The eighteenth annual Russian Film Symposium, “Recycle, Restage, Rewind,” was held on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh from Monday 2 May through Saturday 7 May 2016, with evening screenings at the Pittsburgh Filmmakers’ Melwood Screening Room.

The emergence of international capitalism depended on the creation of a highly mobile working class that built, loaded, and sailed the ships that connected the globe. These ships inaugurated the Atlantic slave trade and other labor migrations, making possible new regimes of accumulation and labor based in port cities, dynamic centers of power that linked the slave labor of colonial plantations to Europe and other parts of the world. The laborers of port cities – sailors, indentured servants, and slaves, workers free and unfree – are the subjects of this workshop.

This June citizens in the United Kingdom will vote on that country’s place in Europe. At a time of rising Euroscepticism there and across Europe, Great Britain will decide if it is better off facing the range of challenges to the European project—economic growth, migration, terrorism, conflict on its borders—by itself or as part of the EU. The results of the referendum will have implications for the entire UK (including Northern Ireland and Scotland), for the economic and political integrity of the EU, and for Great Britain’s ties with key continental countries and with the US.

Mark Jarzombek, Professor of the History and Theory of Architecture, works on a wide range of historical topics from the 12th century to the modern era with a particular focus on nineteenth and twentieth century aesthetics, and the history and theory of architecture. He is one of the country’s leading advocates for global history and has published several books and articles on that topic, including the ground-breaking textbook entitled A Global History of Architecture (Wiley Press, 2006) with co-author Vikram Prakash and with the noted illustrator Francis D.K. Ching.

Maneesha Deckha is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. Her research interests include health law and bioethics, critical animal studies and animal law, feminist analysis of law, law and culture and law society. Her work has been published widely in international legal and interdisciplinary venues. She has also contributed to several anthologies relating to feminism, cultural pluralism, and health law and policy.

Greece is at a critical crossroads as a result of the economic and refugee crises. Join us for an interactive video conversation dealing with the increasingly precarious economic, political, and psychological relationship between the EU and one of its most stressed members. Audience participation is encouraged. For more information or to participate remotely, contact kal68@pitt.edu.

Panelists:

Dr. Despina Alexiadou, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh

Su'ad Abdul Khabeer holds a PhD from Princeton University. She is currently the Anthropology and African America Studies programs at Purdue University. She is a scholar-artist-activist who uses anthropology and performance to explore the intersections of race and popular culture.

This talk examines the creative sartorial practices of American Muslim Men, and particularly Black Muslim men, who are increasingly using the aesthetic of Black Dandyism to signify on white supremacy as well as the ethno-religious hegemonies within US Muslim communities.

Political Process and Effect of Performance-Based Funding Examples in the United States - Shuo Wang, IISE Visiting Scholar
The Employability of Ph.D. Graduates in the United States: A Case Study of the University of Pittsburgh - Xueshuang Wang, IISE Visiting Scholar
A Comparative Study of the Market Economy Impact on Higher Education in Turkey and the United States - Abdullah Bagci, IISE Visiting Scholar

The session schedule is as followed:

session one (Elias and Moraru) on "The Planetary Turn;"
session two (Elias) on “The Temporality of Dialogue”;
and session three (Moraru) on "Coevalness and Critical Chronography."

This symposium is part of the Coevality: Ethical Being in a Time of Total Change series.