Peter Meilaender, professor of Political Science and Chair of History, Politics & Philosophy, was invited to the 11th Annual Intercollegiate Colloquium on the Liberal Arts, held at Grove City College to give the keynote address. The topic of this year’s colloquium was “Fortitude,” and Meilaender’s address was entitled, “Hast Thou the Power to Stand?: Plaguetime Lessons for Lasting Fortitude.” Meilaender traveled to the colloquium with a pair of Houghton students, Josiah Wiedenheft ‘22 and Sydney Verel ‘23.

Meilaender also attended two other conferences this year. One being the online conference Philosophy in/on Translation. This conference focused both on philosophical questions raised by the practice of translation as well as on the challenges of translating philosophical texts.

“This was a great opportunity to think through some of the challenging theoretical issues that lurk beneath the surface of new courses I have introduced through the Center for Global Humanities, such as the Around the World reading group or the Translation Workshop,” says Meilaender.

The conference was co-sponsored by the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom and the University of Vienna in Austria.

He also recently attended the annual conference of the German Studies Association (GSA) where he organized three panels on the topic, Reading Dürrenmatt in the 21st Century on behalf of the German Studies Association’s Swiss Studies Interdisciplinary Network. Meilaender co-directs this network with his colleague Hans Rindisbacher (Pomona College). These marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Friedrich Dürrenmatt, one of the most important Swiss authors and playwrights of the 20th century.

Meilander states, “Dürrenmatt is one of the most interesting and remarkable authors I know, and this was a wonderful opportunity to dig deeper into his work together with a group of scholars from the United States and Europe.”