Join us for our Dia de los Muertos celebration!

From October 30th to November 6th, stop by the Global Hub in Posvar Hall to celebrate Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. Center for Latin American Studies students, community, and staff have worked together to build an ofrenda, or alter, where you can bring photos or momentos of your loved ones. 

As you engage with the display, you'll have the opportunity to learn more about the symbolism and traditions of Dia de los Muertos. This is a wonderful way to honor the memory of those we've lost and celebrate their lives. We welcome everyone to join us in this celebration of life and cultural understanding.

 For more details or inquiries, please reach out to clas@pitt.edu

A language and cultural exchange between Pitt language learners and international speakers. Registration Required

Join the French Club for a conversation hour for French speaking individuals of varying levels to practice the French language.

Join the Center for Latin American Studies and the Center for Creativity to make papel picado in honor of the Day of the Dead!

Papel picado, the colorful cut paper banners used for Mexican fiestas, is translated as “minced paper” because it is made by cutting out shapes in a see-through pattern.

It is commonly displayed for both secular and religious occasions, and is often incoporated into altars during the Day of the Dead. Come learn its history and meaning and how to make it!

Snacks will be provided!

Join advanced Swahili students from Swahili 3 to practice the language outside of the classroom!

Note: Meetings will take place weekly in the Global Hub, during Fall semester, except on September 20 and October 18.

Portraits of Irish Art in Practice mines the space where aesthetic expression for Irish artistic Rita Duffy, Mairead McClean, Paula McFetridge, and Ursula Burke. Portrait essays, woven with photographs, documents each artist's coming of age in Ireland and Northern Ireland, in the context of her emerging practice. As individuals, their work considers infringements on human rights, systemic violence, gender roles, and the negotiations of figurative and literal borders and boundaries. Together, they interrogate past and present conflict and emergence from conflict, locally and globally. Their critical work is threaded with hope in the context of past and present political fragmentation.

Join us for this FREE online K-12 educator workshop that will examine the history, current status, and future of Africa and China's relationship through a global lens and offer strategies and resources for classroom use. We will explore not only Chinese investments in infrastructure in Africa, but provide examples from other regions such as Europe, as well. This workshop will offer teaching strategies and resources for K-12 classroom use, and Act 48 hours and FREE classroom materials will be provided for all participants. This workshop is being conducted in conjunction with the day-long conference, "Africa-China Relationship and Its Global Impact," which will take place on Friday, November 10 from 9 am-4 pm ET via Zoom. Workshop participants are invited (but not required) to register for and attend parts, or all, of the November 10 conference, if interested. To register for this workshop, please click here.

Students will get the opportunity to learn about the Latinx holiday el Día de los Muertos.

Join biweekly Turkish Language Table meetings for an opportunity for students to practice Turkish while
enjoying Turkish snacks and refreshments.

Note: During Fall semester, Meetings will take place biweekly on November 1, November 29, and December 13, but NOT on November 15.

Join us on Wednesday, November 1,at 8:00pm Victoria Building Room 125 OR Zoom: https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0uf-mgrzMtG9yOz4uhvhtcOJAcOiPJSwwp. Learn more about the summer program Healthcare Delivery in Switzerland!

Mangia con noi! Bring your lunch and chat with us! Pitt students only, all levels welcome!

CLAS Speaker Series presents Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Childcare: Experiences of African Women and their Descendants in the Americas (19th Century) by CLAS Postdoctoral Fellow, Lorena Telles

Zoom link will be sent out to those registered as virtual attendees. A light lunch will be served.

Come meet international students, make friends, practice conversational English, and have fun together, during these weekly discussion groups coordinated by the English Language Institute. Feel free to bring your lunch :)

Learn about funding and scholarships for study and research in Latin America!

Plus3 Argentina: Healthcare Management Information Session with Professor Grant Martsolf
Thursday, November 2, 4pm
Posvar Hall Room 4625 OR Zoom: https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwqf-uuqDMiGtPMweZTzKLh_iYYlkmSwvv_

Join us to celebrate Professor Wendy Z. Goldman's recent book; "Fortress Dark and Stern: The Soviet Home Front During World War II."

After Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, German troops seized the heartland of Soviet industry and agriculture and turned the occupied territories into killing fields. "Fortress Dark and Stern" chronicles the epic story of resistance on the home front. Focusing on the impact of total war, it examines the efforts of ordinary people, who withstood starvation and horrific conditions, to make the Allied victory possible.

