The Sixth Annual Margaret Morrison Distinguished Lecture in Women's History.

Anna Krylova is the author of "Soviet Women in Combat: A History of Violence on the Eastern Front" (Cambridge University Press, 2010). Her book was awarded the 2011 Herbert Baxter Adams Prize from the American Historical Association.

The main One Book One Community event for this year will be the Pittsburgh premier of Snow with writer/director Isaac Ergas and a panel discussion on the Role of Film in Public Health.

Snow is a short, live-action film based on the true story of Dr. John Snow, the father of epidemiology. The panel discussion will include:

Isaac Ergas: Writer/director and public health professional
Carl Kurlander: Writer/producer, University of Pittsburgh Film Studies Program and Steeltown Entertainment Project

Katie Trumpener, Emily Sanford Professor of Comparative Literature and English and director of graduate studies in comparative literature at Yale University

This graduate seminar is in English and open to all graduate students.

Biography – the story of a person’s life – is one of the most popular types of literature today. Yet biography also holds an important place in scholarship. Biographies invite us to consider what effect, if any, an individual may have on the larger course of events. Biographies of creative personalities bring up the further question of whether connections exist between a life and times and an individual’s music, art, or literary works and if so, what those connections might be.

The pre-circulated text for discussion in this seminar will be Professor Ng's forthcoming article, "Dutch Wars, Global Trade, and the Heroic Poem:
Dryden's Annus Mirabilis (1666) and Amin's Sya'ir Perang Mengkasar (1670)." The essay is attached.

BIOGRAPHY:
Dr. Ng is Associate Professor of English at the University of Oklahoma.

"You taught me language, and my profit on't/ Is, I know how to curse," thus Shakespeare's Caliban accused his master Prospero of linguistic colonialism. But how accurate was this picture of transnational communication? When Europeans entered the sphere of the Indian Ocean, in what language or languages did they speak? This paper considers early modern European translingual exchanges with Southeast Asia, the aim of European long-distance voyaging as the ultimate source of sought-after spices, examining in particular the role of Malay, a lingua franca of the spice trade, as a global language.

A documentary on the transformation of Mikhail Khodorkovsky - from a perfect socialist to a perfect capitalist and finally, in a Siberian prison, becoming a perfect martyr. Khodorkovky - the richest Russian, challenges President Putin. A fight of the titans begins. Putin warns him. But Khodorkovsky comes back to Russia - knowing that he will be imprisoned, once he returns. Why didn't Khodorkovsky stay in Exile with a couple of billions? Why did he come back? Why did he do that? A personal journey to Khodorkovsky. (Filmed, directed and produced by Cyril Tuschi; Duration : 111 min)

The 2012 Carnegie Mellon International Film Festival: Faces of Others

Black Butterflies tells the story of Ingrid Jonker (1933-1965), a celebrated South African poet who lived during the time of the Apartheid racial segregations. Shortly after the passing of her mother, Jonker moved in with her estranged father, the Minister of Censorship in South Africa. (Directed by Paula van der Oest | South Africa/The Netherlands | 2011 | 100 min.)

+ Closing Night Reception

The 2012 Carnegie Mellon International Film Festival: Faces of Others

After killing a small group of American soldiers in the desert of an unnamed country, the Arab insurgent Mohammed is apprehended and "rendered" to Europe for questioning, made impossible both by the language barrier and by his being deafened by an explosion. (Directed by Jerzy Skolimowski | Poland/Hungary/Ireland/Norway | 2011 | 83 min.)

The 2012 Carnegie Mellon International Film Festival: Faces of Others

Alex is a young Bucharest resident who lives a comfortable life with his girlfriend in their apartment. Unexpectedly, Alex's mother suffers a stroke and is hospitalized at the local town hospital, and concerned for his mother's health, travels back home on a whim. (Directed by Adrian Sitaru
Romania/Hungary | 2011 | 105 min.)