Academic history in Greifswald, Germany

Most of the people outside Germany, would rise the eyebrows when told about Greifwald, as in the majority of cases, this name doesn't say too much. If you are into academic histories though, in Germany and abroad, you may know that here is headquartered one of the four oldest universities in the country. The Greifswald University was founded in 1456, by approval of the Holy Roman Empire and the Pope. There are only three older universities in Germany: Heidelberg (1386), Leipzig (1409) and Rostock (1419). The first rector was Rathenow, who was also the mayor at the time, and whose memory is cherished by a square bearing his name in the front of the university offices in the central part of the town. 

The University buildings, many of them massively restored with substantial state funding after the reunification of Germany - during the Cold War, Greifswald used to be part of the GDR - are spread all over the city. This typical for this part of the country, red-bricked buildings, are hosting the medical and scientific establishments. Since 2009, it also operates an university hospital. 

Very often it is said that, in fact the urban structure of Greifswald developed around the university needs. Nowadays, around two thirds of the 12,000 students enrolled here are outside Pomerania, many of them outside of Germany. The university is traditionally part of the Nordic universities network and also hosts a chair of Baltic and Slavic studies. 

As a consequence of the 30-Year War, this part of Germany was for around 200 years part of the Swedish rule. Thus, it become the oldest university under the Swedish rule. Besides the important teaching potential, Greifswald university has since 1614 the first centralised library in Germany.

Despite various political changes and religious challenges - the Reformation was introduced here since 1539 -, the great hall and other main buildings were largely preserved in its original form. The university also had various real estate and land properties, that were seriously diminished during the communist era. Its impressive art collection remains an important source of wealth and prestige. 

In 1933, the Nazi government decided to name the university after the theologian Ernst Moritz Arndt, a name still hold nowadays. Arndt was a student here in 1791 and he taught later history here. Closed for a short time after the war, it was reopened on 15 February 1946. In 1999, it was one of the first universities in Germany to introduce the MA system according to the Bologna system. It operates 5 faculties: Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Medicine, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Theology. 

Academic history in Osnabrück

Osnabrück has a relatively new academic history: the high education institution was established in 1974. Before that, the most prestigious educational center was since 1632 the Gymnasium Carolinum. Nowadays, with its 13,500 students from all over Germany and abroad, it is considered a prestigious university center in Lower Saxony area. 

The architecture style combines the classical, well-tempered bourgeois balance of volumes characteristic for the most part of the historical building with some bold, white and steal very modern buildings. The main offices are hosted in the baroque castle, but the majority of the classes are held in modern classrooms. Among the specialities studied here are: Humanities, Social Sciences, Law, Business Administration and Economics. One of the famous students of the university is the former German president Christian Wulff. 

The university staff comprises 209 professors and more than 900 additional academic personnel. As a first time traveler in Osnabrück, I noticed how much life the young people, reading or carrying books on the old cobblestone streets bring to the city. Either staying in the grass and discussing or solitarily reading or talking to each other, the students bring dynamism to the city and make everything around them feel and look young.

Helping girls to fall in love with science

Inspiring and encourging girls to pursue a career in science continues to  be a challenge and not always the first option considered by parents and educators. We are set forth into the 21st century, but prejudices and second thoughts when it comes to a career in science - couple of steps up to the professional ladder than teaching sciences in primary school - deter many girls to follow a career they dream about.

Designed as a journal, I Love Science aims to offer the basis for a smooth take off in the world of science. Presented in a graphic format, it has a short introduction into scientific methodology and practices, details about HTML, equations and the periodic table, but also inspiring quotes by women scientists from different domains, from mathematics to chemistry or astronomy, some of them Nobel Prize winners.

Significant space is left for observations and remarks that the scientist-in-the-making is supposed to make during the field research.

The graphic format is colourful and easy to read, but personally, I would have chose a different lettering style.

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange of an honest review

Advice for a debt-free graduation

Living and studying in Europe my whole life, I ignored for a long time the fact that education can be a very problematic investment and burden. When talking with my American academic friends, they often mention that even after 10 years, they still have to pay or find solutions for paying an impressive college debt. As for me, I went from college to MA and after that, PhD studies, without paying any dime. Just because high education was free, unless I wanted to enroll to some private academic classes, which I didn't. I used to work since 18 and was independent financially since, but I still think that an eventual college financial burden would have dramatically affect my life.

