EGS 2022 – Special Invitation to EGS Alumni

Dear Alumni,

It is a great pleasure for me to write to you with the news that the PACT Division will be returning to Saas Fee for in-person seminars.  We have traversed an exceptionally challenging two years, but we have done so successfully.  The prospect of our return to the Swiss mountains is particularly sweet.

We are hoping that we can activate our relations with our alumni this year, and for this purpose we are offering a special discount for alumni seminar guests. For Alumni who have completed degrees with us, we offer the opportunity of participating in a seminar for $900.  This is half of the normal guest fee.

You can see our program in the Schedule of our website.  There will be 9 seminars in Saas Fee, unfolding over a 6-week period.  The structure departs from our previous practice of in-person meetings because we must still take into account the difficulties some students will face with respect to travel.  It is an uncertain time, and many students have suffered financial hardship.  Some are hesitant to travel.  So, we are scheduling a series of seminars with some of our most popular faculty that will have a “plenary” character.  They will take place in the main room in Steinmatte, and they will be streamed on-line for those who cannot attend in person.  We can only present one seminar at a time in this manner, so we have scheduled them back-to-back.  Hence the length of the session.  Also, each seminar will unfold over four days.  The reason for this is that we must attend to time-zone issues.  But we are turning this challenge to advantage by holding seminar sessions in the afternoons, and leaving mornings open.  We think this may prove to be a more enjoyable formula for all involved.

We will also meet once again in Malta in October. The Valletta session will be shorter in length; it will feature three seminars.  Two of these are scheduled: we are featuring Judith Butler and Etienne Balibar.  A third is still in preparation, but we are excited about the idea animating this and will announce the topic shortly.

We do sincerely hope that our alumni will be able to participate in this return to our campus sites and join the new EGS community that has taken form in the online seminars.  Let us share that the community actually feels as vibrant as ever.  We did not anticipate that online teaching would prove quite so successful, or that our students would become quite so involved.  But active study groups have formed for almost every seminar, and participation has been impressive–both for our seminars and for the new “Leading Thinkers” offerings.  Our programs continue to strengthen and attract a rich diversity of brilliant and creative people.

In seeking to account for the success of these past two years, we have entertained the hypothesis that the EGS has more relevance than ever in the contemporary conjuncture.  A time of crisis like the one we have traversed creates a profound need for community and for joint reflection.  The need has never been greater than it is today, given the events in Ukraine and global developments that threaten our freedom–as thinkers and as citizens.  In the last two years, the EGS faculty and students have consistently risen to the moment.  We expect the same this year, in a new and perhaps even more vital form.  We hope you will consider joining us.

If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or Nemanja Mitrović by email.

If you wish to attend in-person seminars, please contact Nemanja Mitrović at (nemanja.mitrovic@egs.edu). 

Dean Christopher Fynsk