WHAT ARE KINGS MADE OF?
RETHINKING THE ROYAL BODY
IN EARLY MODERN FRANCE

Dr. Anna Rosensweig
University of Rochester

Anna Rosensweig is Associate Professor of French and the Director of the Graduate Program in Visual & Cultural Studies at the University of Rochester. Rosensweig’s scholarship and teaching focus on early modern literature and culture, the intersections of literature and political theory, and performance studies.

Dr. Rosensweig's lecture will address civic endurance in France through fountains, statues, coins, and royal bodies.

Come practice your conversational Polish at these weekly meetings!

Join students from Pitt and CMU's Russian programs' for a networking event with snacks, desserts, an art workshop, & karaoke!

Professor Jochen Hellbeck of Rutgers University will give the third and final presentation of the Socialist Studies Seminar series, presenting on a chapter from his book-in-progress, "A War Like No Other?"

Part of a forthcoming monograph devoted to the decades-long stand-off between Nazi antibolshevism and Soviet antifascism, this chapter traces the Red Army’s incursion into Germany in 1944 and 1945 as it focuses on the interpretive lenses that propagandists, soldiers, and civilians on both sides of the front applied to the final stage of the Second World War in Europe.

Join Kya Baat Hai weekly conversation hours for students to practice speaking in Hindi and Urdu and connect over shared cultural experiences!

Join Addverse Poesia, an international and multilingual poetry group that discusses, reads and translates poems in at least 4 languages, for their weekly meetings!

Ethnic Food

Cultural and Education Lectures

Musical and Folk Dance Performances

Craft Demonstrations

FREE ADMISSION!!!

“Paradoxical Bodies: Responsibility, Morality and Culture in Weight Loss Surgeries in Israel”
The 2023 Israel Heritage Room Lecture will be given by Dr. Hilla Nehushtan, the current Israel Institute teaching fellow at the Jewish Studies Program of the University of Pittsburgh. She specializes in critical medical anthropology, exploring the intersection between health, gender, and culture through the prism of weight loss practices. Her dissertation ethnographically studies a weight loss surgery clinic in Israel; it won the prize for best Ph.D. dissertation by The Israeli Anthropological Association (IAA). Dr. Nehushtan is currently teaching courses on Modern Israel, Health in Israel, and Body Size Around the Globe.
The social and cultural constructions of body size affect many aspects of daily life: how larger-bodied people are treated by their family and peers; discrimination against larger-bodied people in the workplace and the fashion industry; how people are judged while eating in public; the ways children and adolescents are socialized to dislike their bodies; the ever-growing diet industry, and biomedical perspectives that influence all the rest. Dr. Nehushtan advocates a more nuanced listening to both patients and medical professionals. Her research, conducted in Israel, is resonant with American practice as well.

Dr. Nehushtan’s Israel Heritage Room talk will be given at 4 pm on Sunday, November 5, 2023, in the English Nationality Room, 144 Cathedral of Learning.

Beginner Swahili students are invited to join this weekly conversation hour to practice the language outside of the classroom.

Do you want to help speakers of Turkish practice English? Or are you from Turkey and want to help students studying Turkish at Pitt? Join us for an hour of language and cultural exchange! Please register in advance. https://pitt.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_byz4pc5RhZ03EzQ

Come meet international students, make friends, practice conversational English, and have fun together, during these weekly discussion groups coordinated by the English Language Institute. Feel free to bring your lunch :)

Join German Club at Pitt’s weekly meetings during Fall 2023 to converse in German and learn German culture!

Moderator: Jennifer Keating, University of Pittsburgh

Panelist:
Paula McFetridge will discuss portrayals of policing, borders, and contending conceptions of security as explored in the production, Green & Blue, to be performed in Pittsburgh a City Theatre Co. November 9th-11th. This play, written by Laurence McKeown, draws from oral achieves collected from former police officer in An Garda Siochana and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (before its reorganization to become the Police Service of Northern Ireland).

Michael Glass, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Director of the Urban Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh will discuss his recent contributions to a coedited volume, Urban violence, Resilience, and HumanSecurity: Governance Responses in the Global South (Bristol University Press 2022), in which authors offer a framework
for understanding the pervasive nature of urban violence and community responses to urban disorder.

Come meet international students, make friends, practice conversational English, and have fun together, during these weekly discussion groups coordinated by the English Language Institute. Feel free to bring your lunch :)

Join the French Club for a conversation hour for French speaking individuals of varying levels to practice the French language.

Are you looking to gain experience that will help prepare you for a globally-connected job market? Stop by Drop-In Hours to learn more about getting the Global Distinction added to your academic transcript, receiving special recognition at graduation, and standing out to prospective employers!

