Past Events

The University Center for International Studies (UCIS), with funding from Pitt?s Title VI National Resource Centers, has embarked on a four year initiative to increase the number of FLAC courses offered on campus. Dr. Deborah Reisinger?s presentation will help prospective instructors and students understand what FLAC is and why it is important. After the presentation, information about current FLAC courses at Pitt and successful strategies for developing new courses (including language ?trailers?) will be shared. Dr. Deborah Reisinger
Associate Professor of the Practice in French, and Director of Language Outreach initiatives, Duke University
Deborah establishes connections between language proficiency and the disciplines. She is the author of numerous articles on language pedagogy, French for the Professions, and intercultural competence. She chairs the World Languages Advisory Committee to the College Board and is co-chair of the AP French Language and Culture Exam development committee.

Award-winning actress Samal Yeslyamova (Tulpan) plays the role of Ayka, a Kyrgyz illegal migrant in Moscow. Ayka has no money, no home, and she just gave birth. She is never still, so we follow her through wintry Moscow streets on her reckless pursuit to find work. An aggressive soundtrack and visceral cinematography emphasize the vision of a huge megalopolis where anyone can get lost or disappear. It is Yeslyamova, however, who steals the camera; always moving forward in her unraveling as she enters her curtained den until the end, when she and the camera give us a chance to breathe. In 2010, 248 newborns were abandoned in Moscow's maternity wards, a statistic information director Sergey Dvortsevoy found in the newspapers and adapted for his film. He likes to make films from "real" life and values surprises and doubt, interested in what happens when families and relationships break down between people and their environment to the point when an individual is morally damaged. His film comes at a time of worldwide chaotic migration, and it is obvious that what happened to Ayka is happening to others. (Maryna Ajaja, SIFF) Moderator: Nancy Condee, Director, Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Director of Graduate Studies, Slavic Languages and Literatures
Speakers: Colin Johnson, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Idaho State University
Heath Cabot, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh View the trailer here: https://www.siff.net/festival/ayka REGISTER TO ATTEND HERE: https://tinyurl.com/y5x6pwvy

Disability activism developed in the second half of the twentieth century in a world divided by the Cold War. While the history of how Western activists learned to speak in the language of civil rights is well documented and publicly celebrated, the legacies of activists from the socialist countries have been largely erased after the collapse of the communist governments in 1989-1991. In conversation with Sean Guillory, Maria Cristina Galmarini will offer a more complete and nuanced history of the international disability movement than existing Western-oriented narratives, thus stimulating a re-evaluation of the role of socialist-style, state-supported activism in the development of disability advocacy and social movements more broadly. By focusing on blind activists from the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic, she reveals that philosophies and practices from the socialist side shaped the historical course of global disability advocacy and provided a viable alternative to the approaches used in liberal democracies. Her critical evaluation of blind advocacy under socialism introduces debates over disability paradigms as a key issue in the history of Cold War Europe. It also changes the historiography of cultural diplomacy by complicating the able-bodied imagery on which we assume states relied during the Cold War. Maria Cristina Galmarini is Associate Professor of History and Global Studies at William & Mary. In her teaching and research, she focuses on the history of disability under socialism. Her first book, The Right to Be Helped. Deviance, Entitlement, and the Soviet Moral Order (Northern Illinois University Press, 2016), addressed understandings of social rights among marginalized groups in the early revolutionary and Stalinist Soviet Union. She is currently working on a new project titled Ambassadors of Social Progress. A History of International Blind Activism During the Cold War. REGISTER: https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIpdOCppzsiE91abSlRStELt6H4hWuHy1jm

The talk will present an American foreign policy model--capitalist liberal exceptionalism--that accounts for the US behaviors around the world. Most importantly, the model integrates multiple factors, including the international system and domestic politics, into the analysis, delivering a concise interpretation of US foreign policy over time since the foundation of the nation. Huseyin Ilgaz's (Visiting Lecturer of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh) specializations are international relations and comparative politics with research focuses on peace, conflict resolution, civil wars, the role of external interventions, conflict termination, and bargaining theory. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh (2019). Register here: https://pitt.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Z8lURpVVTRiKj2ew6RmMSg

The Czech Center New York is delighted to introduce a multi-media exhibition project, which aims to present Adolf Loos’ unique interior design work as a result of the architect’s long-term activity in Pilsen, Czech Republic. The project was initiated in 2020, marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of Adolf Loos (1870–1933), a world-renowned epitome of modern interwar architecture of Moravian descent, whose ideas and implementations influenced contemporary architecture and inspired later events and trends in contemporary architecture on an international scale. After an introduction by Miroslav Konvalina, Director of the Czech Center New York, participants will be invited to explore the online exhibit while listening to a concert by Pilsner Jazz Band from Loos’ interior in Pilsen. REGISTRATION LINK: https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwodOmrqjkuH90C8T3Y3Jtlfg-QcdxlNb0p

The artist, revolutionary, and cult leader of the Pop Art movement, Andy Warhol masterfully explored the relationship between artistic expression, advertising, and celebrity culture through his legendary depictions of cultural icons while constructing his own public persona and artistic mystique in the most politically-charged, creative, and expressive periods of the 20th century. The son of Carpatho-Rusyn immigrants and a devout Byzantine Catholic, Andy Warhol was deeply influenced by a rich cultural heritage in which icons are experienced as doorways to the sacred. Although he convincingly blurred the line between commercial and fine art, his style and technique exposed Warhol’s lifelong connection to a religious culture with which he lived. Join us for an exploration of Byzantine iconography and Andy Warhol’s art. REGISTRATION LINK: https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMkdOqqqD4iGt2a0jH6AAECzA_Gq5PoXLnE Speakers: Very Reverend Mitred Archpriest Marek Visnovsky
Vicar General of the Eparchy of Parma Donald G. Warhola
Vice President, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
Liaison, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh

The Twentieth Annual Czech and Slovak Studies Workshop will be held virtually at the University of Pittsburgh on March 18-21, 2021. This year’s workshop will bring together an international community of researchers, faculty members, and advanced graduate students to exchange their experiences, research results, and ideas on a variety of areas ranging from literature, language, history, and the visual arts. KEYNOTE ADDRESS MARCH 19
9:00 am (EDT) | 1:00 pm (GMT) | 2:00 pm (CET)
Transatlantic Cooperation in Pandemic Times Surprisingly enough, the COVID-19 pandemic affected Europe and America in a dramatic manner. Health systems, economies, and social life in the most developed countries have been going through severe tests last year. This keynote lecture will focus on the comparative aspects of the COVID-19 crisis in Europe and the United States, look at its impact on transatlantic relations, and bring examples of cooperation in combating this global pandemic. SPEAKER:
Pavol Demeš, Senior Fellow, The German Marshall Fund of the United States KEYNOTE ADDRESS AND ACADEMIC PROGRAM
Explore our CONFERENCE PROGRAM: https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/creees/visitors/czech-slovak-workshop.
REGISTER to attend: https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMkdu2hpj4uGdG3ZbUonmX4tSawD61rDLL0. This registration is for the academic portion of the conference, including paper presentations, the keynote address, and networking events. Participation is restricted to faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and the organizers.