track. He graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in 2017 with a B.A. in Global Studies and minors in French and Arabic. During his time in undergrad, he studied abroad in Morocco, France, and Jordan. After graduation, he did two years of youth development work as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco. His research interests include immigration into the EU from Africa and the Middle East, the Mediterranean and Syrian refugee crises, social and education policies, multilingualism, and anti-trafficking efforts for missing and exploited children.
Tracy Ridley is a graduating senior at UNC-Chapel Hill, double-majoring in Contemporary European Studies and German. He is a dual citizen of the USA and Germany. Throughout his time at Carolina, he has studied abroad in South Korea, Sweden, Germany and interned at the headquarters of Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA. Following his graduation in May, he will be moving to Germany to do an internship in Human Resources Services before beginning his master’s degree in a German-speaking country.
Tim Frei graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2022. He doubled majored in Contemporary European Studies and Economics, with a minor in German. Tim is a dual citizen of the United States and Switzerland. Tim is on the European Governance track and will be spending his second year of TAM in Bremen, Germany. He is interested in behavioral economic policy implementation and the role of multinational corporations.
2022 Conference Affiliates
A Durham, North Carolina native, Sam Hart graduated in three years, magna cum laude with dual Bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and History from North Carolina State University. He is excited to be joining TAM this fall pursuant to dual Master’s degrees in Political Science and European Studies while studying in Chapel Hill and Gothenburg, Sweden. Sam’s research interests include international relations and security, comparative politics, and public policy, and privately his passions include Wolfpack football, history, and his friends and family.
American and longtime Chapel Hill resident, Steven Heine graduated from Allegheny College in 2020 with a degree in Political Science and a minor in Journalism in the Public Interest. He is excited to learn more about the structure and design of European institutions, and how the format of and interactions between these and national member state institutions impacts policymaking and the integration process. Steven joins TAM on the European Governance track, and his overseas partner site will be Gothenburg. While this is not his first time studying overseas, Steven is looking forward to gaining further insight into daily life in Europe. Steven loves reading and thinking about international affairs and is a casual flutist. After TAM, Steven wants to pursue a career in political analysis or university study-abroad programming.
Cate Small is an American student from Tampa, Florida. She graduated Summer 2022 from the University of Florida with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics. During her undergraduate experience she picked up a European Union Studies minor which led her to pursue the European Governance TAM track. She is positioned to spend her second year at Gothenburg University and complete the dual degree program. With her economics background she hopes to study and potentially work with European economic integration. The evolution of monetary and fiscal power sharing/ceding to the EU level is a particular interest of hers along with the practical aspects of maintaining Schengen and the Eurozone.
Staff Facilitator:
Sarah Hutchison PhD, TAM Associate Director, has worked with students at the Center for European Studies since 2002. She completed her degrees at Columbia College, Columbia University and at UNC-CH.
Presenters
Kara Gilmore is from Elon, North Carolina. In 2022, she received Bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and Psychology from the University of South Carolina, where she wrote her honors thesis on social media campaigning over time in the US and UK. During her time at U of SC, she worked with several political organizations, including Democracy for America and The Blue Lab. In 2021, she spent the fall semester in London with the American Institute for Foreign Study, where she took a variety of classes on Britain and the EU.
Zeynep İnal is a German-Turkish Masters (GeT MA) student at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin & METU. She obtained her bachelor’s degree from Middle East Technical University, Political Science and Public Administration department in 2021. During her time in undergrad, she spent one semester at Mannheim Universität as an Erasmus student, and one semester at Universität zu Köln as a visiting student. Her major research interests center on democratization studies, populism, radical right, gender politics, and EU-Turkey Relations.
Daniela Liberatore is a half-Italian and half-German student. She graduated in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Rome “La Sapienza” and wrote her thesis on conditionality and the protection of the rule of law in the European Union. Her research interests include European Union policy, particularly environmental and fiscal policies.
Will Morton is a rising senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is double-majoring in Peace War and Defense and Global Studies, with a focus on Russia.