Hopefully, there are more and more books lately aimed to help parents and children navigate the troubled waters of high education in the US. Kristina Ellis, herself a beneficiary of impressive scholarships, is sharing her experience and knowledge in a very systematic and practical way.

'Think of paying for college as a marathon. By maintaining a steady stride between spending and saving, you can make it through each leg of the race and cross the finish line, graduating debt free'. Usually, the average costs for attending college per year can go around 19,500$, for in state, and $44,000 private.

First and foremost, the potential college candidate should start working towards the goal as early as possible. Starting to make a plan, for instance, by creating a budget and starting to save, using the power of compound interest or earning as many credits in advance as possible.

Second, it is important to be informed and in this advanced Internet era, everything is much easier than before. For instance, you do not need to go in person at the college tours, and use instead the virtual presentation. It could be a significant source of financial relief. Information is gold also when it comes to the decision to go to college as such. The potential student should start asking as many questions as possible in order to figure out if this college and no other is answering his or her academic needs and professional plans. 

The application process can be expensive too, as it involves passing various tests and acquiring documents proving the conformity to the academic standards expected from a potential student.  

When it comes to applying for scholarships or federal loans - such as the Free Application for Federal Student Aid -, the process should be started as early as possible, taking into consideration all the documentation requirements and criteria necessary. 

With a lot of work and careful preparation, the application can be accepted or various alternatives used in order to eliminate or diminish significantly the financial burden. Otherwise, students are adviced how to find ways to start paying the debt even from the first year of college, by taking side jobs or building their own freelance business. Such an approach can be very helpful for the next professional steps, due to the acquired experience and the practice of work ethics. 

Although with a clear readers target, the North American students, or anyone interested to apply at an an American college, this book is also useful for those without the need to worry about college loans, but that can learn a lot about how to plan the academic and professional career as early in life as possible.

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher via NetGalley.

The turning point of campus politics

After the last year racial unrest in US and Canadian universities, it seems that it was about time to start a larger discussion about the successes and failures of campus politics. Aimed to explain the current state of the art of academia beyond the high walls of universities, Campus Politics aims and succeeds to offer a balanced perspective on what was wrong and right with the philosophy that structured the campus everyday life in the last decades. 

In a way I was expecting more boldness in approaching strategies such as the downsides of 'political corectness' and left wing mindsets, but this is not the purpose of the book. Instead, it offers a basis for serious discussions, and possible reconsiderations in the future. First, you need to know the terms and conditions and the reality. For instance, contrary to the stereotype, there are more conservative teachers and students in the North American universities than expected, which can explain how, in fact, the 'politically corect' approach was not that successful, despite the predominance of this discourse in the public space. 

Many terms, such as freedom of speech - which isn't 'a license for professors to do whatever they want' - are sometimes misused and misunderstood, ant the race and gender equality is still an aim. In a way, academia is only one of the many environments a person is part thereof during a lifespan and as long as the other segments of the society ignore the need to consider seriously their admission and acceptance policies, universities are not (the only) responsible for the failure. 

Another merit of the book is to take into consideration the 'very hard to understand world' shaped by the challenges taking place after 9/11, and also mentions the anti-Israel bias that can be encountered in many high-end academic circles. 

As everything is in the making right now, with an unknown outcome, there is the responsibility of the students to offer a different approach. Instead of requesting the administration to take the needed measures, better they try to request and fight directly for their rights. 

Written in a very analytical way - without trying to be apologetical or over-critical, with many information about the history of campus politics, the book is a recommended read to both academics and students, and anyone interested to understand the current academic challenges in the USA. 

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange of an honest review

German university history: Lutherstadt Wittenberg

As a visitor in the city of Luther, it is hard to imagine nowadays how the city used to look like in the 16th century when the University was first created here. Most of the houses from what it is now the old city were used as accommodation for students from all over the German speaking area and even from abroad. On many houses, names of famous students are written on the front of the doors of what used to be their study homes. Among the famous visitors or students are Giordano Bruno, poet Martin Opitz or the first African student in Germany, Anton Wilhelm Arno, Schiller, Lessing and Goethe.

