Week of May 9, 2021 in UCIS

Thursday, April 8 until Friday, April 8

8:00 am Conference
Georgia Consortium: Exploring the Complexities of Vietnam
Location:
Online via Zoom
Sponsored by:
Asian Studies Center
See Details

Register here.

Tuesday, May 11 until Thursday, May 13

8:00 am Symposium
European & Eurasian Undergraduate Research Symposium
Location:
Zoom
Sponsored by:
Center for Russian East European and Eurasian Studies and European Studies Center
See Details

The 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. The 2021 Symposium will be online.

Wednesday, May 12

11:30 am Panel Discussion
Crisis and Reimagining of Democracy
Location:
Register online via Zoom
Sponsored by:
Center for Russian East European and Eurasian Studies and European Studies Center along with Consortium for Educational Resources on Islamic Studies (CERIS)
See Details

Dr. Anna Grzymala-Busse (Stanford University) and Dr. Graeme Robertson (University of North Carolina) will speak on past and present challenges and developments in democracy, particularly in post-communist nations in Europe and Eurasia.

6:30 pm Film
Virtual Screening and Discussion: LUNANA: A YAK IN THE CLASSROOM
Location:
Online via Zoom
Sponsored by:
Asian Studies Center and National Consortium on Teaching About Asia along with Screenshot: Asia and PA Council on the Arts
See Details

A young teacher in modern Bhutan shirks his duties while planning to go to Australia to become a singer. As a reprimand, his superiors send him to the most remote school in the world, a glacial Himalayan village called Lunana, to complete his service. He wants to quit and go home, but he begins to learn of the hardship in the lives of the beautiful children he teaches, and begins to be transformed through the amazing spiritual strength of the villagers.

Register here for a virtual screening of LUNANA: A YAK IN THE CLASSROOM (Pawo Choyning Dorji, 2019).
Event will be broadcast live digitally. Before the screening, a link will be sent to the email account provided below.

Register here.

Thursday, May 13 until Friday, May 14

9:00 am Conference
African Studies Spring Conference
Location:
Accelevents
Sponsored by:
Center for African Studies
See Details

The African Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh is hosting a virtual conference May 13-14, 2021 to ponder African futures in the context of current challenges and to think about innovative strategies for moving forward with the continent's development agenda. This conference will provide a platform for scholars and practitioners who work on Africa related topics to engage in conversations about Africa's economic growth, development and transformation based on their research, practice and scholarship. The first day of the conference will consist of a keynote panel comprised of distinguised scholars and practitioners. The second day of the conference will consist of a keynote spekaer who will examine the general landscape of Africa's development, and the necessity of finding alternative pathways to solve the challenges facing African countries in development efforts.

The topics of discussion are wide ranging and interdisciplinary in nature. We invite you to join us for this very enriching conference. This year, because we are virtual, we are especially excited to have speakers and participants from across the United States, Africa, Europe and other places to share their research and experiences in the field of African Studies. We are looking forward to having important conversations about Africa's growth and development prospects especially inlight of the gloabl pandemic. Discussions will be focussed on what the various African countries are doing in efforts to find sustainable solutions to Africa's biggest challenges, ranging from reducing poverty and gender inequality to addressing health and wellbeing.

Thursday, May 13

12:30 pm Panel Discussion
Global Knowledge and Competency in Your Career
Location:
Register online via Zoom
Sponsored by:
Center for Russian East European and Eurasian Studies and European Studies Center along with Consortium for Educational Resources on Islamic Studies (CERIS)
See Details

UCIS alumni Dr. Aaron Abbarno (Facebook) and Jessica Kuntz (Department of State) will discuss the value of global education in their professional experience in government, non-profit, and corporate sectors.

5:00 pm Colloquium
Cultura Negra no Atlantico (CULTNA) Discussion Series: O massacre dos libertos
Location:
Zoom
Sponsored by:
Center for Latin American Studies along with Laboratório de História Oral e Imagem
See Details

O seminário "Culturas Negras no Atlantico (CULTNA)" é uma iniciativa que congrega o Laboratório de História Oral e Imagem (LABHOI) da Universidade Federal Fluminense e da Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, e o Center for Latin American Studies da University of Pittsburgh. Neste encontro, será discutido o livro Massacre dos Libertos, de Matheus Gato (editora Perspectiva). com o próprio autor. Evento em português.

