NYU Prague Professor Dinah Spritzer with YouTuber Kovy.

Rosie Johnston is a high-energy PhD student who is spending this year in Prague researching 1950s Czechoslovak radio propaganda.   A few months ago, she and Czech TV journalist Tereza Willoughby were talking about how the world has changed in the age of new media.  But their conversation made both of them start to wonder just how much politics and the manipulation of media really have really changed since the early days of radio.  “People were worried about radio as a new technology in 30s and 40s.  I’m not sure if we are in a historically unique era,” explains Rosie.

Normally a conversation like this would be over once the bill was paid in the cafe.    But Rosie, who has organized several conferences at NYU Prague, shared it with Associate Director Thea Favaloro, and together they decided to keep it going with a 7-part talk series aimed at Czech and American students.

“We wanted to create a forum where academics would talk with people from outside the Ivory Tower – journalists, novelists, film makers, Youtubers,” explained Rosie.  “This is a project about dialogue, speaking across generations, across nationalities.”   Because all of the lectures are about one theme, the hope is that people will attend on a regular basis – sharing ideas, making contacts.  The series is designed to attract NYU Prague faculty – several of whom are on the panels – and their students, as well as young people from the Prague community.

NYU Prague Director and Professor Jiri Pehe speaking about the responsibility of the media in a democracy.

The first session featured seasoned academic and NYU Prague Director Jiri Pehe who met with Karel Kovar (“Kovy”), the most popular Czech vlogger who has become a political commentator for the youngest generation.  Dinah Spritzer, a journalist teaching international reporting at NYU Prague, moderated the event.

Academics from universities outside the Czech Republic are also participating.  Carolyn Birdsall from the University of Amsterdam will talk about soundscapes of Nazi Germany; she’ll be joined by David Vaughan, a journalist and author of a book about the failure of Czech Radio to counter Hitler’s propaganda in 1938.  Dean Vuletic – professor at the University of Vienna who spent a semester at NYU Prague as a graduate student in 2003 – will talk about pop music’s effect on the politics of postwar Europe.  Keynote speaker Kathryn Cramer Brownell from Purdue University will have the final lecture about the rise of the celebrity politician, outlined in her book Showbiz Politics: Hollywood in American Politics.

The series is also partnering with One World, Prague’s most popular film documentary festival.  Kim Longinotto, award-winning British film director well known for her advocacy of  women’s rights, will present her latest film, Dreamcatcher, about the trafficking of women in Chicago.  The film will be followed by a Q&A, in which Longinotto will speak about how documentary film can do activist work.

So far, the series has attracted wide interest from an audience of varied backgrounds.  “At the first discussion with Jiri Pehe and Kovy, the best question came from someone about 12 years old who asked whether Zeman or Babis is more of a threat to democracy…   Despite all discussions of generational divide, we are all worried about the same things”.  

New Media….Old Tricks Series

January 30, 17:00  Political Commentary Today –  Jiří Pehe & Kovy

February 6, 17:00 – The Migrant Crisis in the European Press – Salim Murad

February 27, 17:00 – Radio and Nazism – Carolyn Birdsall & David Vaughan

March 6, 19:45 – Documentary as Activism – Film Screening + Discussion (in partnership with One World Festival): Kim Longinotto

April 10, 17:00 – Media & Constitutional Democracy – Discussion: Jiří Přibáň

April 17, 17:00 – The Politics of Eurovision – Dean Vuletic

May 9, 17:00 – Showbiz Politics – Kathryn Cramer Brownell

On 26 February, NYU Prague will host a talk by Julia Mickenberg on the Russian Revolution in American Feminism, 1905 – 1945.

Many of us have heard about the vogue of Paris and France after the First World War, but few know about the exodus to Moscow and the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s, or the particular appeal of revolutionary Russia to American women in revolt. In fact, by the early 1930s, so many “American girls” had come “barging into the Red capital” in search of jobs, adventures, or husbands, that news articles were being published on the subject. This talk will provide an overview of American women’s love affair with Russia from 1905 to 1945: from their admiration and empathy for the female revolutionaries who challenged the Czar; to their attempts to re-envision domestic life, romantic relationships, and work using Soviet models; to their efforts to embody and perform revolutionary selves in a context supposedly free of racism and anti-Semitism. A century after the Russian Revolution, what does the forgotten story of “American Girls in Red Russia” tell us about where we’ve been and who we are now?