Compared to other university cities, the majority of studies here were dedicated to religious topics and hence, probably the streets were less lively then in Heidelberg, for instance. 

Shortly after the creation, the university turned into an important center of protestant reformation. In 1512, Luther himself took his PhD in theology and continued to be part of the university as teacher of Bible studies. In 1580, Augusteum was built, one of Germany's oldest university buildings.

Nowadays, the university from Wittenberg bears the name of Luther and is part of a consortium together with the University of Halle. The University from Halle is much younger, being created in 1694. The current structure is functioning since the 1930s. 

The Leucorea center in Wittenberg hosts seminars and various conferences on topics regarding theology or social sciences. This center was created in 1842/43, during the time when the university was closed during the Napoleonic Wars and currently hosts the foundation dedicated to academic studies.

Wittenberg is no more the very active university center that used to be, but it keeps the prestige of academic excellence and the memory of prestigious personalities that studied and taught here.

The thing with the 'Hair'

One of my favourite movies when I was in high-school was 'Hair', given its message of freedom and independence from all adults rules - although I was not too much involved in the 'pros' and 'cons' of Vietnam though. As someone who broke free from the communism, I knew how much emphasis was put on the clean short cut of men and carefully arranged tresses for girls - that I never had, as my mother chose to keep me with the hair cut short. The hair was so important for my formative years that I even took part to a sit in in the school yard against the decision of a school director to cut the hair of some rebel youngsters. 

Even we acknowledge it or not directly, the way we look at hair plays an important role in the history of mentalities ad this book reveals several interesting aspects. Actually, we can easier read a culture through its ways to look at hair as 'all cultures have created clear rules and of dress and hair styling to vindicate gender and (usually) marital status'. Hair is more than part of an invidiual identity and personal statement, but is part of an intricated system of beliefs and cultural codes. New hairstyles are indicating a change of attitudes, more than a simple fashion. 

Although the book focuses extensively on the religious approaches to it - in my opinion, the Jewish one is quite underrepresented, but maybe it is because I know too much about it, but it also introduces the approach of almost unknown Christian groups, such as the strange House of David - it goes beyond it, trying to read the cultural messages and meanings. It is well documented, but written in an accessible way.

I recommend this book to any contemporary historian, and anyone interested in the history of mentalities. 

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher via NetGalley.com

Manifesto for the 'slow professor'

After so many 'slow' movements in food and the everyday life in general, it was about time to approach the high-speed academic life from this perspective too. In previous academic blog posts I touched upon several times the idea of 'publish or die' and other high pressures - such as bureaucracy that I do not fancy at all, regardless its shapes and aims - that taint the fragile intellectual achivements of the academia. 

'Corporalization has compromised academic life and speed up the clock', complain the authors, who continue: 'In the corporate university, power is transferred from faculty to managers, economic justifications dominate and the familiar 'bottom line' eclipses pedagogical and intellectual concerns'. However, as long as the universities are part of the state system and do receive budget funding, a certain scrutinity of the funds and criteria of performance should be considered. Also, universities are part of a larger state conception on education and, thus, they prepare future members of the work force. What can be done?

The authors pledge for a reconsideration of the academic pace: 'We need time to think, and so do our students. Time for reflection and open-end inquiry. 

One of the highest pressure the professors should deal with is time. Time to correct and edit papers, to apply for grants, to write books, to answer bureaucratic demands, to spend time with the family. Although several books were dedicated to the time-management issues in the academia, this does not alleviate the burden and the deep guilt for the time spent not 'at work'. Somehow, the book does not approach the issue of the high level of university graduates, compared to decades ago, which creates pressure for the market and the need of high efficiency at the university workplace too. 

An interesting approach concerns the pledge for 'pleassure' at teaching, a focus on emotions and emotional intelligence in the classroom. Hard sciences as mathematics or nuclear physics, just to mention randomly, do not necessarily require such an emotional involvement, but very often during my academic expriences I noticed the lack of any personal involvement of teachers in the process of sharing knowledge. 

