November 2010 Archives

THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCE, SCHOOL OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCE

SALARY SCALE: £36,715 - £43, 840 GRADE: UE08

CLOSING DATE: 26 NOVEMBER 2010

THE POST
We seek to appoint an outstanding researcher and teacher to a permanent post in the Centre of African Studies in the School of Social and Political Science.

We are seeking outstanding candidates who will further the School`s reputation in the field of African Studies. It is essential that the successful candidate present a research profile, in both achievement to date and in future potential, which is at the forefront of work in African Studies and will contribute to achieving the highest possible REF grade. The Centre has particular research strengths in African Development, Science and Technology, Religion and Society, African History, Politics, Borderland Studies, and Landscape and Environment.

The post lies at the interface between African Studies, International Development and associated disciplines. The candidate will also demonstrate experience, achievement and outstanding potential reflected in a growing personal teaching and supervisory portfolio. The person appointed will also be expected to play a full part in the collegial life of the Centre and the School.
It is anticipated that the successful candidate will have relevant research and teaching expertise in one or more of the following areas: environment (including climate change), human rights, migration, conflict and peace-building, and development anthropology. He or she will have a research strategy designed to enhance the existing and evolving research capacities of the Centre and the School, and will have clear plans for securing external research funding.

The successful candidate will be expected to operate within an interdisciplinary environment. He or she may be rooted in any relevant discipline, but is expected to play a leading role in the development of the Centre`s portfolio in the area of Africa in International Development, with possible additional contributions at the School level in other initiatives related to International Development. The successful candidate will contribute to and further develop the MSc in Africa and International Development and lead in the development of e-learning initiatives, alongside delivery of specific course options (for information, see

http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/gradschool/taught_
masters/a_g/msc_african_and_international_development

California Institute of Integral Studies

March 3-6, 2011

Registration is now open

Registerhttp://expandingthecircle.com/registrationby November 15th to take advantage of our early registration rate.

Featured Plenary Session

"Beyond the Binary: The Lives of Transgender People" with Genny Beemyn and Susan Rankin

Based on interviews with 400 self-identified transgender people from throughout the United States, this plenary session will compare the experiences of individuals from different transgender groups. It will offer a series of "touchstones," or significant life moments, in the gender identity development processes of the participants who identify as transsexual women, transsexual men, female-presenting crossdressers, and genderqueer individuals. The research is from Genny Beemyn and Susan Rankin's forthcoming book, "The Lives of Transgender People" (Columbia University Press).

GENNY BEEMYN
Genny Beemyn has written or edited six books/journal issues, including a special issue of the Journal of LGBT Youth on "Trans Youth" and ze has published and spoken extensively on the experiences and needs of transgender people, particularly the lives of gender nonconforming students.

Genny has a PhD in African American Studies and master's degrees in African American Studies, American Studies, and Higher Education Administration.

SUSAN RANKIN
Susan Rankin has presented and published widely on the impact of sexism, racism, and heterosexism in the academy and in intercollegiate athletics. Susan's current research focuses on the assessment of institutional climate and provides program planners and policy makers with recommended strategies to improve the campus climate for under-served communities.

Susan is the recipient of the ACPA 2008 Voice of Inclusion Medallion, an award that recognizes individuals who embody the student affairs values of social justice.

About Expanding the Circle Conference 2011

In this conference for higher education professionals, we will address factors that have contributed to excluding lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) issues from academic study and student life; and also explore ways to make our campuses more inclusive for all students. We will examine strategies and best practices that effectively integrate LGBTQ areas of teaching and research with student life activities. Building on the success of last year's groundbreaking conference, Expanding the Circle 2011 will be among the first national conferences in higher education focusing on LGBTQ issues by seeking connections across academic and student affairs, across kinds of diversities, across disciplines, and across LGBTQ subfields.

