Week of January 31, 2021 in UCIS

Thursday, January 28 until Thursday, February 4

4:00 pm Festival
MEET EU Short Film Festival
Sponsored by:
European Studies Center
See Details

Inspired by the European Year of Rail, which shines a light on one of the most sustainable, innovative, and safest modes of transportation, and acknowledging the challenges we have all faced during the pandemic in traveling and forging new connections, the inaugural MEET EU Short Film Competition for U.S. Youth asks young people to create a short film (documentary or non-documentary) responding to the theme “Transatlantic Connections”. The theme is intentionally broad and entrants are encouraged to be creative in how they interpret it.

MEET EU: Making Encounters, Engaging Transatlanticists, is a grant generously funded by the European Union through the European Union Delegation to the US in Washington, DC. The goals of this grant are to shine a light on the EU and the importance of the transatlantic relationship through the eyes of young Americans. We encourage entrants to think creatively to give us your perspective on the European-American relationship, similarities and differences between countries, and why this relationship matters.

Monday, February 1

7:00 pm Film
Housing is Healthcare! Let's Demand the Human Right to Housing
Sponsored by:
Global Studies Center
See Details

Global finance is profiting handsomely from the pandemic while growing numbers are facing housing insecurity, threats of eviction, and houselessness. Join us in watching the documentary film, Push, which tells the story of how global banks and investment firms are turning our communities into sources of private profit, taking control of residential housing around the world, and pushing out low-income residents. The film tells another story too: residents and city officials are coming together to demand that housing be protected as a human right.

Registration link: https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0kf-Grqj8jHdXwheJWuUUdxm6qIQwZCk3i

Wednesday, February 3

11:00 am Information Session
African Studies Program Virtual Office Hours
Location:
Zoom
Sponsored by:
Center for African Studies and Global Hub
See Details

Meet with African Studies Program Student Ambassador Emmanuel Ampofo to ask questions about the African Studies Certificate, upcoming events, and more.

Meet via Zoom: https://pitt.zoom.us/j/97841843639

12:00 pm Lecture Series / Brown Bag
EU Trilogues: Challenges for Democracy? (part of the EU Democracy Forum series)
Sponsored by:
European Studies Center along with University of Washington
See Details

EU DEMOCRACY FORUM – IMAGINE THE FUTURE
Democracy cannot be taken for granted -- not in Europe, not anywhere. With this series of talks by experts on European politics and society we want to encourage discussion about the future of democracy in the European Union, its member states, and the neighborhood. As the EU Commission launches its Conference on the Future of Europe in 2021, we invite you to imagine this future with us. Our contributors will reflect on the EU’s achievements and challenges. We will hear their reflections on how to strengthen and expand democratic processes and institutions, both in Brussels and in Europe more broadly.

12:00 pm Information Session
Student/Alumni Meet 'n Greet GSC Abroad: Views from Europe
Sponsored by:
Global Studies Center
See Details

This spring, the series will feature Global Studies alumni who will share career insights and offer a perspective on how their certificate work has been valuable to them professionally. Grab lunch and enjoy an informal conversation with GSC alumni living in Europe. They will share their experiences living and working in Europe during COVID, going to graduate school abroad, their views from across the pond.
Evelyn Bigini '20 (Nursing) is pursuing an MS in Global Health in the Netherlands
Sarah Sellers ’20 (French) is teaching English in France
Pat Bewick ’13 (Political Science) is working with refugees in Germany.

Zoom link: https://pitt.zoom.us/j/99096149639

4:00 pm Cultural Event
Something's Brewing
Location:
Register online via Zoom
Sponsored by:
Center for Russian East European and Eurasian Studies
See Details

Join the Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies for a relaxing chat while learning about comforting cold weather drinks from Eastern Europe and other world regions.

REGISTER HERE:ttps://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJElcO2gpjMjGdTGJzdO727WrAnxIP7nieW-

5:00 pm Cultural Event
La Parlotte: French Conversation Club
Location:
Zoom
Sponsored by:
Global Hub along with Department of French & Italian
See Details

Chat with other French students, French faculty, and PhD students and practice your French language skills. Email PhD student Pat Nikiema at PAN32@pitt.edu for the Zoom link.

7:00 pm Film
Malaysian and Singaporean Horror Series screening of Sumpah Pontianak
Sponsored by:
Global Studies Center
See Details

Third in the series of schlocky films from the 50s. The first Pontianak film appeared in 1957 Singaporean Malay horror film directed by Indian film director B.N. Rao starring Maria Menado and M. Amin. Based on the Malay folktales of a blood-sucking ghost born from a woman who dies in childbirth. The smash-hit premiered on 27 April 1957 and screened for almost three months at the local Cathay cinemas. Its success spawned two other sequels, Dendam Pontianak (Revenge of the Pontianak, 1957) and Sumpah Pontianak (Curse of the Pontianak, 1958). It is also said to have launched the Pontianak genre in Singapore and Malaysia, with rival Shaw producing its own Pontianak trilogy and several movies of the same genre were also made in Malaysia.