Siddharth Reddy is a junior at UNC-CH double majoring in Peace, War, and Defense and Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures, with a minor in Religious Studies. He researches political, military, and ecclesial conflicts on the contested borderlands of the former Soviet Union. He is learning Russian, Romanian, Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian, and Tamil.
Lauren Resor is third year undergraduate student at UNC Chapel Hill studying English and Comparative Literature and Political Science with a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies. Her English concentration focuses on social justice which is an interdisciplinary study focusing on topics such as race, gender, identity, and intersectionality. Lauren’s topic for the Consider It All! Conference is inspired by my research on the European Union Prize for Literature which serves as a conceptual and literary criticism.
Maria Karadimitri Stapelfeld was born in Greece, in Athens, and she graduated in Political Science and History at the Panteion University in Athens. During her studies, she had the opportunity to spend two semesters in Valencia, Spain, with the student exchange program Erasmus. After completing her studies she did an internship in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and since 2013 she has been living, working and studying in Berlin. She is currently completing her master’s degree in political science at the Free University of Berlin.
Keep Considering…
Please note – these resources are external in nature and do not necessarily represent the views the conference-sponsoring universities.
Organizations/Groups
- European Network Against Racism
- Black Trans Alliance – Black queer and trans led non-profit organization in London
- Disability Pride Network – group advocates for the rights and inclusion of people with disabilities; website is in Italian
- Black Cultural Archives – heritage centre dedicated to collecting, preserving, and celebrating the histories of African and Caribbean people in Britain
- Association des jeunes chinois de France – Association of Young Chinese in France
- Black History Month UK – magazine with articles about current news as well as historical information regarding history, art, and culture in the UK
- European Roma Rights Centre – Roma-led international public interest law organisation working to combat anti-Romani racism and human rights abuse
- Afro Fashion Milan – volunteer-driven non-profit for the transformation of fashion and art, as well as cross-cultural exchange
- Kiffe ta race – French podcast
- Black History Month Florence – a cross-institutional network engaged in the promotion and production of research and content dedicated to Blackness in the Italian context
- Roma and Travellers Team – work by the Council of Europe
- Black Europe Summer School – course explores the contemporary circumstances of the African Diaspora and other people of color in Europe
- Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland – The Initiative of Black People in Germany; website in German
- Sécurité pour Tous – Safety for All brings together 46 Asian organizations in France; page in French
- The Black and Asian Studies Association – research and advocacy group in Britain
- African Lisbon Tour – Lisbon
- The Black Curriculum – social enterprise that aims to deliver Black British history across the UK
- Recognize – a community based social enterprise providing a bridge to the African Caribbean community
- The Black Archives – Amsterdam
- Black Heritage Tours – Amsterdam
Art Exhibitions
- On Being Present at the Uffizi Galleries (Italy) – online art gallery
- Le modèle noir de Géricault à Matisse (Paris) & Posing Modernity: The Black Model from Manet and Matisse to Today (New York City)
- Black is beautiful : Rubens to Dumas – catalog for the 2008 exhibit held at Nieuwe Kerk (Amsterdam)
- Independent website of one of the exhibit’s curator, Esther Schreuder
- Balthazar: A Black African King in Medieval and Renaissance Art – 2020 exhibit at the Getty Center (Los Angeles)
- Material published to coincide with the exhibit
- Person, Object, and Aesthetic: Black Africans in European Art, 1300-1700 – digital exhibit of images of Black Africans by white European artists
- Painting Our Past: The African Diaspora in England – commissioned by English Heritage
- HERE: Black in Rembrandt’s Time & HERE: Black Artists Now (Rembrandt House Amsterdam) – video about the art exhibit, in Dutch with English subtitles available
