The University of Nebraska will host the 26th Annual Czech and Slovak Studies Workshop.
April 23-25, 2026
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Panel and Keynote Speaker
On April 23 at 6:00 p.m. there will be a panel discussion with Jacques Rupnik and Veronika Tuckerová followed by the keynote speaker Jindřich Toman. Both will take place in the Union Auditorium and be livestreamed via Zoom. Details are available below.
Panel
“Bohemian Jewishness: From Poetics to Politics”
- Jacques Rupnik, Sciences Po
- Veronika Tuckerová, Harvard University
April 23, Union Auditorium
Jacques Rupnik is Research Professor of political science at Sciences Po, Paris; visiting professor at the College of Europe in Bruges; and a popular political commentator and publicist. His book, The Fates of Central Europe Between Hitler and Stalin: Selected Writings of Josef Guttmann, will be published in 2026 by University of Chicago Press.
Veronika Tuckerová teaches Czech at Harvard University's Slavic Department. Her writing has appeared in The New German Critique, Journal of World Literature, brücken, Revolver Revue and Roš chodeš. Her book, Reading Kafka in Prague: On Translation, Samizdat, Censorship, Export, and Dissent, the first book-length study of the reception of Franz Kafka in his homeland of Czechoslovakia, was published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2025.
Keynote Speaker
“Bohemia’s Jews and Their Nineteenth Century”
Jindřich Toman, University of Michigan
April 23, Union Auditorium
Trained in Czechoslovakia, Germany and the U.S., Jindrich Toman follows an academic path defined by languages and cultures of Central Europe. His book on Jewish culture and literature, Bohemia’s Jews and Their Nineteenth Century: Texts, Contexts, Reassessments (University of Chicago Press, 2023), focuses on the scarcely written-about “quiet” decades of the nineteenth century, exploring Jewish expression, Jewish-Czech relations, and the changing attitudes toward Jews between the 1820s and 1880s.
Additional Activities
A reading of Krvavý román
Stephen Lahey will read from Josef Váchal’s best-known book, "The Bloody Novel," published in 1924. Lahey is a professor in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies.
Visit Wilber, Nebraska
The “Czech Capital of the U.S."
Screening of "The Art of Dissent"
View and discuss the documentary with filmmaker James D. Le Sueur.
Saturday, 7:30 p.m., The Ross Theater
Hotel accommodation will be provided for participants who are presenting at the workshop.
Organizers
Hana Waisserova
Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, Harris Center for Judaic Studies
Ari Kohen
Department of Political Science, Harris Center for Judaic Studies
Stephen Lahey
Department of Classics and Religious Studies
James D. Le Sueur
Department of History
Gerald Steinacher
Department of History, Harris Center for Judaic Studies
Sponsors
- Czech Studies (Victor and Nita F. Chab Czech Heritage Fund)
- Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
- Department of History (Frank A. Belousek Fund)
- Harris Center for Judaic Studies
- Czech Language Foundation
- Czechoslovak Studies Association
- Slovak Studies Association