Additional Plenary Speakers

"When the Rainbow Ain't Enough: Creating Healthy Queer Spaces for Low-Income Students and/or Students of Color"
Kenyon Farrow, Executive Director, Queers for Economic Justice

"God Is Gay and Other Queer Anomalies"
Judy Grahn, Recipient, 2009 Lambda Literary Award; California Institute of Integral Studies

"In Dreams Begins Responsibility: (En)Visioning LGBTQ Work in a Catholic and Jesuit World"
Sivagami Subbaraman, Director, LGBTQ Resource Center, Georgetown University

"Coming Out as an LGBTQ Ally in the Context of Islam and Muslims"
Amina Wadud, Professor Emeritus of Islamic Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University; Visiting Scholar, Graduate Theological Union

Manufacturing in America Again?
Professor Roger Schroeder, Carlson School of Management
12:45 - 2:00 pm, Tuesday, November 9
170 HHH - Stassen Room, Humphrey Institute, West Bank Campus

Over the past thirty years the trade deficit in manufactured goods has skyrocketed and thousands of jobs have been moved offshore. Will this trend continue, and are we inevitably living in a "post-industrial" society? If the trend is be stopped or reversed, what can government, labor and management do? Results from the High Performance Manufacturing research project are discussed.

All are welcome! Beverages and cookies will be served

Mission: To actively assist, support and participate in helping the children in Afghanistan by addressing their educational and public health needs.

Dear friend of P.E.C.A,

I hope this letter finds you and your families in good health. Here in Kabul, the weather is changing; the days are sunny and warm, the nights cool. As we near the holiday season in the States, there will be many celebrations and I would like to invite you to one of them. Please save the date - December 4th, 2010. Please look for an e-mail that invites you to Extra'vaghanistan.
We will host our 6th Extra'vaghanistan - the gala event to show case the work of P.E.C.A, meet our supporters, and enjoy a full course delicious Afghan banquet.

One of the feedback we received from our last event was to have more time for people to mingle and for people to ask questions. We accept this feedback and have adjusted our programming to be less crowded.

To entertain you, we will have "Afghan Fashion - Traditional and Modern", a show that will exhibit the beautiful clothing of Afghanistan as worn in traditional situations (e.g. a wedding) to the modern. Afghanistan's choice of colors, designs, and embroidery are stunning in their beauty and different - in a way a unique country can be. Many of the items worn by the models will be for sale - should you choose to do so.

We will also have a silent auction of items that we hope you will consider as gifts for your loved ones. Our items include the stay of a week in a condominium in Mexico, Afghan carpets, handy man services, Afghan and Indian dinner for six, tax preparation services and more.

We need your help to pull off a beautiful, informative, and fun event. Please read below to see how you can help us.

With very best wishes,
Santwana Dasgupta
Volunteer Executive Director, P.E.C.A

Thursday and Friday, November 11-12, 2010

Dams have been characterized as "long-term experiments on rivers," and as affronts to the freedom embodied in flowing rivers. But they also provide needed hydroelectric power to many parts of the world, and serve as important regulators of floods. Dams represent tremendous concentrations of engineering expertise, capital, and political power in the developing world, and they disrupt biological and hydrological processes. This conference brings together diverse experts from a range of academic practices and disciplines to examine the phenomena of dams and the consequences, intended and unintended, that accrue from their construction.

Conference is free and open to the public; Friday lunch provided to those who register by November 9.

Information and registration at http://www.ias.umn.edu/Initiatives/ExperimentsOnRivers.php

A wave of financial crises and sudden stops crippled emerging economies during the period of 1997-2001. Since that time, there has been a remarkable increase of reserve holdings in emerging economies; and there have been virtually no sudden stops in these economies. We argue that reserves make countries more solvent in more states of the world, making sudden stops less likely. We derive optimal reserves-to-debt ratios in a small open economy model with endogenous sudden stop probabilities and interest rate premia. Based on this theory of reserves allocation, we propose a dynamic multi-country model with Bayesian learning and a regime switch in the stochastic liquidity shocks. This extension can explain and quantitatively account for the rise in reserve holdings and the sudden stop frequencies in emerging economies.

