Our Finest Hour: HUNGARY’s 1956 “1956 Te Csillag” (György Faludy)

Professor László Borhi is the Peter A. Kadas Chair of the Central Eurasian Studies department of the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. Read more about his research and work on his Indiana University profile. In October and November 1956, an uprising that began in Budapest engulfed the whole country. Soon it would

European Legend: the Beast of Gévaudan

Halloween may be past, but we hope that you love creepy European legends as much as we do. If so, gather round the screen in your favorite sweater and a steaming mug of tea—you’re in for a scare.  Sure, you’ve heard about European icons Jack the Ripper, Dracula, and the Loch Ness Monster. How about the half-demon, half-goat creature, Krampus, which is so

For Roots of Halloween Rituals, Look to Celtic Europe

Ah, Fall.   The day that the temperature cools ever so slightly, we seem to be swept into a frenzy. Pumpkins dot porch fronts and bonfires are planned. We depict graveyard scenes in our yards, weave plastic cobwebs through shrubs, and try our best to erase all traces of the sprinklers and lawn chairs that adorned the grass just

Voting for the Future of Europe

We are celebrating election season across Europe, with at least half a dozen countries expecting some degree of political shuffling in the next six months. Norway just had their parliamentary elections, Sweden’s prime minister has said that he will step down in November, and French voters will go to the polls next spring for their presidential election.

We are back!

Welcome back to the Across the Pond blog from IU’s Institute for European Studies! We are excited to be offering you another year of insight and analysis on Europe, the European Union, and the transatlantic partnership. In addition to our regular blog posts, the weekly News Summaries, and our line-up of events and presentations, we

Islam’s Europe Problem

Muslim women around Europe are no strangers to having their bodies legislated. Under the guise of the European culture of “enlightenment” and “individualism,” multiple European countries have sought to regulate women who choose to wear traditional Islamic head coverings (Note: For the purposes of this piece, terms like “headscarf”, “head covering”, “burqa”, and “hijab” are

Seeking Asylum: COVID-19 and the Refugee Crisis

It seems like every week that goes by reveals a new dimension of our lives that has been drastically altered by the coronavirus pandemic. The political and economic implications of the virus have both received ample attention, but the human costs of the pandemic continue to come to light in devastating forms.   Recently, NPR reported a story about 15

The best $1.21 you will ever spend…

There isn’t much that $1.21 will get you these days. Sure, a little something from McDonald’s or maybe some time at a downtown parking meter. But what if I told you that if you converted that handful of change into a euro…yes, just a single euro…you could buy a house.  If you’re a millennial like

Biden is President…now what?

There was a collective sigh of relief let out by the world at noon on January 20th, 2021, and that much displaced air could have caused meteorological disturbances. After four years of raw antagonism from one of the most unpopular American presidents in an age, including several months of threats to American democracy, Joe Biden was sworn

Welcome to 2021!

Welcome back to Across the Pond! We at IU’s Institute for European Studies hope that your holiday season was restful and rejuvenating, and we are looking forward bringing you more commentary on European and transatlantic affairs in the new year.   2020 was (to put it gently) a complete roller coaster of a year—Brexit, the continued attacks