Registration link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScOZO_1T0zirlVJBtAzrFm63kwqm3dP...

Thursday, February 4

12:00 pm Lecture Series / Brown Bag
Brexit Update with Dr. Anand Menon
Location:
Zoom
Sponsored by:
European Studies Center and European Union Center of Excellence along with University of North Carolina at Chapel HillCenter for European Studies A Jean Monnet Center of Excellence
See Details

In January, the United Kingdom will leave the European Union. In this discussion, Anand Menon, an expert on the European Union, will talk about what this means for the future of the European Union, the ramifications for the United Kingdom, and what may happen next.

#JMintheUS

3:15 pm Cultural Event
Laber Rhabarber - German Conversation Hour
Location:
Zoom
Sponsored by:
Global Hub along with Department of German
See Details

Laber Rhabarber - More than a German conversation hour!

"... the most human thing we have is language, and we have it in order to talk." German author Theodor Fontane wrote in 1892. So, here's chance! Be human with us for an hour every week, albeit in German ;D

Everyone and every level of German welcome!

Zoom Meeting link: https://pitt.zoom.us/j/99661883076
German Dept. website: http://www.german.pitt.edu/
Follow us on Instagram/Facebook/Twitter: @UPittGerman

6:00 pm Film
The Dead and the Others
Location:
Online
Sponsored by:
Center for Latin American Studies
See Details

The Dead and the Others (Chuva é Cantoria na Aldeia dos Mortos)

Fiction / Brazil, Portugal / 2018

There are no spirits or snakes tonight and the forest around the village is quiet. Fifteen year old Ihjãc has nightmares since he lost his father. He is an indigenous Krahô from the north of Brazil. Ihjãc walks into darkness, his sweaty body moves with fright. A distant chant comes through the palm trees. His father's voice calls him to the waterfall: it's time to organize a funerary feast so the spirit can depart to the dead's village.

The mourning must cease. Denying his duty and in order to escape a crucial process of becoming a shaman, Ihjãc runs away to the city. Far from his people and culture, he faces the reality of being an indigenous in contemporary Brazil.

—Luxbox Films

Language: Krahô and Portuguese

Registration is required: https://tinyurl.com/yxljmbrx

Please register by February 4, 2021 at 3 pm. Around 5:30 pm you will receive an email with the Zoom link and instructions on how to access the film

7:00 pm Film
George Romero and Pittsburgh: The Early Years Screening and Discussion
Sponsored by:
Global Studies Center along with University Library System's Horror Studies Webinar Series
See Details

Join us for the premiere screening of the George Romero & Pittsburgh: The Early Years documentary and a special presentation of the George A. Romero Foundation Pioneer Award honoring the late Pitt alum and Night of the Living Dead star Duane Jones to be presented by Suz Romero. The film is the product of a group of dedicated Pitt students and mentors from the Making The Documentary course who creatively persevered during a pandemic using materials from the Romero archives and interviews.

Friday, February 5 until Sunday, February 7

(All day) Lecture
Mini-Course--Transforming Cities: Cities & Sustainability
Location:
Virtual - Register Online!
Sponsored by:
Global Studies Center along with Carnegie Mellon University
See Details

This course will bring together the expertise of faculty from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, as well as practitioners to provide a multidisciplinary approach to the interconnections between health and sustainability, the role cities can have on climate change, low-emission growth, and clean energy, the importance of access to resources, the need for sustainable transportation, and the practices of sustainable consumption, among others.

Friday, February 5

12:00 pm Reading Group
Book Club: His Only Wife
Location:
Zoom
Sponsored by:
Center for African Studies
See Details

The African Studies Book Club is back with His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Mezie, a Pitt African Studies alumna. A brilliant scholar and a fierce advocate for women's rights, Medie infuses her debut novel with intelligence and humor. This book is a fun read and a great way to fill your free time over winter break!

12:00 pm Cultural Event
RICE &... Series: Uzbek Plov
Location:
Zoom
Sponsored by:
Center for Russian East European and Eurasian Studies, Global Hub and UCIS Engagement
See Details

Join the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (REEES) and the Pitt Global Hub for another RICE &... event!

REEES will be demonstrating how to make the Uzbek dish plov.

1:00 pm Panel Discussion
Transnational Dialogues in Afrolatinidad: Gender, Identity, and Health
Location:
Virtual - Register Online!
Sponsored by:
Center for Latin American Studies and Global Studies Center along with Department of Africana Studies
See Details

Join us for the second installment of the webinar series – Transnational Dialogues in Afrolatinidad – that seeks to expand transnational, transregional, and interdisciplinary exchange on contemporary and historical issues in Afro-Latin American and Afro-Latinx Studies. This webinar focuses on gender, race, identity, and health, particularly involving the experiences of Afro-Brazilians, Afro-Argentines, and U.S.-based Afro-Latinxs. Scholars working at the intersections of Africana, Latinx, Latin American and gender studies will explore the ways that these issues overlap and impact Afro-Latin Americans and their diasporic communities in the U.S.

