Dr. Urbansky discusses the challenges faced by Chinese immigrants during the late Tsarist Empire and early Soviet Union, highlighting the racial and cultural prejudices that fueled hostilities in urban settings. His analysis explores how these early interactions shaped the experiences and perceptions of Chinese communities in a rapidly changing socio-political landscape.
Join our upcoming ValEUs Lecture on “European Values in the EU´s Developmental, Energy and Climate Policies” with Randall Halle. Halle directs the European Studies Center and is a Klaus W. Jonas Professor of German Film and Cultural Studies at the University of Pittsburgh.
The event is organised by the Institute for European Studies of the European University Viadrina (IFES) as a collaboration between its Talk Series “Human & Planet” and the “ValEUs Lecture Series”.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
Meeting ID: 686 8217 1250
Passcode: 756487
On January 7, join us for Italian Heritage Night when we host the Columbus Blue Jackets! Featuring a concourse display courtesy of the University of Pittsburgh Nationality Rooms & Intercultural Exchange Programs, be here when we honor the incredible impact of our city’s Italian community and celebrate their rich culture and history.
In celebration of your heritage, lock in special pricing now. Plus, the first 200 community members that purchase tickets through this offer will receive an exclusive Penguins-branded Italian Heritage Hockey Shirt!
To purchase groups of 10 or more tickets or to request additional information, please contact Olivia Stawovy at (412) 255-1811.
Penguins vs. Blue Jackets
Jan 07, 2025 7:00 PM EST
PPG Paints Arena
1001 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, US
Purchase Deadline: Jan 07, 2025 5:00 PM EST
Are you in the Trans, Queer, or 2SLGBTQIA+ community and want to travel abroad? Are you a student, faculty, or staff member in these communities who has traveled abroad previously? Join us for an informal discussion on traveling abroad and risk assessment, where we share stories and tips for how to feel confident studying abroad with a marginalized gender/sexual identity.
Refreshments provided!
RSVP: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdZeQ3HElnmK1tf91wEdS5638alRVez...
In the aftermath of the 2024 election, we find ourselves at a crucial turning point. With promises to deport millions of Latinos, we face consequences that will impact not just our communities, but the entire fabric of the U.S. and beyond.
This impending social and economic storm will generate forceful opposition, though its shape is not yet determined. In this context, this panel discussion will emphasize these major questions:
How extensive could deportations be, and what are the potential economic impacts?
How can vulnerable communities protect themselves, and how can allies best support them?
What are the global effects of these issues, beyond Latin America and the Caribbean?
What can individuals do to help, and how can we effectively fact-check this information?
Join us for a challenging but necessary conversation in a safe, collaborative space that will include academics, community, and activist leaders.
Sheila Vélez Martínez, Jack and Lovell Olender Professor of Asylum Refugee and Immigration Law/Pitt
Rosamaria Cristello, Executive Director & Founder Latino Community Center
Nathan Harper, Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs Manager, City of Pittsburgh
Michael Goodhart, Professor, Political Science, University of Pittsburgh
To register: https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/clas/content/clas-event-registration. This will be a hybrid event. The ZOOM link will be provided at a later date to online registered participants. For in-person participants, refreshments will be provided.
Sponsors: The Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS), the Center for Ethnic Studies Research (CERS), the Global Studies Center (GSC) at the University of Pittsburgh.
The Armenian Nationality Room of the Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs proudly presents a classical music concert featuring renowned Armenian and American musicians from Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, and Toronto. Two acclaimed ensembles, Trio Shell and Kassia Ensemble, will perform works by celebrated Armenian composers such as Komitas, Arno Babajanian, Aram Khachaturian, and more. The program will showcase a rich blend of violins, viola, cello, piano, and clarinet, celebrating the beauty of Armenian musical heritage. Additionally, enjoy an instrumental rendition of a piece by Charles Aznavour, adding a special touch to the concert.
Join Brazil Nuts (Luso-Brazilian Student Association) for coffee, light snacks, and a chance to learn basic conversational skills in French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Stop by the Global Hub to learn more about Pitt in Cyprus and speak with the faculty leader!
Attention: Undergraduate students! 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!
Stop by the Posvar Gloval Hub to learn more about Reading and Writing London and talk with the faculty leader over tea and biscuits!
The event starts by 4-5pm which begins with the information session for interested candidates of the FLAS Fellowship. Here, a recap of what the fellowship is about and any further information needed would be passed to the attendees. Then from 5-6pm would be the drop in session where they can ask questions to current Fellows and UCIS Staff present regrading their on-going application as the FLAS fellowship deadline in February 17th 2025.
Get paid for pursuing proficiency of a less commonly taught languages while at Pitt! Learn about submitting a competitive FLAS application (deadline: February 17) and chat with UCIS advisors about any questions you may have about the application process. Pizza Served!
Join the German Club on Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice German speaking and listening skills.
Come by 810 William Pitt Union to learn more about this wonderful Summer 2025 program and speak with faculty!
Mangia con noi! Bring your lunch and chat with us! Pitt students only, all levels welcome!
Swedish Speaking Club is a space for practicing Swedish and deepening cultural understanding alongside others who are learning.
Join Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Clyde Pickett and a member of the student community, with the UCIS DEIB Manager serving as moderator, for a thought-provoking discussion about the role of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in advancing Pitt’s global mission. This event will explore the future of DEI work in the context of a shifting national political landscape and its impact on fostering an inclusive and globally engaged university community.
This event is part of the University Center for International Studies' "Unpacking the Buzzwords" mini-series and is generously supported by a grant from the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
Join us on Zoom to hear from the faculty leaders of Culture Through Literature in Barcelona and learn more about the Summer 2025 program!
Join undergraduate Pitt students for a conversation hour to practice speaking in Hindi and Urdu and connect over shared cultural experiences.
Kya Baat Hai will meet weekly, on Fridays, during the 2024-2025 academic year, EXCEPT on March 7.
2025 European Union Film Festival
Double Feature:
Feathers or Glamour (Estonia), 2023, 28 MIN
Directed by Eva Kübar
Estonian language with English subtitles
Estonian urban chicken “farming.” Chickens as pets in bedazzled diapers. It is a short film.
Rewilding (France) 2018, 52 MIN
Directed by Vincent Perazio
French language with English subtitles
What if we brought back big carnivores throughout Europe, gave them vast areas to reproduce, and rediscovered the past landscapes? This fascinating vision raises many questions, though. Should we not focus on the existing natural heritage? How could we implement it in modern and densely populated countries? What would the risk to human activity be? This film is a unique opportunity to look at both sides of the coin. It also profiles the wildlife resurgence happening on European doorsteps, with many species now coming back thanks to legal protection and dedicated conservation efforts over the last 30 years.
Pitt Students/Faculty and Staff: Free Admission with a valid Pitt ID
General Admission: $9.00 (Students/Seniors) and $11.00 (Regular)
Join Addverse, a transcultural, multilingual, and intergenerational poetry organization, for weekly meetings in the Global Hub.
Addverse will meet weekly, on Fridays, during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 24 and March 7.
2025 European Film Festival
The Animal Kingdom (France), 2023, 128 MIN
Directed by Thomas Cailley
French language with English subtitles
Opening Feature Film:
In The Animal Kingdom, a visionary new thriller that drops viewers into an extraordinary world where mutations in human genetics cause people to transform into hybrid creatures, François (Roman Duris) does everything he can to save his wife, who is affected by this mysterious condition. As some of the creatures disappear into a nearby forest, François embarks with Emile (Paul Kircher), their 16-year-old son, on a quest to find her with help from a local police officer (Adèle Exarchopoulos). From acclaimed director Thomas Cailley, the film world premiered as the opening night selection of Cannes Un Certain Regard.
Pitt Students/Faculty and Staff: Free Admission with a valid Pitt ID
General Admission: $9.00 (Students/Seniors) and $11.00 (Regular)
We are delighted to invite you to join us for an afternoon of engaging conversations, meaningful connections, and the opportunity to create long-term collaborations. Come find us in Posvar Hall 4130 for this special conversation!
2025 European Union Film Festival
Next to Nothing/Tyle Co Nic (Poland), 2024, 93 MIN
Directed by Grzegorz Debowski
Polish language with English subtitles
A group of farmers organized a protest in front of the house of an MP who, contrary to previous promises, voted against their interests. At the same time, the body of one of the local farmers is found. Everyone suspects the leader of the protest, Jarek, even though the deceased was his closest friend. The man begins his own investigation, which leads him to find out the true causes of the deceased's death and, at the same time, verifies the attitudes of people around him.
Pitt Students/Faculty and Staff: Free Admission with a valid Pitt ID
General Admission: $9.00 (Students/Seniors) and $11.00 (Regular)
2025 European Union Film Festival
Double Feature:
Feathers or Glamour (Estonia), 2023, 28 MIN
Directed by Eva Kübar
Estonian urban chicken “farming.” Chickens as pets in bedazzled diapers. It is a short film.
Estonian language with English subtitles
Rewilding (France) 2018, 52 MIN
Directed by Vincent Perazio
What if we brought back big carnivores throughout Europe, gave them vast areas to reproduce, and rediscovered the past landscapes? This fascinating vision raises many questions, though. Should we not focus on the existing natural heritage? How could we implement it in modern and densely populated countries? What would the risk to human activity be? This film is a unique opportunity to look at both sides of the coin. It also profiles the wildlife resurgence happening on European doorsteps, with many species now coming back thanks to legal protection and dedicated conservation efforts over the last 30 years.
French language with English subtitles.
Pitt Students/Faculty and Staff: Free Admission with a valid Pitt ID
General Admission: $9.00 (Students/Seniors) and $11.00 (Regular)
2025 European Union Film Festival
Afire (Germany) 2023, 102 MIN
Directed by Christian Petzold
German language with English subtitles
While vacationing by the Baltic Sea, writer Leon (Thomas Schubert) and photographer Felix (Langston Uibel) are surprised by the presence of Nadja (Paula Beer), a mysterious young woman staying as a guest at Felix’s family’s holiday home. Nadja distracts Leon from finishing his latest novel and with brutal honesty, forces him to confront his caustic temperament and self-absorption. As Nadja and Leon grow closer, an encroaching forest fire threatens the group and tensions escalate when a handsome lifeguard and Leon's tight-lipped book editor also arrive.
Pitt Students/Faculty and Staff: Free Admission with a valid Pitt ID
General Admission: $9.00 (Students/Seniors) and $11.00 (Regular)
2025 European Union Film Festival
Duty of Care, The Climate Trials (Netherlands), 2022, 57 MIN
Directed by Nic Balthazar
Dutch and English language with English subtitles
Duty of Care tells the exclusive inside story of Roger Cox, the first and only lawyer to have successfully sued a government and an oil giant in landmark court cases that established catastrophic climate change can be made illegal. Roger’s ground-breaking cases against the Dutch government and oil major Shell established that those in power owe a duty of care to citizens to avoid catastrophic climate change, stunning legal experts and sending shock-waves through parliaments and corporate boardrooms around the world.
With echoes of the lawsuits against Big Tobacco, this inspirational 55-minute documentary gives viewers a behind-the-scenes experience of the David v. Goliath battle as one Dutch property lawyer turned litigation maverick takes on powerful states and the world’s largest oil company in the courtroom drama of our lifetimes.
Pitt Students/Faculty and Staff: Free Admission with a valid Pitt ID
General Admission: $9.00 (Students/Seniors) and $11.00 (Regular)
2025 European Union Film Festival
Luzzu (Malta), 2021, 94 MIN
Directed by Alex Camilleri
Maltese language with English subtitles
Hardworking new father Jesmark, played by a real-life Maltese fisherman, must choose between the traditional way of life practiced by his family for generations and an illicit black-market fishing operation in this stunning neorealist tale operating in the tradition of Luchino Visconti, Roberto Rosselini, and the Dardenne brothers.
Pitt Students/Faculty and Staff: Free Admission with a valid Pitt ID
General Admission: $9.00 (Students/Seniors) and $11.00 (Regular)
2025 European Union Film Festival
Afire (Germany) 2023, 102 MIN
Directed by Christian Petzold
German language with English subtitles
While vacationing by the Baltic Sea, writer Leon (Thomas Schubert) and photographer Felix (Langston Uibel) are surprised by the presence of Nadja (Paula Beer), a mysterious young woman staying as a guest at Felix’s family’s holiday home. Nadja distracts Leon from finishing his latest novel and with brutal honesty, forces him to confront his caustic temperament and self-absorption. As Nadja and Leon grow closer, an encroaching forest fire threatens the group and tensions escalate when a handsome lifeguard and Leon's tight-lipped book editor also arrive.
Pitt Students/Faculty and Staff: Free Admission with a valid Pitt ID
General Admission: $9.00 (Students/Seniors) and $11.00 (Regular)
2025 European Union Film Festival
Journey to Utopia (Demark), 2020, 88 MIN
Directed by Erlend E. Mo
Danish language with English subtitles
Feeling desperate about climate change, filmmaker Erlend, opera singer Ingeborg and their children leave their farm to join an ecological experiment: Project Permatopia. The goal is to become fully self-sufficient. But the reality is much more difficult – bordering on disastrous. Will they give up?
Pitt Students/Faculty and Staff: Free Admission with a valid Pitt ID
General Admission: $9.00 (Students/Seniors) and $11.00 (Regular)
Nicole Breland Aandahl (JD '01) will discuss her novel Motherland, a thriller set in 1968 Washington, D.C., that explores the intersection between the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, and gender inequity. The book builds on Nicole's background in Soviet Union studies, her work in national security, her lived experiences, and her parents' experience in 1968 Washington, D.C.
Nicole will discuss her research process, inspiration, and how her time at Pitt and study in Ukraine (during her JD education) impacted her work. She will also answer questions about her career track to becoming the first General Counsel at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., where she previously served as CSIS's senior Vice President for people and culture, which included the Human Resources department and Diversity and Leadership in International Affairs (DLIA) project.
Attention: Undergraduate students! 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!
2025 European Union Film Festival
Duty of Care, The Climate Trials (Netherlands), 2022, 57 MIN
Directed by Nic Balthazar
Dutch and English language with English subtitles
Duty of Care tells the exclusive inside story of Roger Cox, the first and only lawyer to have successfully sued a government and an oil giant in landmark court cases that established catastrophic climate change can be made illegal. Roger’s ground-breaking cases against the Dutch government and oil major Shell established that those in power owe a duty of care to citizens to avoid catastrophic climate change, stunning legal experts and sending shock-waves through parliaments and corporate boardrooms around the world.
With echoes of the lawsuits against Big Tobacco, this inspirational 55-minute documentary gives viewers a behind-the-scenes experience of the David v. Goliath battle as one Dutch property lawyer turned litigation maverick takes on powerful states and the world’s largest oil company in the courtroom drama of our lifetimes.
Pitt Students/Faculty and Staff: Free Admission with a valid Pitt ID
General Admission: $9.00 (Students/Seniors) and $11.00 (Regular)
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
2025 European Film Festival
The Animal Kingdom (France), 2023, 128 MIN
Directed by Thomas Cailley
French language with English subtitles
In The Animal Kingdom, a visionary new thriller that drops viewers into an extraordinary world where mutations in human genetics cause people to transform into hybrid creatures, François (Roman Duris) does everything he can to save his wife, who is affected by this mysterious condition. As some of the creatures disappear into a nearby forest, François embarks with Emile (Paul Kircher), their 16-year-old son, on a quest to find her with help from a local police officer (Adèle Exarchopoulos). From acclaimed director Thomas Cailley, the film world premiered as the opening night selection of Cannes Un Certain Regard.
Pitt Students/Faculty and Staff: Free Admission with a valid Pitt ID
General Admission: $9.00 (Students/Seniors) and $11.00 (Regular)
Celebrate the Year of the Snake! Fun Activities & Delicious Snacks. Come join us and bring in the Lunar New Yeat with joy and excitement!
