Humiliation is a hot topic. Many people claim to feel humiliated, either by other individuals or by larger social and political structures that allegedly deny them respect and recognition. Experts in international relations even speak of a humiliation syndrome, while sociologists find that public resentment is rooted in feelings of humiliation. The talk investigates if and why people’s sensitivity to humiliating practices has increased over the last two or three centuries. However, it also examines the social function of humiliation and public shaming, in both social life and international affairs.

Ute Frevert is a historian of modern Europe. She held professorships at three German universities (Berlin, Konstanz, Bielefeld) and at Yale (USA). In 2008, she joined the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin and set up a research center on the History of Emotions. Since 2023, she has served as President of the Max Weber Foundation. She is a member of various national academies and has been awarded prestigious prizes and honors. Her publications include: Men of Honour (1995), A Nation in Barracks (2004); Emotions in History – Lost and Found (2011); The Politics of Humiliation (2020); The Power of Emotions (2023); Writing the History of Emotions (2024).

The ‘Prague Lectures’ are a collaboration between the Prague branches of the German Historical Institute Warsaw, the Collegium Carolinum, and the ‘Knowledge and Participation’ department of the Leibniz Institute for History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO), as well as a joint German-Czech research and communication platform with the Czech Academy of Sciences GWZO Prague FLÚ.

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