Other Resources
- Black Central Europe – research and teaching resource with over 1000 years of Black history in Central Europe
- A History of Disability: from 1050 to the Present Day – research by Historic England
- Switching the Lens – Rediscovering Londoners of African, Caribbean, Asian and Indigenous Heritage 1561 to 1840 – dataset by the London Metropolitan Archives highlights the diverse lived experiences of Londoners
- Germany and the Black Diaspora: Points of Contact, 1250-1914 – book
- Black Tudors: The Untold Story – online course
- Fascination and Hatred: The Roma in European Culture – article
- People of Color in European Art History Blog
- Black Presence: Asian and Black History in Britain– exhibition covers Black and Asian history in Britain from 1500 to 1850
- LGBTQ+ Art and Artists – research by the Royal Collection Trust
- Miranda Kaufmann’s Blog – houses contributions the historian has made regarding Africans in Britain
- Black and British: A Forgotten History – BBC programming celebrating the achievements of Black people in the UK
- Becoming secular? Making Islam French, 1916–1982 – dissertation
- Black to Life – BBC online series
- Czech Republic: Must try harder – Ethnic discrimination of Romani children in Czech schools – Amnesty International report
- The Image of the Black in Western Art – 10 volumes
- Black and Asian History and Victorian Britain – research by the Royal Collection Trust
- Telling Our Stories, Finding Our Roots – a community heritage and oral history project focused on diverse and multicultural histories in Devon (UK)
- Migrants, Refugees, and Expats: How Humanity Comes in Waves – article
- Diversity Built Britain – teachers’ notes compiled by The Royal Mint
- Black France / France Noire – book
- Exploring Surrey’s Past, Cultures and Communities – platform highlights the county’s local history, including with archives and archaeology
- Communities include: LGBTQ+, Romani, Muslim, Jewish, Polish, Refugees, and Black
- LGBTQ Histories – collection by the British Library
- The Fashion and Race Database – resource that showcases under-examined histories and discusses racism throughout the fashion system world-wide
- Black British History on Record – documents relating to Black British history within The National Archives’ collections
- Black Europeans – online gallery curated for the British Library Online Gallery
- Pride of Place: England’s LGBTQ Heritage – research by Historic England
Fiertés de femme noire: Entretiens / Mémoires de Paulette Nardal– book (in French)
Europe: Consider it all! 2022 Conference
The 2022 conference focused on under-considered topics and career paths relevant to contemporary Europe. What goes unexamined and under studied in this field? What are some professional opportunities students of contemporary Europe seldom consider? We were especially interested in student or recent-graduate perspectives on these topics. Presentations took the shape of papers or multimedia explorations.
Our 2022 conference program is below.
Schedule
Conference date: Saturday, March 5th, 2022 – virtual
2022 Program
10:00am EST: Welcome Remarks – Tracy Ridley
Session I: Germany Today
Moderator – Katie Shanahan Lindner, Executive Director and Interim Director of CES
Keynote Address: Professor Priscilla Layne
Presentation 1: Discussion Around Anti-Black Racism in Germany Post-George Floyd – Tracy Ridley
Presentation 2: Seen Not Heard: African Students in East German Newspapers 1965-1975 – Sylvia Nagy Roper
Please watch the recording of this session here.
11:15am EST
Session 2: Terminology and its Pitfalls – Moderator: Tracy Ridley
Presentation I: The Term “Transatlantic studies” – Jalyn McNeal
Presentation 2: Whitelash Behavior in Europe – Kellan Robinson
Presentation 3: Digital Technology and Human Rights in the EU – Emma Sougli
Please watch the recording of Session 2 here.
Noon EST
Session 3: Under-Considered Careers
Lunchtime Session
Moderator: Sarah Hutchison, TAM Associate Director
Keynote Address: Lauren Gaillard ’17
Presentation 1: Tobin Williamson ’13
Please watch a recording of this session here.
1pm EST
Session 4: Religion in Contemporary Europe – Moderator: Kellan Robinson
Presentation I: Re-Considering Church-State Relations in Europe – Stephanie N. Shady
Presentation 2: The Unreligious Religious Rhetoric of Islamophobia in Europe – Arciène Bonner
Presentation 3: Religion and democratic regime of Greek cities under Ottoman rule – Maria Karadimitri Stapelfeld
Please watch a recording of this session here.