NOTE: Fall 2023 Global Distinction Drop-In Hours: Tuesdays at 3:30-4:30 pm, except on November 21. On November 7, Global Distinction Drop-in Hours will take place at 3-4 pm.

Come practice your Hungarian speaking skills and meet other individuals who are interested in the language. All levels are welcome!

Plus United Kingdom: Intersections of Healthcare and Education Information Session with Professor Melissa Marks
Tuesday, November 7, 7pm
Cathedral of Learning Room 144 (English Nationality Room) OR Zoom: https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIlfu6gpzMtE91118bl1zjygshVbpm1z_XN

Join Lingovation, a club focused on merging language and service, for their general body meeting.

Come practice your BCMS conversational skills at this weekly, informal language table!

NOTE: BCMS Conversation Table will not meet on November 22 due to the Thanksgiving break.

Join the French Club for a conversation hour for French speaking individuals of varying levels to practice the French language.

Join advanced Swahili students from Swahili 3 to practice the language outside of the classroom!

Note: Meetings will take place weekly in the Global Hub, during Fall semester, except on September 20 and October 18.

Dr. Reider is a leading authority of Japanese tales and the supernatural. Her scholarly publications include Tales of the Supernatural in Early Modern Japan: Kaidan, Akinari, Ugetsu
Monogatari (2002), Japanese Demon Lore: Oni form Ancient Times to the Present (2010), Seven Demon Stories from Medieval Japan (2016) and Mountain Witches: Yamauba (2021).

Join weekly Bate-Papo Portuguese conversation practice for all levels, from brand-new beginners to advanced or heritage speakers!

Note: Meetings will take place weekly in the Global Hub except on September 27, October 18, and November 1.

The guest lecture provides an insightful exploration of Joseph Mbele's "Chicken in the Bus book," delving into its themes of cultural adaptation, resilience, and community.

Mangia con noi! Bring your lunch and chat with us! Pitt students only, all levels welcome!

Come meet international students, make friends, practice conversational English, and have fun together, during these weekly discussion groups coordinated by the English Language Institute. Feel free to bring your lunch :)

Art Gives Hope in Times of Political Upheaval and Darkness.

Join the Department of German and the Jewish Studies Program for this timely commemorative event organized by Professor Dr. Amy Colin. Students from her German studies seminars will read Paul Celan’s “Die Todesfuge” (Death Fugue) in Michael Hamburger’s English translation and present the work of Jewish artists who survived the Holocaust, Sculptress Irene Fröhlich-Wiener (Switzerland) will show ways in which her work and art in general can create a spiritual and emotional bond between people in times of violence and war, and anthropologist C. Raman Schlemmer will discuss the persecution of the famous avant-garde artist Oskar Schlemmer in Nazi Germany and his reception today. German Honorary Consul Paul Overby will participate in the opening of the event.

Dr. Taras Filenko is newly returned from Ukraine and the surrounding region, where Ukrainian refugees have sought shelter from the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, 2022. Come hear an in-person eyewitness account from someone with a lifelong network of family, friends, and colleagues, many who are displaced from their homes to locations inside Ukraine and abroad.

What hope is there for victory? Is US support waning? What kinds of help are most valuable at this moment? What is the life of students during war?

Taras Filenko is an ethnomusicologist, lecturer, and concert pianist with doctoral degrees from Kyiv’s Academy of Music and the University of Pittsburgh’s Music Department. He has presented his work internationally in Austria, Canada, Belgium, France, Russia, the Baltic states, and Ukraine. Based on recently discovered materials, much of his research concerns forgotten and prohibited composers from the 19th and 20th centuries. Since last year’s full scale invasion, Dr Filenko has volunteered his talent and expertise for numerous events to educate about Ukrainian culture and raise funds for humanitarian support.

Sodikoff is a cultural anthropologist interested in the political economy of biodiversity loss, conservation, and restoration with extensive research on labor and rain forest conservation in Madagascar. Her book , Forest and Labor in Madagascar: From Colonial Concession to Global Biosphere (Indiana University Press, 2012), is an anthropological-historical account of the role of subaltern labor in forest conservation and ecotourism efforts. She is currently examining the problem of land degradation and zoonosis, disease that spills over from animal species to humans. The current project is a multispecies epidemiology of the plague in villages of the Moramanga district in eastern Madagascar, where an outbreak of pneumonic plague occurred in 2015 and risks recurring.

Nele is a young call center agent who moonlights as a cloakroom attendant at the State Opera. When she falls in love with the small-time street dancer, Kolja, she must confront the demons of her past and descend into the underworld. Talent scout Hollbach notices Nele's singing talent and offers her a great opportunity for a career as an opera singer. Axel Ranisch's modern adaptation of Orpheus and Eurydice is a cinematic opera pastiche, camp, comedy, tragedy, not to be missed.