Deadline March 15, 2011

San Francisco State University will host a conference September 15-16, 2011 exploring the question and place of rights in history, politics, and society.

Rights, both individual and collective, have long been a theme in American society, often seen in conflict with state power. We welcome papers on assertions of rights by insurgent groups, resistance to rights claims, and governmental efforts to suppress or promote rights, in areas including but not limited to: civil liberties; disability rights; labor and economic rights; feminism and antiracism; immigration; environmental justice; access to healthcare; the prison industrial complex; sexual orientation; the stateless; and human rights.

Our goal is to bring together a wide variety of people from a range of academic, activist, legal, and community spaces to examine the place of rights within both the context of American society (as situated within a boarder global political community). To that end, we welcome participation from historians, both senior and junior scholars, graduate students, community advocates, archivists, and lawyers. We invite proposals panels, or roundtables. Though we prefer complete panels, we will consider individual papers. We also welcome workshops with pre-circulated papers, or sessions in which panelists assess the state of debate on a topic. All submissions will be peer reviewed by our program committee.

The deadline for submission of panels, consisting of an abstract of 1000 words for panel and workshop proposals and a one-page CV for each participant, is March 15, 2011. Send your proposals to Christopher Waldrep, Department of History, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California 94132 or via email to cwaldrep@sfsu.edu.

As the field of postcolonial studies has gradually enacted its own colonisation of academic departments across the humanities an escalating self-reflexive urge has become apparent. Increasingly, totalising theories of postcolonial experiences have been seen - for all their complexity - as all too simplistic accounts of the irreducible variety to be found in the experiences and actions of nominally 'postcolonial' peoples. As such, the future of postcolonial studies lies in an ever more concerted effort at troubling the postcolonial paradigm, rooting out points of tension, and in establishing new ways of approaching the heterogeneity of the discipline. This future is being written now and it thus falls to young academics to establish for themselves where postcolonial studies should be moving.

Living Beyond Theory is an interdisciplinary postgraduate symposium hosted by the Postcolonial Perspectives reading group at the University of York on Friday 11th February 2011. The symposium is directed towards the problematising of the postcolonial paradigm through an attempt to pay heed to the lived experience of those people who live and have lived within geographic areas affected by colonisation as well as people who, despite not being the direct descendants of colonial situations, enact identities and political positions that take much from the postcolonial project. The symposium provides a platform for postgraduate students to share their research with a diverse range of other postgraduates in the field(s) of postcolonial studies. The symposium will involve a series of panels framed by two plenary speakers (Simon Obendorf, Lincoln and Ruth Craggs, St. Mary's University College Twickenham) and culminating in a workshop on the future of postcolonial studies led by 3 early career academics.

While Living Beyond Theory is a conference aimed at building connections between the many disciplines that traditionally make up postcolonial studies, it also seeks to encourage engagement with disciplines that have not always fallen comfortably within those traditions. It is highly likely that the future of postcolonial studies will lie in the expansion of the discipline's insights beyond its previously narrow boundaries. Papers are encouraged from any current postgraduate working in the many areas of postcolonial studies and engaging with either side of the traditional coloniser/colonised dichotomy. We especially welcome papers that offer new and dynamic approaches to the space between the theoretical and the experiential.

Please send submissions of up to 300 words for papers of 20 mins as well as a brief academic bio of 50 to 100 words to the organisers (Anna Bocking-Welch, James Alexander Fraser, Isabelle Hesse, and Sarah Pett) at livingbeyondtheory@events.york.ac.uk by 22nd November 2010.

This multi-day event focuses on the past, present, and future of transgender studies by celebrating the 20thanniversary of the influential essay that arguably launched the field: Sandy Stone's "The Empire Strikes Back: A 'Posttranssexual' Manifesto," first published in 1991. It will serve as an opportunity to assess and discuss the relationship between transgender studies, women's/gender/feminist studies, and LGBT/Queer studies, and to showcase ways in which transgender studies has reframed, intervened in, and extended lines of inquiry in these fields.

