This event is free, but registration is required. It is with great pleasure that we welcome back The Oxford Trobadors to the Maison Franaise. They will perform medieval and modern songs in Occitan. The medieval troubadour songs will include La Sestina of Arnaut Daniel, Lo riu de la Fontana of Jaufre Rudel, and Quan vei la lauzeta mover of Bernart de Ventadorn. Popular modern songs will be performed from the repertoire of Peiraguda and Nadau, as well as traditional folk songs. The audiences often find themselves singing the choruses along, as the language is so catchy.

Convened by Perig Pitrou (MFO) Abstract: Life expectancy, which is no more than the aggregation of mortality rates reflecting past biographical conditions, has been since the seventeenth century the most usual way of apprehending the inequality of lives by demographers, epidemiologists and economists. But can the inequality of lives be reduced to a statistical fact and paradoxically to a probability of dying? Based on two research projects, one on the fate of migrants trying to reach Europe, the other on the situation of Palestinians during the present war on Gaza, I want to propose a distinct analysis of the value of life using various criteria of evaluation integrating quantitative and qualitative information about the living and the dead. Didier Fassin is Professor at the Collge de France, where he holds the Chair Moral Questions and Political Issues in Contemporary Societies, and at the Institute for Advanced Study, in the School of Social Science. At the the cole des Hautes tudes en Sciences Sociales where he is Director of Studies, he founded Iris, the Interdisciplinary Research Institute on Society. Anthropologist, sociologist and physician, he has conducted research in Senegal, Congo, South Africa, Ecuador, and France, focusing on moral and political issues. Recipient of the Gold Medal in anthropology at the Swedish Royal Academy of Science and of the Huxley Memorial Medal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, he is a member of the American Philosophical Society and the Academia Europea. Former Vice-President of Doctors Without Borders, he is currently the President of the French Medical Committee for Exiles. He edited or coedited thirty collective volumes and authored twenty-three books, translated in eleven languages, including Life. A Critical Users Manual (Polity), Exile. Chronicle of the border, with Anne-Claire Defossez (Polity, 2024) and Moral Abdication. How the World Failed to Stop the Destruction of Gaza (Verso, 2025).

From 19 May to 26 June, the MFO is delighted to host a new exhibition in collaboration with the Chaire Sant-SHS at Universit Paris 1 Panthon-Sorbonne, featuring 'BreathsAir Bladders', a captivating artwork by artist-researcherFilomena Boreck. Blending art, science, and sensorial experience, the exhibition invites visitors to reflect on the shared act of breathing and our deep interconnection with the living world. Please note that the opening of the exhibition will take place at the Maison Franaise d'Oxford at 5.30pm on Monday 19 May 2025 and will be followed by a wine and cheese. Spring 2020 marked a turning point when the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the profoundly political nature of breathing a vital, physiological act that connects the individual body to its social and environmental context. This exhibition explores the history and meanings of breath through the lens of the social sciences and humanities, tracing how air, health, and society have been intertwined across time. It builds on the outcomes of two interdisciplinary workshops held in 2024, which brought together historians, scientists, artists, and healthcare professionals to examine respiratory knowledge, practices, and environments from the 18th to the 21st century. The exhibition also features Air Bladders, a participatory sculpture by artist Filomena Boreck, first created in 2018 and recently shown at the National Gallery in Prague. The exhibition is curated by Judith Rainhorn andCharles-Antoine Wanecq, with the support of Camille Bourdiel, La Delmaire, Anne-Sophie Gabillas, Ugo Loutskvitch, Marie Thbaud-Sorger, the Centre d'histoire sociale des mondes contemporains (CHS, Paris), the Centre Alexandre Koyr (CAK, Paris) and the Maison franaise dOxford. Set design/graphics: Atelier Au fond gauche (Lanneau/Charzat), Paris. Illustration: 'BreathsAir Bladders' by Filomena Boreck, in collaboration with Bruno Dubois

Convened byPierre Bocquillon(University of East Anglia),Emmanuelle Santoire(CNRS/UMR 8134 LATTS),Louis de Fontenelle(Universit de Pau et des Pays de lAdour), &Pascal Marty(MFO) Context: As the UN Nice Conference on the Oceans takes center stage in 2025, it is an opportune moment to reflect on the role of maritime spaces in the energy transition, which has increasingly attracted the attention of policymakers, legal professionals and social scientists. The Geo-legal Working Groupe of the European Research Platform on Energy and Climate law has identified this timely issue as the focus of its work in 2025. The symposium will gather contributions from law, social and environmental sciences to address governance challenges related to energy development in marine environments, focusing on the North of Europe (North Sea, Irish Sea, Baltic Sea). These areas are strategic for oil and gas production in Norwegian waters and UK waters and are rapidly becoming key sites for offshore wind under the North Seas Energy Cooperation 'NSEC). The aim is to explore how legal frameworks can adapt to the specific challenges of these spaces. Main challenges: The discussions will examine zoning systems, space-sharing practices, and marine spatial planning including marine protected areas - as tools requiring reorganization of legal and spatial frameworks. These developments raise tensions between national and international law, particularly in cross-border infrastructure. The symposium will map existing frameworks and explore how to better integrate them across scales to support sustainability and mitigate tensions. The symposium will also focus on new bilateral cooperations in cross-border investments, questioning the roles of actors, power imbalances and risk sharing. Key themes will include energy justice, governance of common poll resources, and the rights of future generations. It will also interrogate legal definitions of ownership and appropriation and whether maritime spaces can be treated as common goods in support of sustainability goals. The presentation of these topics will consider whether these challenges reflect a shift in maritime governance or reproduce existing tensions, raising the question of new "blue legalities" (Braverman & Johnson, 2020). Finally, the symposium will highlight the need for methodologies that capture adaptive interdisciplinary approaches to the energy transition. Programme: 9.00 am - Welcome speech 9.45 11.15 am -Maritime governance in uncertain times : Building security and cooperation amidst threats and tensions 11.45 1 pm - Sharing space and making place with a responsibility mindset: legal, spatial and ecological perspectives on shared maritime spaces 2.30 4.15 pm - Protecting and accelerating cooperation: learning from best experiences in energy infrastructural developments in the maritime spaces 4.30 pm - Wrap up discussion Organised under the Geo-legal Working Group of the European Research Platform on Energy and Climate Law

With Emilie Capulet (Keble College and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance) John Rogers (viola and violin) Sandra Porter (mezzo-soprano) The Corsican-French composer Henri Tomasi (1901-1971) lived through some of the most momentous political, social and technological upheavals of the 20th century. Born into the Corsican diaspora of Marseille, torn by the tragedies and destruction of war, campaigning against the ravages of oppression, passionate about the redemptive and cathartic power of music in the struggle for the liberation of the human condition, Tomasi dedicated himself throughout his life to fighting for the freedom of the human spirit through music and art. In this lecture-recital, we will discover his multifaceted character and wide-ranging interests, reflected in the diversity of the genres and styles he engaged with in his extensive compositional output, including operas, orchestral works, concertos, ballets, choral scores, instrumental music, chamber music, radiophonic works and film scores. Illustration: By Michelsolis - Template:Michelsolis, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8738661