Have you ever wanted to learn 12 different languages in one night? This is your chance! The Less-Commonly-Taught Languages Center is hosting an event on Thursday November 9th that will allow you to sample up to 12 of the languages offered at Pitt over the span of 2 hours! After 15 minutes of learning, you will rotate to the next station and start over with a new language. This event is perfect for anyone looking to find a language for their Second Language GER.

The award-winning Green & Blue explores the painful and humorous realities faced by the individuals who patrolled the border during the height of the conflict.

An officer from the Royal Ulster Constabulary in his green uniform and Eddie from An Garda Síochána, resplendent in blue, communicate via crackly radios until an explosive incident forces them to meet across a field only farmers know the location of. Focusing on what it’s like to be hunted when you’re protecting a man-made line on the ground, the play looks at the societal and human cost of borders.

‘Green & Blue’ is based on real-life interviews with former serving officers. Winner of The Lustrum Award for Best Theatrical Moment at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe

Hear from a former student of the program. Join either session:

Tuesday, November 7, 8pm

      Cathedral of Learning Room CL253 OR Zoom: https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYtf-uoqjwjGdYc0P85niBsW5UKm_8njTcd

This seminar delves into the multifaceted nature of the Africa-China relationship and its impact on the international stage. Exploring the economic, political, socio-cultural, and developmental dimensions of this dynamic partnership, the workshop seeks to analyze how the growing interaction between Africa and China is shaping and influencing the global geopolitical landscape and economic development. Through its focus on infrastructure as a tool of politics, the workshop discusses not only Chinese investments in infrastructure in Africa, but also provides examples from other regions (Europe, Latin America, etc.) about the challenges and opportunities that arise from these relationships.

Featured Speakers:
Lena Kaufmann, University of Zurich, Postdoctoral Researcher/Lecturer

Matthew Johnson, AltaSiva, Founder/Director, Member of the National Committee on US-China Relations

Agnieszka Joniak-Luthi, University of Fribourg, Department of Social Services

Francis Semwaza, University of Florida, Department of Anthropology, Former Fulbright/PhD Student

Abdourahmane Seck, Gaston Berger University, Senegal Center for Social Sciences of Religion

Interested in interning abroad but don't know where to start? In this installment of the UCIS Career Toolkit Series, hear from fellow students who have interned in Africa previously and learn how you can create a personalized internship in an African country! All disciplines are welcome. Pizza provided!

Come practice your conversational Polish at these weekly meetings!

Of the ten initial teams participating in Pitt's 2023 Global Health Case Competition four teams were invited to participate in the final and will present their proposals in front a panel of judges on November 10, 2:30 PM, 1500 Posvar Hall. After a culmination of five weeks of workshops and equipped with a comprehensive lib guide, teams of students will present their response to the prompt: to develop a comprehensive strategy for controlling Schistosomiasis, providing supportive care for those infected, preventing future infection, and addressing water access and usage in the Dagana department of the Northwestern region of Senegal. The plan should be developed with local community input and designed to be implemented over five years with a budget of $3 million USD total.

We invite the Pitt community to attend their presentations.

Join Kya Baat Hai weekly conversation hours for students to practice speaking in Hindi and Urdu and connect over shared cultural experiences!

Join Addverse Poesia, an international and multilingual poetry group that discusses, reads and translates poems in at least 4 languages, for their weekly meetings!

The award-winning Green & Blue explores the painful and humorous realities faced by the individuals who patrolled the border during the height of the conflict.

An officer from the Royal Ulster Constabulary in his green uniform and Eddie from An Garda Síochána, resplendent in blue, communicate via crackly radios until an explosive incident forces them to meet across a field only farmers know the location of. Focusing on what it’s like to be hunted when you’re protecting a man-made line on the ground, the play looks at the societal and human cost of borders.

‘Green & Blue’ is based on real-life interviews with former serving officers. Winner of The Lustrum Award for Best Theatrical Moment at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe

The award-winning Green & Blue explores the painful and humorous realities faced by the individuals who patrolled the border during the height of the conflict.

An officer from the Royal Ulster Constabulary in his green uniform and Eddie from An Garda Síochána, resplendent in blue, communicate via crackly radios until an explosive incident forces them to meet across a field only farmers know the location of. Focusing on what it’s like to be hunted when you’re protecting a man-made line on the ground, the play looks at the societal and human cost of borders.