2025 European Union Film Festival
Luzzu (Malta), 2021, 94 MIN
Directed by Alex Camilleri
Maltese language with English subtitles
Hardworking new father Jesmark, played by a real-life Maltese fisherman, must choose between the traditional way of life practiced by his family for generations and an illicit black-market fishing operation in this stunning neorealist tale operating in the tradition of Luchino Visconti, Roberto Rosselini, and the Dardenne brothers.
Pitt Students/Faculty and Staff: Free Admission with a valid Pitt ID
General Admission: $9.00 (Students/Seniors) and $11.00 (Regular)
2025 European Union Film Festival
Double Feature
6:00 PM-Feathers or Glamour (Estonia)
Estonian urban chicken “farming.” Chickens as pets in bedazzled diapers. It is a short film.
6:30 pm Alcarras (Spain)
In the small village of Alcarràs in Catalonia, the peach farmers of the Solé family spend every summer together picking fruit from their orchard. But when new plans arise to install solar panels and cut down trees, the members of this tight-knit group suddenly face eviction – and the loss of far more than their home.
Winner of the Golden Bear at Berlinale, the sophomore film from Carla Simón (Summer 1993) is a sun-dappled, deeply moving ensemble portrait of the countryside and a community’s unbreakable bonds.
2025 European Union Film Festival
Double Feature:
6:00 PM - Feathers or Glamour (Estonia), 2023, 28 MIN
Directed by Eva Kübar
Estonian language with English subtitles
Estonian urban chicken “farming.” Chickens as pets in bedazzled diapers. It is a short film.
6:30 PM - Alcarrás (Spain), 2023, 120 MIN
Directed by Carla Simón
Catalan with English Subtitles
In the small village of Alcarràs in Catalonia, the peach farmers of the Solé family spend every summer together picking fruit from their orchard. But when new plans arise to install solar panels and cut down trees, the members of this tight-knit group suddenly face eviction – and the loss of far more than their home.
Winner of the Golden Bear at Berlinale, the sophomore film from Carla Simón (Summer 1993) is a sun-dappled, deeply moving ensemble portrait of the countryside and a community’s unbreakable bonds.
2025 European Union Film Festival
Double Feature:
6:00 PM -Feathers or Glamour (Estonia)
6:30 PM - Alcarrás
Alcarrás (Spain), 2023, 120 MIN
Directed by Carla Simón
Catalan with English Subtitles
In the small village of Alcarràs in Catalonia, the peach farmers of the Solé family spend every summer together picking fruit from their orchard. But when new plans arise to install solar panels and cut down trees, the members of this tight-knit group suddenly face eviction – and the loss of far more than their home.
Winner of the Golden Bear at Berlinale, the sophomore film from Carla Simón (Summer 1993) is a sun-dappled, deeply moving ensemble portrait of the countryside and a community’s unbreakable bonds.
Reflecting on the global success of Squid Game (Hwang Dong-hyuk, 2021) and its reinvention of the death game genre, this talk explores both the opportunities and challenges presented by new media systems, particularly global video streaming platforms, for local creators.
Netflix, renowned for decentralized approaches and departure from corporate-driven and center-to-local strategies in traditional media, allows for greater financial and creative freedom for local creators. However, concerns have arisen over Netflix’s dominance in local media landscapes and the overreliance of local creators on the platform giant, which would eventually lead to the demise of local media.
In exploring the rise of Netflix as the leading global platform, with a particular focus on its success in Korea, this talk thus aims first to articulate the double-edged nature of platform economy. In the latter part of the talk, attention shifts towards Squid Game itself, focusing on how it creatively adapted to the platform culture and how it questions contemporary capitalism through an innovative investment in the trope of survival game, where participants voluntarily enter the death game, rendering values such as free will empty promises.
Highlighting the show’s own dilemma between its anti-capitalist ethos and its success on Netflix, this talk also addresses the broader irony of resistance within the logic of platform economy that local production faces as the platform ecosystem continues to expand.
Join the Spanish Club for a regular meeting in the Global Hub. The event with a guest speaker has been postponed until February 5 at the same time.
2025 European Union Film Festival
Flowers of Ukraine (Ukraine/Poland), 2024, 70 MIN
Ukrainian language with English subtitles
***with Director Adelina Borets and Producer Glib Lukianets present for Q&A.
Goats and chickens, tomatoes and cucumbers, in the middle of the city, Natalia protects her space in the heart of Kyiv. The fight against gentrification takes on a new front with the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Polish director Adelina Borets traveled to the capital of Ukraine to follow one of the city’s most colorful characters. In her garden, Natalia raises not just vegetables but also goats and chickens. Her garden happens to be in the middle of a block of soviet style buildings in the heart of Kyiv. The 67-year-old force of a person has been fighting gentrification and investors. They want her plot to build another building. Facing pressure from the developers and also from her own neighbors, Natalia stands her ground. The confrontation takes on a whole new dimension with the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Now, the battle to protect her garden becomes a battle to preserve an entire way of life.
Pitt Students/Faculty and Staff: Free Admission with a valid Pitt ID
General Admission: $9.00 (Students/Seniors) and $11.00 (Regular)
On January 23, 2025, Fulbright Scholar Faraja Ngogo visited Avonworth High School to present on Kiswahili language and East African culture. Speaking to a group of about 20 students and two teachers, Faraja introduced basic Kiswahili phrases, discussed cultural practices in Tanzania, and shared personal stories to bring East African traditions to life.
Mangia con noi! Bring your lunch and chat with us! Pitt students only, all levels welcome!
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently predicted that global average temperatures will rise 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels in the mid-2030s. Over the last decades, a global network of scholars, policy makers, activists, and others have organized to offer ways to mitigate and even reverse the effects of climate change. What offramps can these solutions and movements offer our collective humanity?
“Eurasian Environments” seeks to provide some reflections to mark the UN’s 2024 Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. This series will examine social justice and sustainability efforts to address climate change by putting scholars of Eurasia in conversation with their peers specializing on Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The series will comprise six events that will illuminate the challenges and possible solutions to climate change in Eurasia in regional and global contexts.
Swedish Speaking Club is a space for practicing Swedish and deepening cultural understanding alongside others who are learning.
Current FLAS students networking event with FLAS alumni. Connect, explore VR, create custom stickers or keychains, and craft unique buttons—all while sharing ideas and building your professional network!
The disappearance of Central Asia's Aral Sea is seen as one of the worst environmental catastrophes in recent history. This paper, which draws from a book project on the disaster, Aral: Life and Death of a sea, focuses on the fate of the Aral Sea and its people in the Soviet Union's last years (1998-1991). It examines the far-reaching consequences of the sea's loss for local residents, as well as why Moscow failed to take any meaningful action to address the disaster.
2025 European Union Film Festival
Journey to Utopia (Demark), 2020, 88 MIN
Directed by Erlend E. Mo
Danish language with English subtitles
Feeling desperate about climate change, filmmaker Erlend, opera singer Ingeborg and their children leave their farm to join an ecological experiment: Project Permatopia. The goal is to become fully self-sufficient. But the reality is much more difficult – bordering on disastrous. Will they give up?
Pitt Students/Faculty and Staff: Free Admission with a valid Pitt ID
General Admission: $9.00 (Students/Seniors) and $11.00 (Regular)
“The world needs music and art to help solve some global issues more than ever. If leaders and people are looking for happiness, sustainability, justice and hope, they shall look to music and art.” - Sean Gao
For 30 years, Sean Gao has been a global engagement professional and an environmental artist who is an advocate for the sustainability of performing art, quality education and environmental justice and policy.
Humans have always been a musical species from the beginning of time, and Sean believes music is from the people and for the people. This student-centered and audience-centered musical conversation will feature instrumental and vocal music from the East and West to inspire teachers and students about teaching and learning Asian content. The guest artists include members of his world traveling 6-WIRE trio and others.
Promoting Asian American music and art has been a shared artistic goal since Sean’s first day of college (U of Delaware) teaching career at 9am ET on September 11, 2001.
2025 European Union Film Festival
Double Feature:
6:00 PM
Feathers or Glamour (Estonia)
Estonian urban chicken “farming.” Chickens as pets in bedazzled diapers. It is a short film.
6:30 PM
Flowers of Ukraine (Ukraine/Poland), 2024, 70 MIN
Ukrainian language with English subtitles
***with Director Adelina Borets and Producer Glib Lukianets present for Q&A.
Goats and chickens, tomatoes and cucumbers, are in the middle of the city, and Natalia protects her space in the heart of Kyiv. The fight against gentrification takes on a new front with the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Polish director Adelina Borets traveled to the capital of Ukraine to follow one of the city’s most colorful characters. In her garden, Natalia raises not just vegetables but also goats and chickens. Her garden happens to be in the middle of a block of soviet style buildings in the heart of Kyiv. The 67-year-old force of a person has been fighting gentrification and investors. They want her plot to build another building. Facing pressure from the developers and also from her own neighbors, Natalia stands her ground. The confrontation takes on a whole new dimension with the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Now, the battle to protect her garden becomes a battle to preserve an entire way of life.
2025 European Union Film Festival
Next to Nothing/Tyle Co Nic (Poland), 2024, 93 MIN
Directed by Grzegorz Debowski
Polish language with English subtitles
A group of farmers organized a protest in front of the house of an MP who, contrary to previous promises, voted against their interests. At the same time, the body of one of the local farmers is found. Everyone suspects the leader of the protest, Jarek, even though the deceased was his closest friend. The man begins his own investigation, which leads him to find out the true causes of the deceased's death and, at the same time, verifies the attitudes of people around him.
Pitt Students/Faculty and Staff: Free Admission with a valid Pitt ID
General Admission: $9.00 (Students/Seniors) and $11.00 (Regular)
Moderated by Darya Tsymbalyuk, with speakers Zhanar Sekerbayeva, Oksana Kazına, and Aydin Khalilov.
11:00 am - 12:30 pm (EST) | 10:00 am - 11:30 am (CST) | 8:00 -9:30 am (PST)
This six-part virtual event series will examine body matters within Eurasia through a variety of disciplines and themes. The body-as-method has emerged recently to provide novel insights on society, culture, and identity by foregrounding alternatives to Western traditions that marginalized the corporeal dimensions of social and personal existence.
Why is the body good “to think with” on both intellectual and professional matters?
How do classed, diversely abled, gendered, and raced bodies interact in the daily lives we study or inhabit through our avocations?
What is the continuously evolving relationship between the body and the body politic, whether the nation, empire, the EU, or NATO?
Is research and teaching disembodying and can recentering “embodied and uncomfortable knowledge” therefore move liberation in East European and Eurasian Studies forward?
To address these questions, "Bodies in Focus" will have six virtual, recorded panels featuring speakers from various disciplines and institutions. Panelists and the audience will explore how bodies matter for the study and teaching of East European and Eurasian social and material environments, our understanding of power and equity, and for the cultivation of human capacities in our field.
This panel is part of the series Bodies in Focus; Power, Subjectivity, and Practice in East European and Eurasian Studies. For the full schedule, see https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/creees/content/bodies-focus
Join undergraduate Pitt students for a conversation hour to practice speaking in Hindi and Urdu and connect over shared cultural experiences.
Kya Baat Hai will meet weekly, on Fridays, during the 2024-2025 academic year, EXCEPT on March 7.
This annual national competition provides US school and college students the opportunity to demonstrate their Russian language knowledge while meeting with other students of Russian and conversing with native Russian speakers. Students will receive recognition for their demonstrated language proficiency, improve their chances of getting international and study abroad scholarships, and enhance their professional resume.
Event date: Saturday, March 15, 2025
Location: TBA
If you would like to learn more about how you can study a language abroad (in Latvia, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, etc.) or locally, and apply for financial support, join us for this session on the Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship and SRAS study abroad programs
Join our live stream (Zoom) of this special event by the ValEUs network!
Dr. Nina Sajic (University of Banja Luka) and Dr. Ayhan Kaya (İstanbul Bilgi University) will discuss a specific dimension of European values: the handling of conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
The speakers will elaborate on the role of the EU in these regions, focusing on the question of to what extent the EU lives up to the values it promises in its founding documents.
This ValEUs Panel Discussion is organised as part of Prof. Timm Beichelt’s seminar “Which values/valEUs is the European Union based on?” at European University Viadrina.
The seminar aims to convey insights and perspectives from the global research and education network to Viadrina students and to encourage their input along the network’s central themes and questions through the network’s key initiative of “ValEUs Student Policy Briefs”. The Viadrina is delighted to strengthen its participation in this network initiative through a local partnership with the Europäische Akademie Berlin.
The event is organised in cooperation with the Institute for European Studies of the European University Viadrina (IFES).
This panel will delve into the issue of democratic backsliding across Europe, with a particular focus on its implications for the European Union. In light of the pivotal elections of 2024, the discussion aims to explore historical contexts and shed light on emerging threats to democratic principles in the region.
Panelists:
Pieter de Wilde, University of Groningen
His research focuses on political conflict over European integration and globalization. He’s principal investigator for the projects Unelected Representatives: The Impact on Liberal Democracy in Europe, Trondheim Analytica and Reconciling Europe with its Citizens through Democracy and Rule of Law (RECONNECT). Before joining NTNU, he was a Senior Researcher at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center. De Wilde holds a PhD in political science from ARENA, Center for European Studies, University of Oslo.
Michael Blauberger, Paris Lodron Universität Salzburg.
He has been teaching and researching at the University of Salzburg since 2011. He studied Political Science, Public International Law and Economics at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and University of Paris I. He wrote his doctoral thesis on European state aid control at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne, and the University of Bremen. His publications appeared in peer reviewed journals such as the Journal of Common Market Studies, Journal of European Public Policy, West European Politics, Regulation & Governance, Research & Politics, Politische Vierteljahresschrift, Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen. Michael Blauberger is editorial board member of the Journal of European Public Policy and coordinator of the docfunds doctoral college “Challenges of European Integration”. In his current research, he investigates EU action against democratic backsliding and the protection of mobile workers in the EU’s internal market.
Attention: Undergraduate students! 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!
This will be an informative session featuring speakers from various English teaching ventures, including JET, Fulbright, and others. The speakers will share how they developed an interest in teaching English outside the United States and discuss their experiences. We’re expecting a diverse group of attendees, ranging from those just beginning to explore opportunities to those preparing for or already engaged in teaching abroad.
The session will cover various aspects of teaching English in different cultural contexts, including preparing lesson plans, understanding student needs, and navigating life in a foreign country.
Some key topics we hope to address include:
1. Understanding the cultural nuances and challenges of teaching in non-English-speaking countries.
2. Exploring different teaching methods and resources effective in international classrooms.
3. Navigating visas, work permits, and the logistical aspects of teaching abroad.
4. Creating a fulfilling and sustainable career while living in another country.
5. We are also inviting students from regional campuses so they can have the opportunity to learn from this event as well.
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
Join Associate Dean Adriana Helbig for a discussion of her book ReSounding Poverty: Romani Music and Development Aid (Oxford University Press, 2023). Drawing on ethnographic research in development contexts, ReSounding Poverty asks who speaks for whom within the Romani rights movement today. Framing the critique of development aid in musical terms, it engages with Romani marginalization and economic deprivation through a closer listening to vocal inflections, physical vocalizations of health and disease, and emotional affect. ReSounding Poverty brings us into the back rooms of saman, mud and straw brick, houses not visited by media reporters and politicians, amplifying the cultural expressions of the Romani poor, silenced in the business of development.
Adriana N. Helbig is Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies at the University of Pittsburgh's Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and the College of General Studies as well as Professor of Music and former Chair of the Department of Music (2020-2023). Professor Helbig has an international reputation as an applied ethnomusicologist and a scholar who advances discourses in Critical Race Studies, Critical Prison Studies (Pitt Prison Education Project), Development Studies, Minority and Migration Studies (Romani Music and Human Rights in Eastern Europe), Working-Class Studies, and Global Hip Hop Studies. Her books include Culture and Customs of Ukraine, co-authored with Oksana Buranbaeva and Vlada Madineo (Greenwood Press, 2009), Hip Hop Ukraine: Music, Race, and African Migration (Indiana University Press, 2014), Hip Hop at Europe’s Edge: Music, Agency, and Social Change, co-edited with Milosz Miszczynski (Indiana University Press, 2017), and ReSounding Poverty: Romani Music and Development Aid (Oxford University Press, 2023).