Understanding is more important than knowledge, consider the authors, and I agree, but in the nowadays world, with so many sources of information and so many possibilities to expand the knowledge, it is very hard to resist the temptation of too much knowledge. I am going through this right now and secretely I enjoy the pleasure of not being able to find the right balance.

The book is very important for the stage of academic discussions right now, but it does not provide any specific mean of action, despite the need of more collaboration and 'conviviality' among teachers. I will be curious to find out how exactly the current culture can be institutionally challenged. Maybe then I will finally decide to make the big step of joining the academia. 

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange of an honest review 

Science blogging, a step-by-step introduction

Academics and particularly scientists do not have time to blog or read newspapers or be on Instgram. They are in the libraries, labs, at high-end conferences where they discuss the latest equations or microbiology discovery. True or not?

It is a matter of choice, after all, but nowadays, Science Blogging is a reality and sometimes all you need in order to proceed to the next practical step - like opening your blog - is a little bit of encouragement and acknowledgement of the results already achieved by other professionals in your domain. This essential guide reunites articles written by famous scientists bloggers, who are explaining in a very simple yet encouraging way what science blogging means, what are the advantages, how to manage the various technical choices - Tumblr vs. Blogger vs. Wordpress; if you ask me, I keep being a faithful Blogger follower and practician- how to use visual content or keep in mind copyright issues. There are also tips about how to read your blog metrics and how, eventually, one can make money out of it, although this should not necessarily be the main aim of the project. 

Instead of being dismissed as futile activity, mostly a waste of time, science blogging offers to the scientists several noticeable advantages: practising writing on a daily basis, personal branding, networking with other scientists, creating a platform for further academic contacts and freelancing work, to mention only few of them. 'Blogging is a marathon, not a sprint', mentioned one of the authors, as a warning that, similarly with the academia, science blogging does not guarantee a blitz-success. Science blogging improves teaching skills and social skills in general, can help testing concepts and ideas and, what I think it is very important, offer to scientists a voice against pseudo-science. 

Addressing the beginner and skeptical science bloggger, it is well written with good references and many good tips. Personally I think blogging can tremendously make a difference in the life of a PhD student that needs to polish his or her writing skills permanently, but also constantly test and confront various conclusions and results of the research. Wish I had used this opportunity more often during my doctoral research.
Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher via NetGalley.com in exchange of an honest review

German elites at work. And their money

While I was preparing my PhD on elites in Central and Eastern Europe, I had read a book by Julia Friedrichs, where she is addressing the issue of elites as such, and as a beginner in issues regarding the German society, I found it interesting. Meanwhile, in the last seven years, my knowledge advanced and got more and more insights about the local elites, either from media reports or other books, or by using my own network of friends and acquintances. 

This relatively recent work by Julia Friedrichs goes into more specific details, with a focus on the genesis of financial elites, those members of big money families, ruling big stores like Rossmann or the Oetker and Aldi or Neckermann. More interestingly, it also describes the legal and financial incentives system offered by the state to the rich class, such as low taxes or various exemptions. 

There is a high incidence of wealth reproduction in Germany, particularly in the Western side, not few of them subsidizing the cultural adventures of bohemians stays-at-home in Berlin neighbourhouds such as Prenzlauer Berg or Kreuzberg. In most cases, this helps and it is nothing wrong with parents trying to help their children to survive in a very complicated world. Very often though, the money creates responsibilities and obligations and takes the freedom out too. Children who are forced to follow the steps assigned from birth by their parents in order to be able to continue the management of their companies or empires. Marriages of wealth in order to keep the wellbeing or even increase it. Some may conform, some may rebel, some can even comit a crime to get their freedom back. Wealth remains and people get even richer. 