‘Green & Blue’ is based on real-life interviews with former serving officers. Winner of The Lustrum Award for Best Theatrical Moment at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe

The 41st Annual Polishfest is designed to give the festival guests, families, and students an opportunity to experience the living cultures of the Polish, Lithuanian and Carpatho-Rusyn Peoples that throughout history were joined, separated and independently are connected. A living legacy presented to teach, to experience, to taste, to try and to have fun.

This family-oriented event is FREE to everyone and will include many activities such as Polish name writing; Lithuanian angel papercutting demonstration; pierogi / pirohy cooking demonstrations and samples; and Carpatho-Rusyn spinning and lace making; and a pierogi toss.

Every display, demonstration, and activity will offer an explanation of the cultural history of the tradition.

Entertainment will include Polish folk songs with a violinist; a Lithuanian choir with Bocjai folk songs; Polish Karazula folk songs and folk dancing by the “Lajkoniki” Ensemble; Polka dancing; and contemporary Polish music.

The Foreign Language & Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship program is a prestigious and competitive federal award from the U.S. Department of Education that allows select Pitt undergraduate and graduate students to devote full time attention to their chosen modern foreign language and area studies specialty. There are separate competitions for the Academic Year FLAS Fellowship and the Summer FLAS Fellowship. Advanced doctoral students conducting field or archival research in a supported world language may also be eligible.

Fellowships available to support study of Amharic, Arabic, Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Chinese, Czech, Farsi, French*, Irish (Gaelic), German*, Greek (Modern), Haitian Creole, Hebrew (Modern), Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Russian, Slovak, Spanish*, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, and more!

* only available for graduate students studying at the advanced level

Stop by to learn more!

Andrei Muraru was appointed as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Romania to the United States on July 7, 2021. Ambassador Muraru has held positions at the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile (IICCMER); the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Romania and was also personal advisor to the General Director of the National Archives of Romania (CNSAS). Ambassaro Muraru was a member of the Administrative Board of the Romanian Television. He was Senior Advisor to the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, at the Presidential Administration, serving as the head of the Department of Relationship with Public Authorities and Civil Society. Ambassador Muraru was awarded the ”Grande Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana” by the President of the Italian Republic, H.E. Sergio Mattarella.

Ambassador Muraru holds a PhD in History from the University “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” in Iași. He was an Erasmus-Socrates student at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, as well as a Doctoral Fellow at New Europe College and at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He received a postdoctoral fellowship at Yad Vashem - The International Institute for Holocaust Research. Ambassador Muraru is the author of the volume “Vișinescu, the Forgotten Torturer: the Prison, the Crimes, the Trial.”

Una conversación con David Altman (Universidad Católica de Chile) sobre Democracy Report 2023, el último informe de V-Dem, con énfasis en la situación de América Latina y el Caribe.

Beginner Swahili students are invited to join this weekly conversation hour to practice the language outside of the classroom.

Come meet international students, make friends, practice conversational English, and have fun together, during these weekly discussion groups coordinated by the English Language Institute. Feel free to bring your lunch :)

Join German Club at Pitt’s weekly meetings during Fall 2023 to converse in German and learn German culture!

Have you ever wondered where those beautiful scenes come from on the big screen in the Global Hub? Wanted to see more Pitt students in them?

At this event, you will hear from the 3 undergraduate students who participated in the inaugural UCIS Digital Narrative Workshop Series last Spring, before they embarked on global adventures over the Summer! During the event, these students will share about their global experiences and their experiences participating in this workshop series, and we will get to see each of the sort clips they curated while abroad, in Mexico, South Korea, and Argentina. Pizza and Global Distinction credit will be provided!

Hear from and pose questions to students from five REEESNe institutions, currently or recently studying (in) Russian in Almaty and Tbilisi.
The conversations will be roughly 30 minutes each.

It is 60 years since the signing of the Yaoundé Convention (1963). This was a moment in the history of decolonization when the Associated African States, 12 mainly young postcolonial Western African countries, signed a trade agreement with the also young European Economic Community. The Yaoundé Convention was part of the EEC’s Eurafrica initiative, an effort to maintain a presence in the former colonies. Yaoundé initiated a series of trade and aid agreements that replaced the colonial relation with a developmental model. An era of trade and infrastructural development followed. However, many critics have suggested that this strategy of aid set off a pattern of uneven and unequal development.

This Conversation on Europe and Africa takes this event as an opportunity to consider development aid in Africa historically and in its contemporary form. Our panelists bring a mix of historical and regional knowledge to the conversation, including Mounir Saidani from CERES in Tunis.