No Brasil, o livro está disponível para compra no site da editora: https://editoraperspectiva.com.br/produtos/massacre-dos-libertos-o/

Friday, May 14

11:00 am Film
Russian Film Symposium 2021: Many Faces of Russian Animation – Animated Shorts
Location:
Eventive/Zoom
Sponsored by:
Center for Russian East European and Eurasian Studies along with the Office of the Dean of Arts & Sciences, The Humanities Center, Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures, Film and Media Studies Program, Graduate Program for Cultural Studies and The Pittsburgh Foundation
See Details

This panel presents films by six contemporary Russian animators: Svetlana Andrianova, Nina Bisyarina, Liana Makaryan, Leonid Shmel’kov, Dina Velikovskaya, and Varia Yakovleva. They belong to different generations of animators and in their work, they use different styles and techniques. All of these techniques, however, including the weightless lines in Dina Velikovskaya's Ties, minimalistic drawings of Svetlana Andrianova’s Lucky Ticket and Once upon a Time There Was a House, schematic watercolors of Nina Bisyarina’s How Much Does the Cloud Weigh?, rustic cut-outs of Varia Yakovleva’s Anna, Cat-and-Mouse, and post-impressionistic Lola the Living Potato by Leonid Shmel’kov, celebrate the limitless potential of animation to create imagery. What also unites these different films is their exploration of relationships—at the focus of all of them is the topic of connectivity with others and with the world.
This screening will be available worldwide during the duration of the panel.
Curator and Host: Olga Blackledge, Assistant Professor
Department of Communications and Media Arts
Bethany College

Introducer: Laura Pontieri, Independent Scholar

Respondent: Michele Leigh, Assistant Professor
Department of Cinema and Photography
Southern Illinois University

Please register for the film screening here: https://watch.eventive.org/rfs/play/6074a4bd86f143003e0cf974
Register for the introduction and discussion here: https://pitt.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qT5g8-IfTPy3y-i-jSDIlg

6:30 pm Panel Discussion
Observatorio Latinoamericano: Colombia
Location:
Zoom
Sponsored by:
Center for Latin American Studies along with Colombia en Pittsburgh
See Details

Colombia atraviesa uno de los momentos más críticos de su historia reciente. Una serie de protestas multitudinariasque lleva más de dos semanas han creado caos en varias ciudades. El gatillo de la situación actual fue el anuncio de una reforma fiscal que el gobierno presentó al congreso. A pesar de haber retirado la propuesta y renunciado el ministro de Hacienda, las confrontaciones no han cesado. Este panel propone analizar la problemática colombiana desde perspectivas social, política y económica.

Moderado por: Lucia Dammert (Universidad de Santiago de Chile)

Con:
Marla Ripoll (University of Pittsburgh)
Miguel García (Universidad de los Andes)
Fabio López de la Roche (Universidad Nacional de Colombia)
Jorge Enrique Delgado (University of Pittsburgh)

The event will be in Spanish. // El evento será en español.

Poster Image credit: Leon Hernandez

Saturday, May 15

11:00 am Film
Russian Film Symposium 2021: Hoffmaniada
Location:
Eventive/Zoom
Sponsored by:
Center for Russian East European and Eurasian Studies along with the Office of the Dean of Arts & Sciences, The Humanities Center, Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures, Film and Media Studies Program, Graduate Program for Cultural Studies and The Pittsburgh Foundation
See Details

This panel will include a screening and discussion of Stanislav Sokolov's 3D stop motion animation Hoffmaniada (Гофманиада, 2018), one of the first full-length puppet animated film in the recent history of Soyuzmultfilm studio. The screenplay for the animation is based on E.T.A. Hoffmann’s novels The Golden Pot, The Sandman, and Klein Zaches. The Prussian writer of the early 19th century, E.T.A. Hoffman, is at the narrative center of this animation while balancing between the imaginary world of his own writing and his ordinary life as a lawyer.
This screening will be available worldwide during the duration of the panel.
Curator and Host: Olga Klimova, Lecturer and Director, Russian Program
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

Introducer: Stanislav Sokolov, Animation Director and Professor of Animation
Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography

Respondent: Lora Mjolsness, Lecturer in Russian
Department of European Languages and Studies
University of California, Irvine

Please register for the film screening here: https://watch.eventive.org/rfs/play/6074a52d576f73003755ee9d

Register for the introduction and discussion here: https://pitt.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Q9eiSWitQC6gZVpQRpOzZg