This is the way of life, some may say and nothing to do against the trends. I don't think it is nothing wrong to secure a safe future for your children, particularly if you went out ot nothing. No one wants to be poor and the Socialist-Communist 'ideas' were proved wrong - as within the communist elites themselves people were doing the same transfer of wealth and prestige and sometimes the political positions too. Most of Friedrichs impressive work is describing the situation. Some comparative suggestions with the US or Japan are made, without entering into too much details, although as we can read in the conclusion, there are mounting fears that Germany may end up as a sort of Japan elite-wise. Meaning that the economic resources will be concentrated into the hands of some powerful families that can control the economy and the society.

The work opens a lot of interesting paths to further investigation, but it also did not cover many areas, such as the big real estate families or the very conservative auto-motive industry or some 'von' families from the South of Germany. What is the departure point of these new elites? At what extent these financial elites are coincide with the cultural and political ones? I was also expecting more charts and statistics featuring the mobility and distribution of elites too.

A book worth reading but quite incomplete. Maybe the next one will bring more light into the life of the shadowry life of German elites, and not only.  

Academic book review: Paying for college. Athletic Scholarship Info

This book laguished unopened on my Kindle for a long time because I was almost sure that the information deals exclusively with management of college payment and other financial information that does not interest me too much. After all, I am living in Germany where the high education is free and I do not have too many plans to going back to university either, at least not in the next 6 months. 

I was wrong though. It has very good tips about how to organise your entry to college, step-by-step, taking care of the smallest details such as time management, establishing special learning routines, organizing the extra-curricular activities. Written in an accessible language, it offers directions for going straight on the path to making good academic choices, setting up motivational tools and writing good application letters. 

The information is at the level of 2012 and unfortunally it does not have relevant links or extra materials for the reader, but regardless of your academic level, geographical location or the year when you start reading it, there is relevant information available. My favourite ones are: how to identify and fight procrastination and the advice to be in touch with a tutor or teacher seeking for academic guidance. 

A four-star kind of book, strongly recommended and easy to read - less than one hour if you are a speedy reader as me. 

Pro and cons of academic blogging

In 2016, there are problably few and few academics wondering what blogging is and why we, as educated people, we should use this medium to share our ideas to the world. Many of my academic friends already experienced at least once the bloggosphere, either as guest writers or as owners of their blog.

However, there are still a lot of misunderstandings and confusions regarding the advantages of blogging for academics and I am here to share some of them.

Let's start with the cons:

- Not every kind of scientifical domain can be easily blogged about. For instance, as a mathematician discovering new formulas, writing a blog post about this, will most probably not reach more than the usual people that are already familiar with your very niche activities. So, why to waste time setting up a couple of sentences about?

- Talking about time...one of the big arguments against blogging among academics is the waste of time. In a highly competitive academic world, where publish or die is still the motto, you better use every dime of time for forwarding your research, apply for academic conferences. If you also have a family, you practically do not have any extra time for scribbling.

- The blog post does not equal the academic article and will not (yet) be considered a reference for applying for a serious permanent academic position.

- It increases the risk of being caught in various commercial traps, especially when various companies or institutions are keen to offer sponsorship and thus, diminish the credibility and independence of the academic individual and research.

- It has the temptation of easy journalism, and may affect the hard polished academic skills which includes precaution and long preparation of the texts as well as cross-referencing.

The advantages are equally noteworthy:

- It offers visibility to ideas developed by academics, by offering a medium to share and discuss. This is particularly available for academics in the field of human sciences and politics. 

- It makes academic work transparent and relevant to the public and take back the intellectuals in the agora as parts of the public discussions. 

- It help spreading knowledge in parts of the world without a proper educational network. Wherever they are, people can read and get in touch with new ideas.

- Outside the rigid institutional settings, academics are free to express opinions not only about their daily work but on issues of public interest.

- It offers academics important opportunities to collaborate and share ideas. It also offers the chance to find people sharing common interests and researching similar topics, wherever they are. 

Probably there are many more things to outline about academic blogging and I will keep writing about this in next posts. As for me, I will always keep telling how grateful I am for being alive these times, with tremendous learning opportunities, many of them for free. 

Academic book review: Buying a bride, by Marcia A.Zug

A couple of months ago, while looking to download some titles for my Kindle I discovered some indie series called Mail-Order Brides. I realized what the topic might be about, but the images of the cover too convinced me to do not overcharge my e-book device with some non-sense. 