Although Tunisia was not part of the Yaoundé convention, it is at the center of controversial aid discussions: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's recent visit to Tunis as part of a deal of aid for migration "control” left many critics concerned about this new turn in EU-Africa relations.

Moderator:
Randall Halle, University of Pittsburgh

Panelists:
Mounir Saidani, Editor in Chief of Omran Social Sciences Periodical issued by Arabb Center for Research and Political Studies- Doha
Pernille Røge, University of Pittsburgh
Michael Odijie, Univeristy College London
Abdou Seck, Gaston Berger University, Groupe D’Action et D’Etude Critique Africa (GAEC)

Come meet international students, make friends, practice conversational English, and have fun together, during these weekly discussion groups coordinated by the English Language Institute. Feel free to bring your lunch :)

Join the French Club for a conversation hour for French speaking individuals of varying levels to practice the French language.

Are you looking to gain experience that will help prepare you for a globally-connected job market? Stop by Drop-In Hours to learn more about getting the Global Distinction added to your academic transcript, receiving special recognition at graduation, and standing out to prospective employers!

Fall 2023 Global Distinction Drop-In Hours: Tuesdays at 3:30-4:30 pm, except on November 21.

Come practice your Hungarian speaking skills and meet other individuals who are interested in the language. All levels are welcome!

Sasha Senderovich will discuss his new book, "How the Soviet Jew Was Made", which offers a close reading of postrevolutionary Yiddish and Russian-language literature and film that recasts the Soviet Jew as a novel cultural figure: an ambivalent character navigating between the Jewish past and Bolshevik modernity. Senderovich urges us to see the Soviet Jew anew, as not only a member of a minority group, but also a particular kind of liminal being.

Hear from and pose questions to students from five REEESNe institutions, currently or recently studying (in) Russian in Bishkek, Daugavpils, and Yerevan.
The conversations will be roughly 30 minutes each.

Come practice your BCMS conversational skills at this weekly, informal language table!

NOTE: BCMS Conversation Table will not meet on November 22 due to the Thanksgiving break.

The purpose of the Student Club Coalition is to give clubs related to Latin America, the Caribbean, and the diasporas, an opportunity to be officially related to and involved with CLAS, providing mutual support for student engagement.

Join the French Club for a conversation hour for French speaking individuals of varying levels to practice the French language.

Award wining journalist Neerja Chowdhury will discuss her recent book: How Prime Ministers Decide India’s prime ministers have taken decisions that changed the course of the country’s history.

This book by Neerja Chowdhury, an award-winning journalist and political commentator, goes beyond the news headlines to provide an eye-opening account of how some of the most important political decisions in independent India were taken.

Based on hundreds of interviews that the author conducted with prime ministers, key figures in the political establishment, bureaucrats, aides, policymakers, and even fixers—the book provides remarkable insights that have been gleaned over forty years of high-level reporting on the national political scene.
How Prime Ministers Decide is an unparalleled book about modern Indian politics which will change the way we view how prime ministers govern the country.

Join advanced Swahili students from Swahili 3 to practice the language outside of the classroom!

Note: Meetings will take place weekly in the Global Hub, during Fall semester, except on September 20 and October 18.

Join weekly Bate-Papo Portuguese conversation practice for all levels, from brand-new beginners to advanced or heritage speakers!

Note: Meetings will take place weekly in the Global Hub except on September 27, October 18, and November 1.

Mangia con noi! Bring your lunch and chat with us! Pitt students only, all levels welcome!

Come meet international students, make friends, practice conversational English, and have fun together, during these weekly discussion groups coordinated by the English Language Institute. Feel free to bring your lunch :)

In the second installment of the Global Issues Through Literature Series (GILS), educators will convene to discuss The Roads of the Roma: A PEN Anthology of Gypsy Writers.

This year's theme is: Marginalized Voices in Global Context: Centering Overlooked Narratives in Literature

This reading group for K-16 educators explores literary texts from a global perspective. Content specialists present the work and its context, and participants brainstorm innovative pedagogical practices for incorporating the text and its themes into the curriculum. Sessions this year will take place in a hybrid format, with virtual and in-person discussions taking place on Thursday evenings from 5-8 PM (EST). A copy of the book and 3 Act 48 credit hours are provided for each session.

Kapka Kassabova's writing eschews a narrow register of academic writing and explores different chronotypes of nourishment, from the "Red Riviera" of the Black Sea coast to the interconnected lakes Ohrid and Prespa and the valley of the river Mesta, abundant with local practices of healing. Join us for a discussion about situated, in-depth histories of well-being, care, and nourishment as we collectively contemplate the potential of the Balkans as a space of nourishment.