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus
Join the German Club on Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice German speaking and listening skills.
Mangia con noi! Bring your lunch and chat with us! Pitt students only, all levels welcome!
Students from SLAV 18050 Balkan Culture will be learning how to prepare Balkan coffee.
Swedish Speaking Club is a space for practicing Swedish and deepening cultural understanding alongside others who are learning.
Attention, undergraduate students! Interested in studying abroad, learning another language, applying for funding, making friends from around the world, connecting with international opportunities in Pittsburgh, and/or sharpening your career skills in our increasingly interconnected world? Join TRIO SSS and the Global Hub to learn more about the amazing international opportunities available at and through Pitt! Pizza and prizes will be provided, and we can't wait to see you there!
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. Session 1 book is The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis.
Moderated by Pawel Lewicki, with speakers Masha Beketova, Oksana Potapova, Alexa Tignall-Kurmanova, and Volha Verbilovich.
11:00 am - 12:30 pm (EST) | 10:00 am - 11:30 am (CST) | 8:00 -9:30 am (PST)
This six-part virtual event series will examine body matters within Eurasia through a variety of disciplines and themes. The body-as-method has emerged recently to provide novel insights on society, culture, and identity by foregrounding alternatives to Western traditions that marginalized the corporeal dimensions of social and personal existence.
Why is the body good “to think with” on both intellectual and professional matters?
How do classed, diversely abled, gendered, and raced bodies interact in the daily lives we study or inhabit through our avocations?
What is the continuously evolving relationship between the body and the body politic, whether the nation, empire, the EU, or NATO?
Is research and teaching disembodying and can recentering “embodied and uncomfortable knowledge” therefore move liberation in East European and Eurasian Studies forward?
To address these questions, "Bodies in Focus" will have six virtual, recorded panels featuring speakers from various disciplines and institutions. Panelists and the audience will explore how bodies matter for the study and teaching of East European and Eurasian social and material environments, our understanding of power and equity, and for the cultivation of human capacities in our field.
For more information, visit https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/creees/content/bodies-focus
On January 31, 2025, Fulbright Scholar Faraja Ngogo visited Montour High School to share insights on Kiswahili language and East African culture with approximately 31 students and three teachers. The interactive session highlighted key aspects of Tanzanian daily life, language, and traditions, offering students a meaningful opportunity to explore global perspectives.
Join undergraduate Pitt students for a conversation hour to practice speaking in Hindi and Urdu and connect over shared cultural experiences.
Kya Baat Hai will meet weekly, on Fridays, during the 2024-2025 academic year, EXCEPT on March 7.
Join Addverse, a transcultural, multilingual, and intergenerational poetry organization, for weekly meetings in the Global Hub.
Addverse will meet weekly, on Fridays, during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 24 and March 7.
Celebrate Pongal, the ancient Tamil harvest festival, with us. Come explore Linguistic and Cultural Diversity, and hear from our diverse Tamil community. All are Welcome!
Registration by January 20 is encouraged.
Join us for a film screenig and Q&A with filmmaker Ngozi Onwurah! We will be watching Welcome II the Terrordome, a 1995 Afrofuturist film exploring themes around the history of slavery to present-day police brutality.
Refreshments provided! Free and open to the public.
“Onwurah’s fusion of political commentary and genre spectacle looks positively prescient, and her ability to build an entire cosmology that connects the history of slavery to present-day police brutality is nothing less than visionary.” - The Criterion Channel
Are you an international student at Pitt looking to connect, or interested in connecting with international students? Stop by the Nook in the Global Hub on Tuesdays, between 2 and 4 pm during Spring semester, to chat with OIS Outreach Coordinator Zharia White from the Office of International Services!
Stop by the Global Hub to learn more about financial wellness!
Attention: Undergraduate students! 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!
The Penguins organization is committed to supporting the Black community both on and off the ice. During the month of February, we will celebrate Black History Month through programming focused on elevating black leaders and change-makers, sharing inspiring stories of historic resilience, and connecting our fans to one another through their love for hockey.
Join us for Black History Month in person at PPG Paints Arena when the Penguins host the New Jersey Devils on February 4. Featuring a concourse display courtesy of the University of Pittsburgh Nationality Rooms & Intercultural Exchange Programs, be here when we honor the incredible impact of our city’s African American community and celebrate their rich culture and history. Plus, the first 300 community members that purchase tickets through this special offer will receive a Penguins-branded Black Hockey History Hockey Shirt!
To purchase groups of 10 or more tickets or to request additional information, please contact Kyle Blend at (412) 255-1849.
Penguins vs. Devils
Feb 04, 2025 7:00 PM EST
PPG Paints Arena
1001 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, US
Purchase Deadline: Feb 04, 2025 5:00 PM EST
2/4: Learn about Hispanic traditions and customs in Latin America and enjoy some delicious empanadas!
2/11: Learn how to order food in Spanish and some popular Hispanic dishes while enjoying some Hispanic food!
No previous knowledge of Spanish is required!
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
Caitlyn Marentette, MIRS South Asian Studies graduate student, University of Michigan, will lead the discussion.
The World History Learning Community is open to all K-14 in-service teachers and community college faculty across the United States via Zoom. Expand your ability and confidence to teach world history! Connect with and learn from fellow educators and esteemed historians in a cohort setting; explore cutting-edge research and scholarship in the field of world history; receive free books. K-12 educators and community college faculty will receive a copy of Smoke and Ashes for free. To register: https://shorturl.at/ujyW2
Join the Persian Club for conversation and a general board meeting.
The Global Appalachian Reading Group examines the complex intersections of regional identity, global influence, and environmental justice as they pertain to Appalachia and its connections to the wider world. The Spring 2025 theme is "Exploring Global Connections and Misconceptions in Appalachia and Beyond."
Session 1 Book: What You Are Getting Wrong about Appalachia by Elizabeth Catte.
Copies of the books will be available for those planning to attend the event. Please stop by the Global Studies Center (4100 Posvar Hall) to pick up your copy. If you need the books shipped, that can be arranged.
Note: We are able to fund and distribute books to registrants as funding allows. Registration will remain open after this amount is reached. Registrants will be notified if we are unable to provide them with the reading material.
Join the Spanish Club and a guest speaker as they discuss the Latino healthcare situation in Pittsburgh.
Join Swahili instructor Fraja Ngogo on Thursdays at 11 am-12 pm in the Global Hub to practice Swahili.
Mangia con noi! Bring your lunch and chat with us! Pitt students only, all levels welcome!
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently predicted that global average temperatures will rise 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels in the mid-2030s. Over the last decades, a global network of scholars, policy makers, activists, and others have organized to offer ways to mitigate and even reverse the effects of climate change. What offramps can these solutions and movements offer our collective humanity?
“Eurasian Environments” seeks to provide some reflections to mark the UN’s 2024 Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. This series will examine social justice and sustainability efforts to address climate change by putting scholars of Eurasia in conversation with their peers specializing on Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The series will comprise six events that will illuminate the challenges and possible solutions to climate change in Eurasia in regional and global contexts.
This event is part of the Eurasian Environments: Climate Justice and Sustainability in Global Context series.
Swedish Speaking Club is a space for practicing Swedish and deepening cultural understanding alongside others who are learning.
Moderated by Fran Bernstein, with speakers Linda Lapina and Nadiya Chushak.
11:00 am - 12:30 pm (EST) | 10:00 am - 11:30 am (CST) | 8:00 -9:30 am (PST)
This six-part virtual event series will examine body matters within Eurasia through a variety of disciplines and themes. The body-as-method has emerged recently to provide novel insights on society, culture, and identity by foregrounding alternatives to Western traditions that marginalized the corporeal dimensions of social and personal existence.
Why is the body good “to think with” on both intellectual and professional matters?
How do classed, diversely abled, gendered, and raced bodies interact in the daily lives we study or inhabit through our avocations?
What is the continuously evolving relationship between the body and the body politic, whether the nation, empire, the EU, or NATO?
Is research and teaching disembodying and can recentering “embodied and uncomfortable knowledge” therefore move liberation in East European and Eurasian Studies forward?
To address these questions, "Bodies in Focus" will have six virtual, recorded panels featuring speakers from various disciplines and institutions. Panelists and the audience will explore how bodies matter for the study and teaching of East European and Eurasian social and material environments, our understanding of power and equity, and for the cultivation of human capacities in our field.
For more information, visit https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/creees/content/bodies-focus
Take a break from studying and enjoy free drinks and snacks from around the world! Instructors and students from the Less-Commonly-Taught Languages Center (LCTL) and Pitt's many language departments will teach you how to order in Swahili, German, Modern & Ancient Greek, Quechua, Hebrew, Irish, Chinese, Persian, Turkish, Arabic, Polish, and many more of the nearly 30 languages offered at Pitt. Then, you can place your order at the Language Coffeehouse and enjoy free drinks and snacks from around the world.
Join undergraduate Pitt students for a conversation hour to practice speaking in Hindi and Urdu and connect over shared cultural experiences.
Kya Baat Hai will meet weekly, on Fridays, during the 2024-2025 academic year, EXCEPT on March 7.
Join Addverse, a transcultural, multilingual, and intergenerational poetry organization, for weekly meetings in the Global Hub.
Addverse will meet weekly, on Fridays, during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 24 and March 7.
Stop by the Global Hub to learn more about financial wellness!
Are you an international student at Pitt looking to connect, or interested in connecting with international students? Stop by the Nook in the Global Hub on Tuesdays, between 2 and 4 pm during Spring semester, to chat with OIS Outreach Coordinator Zharia White from the Office of International Services!
Attention: Undergraduate students! 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!
2/4: Learn about Hispanic traditions and customs in Latin America and enjoy some delicious empanadas!
2/11: Learn how to order food in Spanish and some popular Hispanic dishes while enjoying some Hispanic food!
No previous knowledge of Spanish is required!
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
Join AISEES for the first lecture of 2025!
Meeting ID: 836 1337 4056
Passcode: 229970
Bate-Papo Conversation Hour
Join the German Club on Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice German speaking and listening skills.
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
On February 13, 2025, Fulbright Scholar Faraja Ngogo visited Linsly Middle School to deliver three interactive presentations on Tanzanian culture and the Kiswahili language. She engaged approximately 83 students in grades 8 and 9 in one session, and 66 students in grades 5 through 7 across two additional sessions. Through storytelling, cultural insights, and basic language instruction, students were introduced to life in East Africa from an authentic, personal perspective
Swahili Level 4 students: Join Swahili instructor Fraja Ngogo on Thursdays at 11 am-12 pm in the Global Hub to practice Swahili.
Investigating the legacies of authoritarian regimes in Latin America often means confronting the silences embedded within official records, personal testimonies, and collective memory. In this panel, Latin American historians Samantha Quadrat, Lucia Grinberg, and Ludmila Catela da Silva will share their experiences researching archives and engaging with collective memory to examine the military dictatorships that shaped Brazil and Argentina from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Swedish Speaking Club is a space for practicing Swedish and deepening cultural understanding alongside others who are learning.
Celebrate the life and legacy of Mal Goode, a fierce local advocate for Pittsburgh’s Black community. He challenged the police, politicians, and segregation, while providing Black listeners a radio voice that captured their experience before Jackie Robinson dared ABC leadership to give him a chance on TV. Goode was uncompromising in his belief that network news needed Black voices and perspectives if it were to authentically reflect the nation’s complexities and speak to all Americans. His success at ABC initiated the slow integration of network news. Goode’s life and work were remarkable, and his struggles and achievements speak to larger issues of American life and the African American experience.
Dr. Wayne Dawkins, professor of multimedia journalism at Morgan State University, Professor Joe Trotter of Carnegie Mellon University and Brian Cook, Multimedia Journalist will speak. Grandchildren Randy Wilburn and Christee Goode Laster will add their reflections. Pitt history professors Liann Tsoukas and Rob Ruck, whose biography, Mal Goode Reporting: The Life and Work of a Black Broadcast Trailblazer, was recently published by the University of Pittsburgh Press, will contribute remarks.
The Center for African Studies at the University of Pittsburgh attended and presented to 187 high school students during Environmental Charter High School’s Black History Month Celebration, which was organized in collaboration with the student group Young, Gifted, and Black.
The Center’s presentation highlighted African languages, music, dance, and cultural traditions and promoted upcoming in-school workshops designed to integrate these elements into K-12 classrooms.
Outcomes:
Strong student engagement and enthusiasm, with many expressing interest in African cultures and future programs.
Multiple teachers and administrators requested follow-up information to schedule workshops.
Strengthened community connections, including with representatives from the City of Pittsburgh and local cultural organizations.
Reinforced the Center’s commitment to culturally responsive education and community outreach.
In 2024, Brazil marks the 60th anniversary of the military coup that initiated a 21-year dictatorship. This coup was part of a broader wave of military interventions across South America, leading to authoritarian regimes in Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina. Although most of these regimes dissolved by the early 1990s, authoritarianism remains a significant element in Latin America’s political memory.
This conference brings together scholars from Latin America and the United States to examine the intersections of authoritarian governance, collective memory, and the ongoing struggle for justice and human rights across the region. Key topics include the role of political parties under authoritarian regimes, grassroots memory initiatives, transitional justice efforts, and the pressing challenge of strengthening democratic resilience in the face of resurgent authoritarianism.
9:15 Welcome remarks: Keila Grinberg, Lara Putnam, Sheila Velez-Martinez
9:30-11:30 am
Session 1: Memory, human rights and authoritarianism
Chair: Keila Grinberg (Pitt)
Samantha Quadrat (Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil)
Ludmila da Silva Catela (Universidade Nacional de Cordoba, Argentina)
Hugo Rojas (Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Chile)
Discussants: Laura Gotkowitz (Pitt) and Sheila Velez Martinez (Pitt)
lunch
1 -3 pm
Session 2: Politics under Authoritarian Regimes
Chair: Lara Putnam (Pitt)
Lucia Grinberg (Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil):
Roberto Simon (independent scholar)
Barbara Weinstein (New York University)
Discussants: José Cheibub (Pitt)
Coffee break
3:15 – 4:30 pm Keynote speaker: Dora Maria Telles (Harvard University): Authoritarianism, Once Again: Memories and Reflections
Discussant: Michel Gobat (Pitt)
4:30- 6 pm: Reception and book launch
This Valentine's Day, show your support for our emerging Latino communities by learning more about their rights, available resources, and how you can help. Join us for a special meeting where we'll discuss ways to protect and empower our families, friends, and neighbors. Whether you're seeking information, offering support, or just want to connect with others who care, this is the perfect way to stand in solidarity and share the love.
Open to ALL students, faculty, staff, and community
We hope to get new practice, writing, and research collaborations underway!
Supported by the Center for Health Equity and the Center for Latin American Studies
Join undergraduate Pitt students for a conversation hour to practice speaking in Hindi and Urdu and connect over shared cultural experiences.
Kya Baat Hai will meet weekly, on Fridays, during the 2024-2025 academic year, EXCEPT on March 7.
Swahili Level 2 students: Join Swahili instructor Faraja Ngogo on Fridays at 4-5 pm in the Global Hub to practice Swahili.
Join Addverse, a transcultural, multilingual, and intergenerational poetry organization, for weekly meetings in the Global Hub.
Addverse will meet weekly, on Fridays, during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 24 and March 7.
Join EESA for their exciting auction event, featuring traditional art, clothing, jewelry, and more! They are partnering with Brighter Generation, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting students in Ethiopia, which all proceeds from the auction will go towards.
Enjoy plenty of cultural snacks and finger foods, along with a jazz performance by students from EESA and other showcases of art and talent.
Reserve your ticket: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfesb3MJ9aUrTE5oDjb86T963hH7g3c...