2:15pm EST
Session 5: Eastern & Central Europe – Moderator – Mackenzie Hansen
Presentation 1: Museums in Poland – Venues of Memory Wars? – Sarah Maria Pech
Presentation 2: Holocaust Denial and Historical Revisionism in Croatian Nationalism – Will Morton
Please watch a recording of this session here.
3pm EST
Session 6: Legacies of Colonialism – Moderator – Jalyn McNeal
Keynote Address: Akasemi Newsome
Presentation 1: Consider Colonialism – Siobhan Cuffe ’23, Neil Doughty ’23, and Mia Spizman’23
Please watch the recording of this session here.
4pm EST
Session 7: Identity and Humanity in Europe – Moderator – Sarah Hutchison
Presentation 1: Chi Sono: An Exploration of Jewish Food in Italy with a Dash of Personal Identity – Chloe Kofman
Please watch the recording of this session here.
Concluding Remarks
Please send questions to: tam@unc.edu
Keynote Speakers
Professor Priscilla Layne – Associate Professor of German; Adjunct Associate Professor of African and Afro-American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Dr. Akasemi Newsome ’04 – Associate Director of the Institute of European Studies at the University of California, Berkeley
Lauren Gaillard ’17 – Techstart Program Coordinator at CODE University of Applied Sciences
Panelist Biographies and Abstracts
Arciéne Bonner
Arciéne is a UNC freshman, from Charlotte, North Carolina. She is a UNC-NUS Double Degree Student, majoring in Global Studies, with Asia as her World Area and Global Health and Environment as her Thematic Area. She is double minoring in Medical Anthropology and Conflict Management and is on the Pre-med track. She wishes to pursue a career that will allow her to both engage in medicine and humanitarian work, looking at becoming an Anesthesiologist who works for Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders. She seeks to focus on assisting marginalized peoples both nationally and internationallyby shedding light on the physical, symbolic, and/or structural violence to which said peoples are subjected. In that pursuit, she enjoys engaging in discourses around the factors that contribute to such disenfranchisement.
I examine the disturbing intersectionality of the weaponization of reclaiming Christianity as part of national identities in Western Europe in an active attempt to further the “us against them” fight that surrounds the increase in nationalism in the face of the increased presence of Islam, due in part to the refugee crisis. To better understand this, I explore the history of Christianity in Western Europe relating to national identity and citizenship, focusing on France.
Siobhan Cuffe ’23
Siobhan is currently pursuing her M.A. through the Transatlantic Masters Program, studying at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Humboldt University in Berlin. Her research interests include Asylum and Integration policy, particularly intersectional discrimination and it’s affects on migration policy and migrants themselves. Siobhan will present alongside Neil Doughty and Mia Spizman on the lack of content focused on colonialism and its far-reaching effects in European Studies curricula.
Neil Doughty ’23
Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Neil studied German, Economics, and Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. After graduating in 2017, he lived in Germany for nearly four years before starting TAM last fall. His research interests include transnational social movements and environmental policy transfer. He will complete my second year in Berlin.
Neil will present along side two other TAM students, Siobhan Cuffe and Mia Spizman. Their presentation addresses the lack of colonial history in European Studies. They present a brief history of “Eurafrica” to dispel the postcolonial myth of European integration, discuss EU historiography and the importance of teaching colonial history, and propose a path forward for future European Studies curricula.
Chloe Kofman
Chloe is currently a senior at the University of New Hampshire with majors in Religious Studies and ItalianSstudies. She has recently been accepted to the TAM program at UNC and can’t wait to start next fall. Her research interests are varied, but include psychology, geography, and Italian studies; there’s always something new to discover!
This presentation is a bite-size version of my senior thesis which counts for both my majors. The thesis focuses on the intersection between the identities of “Italian” and “Jewish” by way of food, as well as on my personal connections to the topic.