This lecture is the keynote address of "The Balkans as A Place of Nourishment" Conference, which is taking place November 16th-18th in Jena, Germany. This conference explores the region's rich history as a space and idea of nourishment, whether of plants and land, non-human and animals and human relationships, or collective solidarity in challenging surroundings that often receive little attention, whether in scholarship or in public. The conference espouses theoretical approaches that highlight attention to compassion, healing, and eco-restorative practices of companionship.

Come practice your conversational Polish at these weekly meetings!

Join Kya Baat Hai weekly conversation hours for students to practice speaking in Hindi and Urdu and connect over shared cultural experiences!

Come practice your BCMS conversational skills at this weekly, informal language table!

NOTE: BCMS Conversation Table will not meet on November 22 due to the Thanksgiving break.

Come practice your conversational Polish at these weekly meetings!

Director: Martin Repka

The film tells the story and of an older poetry club, Lonely Runners. But it is mainly about the great friendship between Ivan, Peter and Ivan. At the beginning of this road movie, Peter leaves Offenbach am Main, his current residence, to go to see Ivan in Bratislava and then to go together to Liptovský Mikuláš to visit another Ivan. They want a meeting between Lonely Runners and Lonely Runners. But the main motto and inspiration behind is their friendship.

82 min.; 2019; Genre: creative documentary
Slovak version; Subtitles: English

Beginner Swahili students are invited to join this weekly conversation hour to practice the language outside of the classroom.

Come meet international students, make friends, practice conversational English, and have fun together, during these weekly discussion groups coordinated by the English Language Institute. Feel free to bring your lunch :)

Join German Club at Pitt’s weekly meetings during Fall 2023 to converse in German and learn German culture!

Monday, November 27, 8pm

Cathedral of Learning Room 253 OR Zoom: https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMuceytrjgrG9VPsFLNc7km-MhiwzWy6_vq

Come meet international students, make friends, practice conversational English, and have fun together, during these weekly discussion groups coordinated by the English Language Institute. Feel free to bring your lunch :)

Join the French Club for a conversation hour for French speaking individuals of varying levels to practice the French language.

Are you looking to gain experience that will help prepare you for a globally-connected job market? Stop by Drop-In Hours to learn more about getting the Global Distinction added to your academic transcript, receiving special recognition at graduation, and standing out to prospective employers!

Fall 2023 Global Distinction Drop-In Hours: Tuesdays at 3:30-4:30 pm, except on November 21.

Peter Haslinger is Director of the Herder Institute for Research on East Central Europe. He is a distinguished professor in history at the University of Giessen. His main areas of interest are security and conflict studies; minorities, multilingualism and intersectionality; nationalism, regionalism and historical memory; spatial turn and historical cartography. He has published widely on gaps in theory and model building that are related to theories of secularization and their spatial and cultural aspects. Peter Haslinger has been co-investigator in the LOEWE research cluster "Regions of Conflict in Eastern Europe" (2017-2021), the Jean Monnet Network SecurEU, as well as Principal Investigator in the collaborative research center (SFB) "Dynamics of security" (since 2014), where he was also the speaker of the concept group "Spaces of Security."

Agenda
Session I: New Trends in Security and Conflict Studies--Introductions, background, and statement of interests. Questions and discussions.

Session II: Critical Perspectives on Security and Conflict--Securitization Theory and/vs. Conflict studies. What is the added value of perspectives from humanities and cultural studies.

Session III: The War of Russia against Ukraine, as an example--Open Thesis: Putin's regime, history of Russian-Ukrainian relationship, novel character of the war (cyber aspects), the significance of war for Europe, and on the global level (China, Africa, grain supply and migration crisis). What can we learn from the war for security and conflict studies?

Session IV: Final Discussion and Wrap Up.

Facilitated by Randall Halle, Director, European Studies Center.

Come practice your Hungarian speaking skills and meet other individuals who are interested in the language. All levels are welcome!

Join Lingovation, a club focused on merging language and service, for their general body meeting.

Come practice your BCMS conversational skills at this weekly, informal language table!

NOTE: BCMS Conversation Table will not meet on November 22 due to the Thanksgiving break.

Join the French Club for a conversation hour for French speaking individuals of varying levels to practice the French language.

Join advanced Swahili students from Swahili 3 to practice the language outside of the classroom!

Note: Meetings will take place weekly in the Global Hub, during Fall semester, except on September 20 and October 18.

Join weekly Bate-Papo Portuguese conversation practice for all levels, from brand-new beginners to advanced or heritage speakers!