Join us for a lunch and learn event with Nina Sajić.
Dr. Sajić served as the ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to France, UNESCO, Algeria, Monaco, Andorra, and Romania. She was also a foreign policy advisor in the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She will be at Pitt to discuss her diplomatic experiences with students and the wider community.
Light lunch will be provided.
Are you an international student at Pitt looking to connect, or interested in connecting with international students? Stop by the Nook in the Global Hub on Tuesdays, between 2 and 4 pm during Spring semester, to chat with OIS Outreach Coordinator Zharia White from the Office of International Services!
Topics covered in this information session include how to creatively design and highlight curricular and co-curricular learning experiences in a professional manner. They will learn how to use Digication, how to add tabs, add photos, papers, research projects etc. and will consider what curricular and co-curricular experiences to include.
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
Still searching for a summer global experience? Come by the Pitt Global Experiences Office between 10am-12pm and 1pm-3pm on February 19th to speak with Zac and Nikki from WorldStrides about studying abroad with ISA and TEAN!
Dr. Yi-tze Lee will explore the cultural and environmental connections of the indigenous Amis people of Taiwan, focusing on their interactions with animal kin such as pigs, birds, and fish. Drawing from his research and recent publication
(Environmental Shift in the Entangled Anthropocene: Use of Birds in Amis Ritual Practices of Taiwan, UBC Press, 2024), this lecture delves into Amis rituals and ceremonies, their adaptation to modern environmental governance, and the broader implications for human-species relationships in an urbanized context.
The talk will feature three unique stories: The use of pigs in funerary rituals during COVID-19. The interplay of bird hunting for ceremonies and animal protection laws. Amis fishing strategies amidst changing river environments.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Yi-tze Lee earned his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh in 2012. He is currently an Associate Professor at National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan, where he served as department chair from 2021–2024. His research focuses on indigenous revitalization, food sovereignty, ritual performance, and multispecies networks.
Dr. Lee’s work has been widely published, including contributions to Feathered Entanglements (UBC Press, 2024) and Environmental Teachings for the Anthropocene (2020).
Join us on Wednesdays in the Global Hub for casual Portuguese conversation!
Bate-Papo meet on Wednesdays, during Spring 2025, starting February 12 and ending April 16, EXCEPT on March 5.
Join the German Club on Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice German speaking and listening skills.
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
Swahili Level 4 students: Join Swahili instructor Faraja Ngogo on Thursdays at 11 am-12 pm in the Global Hub to practice Swahili.
Mangia con noi! Bring your lunch and chat with us! Pitt students only, all levels welcome! On February 20, students of Italian will meet to watch the Italian music festival San Remo.
Swedish Speaking Club is a space for practicing Swedish and deepening cultural understanding alongside others who are learning.
Was socialist China's fatal blow to the Tibetan theocracy in 1959 an atheist assault? Peng Hai examines how Chinese cinema justified the People's Liberation Army's dismantling of institutional Tibetan Buddhism. In the Chinese cultural war on religion, Mao and the People's Liberation Army surpassed the Dalai Lama, the pontiff of Tibetan Buddhism, and the old Lamaist establishment as the new icons of salvation and values.
China's recent achievements in artificial intelligence, exemplified by DeepSeek's breakthrough LLM, represent more than just technological advancement - they signal a fundamental shift in global innovation dynamics. While Chinese companies have demonstrated remarkable capabilities in areas from EVs to social media to AI, U.S. responses continue to follow a predictable pattern: disbelief, anger, accusations of theft, and blame. This recurring cycle reveals both China's evolved capacity for coordinated technological development and deep-seated American anxieties about what this means for U.S. technological primacy. Drawing on his extensive experience analyzing both societies, Sinica Podcast host Kaiser Kuo explores how China's innovation ecosystem has matured, why its successes continue to surprise Western observers, and what this tells us about the structural, cultural, and epistemic barriers to understanding China's technological transformation. The talk examines how China's rise has challenged core assumptions about the relationship between political systems and innovation, market economies and state guidance, and ultimately, about American exceptionalism itself — and whether it can accommodate China's own brand of exceptionalism.
Join us for a thought-provoking screening of A Day Without a Mexican, a satirical film imagining the sudden disappearance of Mexican immigrants in California. What would happen to the economy, society, and culture if this essential workforce vanished overnight?
The film explores how borders—whether physical, societal, or metaphorical—create divisions that impact labor, local economies, and community life. The film forces us to confront the human and societal costs of exclusion and reminds us of the vital role immigrant populations play in our everyday lives.
After the screening, join a discussion on the film’s themes and the complex ways borders divide us—beyond just lines on a map.
This will be an in-person event. Refreshments will be provided.
Sponsored by the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS), the Center for Ethnic Studies Research (CERS)and the Hispanic Latino Professional Association (HLPA) at the University of Pittsburgh.
This event is supported by CLAS OEDI Mini Grant.
Join the Persian Club for a general board meeting.
Moderated by Sarah Phillips, with speakers Bolaji Balogun, Cassandra Hartblay, Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, and Daria Krivonos.
11:00 am - 12:30 pm (EST) | 10:00 am - 11:30 am (CST) | 8:00 -9:30 am (PST)
This six-part virtual event series will examine body matters within Eurasia through a variety of disciplines and themes. The body-as-method has emerged recently to provide novel insights on society, culture, and identity by foregrounding alternatives to Western traditions that marginalized the corporeal dimensions of social and personal existence.
Why is the body good “to think with” on both intellectual and professional matters?
How do classed, diversely abled, gendered, and raced bodies interact in the daily lives we study or inhabit through our avocations?
What is the continuously evolving relationship between the body and the body politic, whether the nation, empire, the EU, or NATO?
Is research and teaching disembodying and can recentering “embodied and uncomfortable knowledge” therefore move liberation in East European and Eurasian Studies forward?
To address these questions, "Bodies in Focus" will have six virtual, recorded panels featuring speakers from various disciplines and institutions. Panelists and the audience will explore how bodies matter for the study and teaching of East European and Eurasian social and material environments, our understanding of power and equity, and for the cultivation of human capacities in our field.
For more information, visit this site https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/creees/content/bodies-focus
A weekly podcast about current affairs in China, hosted by Kaiser Kuo and featuring in-depth conversations about books, ideas, new research, intellectual currents, and cultural trends that can help us better understand what’s happening in China. A conversation between Sinica Podcast host and co-founder Kaiser Kuo and Professor Benno Weiner.
Kaiser Kuo is the host and co-founder of the Sinica Podcast, a weekly discussion of current affairs in China that has run since April 2010 — for its first six years from Beijing, and since 2016 from the U.S. as part of SupChina. The show features in-depth conversations with scholars, journalists, diplomats, analysts, and others who work to better understand China in all its complexity.
Benno Weiner is Associate Professor of History at Carnegie Mellon University where he specializes in the ethnopolitics of twentieth-century state and nation making along China’s ethnocultural borderlands. He is the author of The Chinese Revolution on the Tibetan Frontier and co-editor of Conflicting Memories: Tibetan History under Mao Retold.
Join Pitt Russian to learn about Eastern European craft of embroidery, where you will also get to choose a design and craft your own piece.
Join us to learn about Eastern European craft of embroidery, where you will also get to choose a design and craft your own piece! Come to unwind after a busy week adn let your creativity run wild. No skills or materials necessary.
Join undergraduate Pitt students for a conversation hour to practice speaking in Hindi and Urdu and connect over shared cultural experiences.
Kya Baat Hai will meet weekly, on Fridays, during the 2024-2025 academic year, EXCEPT on March 7.
Swahili Level 2 students: Join Swahili instructor Faraja Ngogo on Fridays at 4-5 pm in the Global Hub to practice Swahili.
Join Addverse, a transcultural, multilingual, and intergenerational poetry organization, for weekly meetings in the Global Hub.
Addverse will meet weekly, on Fridays, during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 24 and March 7.
Join VSA for a showcase of Vietnamese culture through lesser known Vietnamese foods.
Join us for an upcoming lectures with special guest Dr. Assan Sarr!
Dr. Assan Sarr is an Associate Professor of African History and the Interim Director for the African Studies Program at Ohio University. His research focuses on land, agrarian change, and religion (particularly Islam) in West Africa’s Senegambia region.
February 24, 2025 marks the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Join us for the screening of Soldiers of Song (dir. Ryan Smith). Officially selected at the Tribeca and Warsaw film festivals, this independent documentary film features Ukraine's most iconic musicians as they inspire unity and courage amidst the chaos of war. Matthew Hickey (President, GOSECA), Dean Adriana Helbig (Department of Music), and director Ryan Smith will discuss.
Join us for an upcoming lectures with special guest Dr. Assan Sarr!
Dr. Assan Sarr is an Associate Professor of African History and the Interim Director for the African Studies Program at Ohio University. His research focuses on land, agrarian change, and religion (particularly Islam) in West Africa’s Senegambia region.
Stop by the Global Hub to learn more about financial wellness!
Attention: Undergraduate students! 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!
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
Keila Grinberg, History Professor and Director of the Center for Latin American Studies, University of Pittsburgh (Moderator)
Johanna Obenda, Researcher and Exhibit Development Specialist, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Kilolo Luckett, Executive Director and Chief Curator, Alma | Lewis
Jason Hank, Grade 7-12 Educator, Beaver Area High School
More information on "In Slavery's Wake": https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/in-slaverys-wake
The Global Appalachian Reading Group examines the complex intersections of regional identity, global influence, and environmental justice as they pertain to Appalachia and its connections to the wider world. The Spring 2025 theme is "Exploring Global Connections and Misconceptions in Appalachia and Beyond."
Session 2 Book: Big Coal: Australia's Dirtiest Habit by Guy Pearse, David McKnight, and Bob Burton
Copies of the books will be available for those planning to attend the event. Please stop by the Global Studies Center (4100 Posvar Hall) to pick up your copy. If you need the books shipped, that can be arranged.
Note: We are able to fund and distribute books to registrants as funding allows. Registration will remain open after this amount is reached. Registrants will be notified if we are unable to provide them with the reading material.
Join us for an upcoming lecture with special guest Dr. Yousuf Al-Bulushi!
Dr. Yousuf Al-Bulushi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Global & International Studies at the University of California, Irvine. His research engages questions of political geography, racial capitalism, political theory, and social movements in Africa.
Join us on Wednesdays in the Global Hub for casual Portuguese conversation!
Bate-Papo meet on Wednesdays, during Spring 2025, starting February 12 and ending April 16, EXCEPT on March 5.
Join the German Club on Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice German speaking and listening skills.
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
Squid Game’s phenomenal success calls attention to the local specificity of Netflix’s global expansion as it commissions original K-dramas. This practice has rich implications, both positive and negative, for Netflix’s production and distribution of Korean content. K-dramas classified as Netflix Originals have been riding its international market power to a wide range of transnational audiences, enabling national television creators to reimagine cultural spheres for both production and distribution that transgress the uneven circuit of transnational media. At the same time, the deterritorialisation of Netflix’s K-dramas raises concerns about its deep interpenetration of the Korean TV industry.
As a teacher-scholar, Dr. Ju believes that mass media lies in the multifaceted cutting-edge research field with inherent dimensional complexity as functioning as a social, economical, and cultural institution. Through teaching and mentoring students in mass communication, Dr. Ju strives to convey the body of knowledge about media and culture for individuals, society, communities, and the global society. Therefore she hopes that students can engage better in dynamic forms of media and communication practices to their day-to-day life.
Swahili Level 4 students: Join Swahili instructor Faraja Ngogo on Thursdays at 11 am-12 pm in the Global Hub to practice Swahili.
Join us for an upcoming lecture with special guest Dr. Yousuf Al-Bulushi!
Dr. Yousuf Al-Bulushi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Global & International Studies at the University of California, Irvine. His research engages questions of political geography, racial capitalism, political theory, and social movements in Africa.
Swedish Speaking Club is a space for practicing Swedish and deepening cultural understanding alongside others who are learning.
Join the Persian Club for a general board meeting.
Join the Graduate Organisation for the Study of Europe and Central Asia for their 22nd Graduate Student Conference
On February 29, 2025, Fulbright Scholar Faraja Ngogo visited West Hempfield Middle School to present to a group of 15 students. Her session focused on Tanzanian culture and the Kiswahili language, offering students a firsthand look into East African traditions, education, and daily life through storytelling and language interaction.
Gina Kim is a Postdoctoral Associate in Japanese Studies, specializing in Trans-Asian art history and visual culture, with a primary research focus on Manchukuo.
Manchukuo (1932–1945), despite its short existence in northeast China during Japan’s imperial expansion, serves as a pivotal historical space for understanding trans-Asian experiences and discourses. This talk explores the art and cultural networks of Japanese settlers in Dalian, highlighting how they negotiated and redefined settler identities while cultivating a distinctive modernity. Through observing, producing, and collecting the cultural expressions of ethnic others—ranging from coolies to folk objects and toys—these settlers crafted unique narratives of identity and belonging.
Join undergraduate Pitt students for a conversation hour to practice speaking in Hindi and Urdu and connect over shared cultural experiences.
Kya Baat Hai will meet weekly, on Fridays, during the 2024-2025 academic year, EXCEPT on March 7.
Swahili Level 2 students: Join Swahili instructor Faraja Ngogo on Fridays at 4-5 pm in the Global Hub to practice Swahili.
Join Danica R. Starks to explore how private sector investment in digital infrastructure has supported economic development and democratization in Kyrgyztan, particularly in rural areas of this country. Her case study will provide valuable insights into the intersection of technology, governance, and regional resilience in Central Asia.
Danica R. Starks is Adjunct Professor at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs while she also serves in the roles of Senior U.S. Commercial Liaison and Advisor to the U.S. Executive Director at the World Bank and Head of the Commerce Department’s Multilateral Development Bank Group. Danica has over twenty years of experience in international economic policy, commercial diplomacy, trade, and national security, with a specialization in Europe and Eurasia. Most recently Danica served as the Director of the Policy Team at the U.S. Department of Commerce in the Office of Russia, Ukraine & Eurasia. She has also previously done assignments as a Senior Advisor at the U.S. Helsinki Commission and to the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets.
The Romanian Room Committee invites you to celebrate Mărțișor. Mărțișor is an old Romanian tradition of gifting a red and white string attached to a small piece of jewelry or a flower. Learn the history of Mărțișor and join the members of the Romanian Room committee to make your own and for your friends. Learn more about this Romanian tradition which falls on March 1 of every year during which the gifting of a red and white string attached to a small piece of jewelry, or a flower is believed to bring health and luck to the wearer.
Come enjoy Romanian snacks!
The Euro Challenge is a competition for high school students on European economic and monetary policy. It gives participants the opportunity to learn about the Euro, the single market, and other important concepts central to the European Union and macro/microeconomics.
The PA regional competition is hosted by the University of Pittsburgh.
On March 9, 2025, Fulbright Scholar Faraja Ngogo visited Wendover Middle School and presented to 30 students and 3 teachers. Her session highlighted Tanzanian culture, the Kiswahili language, and daily life in East Africa. Through interactive discussion and cultural storytelling, Faraja created a welcoming space for students and educators to explore global perspectives.
We love to hate Shakespeare's Richard III, but what do we know about this most infamous of English kings? Did he have a hunched back? Was he a tyrant and a murderer? In a presentation featuring Britsburgh member Andy Kirtland and Felicia Perez of the Youth Shakespeare Society of Pittsburgh, we will compare what we know of Shakespeare's character and the historical King that inspired him. Discover some facts, and fictions, ahead of the Youth Shakespeare of Pittsburgh's upcoming production of Richard III. We will be joined by Izabella Wolfe the plays director to let us know what you can expect at the show. Come and make friends, or enemies, with Richard.
Meet us in the English Nationality Room in the Cathedral of Learning at 3pm on Sunday 09 March for the talk (and across the street for a pint after). The event is free, but space is limited. Please register at www.britsburgh.com.
Join us for an upcoming lecture with special guest Dr. Trevor Getz!