Jalyn McNeal ’22
An MA candidate in Political Science at UNC Chapel Hill, Jalyn is in the second year of the TransAtlantic Masters (TAM) program. Prior to the TAM program, Jalyn attended UNC for undergrad and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco. Within the TAM program, Jalyn has been awarded the FLAS fellowship and has obtained the graduate certificate in Middle East Studies jointly offered between UNC & Duke University. Currently, Jalyn is living in France where he is writing his thesis to conclude his graduate studies.
The current usage of the term “transatlantic studies” inaccurately represents what the field entails. It primarily focuses on US-EU relations and is exclusionary of other transatlantic actors (ex. Latin American, Caribbean, and African countries located in/along the Atlantic ocean and their relationships with one another).
Will Morton
Will is a rising Junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is double majoring in Peace War and Defense and Global Studies focusing Russia.
This project goes over the history of the Holocaust in Croatia and the role that historical revisionism of the Holocaust plays in some aspects of modern day Croatian Nationalism. A digital scrapbook uplifting survivor testimonies to help dispel Holocaust denial serves as an integral part of this presentation.
Sarah Maria Pech
As a recent graduate of the international master program “Euromasters/ Contemporary European Studies: Politics, Policy & Society” at the University of Bath and the Humboldt University of Berlin, Sarah attained advanced knowledge on EU foreign affairs and action within the human rights and development nexus. Her main research interest, however, is the rise of populism in Europe and the current state of democracy in relation to memory and history. Her MA thesis investigated Polish politics of memory and its complicated intra-European relations and was recently graded with distinction. She is currently applying for PhD positions in Europe.
Ever since the Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS) party emerged as the majority governing party in the Polish parliamentary elections in October 2015, critical inquiry of the Polish past has been articulated as unwelcome and seen as the major opponent to the party’s historical policy. To implement this polityka historyczna, PiS tries to control, suppress, and even silence other memory approaches to create a national identity of proud Poles. Other features of this political agenda are to establish the Polish Righteous (PiS refers to it as “lost heritage”) as an “icon of the selective and apologetic Holocaust commemoration” (Heinemann 2020: 6) and with that delegitimize further critical inquiry into Polish-Jewish relations throughout history. Due to Poland’s museum boom over the last two decades, museums as spaces for identity formation and memory narratives of the past are becoming more and more acknowledged research-wise. Such crucial spaces have caught the eye of PiS and are instrumentalized in various ways which complicate intra-European relations.
Sylvia Nagy Roper
Sylvia is a graduate student with the Global History joint program with Free and Humboldt universities in Berlin. The presentation is composed of the primary findings from her Master’s thesis. Before starting the Master’s program in 2019, she worked as an English as a Second Language teacher in rural eastern Hungary and was a Program Assistant for Dr. Robert Jenkins’ summer Burch Field Research Seminar. In 2018, she graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with Highest Distinction and a Bachelor’s of Arts’ degree in Political Science and Contemporary European Studies.
In a means to legitimize itself on the global stage, the German Democratic Republic viewed and presented itself as an antiracist, anti-imperialist nation; from 1951 until 1989, students from around the world studied there. Many scholars have found that the state’s rhetoric often conflicted with the experiences of these students. This presentation considers the depiction of African students in East German newspapers and argues that these portrayals contributed to an “Othering” narrative, which would have serious consequences once the Berlin Wall fell.
Stephanie N. Shady
Stephanie is a Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Politics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A native of St. Louis, Missouri, she completed her B.S. in Political Science and her B.A. in Spanish and Hispanic Studies at Texas Christian University. Her research and teaching focus broadly on social identities and political behavior. In particular, she is interested in national identity, religion, migration, and the European Union. Stephanie’s dissertation, ‘Heaven Is a Place on Earth: Religion and the Politics of Territorial Identity,’ examines the varied ways that individuals use religion to conceptualize boundaries of community in Europe and the U.S. using survey data and comparative historical analysis. The first article from this project is published in West European Politics.