When I started to read this book I assumed that it covers the usual angles on this topic, mainly the human trafficking and women abuse, but surprinsingly, there is a completely new perspective opened. Although there are cases of abuses, the mail-bride system can be, in fact, an opportunity for many women to improve their life. Far from portraying images of desperate women, ready to sell themselves from a visa, the author covers various historical and geographical cases when mail-brides were in fact the engine of change. 

Definition

The cases extensively studied are Canada, and most specifically the US, starting with the 17th century.Although the author acknowledges the problematic choice of wording, she decides to keep the "mail-order" term, but for offering a critique and challenge the assumption of exploitation of the women using this system to acquire a husband. It is defined "as a marriage resulting from some form of advertisment or other public request, soliciting women to enter into a marriage with previously unknown man and typically travel a significant distance to complete this (...)". The definition excludes in any case the idea of women getting married against their own will. Mail-order husbands were also possible but at a smaller extent and not studied by the book.

History

The phenomenon started in the 17th century, mostly part of larger state plans to expand towards previously unconquered lands, both in Canada and the US. The mail-brides were thus part of a national policy aimed to dublicate the national family models. The relationships with Native Indian women were not encouraged and in some cases forbidden by law, being considered as "a danger for European men to abandon their civility". The rights of women moving to colonies were more generous compared to the Eastern coast of the US or Europe, they being offered equal wages with their male counterparts, the right to trade, to sue and to be sued, to sell property etc. The right to vote was offered first to women from the Western part of the US, long before those from the Eastern coast benefited of the same advantages. An interesting assumption of the book is that in fact the mail-bride systems contributed to the advancement of women's rights. 

Another merit of the book is to offer a transversal perspective into the genesis of the elites and social classes in different American states. 

In both the US and Canadian cases, 'the complex forces of feminism, imperialism, capitalism and racism created a situation in which divergent interests aligned to produce support for a variety of large-scale marital immigration programs'.

The medium

A special section is dedicated to analysing the ads aimed to attract potential suitors, after the Civil War when the state policies were less predominant in encouraging this kind of immigration. By the fact that the women authored or authorized the content of the ads, they were given more control over their marital process. Actually, this kind of process through which a marriage takes place is distinguished from the arranged marriages, which may explain why, for instance, India was not included as part of the cases analysed by the author.

In parallel with the spread of the phenomenon and the increase of women coming not only from Western Europe, but also from East and South Europe, or as far as from China or Japan, the negative perception of the mail-brides developped. It was reflected not only through the negative media reports, but in the prohibitive legislation aimed to discourage the process. 

Now and then, there will always be men interested to marry overseas and women ready to leave a life of poverty and without hope. "Today's mail-order brides and grooms are not a throwback to an earlier, unenlightened time. Instead, like the most of us, they are simply men and women who believe marriage will improve their lives, and we should support this choice".

Overview

The book is seriously documented, based on a detailed bibliography which covers historical, literary, media, anthropological and legal sources. It covers well and clearly couple of good centuries and outlines new academic perspectives. 

What I did miss was a more quantitative focus. The author herself reckon that statistics in the success rate of mail-order mariages are hard to verify, but more data and comparisons between different periods of time and the racial profile of women might have help to counter stereotypes about the issue. 

A recommended read for both academics and journalist covering immigration related topics.

Disclaimer: I was offered the book for review part of the NetGalley.com network, but the opinions are, as always, my own. 

Back in the academic blogging business

Almost two years without a blog post, and not too many academic achievements...True is that there were a lot of challenging taking place and the academic perspectives and experiences helped in finding solutions. Although academic writing and the improvement of the academic CV was relatively slowing down, or put on hold for a couple of months, it was just a provisory situation.

Right now, fulll of energy and ideas for at least one book until the end of the year, I am back and ready to use the blog as a tool for sharing ideas about books, academic life and academic travels and history. I am preparing a couple of reviews of interesting academic books that caught my attention recently and the blog will be updated at least once the week. 

With plans to upgrade my academic CV and some long time projects for the medium term. 

All being said for now, I am back preparing my next post!

Keep in touch with good academic news! Soon, very soon!