Dr. Trevor Getz is a Professor of African and World History at San Francisco State University. He is a historian of 19th century Ghana and its connections to the wider anglophone world. His main areas of focus are social history at the intersection of slavery and marriage and the cultural history of the West African bourgeoisie.
Tina S. Clemente is Professor at the Asian Center, University of the Philippines (UP), Diliman. She earned her Ph.D. at the School of Economics at the same university. Her research interests include China Studies, Philippines–China economic relations, economic history, and development.
The state of China/Chinese Studies as a field in the Philippines and the corresponding expertise landscape have increasingly generated interest especially owing to Philippine relations with China. In the Philippines, studies on China and the Chinese do not necessarily adhere to strict academic demarcations such as those associated with Sinology, Area Studies, and Chinese Overseas Studies in accordance with civilizational, state, and ethnic interrogations. My discussion begins with the historical interest in the Chinese and proceeds to an exposition on the domains of scholarship, which consists of discussions on academic programs and types of research.
Join us for an upcoming lecture with special guest Dr. Trevor Getz!
Dr. Trevor Getz is a Professor of African and World History at San Francisco State University. He is a historian of 19th century Ghana and its connections to the wider anglophone world. His main areas of focus are social history at the intersection of slavery and marriage and the cultural history of the West African bourgeoisie.
Stop by the Global Hub to learn more about financial wellness!
Are you an international student at Pitt looking to connect, or interested in connecting with international students? Stop by the Nook in the Global Hub on Tuesdays, between 2 and 4 pm during Spring semester, to chat with OIS Outreach Coordinator Zharia White from the Office of International Services!
Attention: Undergraduate students! 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!
This event will in theme with International Women's day. We will be inviting speakers specifically in International Development sector to give career advice.
Sike, Deborah Nwachinemere is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Meeting for Women in International Careers
Time: Mar 14, 2025 04:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://pitt.zoom.us/j/96432914892
Meeting ID: 964 3291 4892
In the 1990s, two joint studies by Japanese and U.S. researchers were published: Total War and “Modernization” and Deconstructing Nationality. The continuity between the prewar and postwar periods and the constructability of the concept of nation, as these two studies argue, is already becoming common knowledge. However, the specific constructiveness of the concept of nation in wartime Japan has not been fully explored.
In fact, the wartime period was one of the most inundated periods in the history of Japanese society with the concept of “nation/kokumin,” from “national culture(Kokumin-Bunka),” “national literature(Kokumin-Bungaku),” and “national schools(Kokumin-Gakko)” to “national uniform (Kokumin-Fuku),” “national diet(Kokumin-Shoku),” and “national housing(Kokumin-Jutaku).” What is the meaning of the concept of “nation/kokumin” that appeared so frequently during this period? Does it have any special characteristics that differ from the concept of “nation/kokumin” in other periods?
In this presentation, first, we focus on things related to people's lives, such as national uniform, national diet, and national housing. Second, we will focus on surveys related to people's lives, such as the Survey of Living Expenses and the Survey of the National Physical Fitness. What is unique to the “nation/national” in wartime Japan is neither imagined objects, representations, nor citizenship. It has most to do with mass production technology and standardization. The nation was above all a set of bodies to be quantified, standardized, and governed. The principles of mass production technology were applied to people's lives and their lives were reorganized. And as “citizens,” wartime people were excessively expected to govern their own lives with reference to a certain standard.
On March 11, join us for Irish Heritage Night when we host the Vegas Golden Knights! Featuring a concourse display courtesy of the University of Pittsburgh Nationality Rooms & Intercultural Exchange Programs, be here when we honor the incredible impact of our city’s Irish community and celebrate their rich culture and history.
In celebration of your heritage, lock in special pricing now. Plus, the first 200 community members that purchase tickets through this offer will receive an exclusive Penguins-branded Irish Heritage Hockey Shirt!
To purchase groups of 10 or more tickets or to request additional information, please contact Ryan Clark at (412) 255-1957.
Penguins vs. Golden Knights
Mar 11, 2025 7:00 PM EDT
PPG Paints Arena
1001 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, US
Purchase Deadline: Mar 11, 2025 5:00 PM EDT
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
The French Club will meet twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 22, February 5, March 4, and March 5.
Tina S. Clemente is Professor at the Asian Center, University of the Philippines (UP), Diliman. She earned her Ph.D. at the School of Economics at the same university. Her research interests include China Studies, Philippines–China economic relations, economic history, and development. Dr. Clemente is a former president of the Philippine Association for Chinese Studies and the first editor-in-chief of the Chinese Studies Journal. In 2022, Dr. Clemente received the Gawad Tsanselor Sa Natatanging Guro, the most prestigious award for UP Diliman faculty that recognizes excellence in teaching, research, and service.
Notwithstanding different calibrations in dealing with China—scoring a legal victory through the arbitral ruling, cooperating while shelving maritime claims, or posing resistance while engaging more vigorously in building alliances—the main critique on the Philippine security perspective is that it has wide room for improving strategic calculation. The perennial but unresolved question is how the Philippines can navigate its responses to China’s coercive levers. We examine strategies and implications of resilience vis-à-vis vulnerability in considering the options of an economically and militarily weaker country in dispute. We first contextualize the bilateral relations in recent years and the turn of the academic discourse then frame the notion of resilience in a game-theoretic context. We then demonstrate how pay-offs and actions in a multistage bilateral interaction are contingent on sanction-sender types, sanction-receiver’s resilience, and the players’ strategic reckoning of each other. Finally, we analyze the interaction space and particularize the scenario of a resilient Philippines.
Join your classmates for Slovak conversation practice in a fun, relaxed environment!
Join us for an upcoming lecture with special guest Dr. Jaimie Bleck!
Dr. Jaimie Bleck is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. She specializes in African politics with a focus on democratization, civil society, participation, and citizenship. Her research has been funded by grants from the Spencer Foundation, National Science Foundation, American Council of Learned Societies, and USAID-DRG.
Noriko Unno, PhD, is an assistant professor at Osaka University. This talk traces the history of cultural interactions between Japan and the Hui people (Sinophone Muslims), an ethnic minority group in the People's Republic of China said to be descended from foreign Muslims who migrated to China from today’s Middle East, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia from the seventh to fourteenth century. It reviews the influence of Islam in China on Japanese intellectuals during the Edo period, political and cultural activities of Hui youths studying in Meiji Japan, the Hui people’s responses to Japanese imperialism in the first half of the twentieth century, one contemporary Hui writer’s perception of Japan, and the rising popularity of halal Chinese cuisine in Japan. This overview offers a new perspective on the history of relations between East Asia and Islam by considering the mutual influences on Japan and Muslims in China, as well as Japanese understandings of Chinese and Islamic culture.
“Fugitive Decisions, Free Soil, and Antillean Geopolitics in the 1820s and 1830s”
A symposium based on a pre-circulated chapter draft by Prof. Gunvor Simonsen (Copenhagen University).
Initial comments, Professor Sue Peabody (Washington State University)
To receive the draft chapter, please reach out to Pernille Røge (per20@pitt.edu).
Wednesday, March 12, 2025, 4:30-6:00 p.m.
History Department Lounge (3702 Posvar Hall).
Co-sponsored by the Center for Latin American Studies and the Early Modern Worlds Initiative
Join us on Wednesdays in the Global Hub for casual Portuguese conversation!
Bate-Papo meet on Wednesdays, during Spring 2025, starting February 12 and ending April 16, EXCEPT on March 5.
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
The French Club will meet twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 22, February 5, March 4, and March 5.
Join the German Club on Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice German speaking and listening skills.
The German Club will meet on Wednesdays during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 22, February 5, and March 5.
Our annual Model African Union simulation for local high schools. This year it's bigger than ever!
Sign up to volunteer here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeQXgpaVH59cRr7zdSzNEAUeUdvUFX_...
Swahili Level 4 students: Join Swahili instructor Faraja Ngogo on Thursdays at 11 am-12 pm in the Global Hub to practice Swahili.
Join us for an upcoming lecture with special guest Dr. Jaimie Bleck!
Dr. Jaimie Bleck is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. She specializes in African politics with a focus on democratization, civil society, participation, and citizenship. Her research has been funded by grants from the Spencer Foundation, National Science Foundation, American Council of Learned Societies, and USAID-DRG.
Mangia con noi! Bring your lunch and chat with us! Pitt students only, all levels welcome!
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently predicted that global average temperatures will rise 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels in the mid-2030s. Over the last decades, a global network of scholars, policy makers, activists, and others have organized to offer ways to mitigate and even reverse the effects of climate change. What offramps can these solutions and movements offer our collective humanity?
“Eurasian Environments” seeks to provide some reflections to mark the UN’s 2024 Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. This series will examine social justice and sustainability efforts to address climate change by putting scholars of Eurasia in conversation with their peers specializing on Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The series will comprise six events that will illuminate the challenges and possible solutions to climate change in Eurasia in regional and global contexts.
This event is part of the Eurasian Environments: Climate Justice and Sustainability in Global Context series.
Swedish Speaking Club is a space for practicing Swedish and deepening cultural understanding alongside others who are learning.
As part of the Unmasking Prejudice: Confronting Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Racism Across Europe
Spring Lecture Series:
For about 25 years, a minority security dilemma has been crystalizing in Germany. With increasing Muslim immigration, the state has gradually instituted measures to acculturate this small but growing minority to the official memory culture centered on the Holocaust. It does so in part out a concern with Jewish safety, which is increasingly centered on sensitivities about German support of Israel rather than antisemitic crimes, nearly all of which are committed by Christian Germans. To make Jewish people feel safer, Muslim migrants are made to feel less safe. Conversely, Muslim security is experienced as endangering Jews. Therein lies the dilemma. This development hardened dramatically after October 7. How and why the trilateral relationship between the German state and its two non-Christian minorities issued in a dilemma
rather than reconciliation is the subject of this paper.
About the Speaker:
A. Dirk Moses is the Spitzer Professor of International Relations at the City College of New York. He is author and editor of publications on German history and in Genocide Studies, including Nachdem Genozid: Grundlage für eine neue Erinnerungskultur (2023). His public writings on Germany, Gaza, and Ukraine have appeared in the Geschichte der Gegenwart, the Boston Review, Noema Magazine and Lawfare. He edits the Journal of Genocide Research.
Join the Persian Club for Nowruz Festivities in the Global Hub.
Join undergraduate Pitt students for a conversation hour to practice speaking in Hindi and Urdu and connect over shared cultural experiences.
Kya Baat Hai will meet weekly, on Fridays, during the 2024-2025 academic year, EXCEPT on March 7.
Swahili Level 2 students: Join Swahili instructor Faraja Ngogo on Fridays at 4-5 pm in the Global Hub to practice Swahili.
Join Addverse, a transcultural, multilingual, and intergenerational poetry organization, for weekly meetings in the Global Hub.
Addverse will meet weekly, on Fridays, during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 24 and March 7.
This annual national competition provides US school and college students the opportunity to demonstrate their Russian language knowledge while meeting with other students of Russian and conversing with native Russian speakers. Students will receive recognition for their demonstrated language proficiency, improve their chances of getting international and study abroad scholarships, and enhance their professional resume.
Event date: Saturday, March 15, 2025
Location: 1500, 1501, 1502 Posvar Hall and Zoom
Registration Deadline: January 25, 2025
For more information and to register, please visit: https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/creees/events/olympiada
Join the Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs and the Hungarian Room Committee, along with the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, the European Studies Center, and the Hungarian Program of Less Commonly Taught Languages in the Department of Linguistics to commemorate the 1848 Hungarian Revolution.
Daniel Mikecz, PhD, Fulbright Visiting Professor, at the University of Pittsburgh will talk about the importance of the 1848 revolution in Hungary’s history and the influence of the revolutionary leader, Lajos Kossuth's trip in the United States and the Hungarian '48-ers who joined the Union forces in the Civil War in the United States. A reading of the the Nemzeti dal or "National Song", the patriotic poem written by Sándor Petőfi, will also be shared.
A reception will be held following the program portion in the Frick Fine Arts Building Cloister.
The event is free and open to the public.
This is an interactive discussion about the identity of immigrants to the United States. Dr. Nourbakhsh’s personal story spans Iran, the United States, NASA, Silicon Valley entrepreneurship and the life of a university professor. Dr. Nourbakhsh uses his personal background to discuss the blurring of identities for immigrants who dive deep into technology innovation in a world of increasing inequity and inequality.
Dr. Sajić served as the ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to France, UNESCO, Algeria, Monaco, Andorra and Romania. She was also a foreign policy advisor in the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She will be at Pitt to discuss her diplomatic experiences with students and the wider community.
Light lunch will be provided.
Responding to the record low birthrate, in 2023, then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida declared Japan “on the brink of not being able to maintain social functions.” Seeing this as a crisis of social reproduction, he announced policies to incentivize young people into having children—to reembrace the family as the center of life/livelihood. As sociality continues to downsize in Japan—to single households, solo lifestyles, childless futures—the keynote asks how these changes affect the elderly who once counted on “the family” to both care for and bury them.
Anne Allison’s research on contemporary issues in Japan spans the nightlife, popular culture, Pokémon, sexuality, gender, precarity, and death. She is the author of Nightwork: Sexuality, Pleasure, and Corporate Masculinity in a Tokyo Hostess Club; Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination; and Precarious Japan. Her most recent book, Being Dead Otherwise, has been awarded the John Whitney Hall Prize for 2025.
Stop by the Global Hub to learn more about financial wellness!
Are you an international student at Pitt looking to connect, or interested in connecting with international students? Stop by the Nook in the Global Hub on Tuesdays, between 2 and 4 pm during Spring semester, to chat with OIS Outreach Coordinator Zharia White from the Office of International Services!
Attention: Undergraduate students! 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!
The Penguins organization is committed to supporting the Asian Pacific Islander (API) community both on and off the ice. Our API Night, in recognition of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month observed in the United States during the month of May, will take place on March 18!
Join us for API Night in person at PPG Paints Arena when the Penguins host the New York Islanders. Featuring a concourse display courtesy of the University of Pittsburgh Nationality Rooms & Intercultural Exchange Programs, be here when we honor the incredible impact of our city’s Asian American and Pacific Islander community and celebrate their rich culture and history. Plus, the first 100 community members that purchase tickets through this special offer will receive a Penguins-branded API Night Rally Towel!
To purchase groups of 10 or more tickets or to request additional information, please contact Kyle Blend at (412) 255-1849.
Penguins vs. Islanders
Mar 18, 2025 7:00 PM EDT
PPG Paints Arena
1001 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, US
Purchase Deadline: Mar 18, 2025 5:00 PM EDT
: Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
Naila and the Uprising chronicles the remarkable journey of Naila Ayesh and a fierce community of women at the frontlines, whose stories weave through the most vibrant, nonviolent mobilization in Palestinian history-- the First Intifada in the late 1980s. The film uses animation, interviews, and exclusive archival footage. Khushboo Bhutani, PhD student in Film and Media Studies, will introduce the film.
Join us for a discussion on the growing challenges to democratic ideals in an age of populism, polarization, mis/mal/dis information, and rising authoritarianism. This event will explore the interplay between democratic values and anti-democratic forces, highlighting historical and contemporary movements that both support and erode the democratic project.
Roundtable I: Provocation on Mis/Mal/Dis Information
Roundtable II: Academic Panel
Roundtable III: Provocation on Populism
For more information, visit our website: https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/esc/events/ad-mini-symposium
Registration is required
Join your classmates for Slovak conversation practice in a fun, relaxed environment!
Join us on Wednesdays in the Global Hub for casual Portuguese conversation!
Learn about what events, certificates, and concentrations the Center for Latin American Studies offers. Join us for games and free food!