Like the title of Stone's essay, which gestured simultaneously in the directions of history and futurity, the conference will be both retrospective and prospective. Stone looked back to the heyday of cultural feminism in the 1970s and 80s, and directly challenged the feminist disparagement of trans people exemplified in Janice Raymond'sTranssexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male. Consequently, some work presented at the conference will focus on the still-contentious topics which that version of second-wave feminism lumped together with transgender issues: pornography, prostitution or sex trafficking, BDSM sexuality, and the sexualization of children. It will suggest ways in which transgender studies, over the past two decades, has offered the prospect of new feminist perspectives on these issues.

Stone's essay, in explicitly staking a "post-" position, also opened the question of what is to come next. To a significant degree, the questions pursed under the rubric of "transgender studies" have been motivated by the rearticulations of (post)identity politics that Stone initially proposed; she productively disrupted the containment of critical and broadly relevant issues of embodiment, identity, and technology within the stigmatized, marginalized, minoritized, and highly policed medico-juridical category of transsexuality.

Consequently, some work at the conference will explore the future directions in which trans communities, trans social justice struggles, and transgender studies as a field of academic inquiry, might now move. Two decades after Stone's influential intervention, we are in a position to ask what a post-postranssexual framework might look like.

The conference will be held in the new, state-of-the-art IU Cinema and other locations on campus. It will include film screenings and cultural events, conversations between founding figures of transgender studies, and plenary panel discussions with leading scholars in the field. We also anticipate limited opportunities for some attendees to deliver short papers. Confirmed presenters currently include Sandy Stone, Kate Bornstein, and Viennese filmmaker Hans Scheirl. Further details, including additional confirmed speakers, will be forthcoming in the very near future.

To submit an abstract for consideration, or for more information, please contact conference organizer Susan Stryker, Associate Professor of Gender Studies, Indiana University: stryksus@indiana.edu.

(Postposttranssexual is funded in part by Indiana University Gender Studies, Indiana University College Arts and Humanities Institute, and the Indiana University Cinema. Additional cosponsors are welcome).

The Erskine A. Peters Fellowship is named in honor of a beloved former Notre Dame English Department colleague, Erskine A. Peters. It is with his spirit of dedication to the academy that this fellowship is extended each year to deserving young scholars. Celebrating more than ten years in existence, the Erskine A. Peters Fellowship has produced over forty African American scholars now working in the academy.

The Peters Fellowship, as it is commonly called, has two overall goals: 1) to enable outstanding African American doctoral candidates in the social sciences and humanities, at the ABD level ,to devote their full energies to the completion of the dissertation and 2) to provide opportunities for African American scholars to experience life at the University of Notre Dame, a major Catholic research institution.

The University also provides each fellow with a home department, a faculty mentor in the fellow's specialization area, office space with use of a personal computer, health insurance, and forum discussions on professional development. The fellowship period extends from August to May and carries a stipend of $30,000 plus a $2,000 research budget. The University of Notre Dame is an equal opportunity employer with a strong commitment to nurturing a culturally diverse faculty and student body.

See africana.nd.edu for more details.

Application deadline Monday, Nov. 15, 2010.

Maria McKenna
Assistant Professional Specialist
Department of Africana Studies
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Email: mmckenn9@nd.edu
Visit the website at http://africana.nd.edu/erskine-a-peters-fellows/

Bridging Cultures through Film: International Topics

January 5, 2011(receipt deadline)

Bridging Cultures films will spark Americans' engagement with the wider world through the exploration of countries and cultures outside of the United States, and/or across nations.

Films might take a wide range of approaches to international and transnational topics:

* an examination of a critical issue in ethics, religion, or history, viewed through an international lens;
* an approach to a topic or subject that transcends the idea of traditional nation statehood and explores it across borders;
* a biography of a foreign leader, writer, artist, or historical figure; or
* an exploration of the history and culture(s) of a specific region, country, or community outside of the United States.

