Exploring Austria: Multiculturalism in the Habsburg Empire
April 14, 2007 - 9:00am - 4:00pm
Russ Christensen, Hamline University and Deb Kellog, Normandale Community College

For secondary teachers of civics, geography, history, social studies, Jewish studies, German studies, music and art history, this workshop will focus on highlights of the thousand year history of Austria. Eventually embracing eleven major language groups, the Empire became a multi-cultural project which succeeded as often by strategic marriage arrangements and compromises as by means of war. Already in the 1780s the Habsburgs abolished serfdom. At the same time--when the Empire’s population numbered nearly fifty million--they provided for the education of all males up to the age of fourteen.

The achievements of the empire include not only major events in the history of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, such as the defeat of the Turks, but also some of the notable personalities such as Maria Theresa, Mozart and Freud. Particularly focusing on the later years of the empire, we will look at science, literature, social policy, architecture, multiculturalism, psychology, music, Judaica, the Turkish encounters, and the Spanish Habsburgs. The workshop’s aim is to look at influential personalities and cities to evaluate both the successes and failures of an Empire that was greatly hated but also greatly loved.

Registration Fee: $20
Registration Deadline: Friday, April 6, 2007
Register at http://igs.cla.umn.edu/outreach