This article is part of an ongoing ethnography of the Japanese television industry focusing on its attempts to experiment with live, interactive content that was manipulable via smart devices, laptops, and remote controls. Based on 18 months of fieldwork in the Japanese television industry in four major TV network offices and two production companies, it also incorporates interviews with more than 30 broadcast company employees. Using two case studies of early interactive television programming to discuss the strategies producers have used to create community and promote identification among audiences of these shows: ‘Arashi Feat. You’ was a live music event that courted a large audience through the involvement of a massively popular boy band and promoted the idea of ‘turning viewers into users’ by allowing them to play musical instruments along with the band. ‘The Last Award’ allowed participants to submit and evaluate each other’s videos live through a dedicated user interface. Through these examples, Rodwell argues that participation alters the nature of television spectacle and results in changes to the way producers address and inscribe audiences as cocreators of content. The rhetoric used by interactive television accordingly defaults to ‘we’ and ‘us’ and features accessible and relatable celebrities as surrogates for the audience.
Elizabeth Rodwell is a media anthropologist who is interested in interactivity, television, emergent technology (in general), and artificial intelligence (specifically). She is also a usability researcher (UX). My first book Push the Button: Interactive Television and Collaborative Journalism in Japan (forthcoming) examines the post-Fukushima tensions in the Japanese journalism and television industries, and seeks to account for the ways that media professionals are responding to increasingly skeptical and distracted audiences. She tracks the global debut of interactive television in Japan– a cutting-edge fusion of mediums that represented the most dramatic departure from existing television technology in several decades.
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
Join the German Club on Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice German speaking and listening skills.
Swahili Level 4 students: Join Swahili instructor Faraja Ngogo on Thursdays at 11 am-12 pm in the Global Hub to practice Swahili.
Mangia con noi! Bring your lunch and chat with us! Pitt students only, all levels welcome!
Swedish Speaking Club is a space for practicing Swedish and deepening cultural understanding alongside others who are learning.
This paper analyzes the transnational relationship between European Catholic clerics and the Brazilian working class during the military dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s. It focuses on "worker priests (padres operarios/curas rojos)," who were part of an international movement of priests who worked in factories and ministered to working-class communities. In Brazil, worker-priests created ecclesiastical communities on the industrial outskirts of Sao Paulo and in Santos, a port region of Sao Paulo state. They were severely persecuted by the military regime.
Film: ELBOW Ellbogen
Film is about a girl named Hazal, who is 17 and lives in Berlin. Her biggest wish is to be given a chance. For her 18th birthday she wants to escape the everyday grind and party with her friends. But a fatal incident changes everything. Hazal is forced to flee.
Asli Ozarslan-Kroenlein
Profession: Writer, Director
Country: Germany
Director ASLI ÖZARSLAN (*1986, Berlin) studied theatre and media at the University of Bayreuth, philosophy at the Université Sorbonne IV in Paris and documentary film directing at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. INSEL 36 (2014) and her diploma film DIL LEYLA (2016) won numerous awards. With her current debut film project ELLBOGEN she was part of the Torino Film Lab and the mentoring programme Into The Wild.
Join the Persian Club for Nowruz Festivities in the Global Hub.
Join undergraduate Pitt students for a conversation hour to practice speaking in Hindi and Urdu and connect over shared cultural experiences.
Swahili Level 2 students: Join Swahili instructor Faraja Ngogo on Fridays at 4-5 pm in the Global Hub to practice Swahili.
Following the keynote address, the German students will present their original research that they conducted as part of completing their capstone seminar.
There will be food and light refreshments
The University Center for International Studies is excited to hold its first annual Qissa (story in Arabic), a celebration of heritage, culture, and personal experiences through storytelling. We invite all Pitt students to share your internationally-focused story using various creative forms and listen to others in this unique performance setting.
Join the Global TEACH Project for a special guest lecture with Dr. Oge Ilegbune, the Medical Director of Lakeshore Cancer Center in Lagos, Nigeria! In-person and Zoom attendance are available.
Zoom registration: https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/-eyxETWRRvSU5DlcPr3sJA
About Dr. Ilegbune:
Dr. Ilegbune focuses on cancer and non-communicable disease screening, effective service delivery, and patient-centered care. Over time, she expanded her expertise to include strategy, business development, outreach project management, hospital administration, and research. She is currently the Medical Director at Lakeshore Cancer Center.
Learn more about the Global TEACH Project on our website: www.ucis.pitt.edu/africa/global-teach-project
Please join Pitt Global for a celebration of the Sheth International Achievement Awards as we honor our 2024 recipients:
-Dr. Louis Picard, 2024 Sheth Distinguished Faculty Award for International Achievement recipient
-Dr. Tony Novosel, 2024 Sheth Distinguished Faculty Award for International Achievement recipient
-Divya Nawale, 2024 Sheth International Young Alumni Achievement Award recipient
Join us in celebrating the accomplishments of these prestigious global leaders at an in-person awards ceremony.
Stop by the Global Hub to learn more about financial wellness!
Are you an international student at Pitt looking to connect, or interested in connecting with international students? Stop by the Nook in the Global Hub on Tuesdays, between 2 and 4 pm during Spring semester, to chat with OIS Outreach Coordinator Zharia White from the Office of International Services!
Attention: Undergraduate students! 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!
Frank Lloyd Wright imposed his work to international prominence as a paragon of cutting-edge architecture, becoming a symbol of an entire nation: the United States. In the same way Wright established a new graphic style, an eloquent way to represent architecture that can be considered as an exclusive expression of American culture. This study analyses Wright’s architectural drawings as a specific production that, even if complementary to his better-known design, radiates its own artistic and architectural value.
Cosimo Monteleone is currently an Associate Professor in Representation of Architecture and Descriptive Geometry at the University of Padua (IT). He has been awarded a Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh (PA, USA). He is the author of a site-specific anamorphic installation entitled Rainbow at the Museo della Città, Palazzo dei Pio, Carpi (IT). He is a member of international research Visualizing Cities and Digital Bomarzo; indeed, his interest focuses also on digital humanities, stereotomy, geometrical analysis and virtual reconstruction of architecture, digital survey (lidar and photogrammetry), 3D modeling (CAD, BIM), virtual reality and augmented reality, 3D prototyping, file to factory processes, and parametric surfaces for design. He is also author of some books such as Riflessi. Specchi d’anima e d’immagine; Frank Lloyd Wright. Geometria e astrazione nel Guggenheim Museum; La prospettiva di Daniele Barbaro. Note critiche e trascrizione del manoscritto It. IV, 39=5446; Daniele Barbaro’s Perspective of 1568.
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
The Global Appalachian Reading Group examines the complex intersections of regional identity, global influence, and environmental justice as they pertain to Appalachia and its connections to the wider world. The Spring 2025 theme is "Exploring Global Connections and Misconceptions in Appalachia and Beyond."
Session 3 Book: Lark Ascending by Silas House
Copies of the books will be available for those planning to attend the event. Please stop by the Global Studies Center (4100 Posvar Hall) to pick up your copy. If you need the books shipped, that can be arranged.
Note: We are able to fund and distribute books to registrants as funding allows. Registration will remain open after this amount is reached. Registrants will be notified if we are unable to provide them with the reading material.
Join your classmates for Slovak conversation practice in a fun, relaxed environment!
Whether you're a seasoned professional or a Freshman just starting out, having a concise and compelling elevator pitch is essential in today's fast-paced world. An elevator pitch is a brief overview of your background, experience, and goals that you can deliver in the time it might take to ride an elevator - typically 30 seconds or less.
Join us on Wednesdays in the Global Hub for casual Portuguese conversation!
In the interwar period, a Polish Consulate served Pittsburgh's sizeable population with Polish roots. The last consul before the Second World War was Heliodor Sztark, who came to Pittsburgh in 1938, together with his wife, Aniela and their younger daughter Nina. All three became active public figures within the Polish community, the city of Pittsburgh, and Pitt. After the war, Heliodor resigned from his post because he did not agree with the new Polish government.
The family settled in Texas, where they started a new life under very difficult conditions. Their older daughter remained in Poland, but stayed in close contact with the US branch of the family.
The talk will focus on the Sztark family's trajectory before, during, and after their stay in Pittsburgh. Based on material from the Pittsburgh Polish newspaper "Pittsburczanin," interviews with descendants, and documents from archives in the US, Poland, and Germany, Professor Jan Musekamp will demonstrate how an East Central European family navigated realities in independent and wartime Poland, and the Cold War United States.
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
Join the German Club on Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice German speaking and listening skills.
Swahili Level 4 students: Join Swahili instructor Faraja Ngogo on Thursdays at 11 am-12 pm in the Global Hub to practice Swahili.
Mangia con noi! Bring your lunch and chat with us! Pitt students only, all levels welcome!
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently predicted that global average temperatures will rise 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels in the mid-2030s. Over the last decades, a global network of scholars, policy makers, activists, and others have organized to offer ways to mitigate and even reverse the effects of climate change. What offramps can these solutions and movements offer our collective humanity?
“Eurasian Environments” seeks to provide some reflections to mark the UN’s 2024 Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. This series will examine social justice and sustainability efforts to address climate change by putting scholars of Eurasia in conversation with their peers specializing on Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The series will comprise six events that will illuminate the challenges and possible solutions to climate change in Eurasia in regional and global contexts.
This event is part of the Eurasian Environments: Climate Justice and Sustainability in Global Context series.
Swedish Speaking Club is a space for practicing Swedish and deepening cultural understanding alongside others who are learning.
Meet and Greet with filmmaker:
Fred Kudjo Kuwornu is an Afro-Italian and U.S. multi-hyphenate socially engaged artist, filmmaker and scholar based in New York. His work bridges past and present, exploring identity and race through historical remixing of archival materials. Kuwornu's films have been exhibited at the 60ᵗʰ Venice Art Biennale (2024), Museum of Moving Image (NY), Library of Congress, and international film festivals. More info: https://www.fredkuwornu.com
Light Refreshments will be served.
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has resulted in the closure of Russia to western researchers, and a redirection of Russophone scholarship toward Central Asia. How has this phenomenon affected the academic communities and institutions of Central Asia? This workshop will examine several examples of "public history" in the region, including Nazarbayev University's "E-atlas of Kazakhstan's Sacred Geography," Harvard University's Central Asian Archive Project, and the speaker's own oral history project on the Orthodox clergy's role in the promotion of Kazakh language.
As part of the Unmasking Prejudice: Confronting Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Racism Across Europe
Spring Lecture Series
FILM: We Were Here - The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe, exhibited in the Central Pavilion directed by Adriano Pedrosa at the 60ᵗʰ International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, sheds light on the overlooked presence of African and Black individuals in Renaissance Europe, highlighting their depiction in masterpieces by some of the era’s most celebrated artists. How did they come to Europe? Why were they portrayed? Were they truly all servants or slaves? If the Black faces portrayed in these Renaissance masterpieces could speak, what would they tell us? More Info: https://www.wewereherethefilm.com
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. Session 2 book is Hope against Hope by Sheena Wilkinson.
The European and Eurasian Undergraduate Research Symposium is an annual event since 2002 designed to provide undergraduate students, from the University of Pittsburgh and other colleges and universities, with advanced research experiences and opportunities to develop presentation skills. The event is open to undergraduates from all majors and institutions who have written a research paper from a social science, humanities, or business perspective focusing on the study of Eastern, Western, or Central Europe, the European Union, Russia, or Central Eurasia.
After the initial submission of papers, selected participants are grouped into panels according to their research topics. The participants then give 10- to 15-minute presentations based on their research to a panel of faculty and graduate students. The presentations are open to the public.
SYMPOSIUM: Friday, March 28, 2025
APPLICATION DEADLINE: Friday, January 10, 2025
https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/creees/urs
QUESTIONS? Contact Zita Tóth-Shawgo
SPONSORS
Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies
Consortium for Educational Resources on Islamic Studies
European Studies Center
University Center for International Studies
Graduate Organization for the Study of Europe and Central Asia
Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences
Orthodox Christianity first came to Central Asia along with the Russian conquest in the 19th century. Along with Slavic settlers came Orthodox sacred objects, such as miraculous icons and the relics of saints. Churches, monasteries, and parish communities were build around these objects. During the colonisation process, control over Orthodox sacred objects was contested by the imperial regime, settler communities, and the native population. These objects ultimately became targets of violent conflict during the anti-colonial uprising of 1916, and the revolutionary violence and terror of the following decade. The physical survival of the Orthodoxy in Central Asia was possible due to the collaborative efforts of both settlers and natives, despite the efforts of the colonial regime to utilise the Church for the consolidation of Russian rule. The Orthodox objects and spaces that dot the landscape today comprise part of Central Asia's shared cultural heritage.
A presentation by Dr. Lung-chih Chang, Director of National Museum of Taiwan History, that will focus on the exhibitions and publications of the National Taiwan Museum of History as key examples, exploring contemporary Taiwan's collective memory and public discourse.
Join undergraduate Pitt students for a conversation hour to practice speaking in Hindi and Urdu and connect over shared cultural experiences.
Swahili Level 2 students: Join Swahili instructor Faraja Ngogo on Fridays at 4-5 pm in the Global Hub to practice Swahili.
Are you in the Trans, Queer, or 2SLGBTQIA+ community and want to travel abroad? Are you a student, faculty, or staff member in these communities who has traveled abroad previously? Join us for our second discussion on traveling abroad and risk assessment, where we will discuss how the University conducts risk-assessment on behalf of students and share ways we navigate safety as individuals.
Refreshments provided!
Register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScdu9undw8VABt0SfeHRDcFxDJNJwQw...
Please note a change of time:
Keynote Speaker for the Undergraduate Research Symposium:
The Discussion will explore one of the means by which primarily young people in West Germany attempted to “revolutionize” everyday life and beyond, through new, explicitly political forms of cohabitation designated Wohngemeinschaften (WGs). WGs served as critical hubs of more conventional popular politics of the era, but also housed intense experiments in remaking the self and relations with others, transcending the nuclear family and the centrality of the couples relationship, and working through ideas and convictions across populations often conceived as incompatible. Part of broader efforts to remake German society from the bottom up, these experiments mark one site of successful youth efforts to transform the world around them.
About the Speaker:
Belinda Davis is a professor of history at Rutgers University and director of the Rutgers Center for European Studies. She is author or co-editor of five books, including the coedited Social Movements After ’68: Selves and Solidarities in West Germany and Beyond (2022); The Internal Life of Politics: Extraparliamentary Opposition in West Germany, 1962-1983 (forthcoming with Cambridge). She is currently completing work on Voices of the Organized Poor: Learning from the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign’s Everyday Struggles for Survival and Alternative Futures; and working on an environmental history of modern Europe for Cambridge University Press. She is a member of the Rutgers team participating in the Jean Monnet-funded ValEUs grant, of which the University of Pittsburgh is also a consortium member.
There is no cost to attend the conference, and all are welcome to participate and submit proposals. We welcome all members of the global community to submit proposals for the 2025 Latinx Connect conference. Proposals are accepted for: workshops, panels/panel discussions, lightning round talks, and virtual poster presentations. The deadline to submit a proposal is extended to March 28, 2025.
About the Conference:
The Latinx Connect Conference aims to move us beyond “celebrating” Latinxs, calling for empowerment and justice for Latinx communities, who face numerous inequities in the US and across the world, particularly for those at marginalized intersections of Latinx identity (e.g., Afro, Indigenous, Queer, Trans*, Undocumented).
The theme of the conference this year is: ¡Com(o)unidad! (Com)unidade, (Comm)unity: State of the People. The Latinx Connect conference will bring together students, educators, community leaders, and political advocates to dialogue about Latinidad and envision ways to empower and support thriving futures, both near and distant, for diverse Latinx communities at local, national, and global levels.
They say AI may not replace you, but it will replace those who do not know how to use it. Come learn how to best use AI in academia without compromising academic integrity!
Dinner will be served.
RSVP: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSes7FPRTkOD27mNWr-wtu0VzR6ASWfp...
Join Addverse, a transcultural, multilingual, and intergenerational poetry organization, for weekly meetings in the Global Hub.
Addverse will meet weekly, on Fridays, during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 24 and March 7.
