Workshops

Our conference provides the occasion to explore current theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of institutions. It also brings together, for the first time, researchers from three institutions now engaged in a program of collaboration in research and graduate training: the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research of the University of Amsterdam, and Washington University in St. Louis.

We bring together some of the world’s authorities on current issues regarding how people move (or are forced to move) across borders, how they do or do not fit in to new societies, and how governments and should regulate conflicts.

In Jacques Derrida’s Sovereignty and the Beast, we inherit the figure of the beast, which like the specter, and the rogue, speaks to the event of a different ontology that sovereignty exempts from its order to constitute as mere life. This life is not bare, Derrida argues.

The fourth annual workshop in the Social Studies of Institutions (SSI) program was held at Washington University in St. Louis, MO (WUSTL), on April 8-9, 2016. SSI is directed jointly by faculty of the University of Amsterdam, the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris), and WUSTL.

The expression “Mediterranean Europe” simultaneously evokes unity in history, climate, the cultivation of olive and grapes, and diversity in politics, economics, and security concerns. Today, as the Euro crisis intersects with the continuous arrival of undocumented migrants and refugees on European shores, the contradiction between the unity and diversity of Mediterranean Europe may be more visible than ever.

Opening remarks from James V. Wertsch, PhD, vice chancellor for international affairs and director, McDonnell International Scholars Academy at Washington University in St. Louis

In this workshop we aim to reflect on and reconceptualize recursive learning, which we define in the broadest terms as learning by individuals, groups, and institutions through reflection on past experiences and practices, both positive and negative, including those of others as well as their own.

Held on September 29-30, 2018 in Saint Louis, MO, USA, this workshop brought together faculty from the University of Amsterdam, the School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS, Paris), and Washington University in Saint Louis with a goal of transforming pre-circulated papers, all proposing key concepts for pragmatic inquiry, into book form.