Events in UCIS

Wednesday, April 3 until Thursday, April 3

12:00 pm Lecture
Yellow Peril in Vladivostok: The Chinese Diaspora in Russia and the Soviet Union
Location:
4217 Posvar Hall
Sponsored by:
Asian Studies Center, Center for Russian East European and Eurasian Studies, European Union Center of Excellence and European Union Studies Association along with Department of German
See Details

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.

Thursday, March 27

11:00 am Student Club Activity
Swahili Level 4 Conversational Hours
Location:
Global Hub
Sponsored by:
Center for African Studies and Global Hub along with Less Commonly Taught Languages Cente
See Details

Swahili Level 4 students: Join Swahili instructor Faraja Ngogo on Thursdays at 11 am-12 pm in the Global Hub to practice Swahili.

12:00 pm Student Club Activity
Tavola Italiana
Location:
Global Hub
Sponsored by:
European Studies Center and Global Hub along with Department of French & Italian
See Details

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

1:00 pm Lecture
Front-Line Issues: War, Climate, and Refugees
Location:
4130 Posvar Hall
Sponsored by:
Asian Studies Center, Center for Ethnic Studies Research, Center for African Studies, Center for Latin American Studies, Center for Russian East European and Eurasian Studies, European Studies Center and Global Studies Center
See Details

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.

2:30 pm Student Club Activity
Språkcafé (Swedish Conversation Club)
Location:
Global Hub
Sponsored by:
European Studies Center and Global Hub along with Less Commonly Taught Languages Center
See Details

Swedish Speaking Club is a space for practicing Swedish and deepening cultural understanding alongside others who are learning.

3:30 pm Reception
Meet and Greet with Fred Kudjo Kuwornu
Location:
Global Hub
Sponsored by:
Center for Ethnic Studies Research, European Studies Center, European Union Center of Excellence and Global Hub along with Jewish Studies Program, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Department of French and Italian, Department of Arts and Architecture, Department of Religious Studies, Early Moders Worlds, Film and Media, African Studies, Center for Africana Studies, Deitrich School of Arts and Sciences, Center for Black European Studies and the Atlantic and Carnegie Mellon University
See Details

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.

4:00 pm Workshop
Russophone Scholarship, Public History, and Central Asia After February 2022
Location:
Department of History Lounge, Posvar Hall, 3rd Floor
Sponsored by:
Center for Russian East European and Eurasian Studies along with Department of History
See Details

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.

4:30 pm Lecture Series / Brown Bag
Puerto Rican Mothers Who Stay: Negotiating Gender, Labor and (non)Migration to Rural Midwest
Location:
4130 Posvar and Zoom
Sponsored by:
Center for Ethnic Studies Research and Center for Latin American Studies
5:00 pm Film
We Were Here: The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe
Location:
125 Frick Fine Arts Building
Sponsored by:
European Studies Center, European Union Center of Excellence and UCIS Engagement along with Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Department of French and Italian Department of History Department of German Department of Religious Studies Jewish Studies Program, Center for Black European Studies and the Atlantic and Carnegie Mellon University
See Details

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

6:00 pm Teacher Training
Global Issues through Literature: Global Labor (Session 2)
Sponsored by:
European Studies Center and Global Studies Center
See Details

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.