The Women's Bandura Ensemble of North America is coming to Pittsburgh! Join us in Bellefield Hall on March 28, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. for beautiful traditional Ukrainian music. Free and open to the public
The American Hellenic Foundation of Western Pennsylvania, The Greek Nationality Room Committee of the Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs, and the European Art Center of Greece (EUARCE) Present: Celebrating Greek National Independence Month "Invocations to Liberty" featuring the "Halidon Muse" Ensemble
Poetry by American Women on the Greek Revolution set to modern and classical music
Two concerts: March 29th: Poetry settings in modern music; March 30th in classical music.
The concerts will be broadcast live over the internet:
https://pahellenicfoundation.org/LibertyConcert
at 7:30 PM on Saturday, the 29th of March and at 7:30 PM on Sunday, the 30th of March
The American Hellenic Foundation of Western Pennsylvania, The Greek Nationality Room Committee of the Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs, and the European Art Center of Greece (EUARCE) Present: Celebrating Greek National Independence Month "Invocations to Liberty" featuring the "Halidon Muse" Ensemble
Poetry by American Women on the Greek Revolution set to modern and classical music
Two concerts: March 29th: Poetry settings in modern music; March 30th in classical music.
The concerts will be broadcast live over the internet:
https://pahellenicfoundation.org/LibertyConcert
at 7:30 PM on Saturday, the 29th of March and at 7:30 PM on Sunday, the 30th of March
Undergraduate students pursuing degrees (majors, minors, certificates) in Studio Arts, Political Science, and/or Global Studies are invited to apply for this artist-in-residence experiential learning program. Two artists-in-residence will be selected to create unique artworks for exhibition in the Political Science Department and the Global Studies Center. Material funding (up to $800) will be available, and selected artists will receive a $500 award upon project completion. The theme is "Global Appalachia," which captures the interplay among the deeply rooted socio-political processes, practices, and traditions of the Appalachian region and its dynamic connections to the broader world. It also highlights how the region transcends those boundaries through global influences, migrations, and shared struggles.
The American Hellenic Foundation of Western Pennsylvania, The Greek Nationality Room Committee of the Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs, and the European Art Center of Greece (EUARCE) Present: Celebrating Greek National Independence Month "Invocations to Liberty" featuring the "Halidon Muse" Ensemble
Poetry by American Women on the Greek Revolution set to modern and classical music
Two concerts: March 29th: Poetry settings in modern music; March 30th in classical music.
The concerts will be broadcast live over the internet:
https://pahellenicfoundation.org/LibertyConcert
at 7:30 PM on Saturday, the 29th of March and at 7:30 PM on Sunday, the 30th of March
Stop by the Global Hub to learn more about financial wellness!
Are you an international student at Pitt looking to connect, or interested in connecting with international students? Stop by the Nook in the Global Hub on Tuesdays, between 2 and 4 pm during Spring semester, to chat with OIS Outreach Coordinator Zharia White from the Office of International Services!
Attention: Undergraduate students! 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!
Join us for a workshop with Noémie Ndiaye, Associate Professor of English Literature at the University of Chicago, focusing on early modern English, French, and Spanish theater with an emphasis on race. Her monograph, Scripts of Blackness: Early Modern Performance Culture and the Making of Race (2022), explores how performance culture shaped the racialization of Blackness across Western Europe. Ndiaye's work has won numerous awards, including the 2023 Bevington Award and the 2023 Rose Mary Crawshay Prize.
The workshop will be conducted in English, and pre-circulated readings are available upon request from Chloé Hogg at hoggca@pitt.edu.
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
Join us for an event featuring Noémie Ndiaye, Associate Professor of English Literature at the University of Chicago, whose research focuses on early modern English, French, and Spanish theater with an emphasis on race. Ndiaye will discuss her award-winning book, Scripts of Blackness: Early Modern Performance Culture and the Making of Race (2022), which explores how performance culture influenced the construction of race in early modern Europe. Her book has received multiple prestigious awards, including the 2023 Bevington Award and the 2023 Rose Mary Crawshay Prize. Ndiaye is also the co-editor of Seeing Race Before Race (2023), which won the 2024 PROSE Award for Art Exhibitions. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from a leading scholar in the field!
Refreshments after the lecture
Join your classmates for Slovak conversation practice in a fun, relaxed environment!
As part of the Unmasking Prejudice: Confronting Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Racism Across Europe
Spring Lecture Series
Lecture Summary: TBD
About the Speaker:
Kirsten Wesselhoeft is associate professor of religion at Vassar College. She is a scholar of contemporary Islam, drawing on ethnography and political analysis to study Muslim thought and culture in contexts shaped by colonial encounters and secular liberalism. Her first book, Fraternal Critique: The Politics of Muslim Community in France (Chicago, 2025), shows how young engaged Muslims use disagreement and dissent to cultivate community, a value that is in turn stigmatized by political elites. Her scholarly writing has
appeared in Political Theology, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, and Sociology of Islam, among other journals.
Please note a change in room
Join us on Wednesdays in the Global Hub for casual Portuguese conversation!
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
Join the German Club on Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice German speaking and listening skills.
The Latinx Connect conference aims to move us beyond “celebrating” Latinxs, calling for empowerment and justice for Latinx communities, who face numerous inequities in the US and across the world, particularly for those at marginalized intersections of Latinx identity (e.g., Afro, Indigenous, Queer, Trans*, Undocumented).
The theme of the conference this year is: ¡Com(o)unidad! (Com)unidade, (Comm)unity: State of the People. The Latinx Connect conference will bring together students, educators, community leaders, and political advocates to dialogue about Latinidad and envision ways to empower and support thriving futures, both near and distant, for diverse Latinx communities at local, national, and global levels. #LXC25
As the largest pan-ethnic group in the United States, Latinxs are extremely diverse by race, gender, language, immigration, and experiences along the diaspora, which creates opportunity for dialogue. Participants will discuss together what it means to thrive as Latinx/a/o/e/Hispanic at the intersections of their identities in topic areas including but not limited to education, public health, arts, and history.
There is no cost to attend the conference, and all are welcome to participate and submit proposals. The proposal deadline has been extended to March 28.
Featured Events: "The Amazonas of Yaxunah" Film Screening and Q&A with director Alfonso Algara; performance by Zuly Inirio at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater; Keynote Speakers Yosimar Reyes (Poet & Activist) and Sheila Velez Martinez (Pitt School of Law, Center for Civil Rights and Racial Justice); and more!
Swahili Level 4 students: Join Swahili instructor Faraja Ngogo on Thursdays at 11 am-12 pm in the Global Hub to practice Swahili.
Sören Urbansky, Ruhr University Bochum Chair, Eastern European History
Dr. Urbansky discusses the challenges faced by Chinese immigrants during the late Tsarist Empire and early Soviet Union, highlighting the racial and cultural prejudices that fueled hostilities in urban settings. His analysis explores how these early interactions shaped the experiences and perceptions of Chinese communities in a rapidly changing socio-political landscape.
Mangia con noi! Bring your lunch and chat with us! Pitt students only, all levels welcome!
Swedish Speaking Club is a space for practicing Swedish and deepening cultural understanding alongside others who are learning.
By examining how French and Italian cultures have imagined and depicted the future across various time periods and media forms, this conference seeks to contribute to our understanding of how societies conceptualize change, progress, and new possibilities.
Speaker: Dr. Julia Frengs
She is an Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her past research has focused on representations of the body, Indigenous epistemologies, and environmental engagement in women’s literature from Kanaky/New Caledonia and Te Ao Mā’ohi/French Polynesia. Her monograph, Corporeal Archipelagos: Writing the Body in Francophone Oceanian Women’s Literature, was published by Lexington Books in 2018. Her current and future research projects investigate environmental engagement in Oceanian and Indian Ocean literatures. She served as guest co-editor of a double issue of Contemporary French and Francophone Studies: SITES, entitled “Parler la terre/Speaking the Earth,” which appears in fall 2021 in issues 25.3 and 25.4. Her most recent article, “Anticolonial Ecofeminisms: Women’s Environmental Literature in French-speaking Oceania” appears in French Cultural Studies
For decades, tree planting has been at the heart of Chinese environmental endeavors, and forestry is pivotal to its environmentalism and green image more generally. During the Mao era, while forests were razed to fuel rapid increases in industrial production, the "Greening the Motherland" campaign also promoted conservationist tree-planting nationwide. Based on two chapters of his forthcoming book Contested Environmentalisms: Trees and the Making of Modern China (Stanford UP, 2025), this talk probes the seemingly contradictory rhetoric and desires of Chinese conservation in the Mao era.
About the Speaker:
Cheng Li is an assistant professor of Chinese studies at Carnegie Mellon University. He earned his PhD from Yale University in 2022, focusing on modern Chinese environmental literature, film, and history. His work has appeared in leading journals, and his forthcoming book, Contested Environmentalisms: Trees and the Making of Modern China (Stanford UP, 2025), received the Marston Anderson Prize for best dissertation at Yale.
Join undergraduate Pitt students for a conversation hour to practice speaking in Hindi and Urdu and connect over shared cultural experiences.
Swahili Level 2 students: Join Swahili instructor Faraja Ngogo on Fridays at 4-5 pm in the Global Hub to practice Swahili.
This two-day K-12 mini course explores the Opium Wars of the 19th century, their causes, and far-reaching consequences, connecting historical events with modern global issues. Through examining the relationship between imperialism, trade, and culture, participants will gain insight into how the Opium Wars reshaped international dynamics, especially between China and Western powers, including the emerging empire of the United States. Sessions include presentations, activities and teacher-led strategies for curricular development.
Join Addverse, a transcultural, multilingual, and intergenerational poetry organization, for weekly meetings in the Global Hub.
Addverse will meet weekly, on Fridays, during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 24 and March 7.
This two-day K-12 mini course explores the Opium Wars of the 19th century, their causes, and far-reaching consequences, connecting historical events with modern global issues. Through examining the relationship between imperialism, trade, and culture, participants will gain insight into how the Opium Wars reshaped international dynamics, especially between China and Western powers, including the emerging empire of the United States. Sessions include presentations, activities and teacher-led strategies for curricular development.
This beloved event has been bringing together our diverse communities since 1979, and this year promises to be as unforgettable as ever.
Join us for a full day of live Latin American music, authentic artisans and crafts, mouthwatering cuisine, lively dance performances, and fun activities for children—ALL FREE of charge! It’s the largest celebration of Latin American and Latinx culture in Western Pennsylvania, drawing around 3,000 students, community members, and local businesses every year.
Dr. John Palka is a retired professor of biology at the University of Washington with a specialty in neuroscience. He is the winner of numerous prestigious academic awards, including election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, two Fulbright Fellowships for teaching in India, and a Guggenheim Fellowship for research in Cambridge, England. He also co-founded and co-directed the University of Washington's highly lauded Program on the Environment.
A two-time refugee from his Slovak homeland- in 1939 from the Nazis and in 1949 from the Communists- Dr. Palka has retained his love for Slovakia and his fluency in the Slovak language. Over the years he has visited his family in Slovakia often. These experiences inspired his research into the role that many generations of his family played in the national life of Slovakia, laying the foundation for his book My Slovakia, My Family: One Family's Role in the Birth of a Nation.
Learn about how you can learn Portuguese at Pitt and engage with the Lusophone community of the greater Pittsburgh area.
Our annual Silent Asia film screening is a collaboration with the Department of Music to showcase student musical compositions in tandem with the Chinese silent film Cave of the Silken Web (1927).
Are you an international student at Pitt looking to connect, or interested in connecting with international students? Stop by the Nook in the Global Hub on Tuesdays, between 2 and 4 pm during Spring semester, to chat with OIS Outreach Coordinator Zharia White from the Office of International Services!
Stop by the Global Hub to learn more about financial wellness!
Attention: Undergraduate students! 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!
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
The French Club will meet twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 22, February 5, March 4, and March 5.
Join your classmates for Slovak conversation practice in a fun, relaxed environment!
The presentation discusses the role of local public libraries in shaping memory about the Great Patriotic War in Russia today. With a particular focus on the Northwest of Russia, it will demonstrate how local libraries practice an emotional approach to commemoration, building close connections with their audiences through the feelings and personal histories they convey by means of material objects. Rendering local public libraries as powerful memory influencers in the region, the presentation will show their contribution to promoting local patriotism and remembering the militarized past.
Elena Kochetkova is currently an Associate Professor of Modern European Economic History at the Department of Archeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion at the University of Bergen. She is the author of the monograph "The Green Power of Socialism: Wood, Forest, and the Making of Soviet Industrially Embedded Ecology" (MIT Press, 2024). She is currently working on a monograph on food modernity under state socialism. She is also working within the project "'Memory Politics of the North, 1993-2023", funded by the Norwegian Research Council.
Dr. Zhong's work explores how, subject to the forces of the state and the market, Chinese cultural production continues to be influenced by different and sometimes conflicting cultural and ideological legacies related to the complexity of one and a half centuries of modern Chinese history. Television drama as a quintessential mainstream cultural phenomenon and offers a diverse collectionof televisual textual materials with which to study the implications of these influences.
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
The French Club will meet twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 22, February 5, March 4, and March 5.
Join the German Club on Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice German speaking and listening skills.
The German Club will meet on Wednesdays during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 22, February 5, and March 5.
The African Language Teachers Association (ALTA) is a professional organization that works to promote the teaching of, and research in, African languages and cultures. ALTA’s annual conferences provide an avenue for teachers, researchers, students, and other stakeholders in the field to meet and share their research, experiences, and best practices while finding ways to improve and promote the teaching of African languages.
The 2025 ALTA Conference will explore the integration of various disciplines, professions, and communities to enhance African language pedagogy. In an increasingly interconnected world, the teaching and learning of African languages must evolve to meet the demands of a diverse and globalized society. Participants will engage in discussions on how to incorporate cultural, social, and professional contexts into language instruction, making learning more relevant and impactful for students. The conference will highlight innovative approaches that connect African language education with other areas of study, such as history, social sciences, health, technology, and the arts. Additionally, it will emphasize the role of community engagement, particularly the involvement of African diaspora communities, in enriching the language learning experience.
By integrating disciplines, professions, and communities, ALTA aims to empower educators to create more holistic, inclusive, and effective African language programs that prepare students to navigate and contribute to the complex realities of the modern world.
Learn more and register: https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/africa/alta2025
Swahili Level 4 students: Join Swahili instructor Faraja Ngogo on Thursdays at 11 am-12 pm in the Global Hub to practice Swahili.
Mangia con noi! Bring your lunch and chat with us! Pitt students only, all levels welcome!
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently predicted that global average temperatures will rise 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels in the mid-2030s. Over the last decades, a global network of scholars, policy makers, activists, and others have organized to offer ways to mitigate and even reverse the effects of climate change. What offramps can these solutions and movements offer our collective humanity?
“Eurasian Environments” seeks to provide some reflections to mark the UN’s 2024 Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. This series will examine social justice and sustainability efforts to address climate change by putting scholars of Eurasia in conversation with their peers specializing on Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The series will comprise six events that will illuminate the challenges and possible solutions to climate change in Eurasia in regional and global contexts.
This event is part of the Eurasian Environments: Climate Justice and Sustainability in Global Context series.
Swedish Speaking Club is a space for practicing Swedish and deepening cultural understanding alongside others who are learning.
Join us on the fourth floor of Posvar Hall for a one-of-a-kind block party from the Center for Urban Education, Pitt's Department of Africana Studies, and the University Center for International Studies! Connect and learn about student clubs, organizations and discover new spaces to hang out between classes to support your academic journey, all with live music and free food! This interactive event offers the perfect opportunity to explore how our centers can elevate your college experience and boost your success.
Come and go, before, after or between classes during this three hour block of fun!
Dr. Grace Ji-Sun Kim is Professor of Theology at Earlham College. She has written or edited two dozen books, many of which converge on the themes of race, gender, and religion. Some of her most recent books include When God Became White: Dismantling Whiteness for a More Just Christianity; lntersectional Theology: An Introductory Guide (with Susan Shaw); and Invisible: Theology and the Experience of Asian American Women.