Note: Meetings will take place weekly in the Global Hub except on September 27, October 18, and November 1.

This summer specific SHRS Goes Global information session will look at global experiences offered in the summer and centering on health, health care, health information and disability. SHRS undergraduate students, come learn from the Pitt Global Hub and Global Experiences Office, as well as student presenters, about opportunities to study abroad, earn the Global Distinction to demonstrate your global mindset to employers, and more!

Join biweekly Turkish Language Table meetings for an opportunity for students to practice Turkish while
enjoying Turkish snacks and refreshments.

Note: During Fall semester, Meetings will take place biweekly on November 1, November 29, and December 13, but NOT on November 15.

Mangia con noi! Bring your lunch and chat with us! Pitt students only, all levels welcome!

In this talk, Robin Visser will speak about her new book, Questioning Borders: Ecoliterature of China and Taiwan. Published by Columbia University Press in 2023, the book engages with the intersection of ethnic minorities and environmental studies in modern China from a comparative, interdisciplinary, and global context. Lunch provided.
This event is sponsored by the Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research, Global Studies in the History Department, the Environmental Humanities Research Seminar, and the Humanities Scholars Program.

Pitt in Rome info session on Thursday 11/30 in the Global Hub from 12-1pm. Come learn about the Pitt in Rome program for Summer 2024, applications are open until 1/22!

EU ENLARGEMENT LECTURE SERIES: 20th Anniversary of the EU Enlargement

As part of our continued efforts to bring together experts with diverse perspectives to discuss contemporary issues facing Europe, the European Studies Center/European Union Center of Excellence (ESC/EUCE) along with the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (REEES) offers a new lecture series to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the EU Enlargement. This virtual lecture series will be held on the last Thursday of each month. 

2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the biggest enlargement of the European Union in its history. Ten countries, mainly former socialist Eastern European states, almost doubled the EU from 15 to 25 member states. May 1, 2004, was the triumphal return to the European Family for many. But for some, it initiated a process of disenchantment with the EU and the West.

Each month, the ESC/EUCE, together with REEES at the University of Pittsburgh, will focus our attention on a specific country or a group of countries in the EU by inviting experts and eyewitnesses to discuss the hopes and realities of the EU integration before and after expansion to address what hopes were fulfilled and what new hopes exist for the Union in the present.

Each session is recorded and later posted on the internet with suggested additional readings and further resources. Please check out our webpage for more details and mark the last Thursday of the month to attend this event.

Moderator:
Gregor Thum, Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh Department of History

Panelists:
Michal Vašečka, PhD, Bratislava Policy Institute. He is sociologist by background and focuses his interests on issues of ethnicity, race, antisemitism, and migration studies. As an Associate Professor he operates at the Bratislava International School of Liberal Arts (BISLA) since 2015, he is a program director of Bratislava Policy Institute. Since 2012 Michal Vašečka serves as a representative of Slovakia in the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) of the Council of Europe. He operated at the Faculty of Social Studies of Masaryk University in Brno in 2002-2017 and at the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences of the Comenius University in 2006-2009.

Miloslav Bahna, PhD., Slovak Academy of Science. He is a senior researcher at the Institute for Sociology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, where he currently serves as the director. His research focuses on international migration, quantitative comparative sociology and quantitative survey methodology. He is a long term representative of Slovakia in the International Social Survey Programme and the CESSDA ERIC pan-European infrastructure. His first book focuses on post-2004 EU enlargement migration from Slovakia (VEDA, the publishing house of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, 2011).

Come meet international students, make friends, practice conversational English, and have fun together, during these weekly discussion groups coordinated by the English Language Institute. Feel free to bring your lunch :)

Indigenous knowledge of local ecosystems often challenges settler-colonial cosmologies that naturalize resource extraction and the relocation of nomadic, hunting, foraging, or fishing peoples. In this talk, Dr. Visser will present findings from her new book, Questioning Borders (Columbia UP, 2023), which analyzes relations among humans, animals, ecosystems, and the cosmos in ecoliterature by Han and non-Han Indigenous writers of China and Taiwan. She will compare “root-seeking” novels by Beijing writers, set in China’s “exotic” southwest, with literature by Wa, Nuosu Yi, and Gyalrong Tibetan Indigenes from Yunnan and Sichuan provinces to discuss the different implications of utilizing indigenous ecological perspectives in these works.

Robin Visser is professor in modern Chinese and Sinophone literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is the author of Questioning Borders: Ecoliteratures in China and Taiwan (Columbia UP, 2023) and Cities Surround the Countryside: Urban Aesthetics in Postsocialist China (Duke UP, 2010).