Welcome: Manuel Roman-Lacayo, Associate Director, Center for Latin American Studies, University of Pittsburgh

Kia Caldwell, Professor of African, African American, and Diaspora Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; specialist in Afro-Latin America, Brazil, Black feminism, health, sociocultural anthropology.

Nancy López, Associate Vice President for Equity & Inclusion, Professor of Sociology, University of New Mexico; specialist in Afro-Latinx, gender, race, health, sociology.

Erika Edwards, Associate Professor of Latin American History University of North Carolina at Charlotte; specialist in Afro-Latin America, Argentina, gender, race, identity, history.

Paul Joseph López Oro, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies, Smith College; specialist in transnational Afro-Latinx, Garifuna/Central America, Black feminisms/queer theory and identity.

Moderator: Michele Reid-Vazquez, Director, Afro-Latin American, and Afro-Latinx Studies Initiative, Associate Professor of Africana Studies, University of Pittsburgh

Register here: https://bit.ly/3a4seFA

1:00 pm Cultural Event
Russian Language Tutoring
Location:
Online
Sponsored by:
Center for Russian East European and Eurasian Studies
See Details

Russian tutoring available for students by appointment.

Book your appointment here: https://calendly.com/katya-kovaleva/russian-language-tutoring

2:00 pm Lecture Series / Brown Bag
New Directions in Research: Russian Literature in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Location:
Zoom
Sponsored by:
Center for Russian East European and Eurasian Studies along with Center for East European and Russian/Eurasian Studies, University of Chicago, Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, University of Michigan, Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, University of Texas at Austin, Center for Slavic and East European Studies, Ohio State University, Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center, Indiana University, Bloomington, Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Russian and East European Institute, Indiana University, Bloomington and Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University
See Details

2:00-3:30 pm (ET) | 1:00-2:30 pm (CT) | 12:00-1:30 (MT) | 11:00 am-12:30 pm (PT)

MODERATOR:
Bella Grigoryan, University of Pittsburgh

PRESENTATIONS:
"On How to Choose One’s Ancestors: James Joyce in Russian Literature"
José Vergara, Swarthmore College

"Russian Symbolism and the Racial Origins of 'Tolstoy v. Dostoevsky'"
Lindsay Ceballos, Lafayette College

This event will be recorded and streamed live on the ASEEES Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/slavic.e.european.eurasian.studies/)

REGISTER IN ADVANCE: https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/creees/race-in-focus

This event is part of the series "Race in Focus: From Critical Pedagogies to Research Practice and Public Engagement in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies." This series is designed to elevate conversations about teaching on race and continued disparities in our field while also bringing scholars from underrepresented minorities and/or research on communities of color to the center stage.

3:00 pm Student Club Activity
German Club Meeting
Location:
Zoom
Sponsored by:
Global Hub along with Pitt German Club
See Details

Join the Pitt German Club every Friday at 3PM to practice your German language skills and learn about different aspects of German culture!

Zoom ID: 950 0542 1812

4:15 pm Colloquium
Panoramas Round Table: Exploring Chicano Identity and Music
Location:
Online (Zoom)
Sponsored by:
Center for Latin American Studies along with Panoramas
See Details

Chicano music today is very diverse, but what is the general criteria for Chicano music, if there really is any? Are there particular genres that are exclusively Chicano, or can Chicano music encompass other genres or hybrids like cumbia, rap, or rock? Is Chicano music exclusively made by Chicano people or can any Mexican and/or Mexican American musician contribute? Finally, does Chicano music have to talk about Chicano culture and/or issues?

About the Round Table Discussion Leader: Stephanie Jiménez is Mexican American and was raised in Pittsburgh. They are currently pursuing a BS in environmental science and a BA in music via the global and popular music track. They are also working towards certificates in geographical information systems, Latin American studies, and sustainability. They draw on their cultural background and disciplines to forge studies on the intersections between the environment and music. Through their teaching experience at the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center (Florida Recycled), Pitt’s Center for Creativity, and the Allegheny Land Trust, they have begun exploring how science and music are tools for advocacy work.

Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yy96u3d6

Saturday, February 6

8:00 pm Film
An Evening with Horror Director Gigi Saul Guerrero
Sponsored by:
Global Studies Center along with University Library System's Horror Studies Webinar Series
See Details

Mexican-Canadian horror director and actress Gigi Saul Guerrero will showcase some of her horror film work and discuss filmmaking with members of the Pitt community. Guerrero is co-founder of Luchagore Productions in Vancouver, Canada, and directed her feature debut Culture Shock for Blumhouse Productions Television. She has gained recognition for her numerous short films, many of which look at Mexican culture and experiences through horror.