Why are cute and creepy mascots so ubiquitous among Japan’s cities and regions? Is there a Japanese Bigfoot? Have extraterrestrials ever landed in Japan? This lecture traces the history of Japanese mascots, cryptids, and UFOs, exploring how invented, imagined, and unexplained creatures have been deployed in tourism campaigns, the creation of regional identity, and local commercial boosterism. These “civic monsters” grew from Japan’s rich and distinctive monster culture of folkloric yōkai and cinematic kaijū but are also deeply woven into global circuitries of politics, capitalism, media, and play.
Why are cute and creepy mascots so ubiquitous among Japan’s cities and regions? Is there a Japanese Bigfoot? Have extraterrestrials ever landed in Japan? This lecture traces the history of Japanese mascots, cryptids, and UFOs, exploring how invented, imagined, and unexplained creatures have been deployed in tourism campaigns, the creation of regional identity, and local commercial boosterism. These “civic monsters” grew from Japan’s rich and distinctive monster culture of folkloric yōkai and cinematic kaijū but are also deeply woven into global circuitries of politics, capitalism, media, and play.
Bill Tsutsui, PhD, is an award-winning scholar and teacher, an experienced academic leader, and an outspoken supporter of the public humanities, international education, and more inclusive, accessible colleges and universities. He researches, writes, and speaks widely on Japanese economic and environmental history, Japanese popular culture (especially the Godzilla movies), Japanese-American identity, and issues in higher education. He is highly opinionated about BBQ, proud to have once driven the Zamboni at an NHL game, and slightly embarrassed to be Level 40 in Pokemon Go. He is currently Professor Emeritus of History at Hendrix College, a top-tier national liberal arts college founded in 1876 and located in Conway, Arkansas.
Join undergraduate Pitt students for a conversation hour to practice speaking in Hindi and Urdu and connect over shared cultural experiences.
Kya Baat Hai will meet weekly, on Fridays, during the 2024-2025 academic year, EXCEPT on March 7.
Swahili Level 2 students: Join Swahili instructor Faraja Ngogo on Fridays at 4-5 pm in the Global Hub to practice Swahili.
Join Addverse, a transcultural, multilingual, and intergenerational poetry organization, for weekly meetings in the Global Hub.
Addverse will meet weekly, on Fridays, during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 24 and March 7.
Stop by the Global Hub to see students in Authoritarian Politics (PS 1328) present research about their work this semester.
Stop by the Global Hub to see students in Chinee Politics (PS 1332) present research about their work this semester.
Attention: Undergraduate students! 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!
In an era marked by geopolitical friction and economic uncertainty, the relationship between the United States and Canada stands at a critical juncture. Join the Global Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh for a thought-provoking discussion of the historical foundations and contemporary tensions shaping this complex bilateral relationship through a global studies lens.
By situating this dialogue within a global studies framework, the program offers essential insights into how international dynamics, economic policies, and historical contexts intersect to shape bilateral relations. Scholars, students, educators, and curious minds alike will find this an essential forum for understanding the stakes of cross-border diplomacy.
For more information and to register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScUFuzHavWC1YtbjCQOvNe2fCL-LQuw...
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
The French Club will meet twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 22, February 5, March 4, and March 5.
Dr. Rijasoa Andriamanana Josoa from Robert Morris University is a Spring 2025 Rooney Scholar. Join her and the Center for African Studies on Wednesday, April 16th from 1-2pm for a conversation on Women's Access to Education in Madagascar!
Join your classmates for Slovak conversation practice in a fun, relaxed environment!
Stop by the Global Hub to see students in Authoritarian Politics (PS 1328) present research about their work this semester.
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
The French Club will meet twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 22, February 5, March 4, and March 5.
Join the German Club on Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice German speaking and listening skills.
The German Club will meet on Wednesdays during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 22, February 5, and March 5.
Stop by the Global Hub to see students in Chinee Politics (PS 1332) present research about their work this semester.
Swahili Level 4 students: Join Swahili instructor Faraja Ngogo on Thursdays at 11 am-12 pm in the Global Hub to practice Swahili.
Mangia con noi! Bring your lunch and chat with us! Pitt students only, all levels welcome!
China's recent achievements in artificial intelligence, exemplified by DeepSeek's breakthrough LLM, represent more than just technological advancement - they signal a fundamental shift in global innovation dynamics. While Chinese companies have demonstrated remarkable capabilities in areas from EVs to social media to AI, U.S. responses continue to follow a predictable pattern: disbelief, anger, accusations of theft, and blame. This recurring cycle reveals both China's evolved capacity for coordinated technological development and deep-seated American anxieties about what this means for U.S. technological primacy. Drawing on his extensive experience analyzing both societies, Sinica Podcast host Kaiser Kuo explores how China's innovation ecosystem has matured, why its successes continue to surprise Western observers, and what this tells us about the structural, cultural, and epistemic barriers to understanding China's technological transformation. The talk examines how China's rise has challenged core assumptions about the relationship between political systems and innovation, market economies and state guidance, and ultimately, about American exceptionalism itself — and whether it can accommodate China's own brand of exceptionalism.
Kaiser Kuo is the host and co-founder of the Sinica Podcast, a weekly discussion of current affairs in China that has run since April 2010 — for its first six years from Beijing, and since 2016 from the U.S. as part of SupChina. The show features in-depth conversations with scholars, journalists, diplomats, analysts, and others who work to better understand China in all its complexity.
Benno Weiner is Associate Professor of History at Carnegie Mellon University where he specializes in the ethnopolitics of twentieth-century state and nation making along China’s ethnocultural borderlands. He is the author of The Chinese Revolution on the Tibetan Frontier and co-editor of Conflicting Memories: Tibetan History under Mao Retold.
A weekly podcast about current affairs in China, hosted by Kaiser Kuo and featuring in-depth conversations about books, ideas, new research, intellectual currents, and cultural trends that can help us better understand what’s happening in China. A conversation between Sinica Podcast host and co-founder Kaiser Kuo and Professor Benno Weiner.
Kaiser Kuo is the host and co-founder of the Sinica Podcast, a weekly discussion of current affairs in China that has run since April 2010 — for its first six years from Beijing, and since 2016 from the U.S. as part of SupChina. The show features in-depth conversations with scholars, journalists, diplomats, analysts, and others who work to better understand China in all its complexity.
Benno Weiner is Associate Professor of History at Carnegie Mellon University where he specializes in the ethnopolitics of twentieth-century state and nation making along China’s ethnocultural borderlands. He is the author of The Chinese Revolution on the Tibetan Frontier and co-editor of Conflicting Memories: Tibetan History under Mao Retold.
Join us for a book talk and discussion with Lisa Bhungalia, Author and Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison, UCIS Visiting Professor in Contemporary International Issues and Michael Goodhart, Professor, Political Science Department.
Stop by the Global Hub to see students in the School for Public and International Affairs' Policy and Social Impact Fellows Program showcase the community-engaged projects they have completed this year with local organizations.
The Policy and Social Impact Fellows Program is a co-curricular experience designed exclusively for undergraduate students who have a passion for public policy, community engagement, and social justice, regardless of their major. It empowers students to make a meaningful impact by equipping them with the necessary knowledge, skills, and experiences. During the year, students immerse themselves in a hands-on experience that allows them to apply their knowledge and skills to address real community and organizational needs.
Please RSVP using this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeqZuSl8HAksc_iDZ_zCo7BzCyCxVbl...
This event is only in person.
Join undergraduate Pitt students for a conversation hour to practice speaking in Hindi and Urdu and connect over shared cultural experiences.
Swahili Level 2 students: Join Swahili instructor Faraja Ngogo on Fridays at 4-5 pm in the Global Hub to practice Swahili.
The Center for African Studies co-sponsored Dialogues & Connections, a professional development and networking event aimed at fostering career guidance and mentorship opportunities for African and African diasporic students and community members in Pittsburgh. The panel featured accomplished African professionals from diverse sectors including science, law, data analytics, and government service.
Panelists shared personal career journeys, insights on navigating professional spaces in the U.S., and practical advice on leadership, networking, and cultural identity in the workplace. The event promoted community engagement, intergenerational dialogue, and the exchange of global perspectives in alignment with the Center’s outreach and career development goals.
Join Addverse, a transcultural, multilingual, and intergenerational poetry organization, for weekly meetings in the Global Hub.
Addverse will meet weekly, on Fridays, during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 24 and March 7.
The Center for African Studies proudly co-sponsored the Opulence Africana Gala, a dynamic cultural celebration marking the grand finale of African Graduate Student Union (AGSU) Week 2025. The gala brought together students, faculty, and community members for an immersive evening celebrating the richness and diversity of African cultures.
The event featured a wide array of engaging activities, including spoken word performances, cultural games, African food tasting, a student talent show, and a shared dinner. Guests were encouraged to dress in African cultural attire, further enriching the vibrant and festive atmosphere.
This celebration provided a space for cultural expression, community building, and intergenerational exchange among attendees representing various African nations and diasporic communities.
This international conference will discuss the various forms of protest in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine, with a particular focus on forms of protest in art and media. All forums will take place in the Humanities Center, followed by a screening of The Accidental President (dir. Mike Lerner and Martin Herring, 2024) in the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium.
Join us for the international conference “Protest and Dissent: Cultural and Political Resistance in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine” on April 21, 2025, at the Humanities Center, the University of Pittsburgh, with a Zoom option available. The program features leading scholars from Bard College, Brown University, Fordham University, Indiana University Bloomington, University of California Santa Barbara, University of Pittsburgh, and Yale University. This event brings together scholars and community members to explore how culture shapes resistance across borders.
The conference will conclude with a screening of The Accidental President (Mike Lerner, Martin Herring, 2024), a powerful documentary about the personal and political journey of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the president-elect of Belarus. Join us on Monday, April 21, 2025, from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. for the film, followed by a virtual discussion with the filmmakers, with an introduction and Q&A moderated by Andrei Kureichyk (Yale University).
Stop by the Global Hub to meet students from Pitt's English Language Institute as the Pitt community wraps up the academic year in the Global Hub together!
Attention: Undergraduate students! 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!
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
The French Club will meet twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 22, February 5, March 4, and March 5.
Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Spring semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!
The French Club will meet twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 22, February 5, March 4, and March 5.
Join the Global Studies Center’s PiNTS (Pittsburgh Network for Threatened Scholars) Haifa Subay for a distinctive collaborative art initiative! We invite you to contribute to the creation of the "Threads of Us" mural — a collective artistic endeavor that explores themes of diversity, cultural expression, and shared humanity. This mural serves as a visual representation of how individual identities are interconnected, highlighting the global interdependence that binds us together while celebrating the richness of our unique backgrounds. Through this project, we aim to foster an inclusive environment that reflects the values of unity and mutual respect within the broader context of global studies.
To participate, select an open space on the canvas and express yourself through art. You can contribute a symbol that represents your identity or cultural heritage; write a word in your native language that embodies hope, love, or belonging; create a shape, color pattern, or abstract design that reflects your personal feelings or experiences; or simply let the colors flow — your unique touch is what makes this mural special. All materials, including paints, brushes, and colored pens, will be provided. We encourage you to embrace your creativity and add to this shared visual expression. Every contribution, no matter how small, is a vital part of this collective artwork.
Please Note: We ask participants to refrain from using national flags or political symbols. This mural is designed to be a safe, inclusive space for individuals of all backgrounds.
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. The Session 3 book is City of Saints and Thieves by Natalie Anderson.
The Center for African Studies (CAS), in collaboration with five other Title VI centers under the University Center for International Studies (UCIS), coordinated a dynamic in-school workshop program for 187 students at Environmental Charter High School. Themed “Global Perspectives: Exploring Traditions, Celebrations, and Cultural Understanding,” the event featured five interactive, concurrent sessions, each offered twice to allow students to engage with multiple cultural experiences.
The Center for African Studies led an immersive session on African languages, culture, music, and dance. Students learned greetings in various African languages, explored cultural traditions, and participated in vibrant African dance activities. The session encouraged cultural pride, active participation, and a deeper appreciation for Africa’s rich heritage.
Swahili Level 2 students: Join Swahili instructor Faraja Ngogo on Fridays at 4-5 pm in the Global Hub to practice Swahili.
Join Addverse, a transcultural, multilingual, and intergenerational poetry organization, for weekly meetings in the Global Hub.
Addverse will meet weekly, on Fridays, during Spring 2025, EXCEPT on January 24 and March 7.
The University Center for International Studies cordially invites students graduating in Spring and Summer 2025 to celebrate their academic achievements and receive their credentials at the University Center for International Studies’ Graduation Ceremony in the Charity Randall Theater followed by a reception in the Schenley Plaza Tent.
Graduating students should look for their personal email invitations from the University Center for International Studies to RSVP and contact their UCIS academic advisor with any questions about the event. For additional details, please contact Laura Daversa at Laura.Daversa@pitt.edu
Reception to follow the ceremony at 2:30pm in the Schenley Plaza Tent.
The Global Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh and Cultural Communications Alliance (CCA) are pleased to announce that this year’s competition will collaborate with Sarris Candies, with a focus on Quebec, Canada. The competition introduces international business concepts to students by using an international case competition. The Global Studies Center and CCA work with Pittsburgh area high school teachers to introduce international business concepts to their students by using an international case competition.
The New East Film Symposium is a non-commercial academic event organized by Pitt graduate students since 1999. This year’s focus is documentary cinema from Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia. The screenings explore the unstable borders and volatile experiences of “home” in war’s aftermath and of ethno-national violence in the region.
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. The Session 4 book is K-Pop Confidential by Stephan Lee.
Lafayette Recollects A theatrical performance by Benjamin Goldman of the American History Theatre of Philadelphia honors the 200th Anniversary of Lafayette’s 1825 visit to Pittsburgh. As the last living General of the Revolutionary War, Lafayette was invited in 1824-25 to tour the United States in the hopes that his appearance could unify the young nation during a period of deep division. The lecture, as well as other weekend events in the region, are part of a year-long nationwide commemoration of Lafayette’s grand tour. A traveling exhibit will be on display in the Cloisters from 3:30 pm.
Free and open to the public. https://lafayette200.org/
Sponsored by the American Friends of LaFayette Association, the French Nationality Room Committee, and the Centre Francophone de Pittsburgh.
The annual Brussels Study Tour is a week-long opportunity for educators across the U.S. to learn more about the European Union. With funding from the EU Delegation and the U.S. Department of Education, K-12 educators and faculty at community colleges and minority-serving institutions (Title III- or Title V-eligible) are able to gain first-hand knowledge and experiences to further their understanding of Europe and the European Union. Visits to the EU institutions and other organizations provide an inside look at the issues facing Europe and the EU.
The Celebrate Africa Festival brings students, faculty, and staff together with the vibrant African diaspora community in Pittsburgh. There is food, song & dance, artisans, children's activities, and more! It is a wonderful opportunity to engage with the diversity of Africa and the Pittsburgh community, as well as network with local African organizations and businesses.
The Celebrate Africa Festival brings students, faculty, and staff together with the vibrant African diaspora community in Pittsburgh. There is food, song & dance, artisans, children's activities, and more! It is a wonderful opportunity to engage with the diversity of Africa and the Pittsburgh community, as well as network with local African organizations and businesses.
The Celebrate Africa Festival brings students, faculty, and staff together with the vibrant African diaspora community in Pittsburgh. There is food, song & dance, artisans, children's activities, and more! It is a wonderful opportunity to engage with the diversity of Africa and the Pittsburgh community, as well as network with local African organizations and businesses.
The Celebrate Africa Festival brings students, faculty, and staff together with the vibrant African diaspora community in Pittsburgh. There is food, song & dance, artisans, children's activities, and more! It is a wonderful opportunity to engage with the diversity of Africa and the Pittsburgh community, as well as network with local African organizations and businesses.
Through experiential learning, high school students engage directly with global issues by assuming the role of world leaders and negotiating responses to timely topics.
