With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, a path to greater freedom seemed to have been opened, as commemorated and celebrated in the “Freedom without Walls” Campus Weeks events on the UF Campus in 2009. The focal point of those events was the nexus between freedom, poetry, music, drama and the arts. An op-ed that appeared in the Gainesville Sun in November of that year provides an overview: http://bit.ly/2wrqVMZ
By 2017, we seem to have reached a juncture when new Walls are being constructed along the lines of nationalist or imperialist pasts. Is this necessary? A more sustainable global-cultural alternative to such Walls might be continued concerted action on the part of advantageously-positioned societies in the interest of greater global Freedom (which could be seen as one of the purposes of the European Union).
What are the opportunities and pitfalls involved in alternatives such as these? In view of recent — and also historically more distant — European and global developments, is “Freedom without Walls” possible, and if so how? Assuming “Walls” are unavoidable, or perhaps even inherent in defining what is free (vis-à-vis what is not), what sort of Walls might continue to exist even within ostensibly free societies? Toward/against what sort of internal/external Walls might we try to work to achieve the most Freedom?
The FFW events were supported by Waldo W. Neikirk fund, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Washington D.C, UF’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the University of Florida International Center, the Center for European Studies, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, and the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures.
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Pre-Modernity Symposium
Guest speaker Professor Amy Nelson Burnett, Paula and D.B. Varner University Professor of History, University of Nebraska.
Professor Burnett’s lecture: “Reform, Dissent, and Toleration: The Reformation as a Crisis of Authority.”
Panel discussion with Amy Nelson Burnett: “Freedom and Walls in Global Religious Traditions.”
Including Nina Caputo (History), Vasudha Narayanan (Religion), Terje Østebø (Religion), Mario Poceski (Religion), and Richard Wang (Languages, Literatures, and Cultures).
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Modernity Symposium 
Guest speaker Professor Günter Verheugen, European Union Commissioner for Enlargement 1999-2004 and for Enterprise and Industry 2004-2010.
Professor Verheugen’s lecture: “Europe without Borders — Dream and Reality.”
Panel discussion: “The Future of Freedom and Walls in the Digital Age: Understanding through Binaries.”
With Eleni Bozia (Classics), Michael Gorham (Languages, Literatures, and Cultures), Terry Harpold (English), and Aida Hozic (Political Science).