I argue that despite so-called secularization, religion continues to be an important socio-political force across Europe. By examining how local governments have distinguished themselves from broad, national-level church-state relations, we improve our understanding of the historical and contemporary relationship between religion and politics in Europe.
Emma Sougli
Emma is a Law Student at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Youth Fellow at International Youth Think Tank (IYTT) of Univeristy of Gothenburg, Board Consultant at Centre for Energy Environment and Climate Change (CENEC) and Research Assistant at European Constitutionalism. In a nutshell, she is a human-rights and political-sciences enthusiast and a debate and public-speaking lover.
Universally, the latest trend in the never-ending Technological Revolution is Artificial Intelligence and especially Facial Recognition systems. This is constantly challenging our ethics jeopardizing liberal democracy or even leading to the development of an autonomous intelligence escaping human control. Can we handle that?
Mia Spizman ’23
Mia is currently attending the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill’s Transatlantic Masters Program on the German-Turkish track. Her areas of interest are identity politics and immigration. She is originally from Northern California and is spending the next semester at the Middle Eastern Technical University in Ankara, Turkey.
Our presentation addresses the lack of colonial history in European Studies. We present a brief history of “Eurafrica” to dispel the postcolonial myth of European integration, discuss EU historiography and the importance of teaching colonial history, and propose a path forward for future European Studies curricula.
Maria Karadimitri Stapelfeld
Maria was born in Greece, in Athens, and she graduated in Political Science and History at the Panteion University in Athens. During her studies, she had the opportunity to spend two semesters in Valencia, Spain, with the student exchange program Erasmus. After completing her studies she did an internship in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and since 2013 she has been living, working and studying in Berlin. She is currently completing her master’s degree in political science at the Free University of Berlin.
In 1354 the Ottomans crossed into Europe and, with the conquest of the Balkans, transformed their empire into an intercontinental one. The Ottomans’ flexible sociopolitical organization and religious tolerance allowed Greek cities to develop democratic self-governance. The presentation is illustrated with photographs and paintings depicting life in the cities of the Eastern Mediterranean under the Ottoman Empire.
Tobin Williamson ’13
Tobin is the Advocacy Manager with the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, and part of the Aspen Institute’s Rising Leaders Program. He has previously worked in a couple of U.S. Congressional Offices and Consulates General, with international relations playing a prominent role in his prior roles. He loves living in New England but is always happy to connect with TAM graduates, students, and potential students.
Many TAM alumni end up in DC or Brussels… but many don’t! This talk will describe some of the job opportunities that are available elsewhere and how you can find them.
2022 Conference Affiliates
Lauren Gaillard ’17 is a TransAtlantic Masters (TAM) graduate. She now serves as Techstart Program Coordinator at CODE University of Applied Sciences where she supports people with a forced migration or migrant background to find an entry-level position in the field of digital product development. She manages the academic structure and curriculum development of the program and is responsible for all aspects of the program from admissions to integrating migrants into the tech scene in Berlin.
In addition to this, she chairs the research commission where she wrote and published the research concept and ethical research policy for the university. Due to her passion for cultural development and exchange, she also sits on the diversity, equity, and inclusion committee and speaks at conferences and universities on topics related to identity politics, migration and integration, and Blackness in Europe.
She holds an M.A. in Transatlantic relations in political science and a B.A. in sports administration with a minor in music from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Cameren Lofton is a Project Manager on the Program Design & Implementation Team at Algorex Health in Boston, MA. She graduated from UNC–Chapel Hill in spring 2020 with a double major in Political Science and Contemporary European Studies. On campus, she was involved in WRESL (Working Group for Refugees, Europe, and Service-Learning), The Bridge online magazine, and the Black Arts Theatre Company. She also served as Program Assistant for a partnership between the Center for European Studies and The Exodus Institute, a non-profit in DC with a focus on addressing the crisis of forced migration.
Staff Facilitator:
Sarah Hutchison PhD, TAM Associate Director, has worked with students at the Center for European Studies since 2002. She completed her degrees at Columbia College, Columbia University and at UNC-CH.