Projects must be analytical and deeply grounded in humanities scholarship. We encourage innovative nonfiction stories and creative formats that will reach broad audiences. Films must range in length from a stand-alone broadcast hour to a feature-length documentary.

Applicants should demonstrate international collaboration by enlisting U.S.-based and non-U.S.-based scholars and/or by working with an international media team.
Two levels of support are available: Development (up to $75,000) and Production (up to $800,000).

Who is eligible? Any U.S. nonprofit organization with IRS 501(c)(3) tax exempt status is eligible. Grants are not awarded to individuals. Independent producers who wish to apply are advised to partner with an eligible organization, which can act as fiscal sponsor.

Deadline: January 5, 2011(receipt deadline)

Notification of awards will be in September 2011.

For more information, please contact:

Division of Public Programs
202-606-8269
publicpgms@neh.gov

All applicants, particularly first-time applicants, are encouraged to contact NEH program officers who will answer questions about the review process, supply samples of similar applications, and review preliminary drafts.

Barbara Bays, 202-606-8290, bbays@neh.gov
Jeff Hardwick, 202-606-8287, jhardwick@neh.gov
Clay Lewis, 202-606-8288, clewis@neh.gov
David Martz, 202-606-8297, dmartz@neh.gov
John Meredith, 202-606-8218, jmeredith@neh.gov
Karen Mittelman, 202-606-8631, kmittelman@neh.gov
Kathleen Mulvaney, 202-606-8270, kmulvaney@neh.gov
Danielle Shapiro, 202-606-8241, dshapiro@neh.gov
Michael Shirley, 202-606-8293, mshirley@neh.gov
David Weinstein, 202-606-8308, dweinstein@neh.gov

The Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture, part of the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University, announces the availability of Mary Lily Research Grants for research travel to our collections.
The Sallie Bingham Center documents the public and private lives of women through a wide variety of published and unpublished sources. Collections of personal papers, family papers, and organizational records complement print sources such as books and periodicals. Particular strengths of the Sallie Bingham Center are feminism in the U.S., women's prescriptive literature from the 19th & 20th centuries, girls' literature, zines, artist's books by women, gender & sexuality, and the history & culture of women in the South. An overview of our collecting areas can be found here: http://library.duke.edu/specialcollections/bingham/overview.html.

Mary Lily Research grants are available to any faculty member, graduate or undergraduate student, or independent scholar with a research project requiring the use of materials held by the Sallie Bingham Center. Grant money may be used for travel, photocopying, and living expenses while pursuing research at the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library. Applicants must live outside of a 100-mile radius from Durham, NC. The maximum award per applicant is $1,000.
The deadline for application is January 31, 2011 by 5:00 PM EST. Recipients will be announced in March 2011. Grants must be used between April 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012.

For more information and to download a copy of the application form, please visit: http://library.duke.edu/specialcollections/services/grants/index.html

Applicants are encouraged to contact Kelly Wooten, the Bingham Center's research services librarian, before submitting their application. In our experience, those who spoke with a staff member about their projects produced stronger applications.

Contact information is listed below:
Kelly Wooten
Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture
Rare Book, Manuscript, & Special Collections Library
Box 90185
Duke University
Durham, NC 27708-0185
Phone: 919-660-5967
E-mail: kelly.wooten@duke.edu
Website: http://library.duke.edu/specialcollections/bingham

The John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture, part of the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University, announces the availability of travel grants for research travel to our collections.

The John Hope Franklin Research Center seeks to collect, preserve, and promote the use of printed and manuscript materials bearing on the history of Africa and people of African descent.

Research grants are available to any faculty member, graduate or undergraduate student, or independent scholar with a research project requiring the use of materials held by the Franklin Research Center. Grant money may be used for travel, photocopying, and living expenses while pursuing research at the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library. Applicants must live outside of a 100-mile radius from Durham, NC. The maximum award per applicant is $1,000.
The deadline for application is January 31, 2011 by 5:00 PM EST. Recipients will be announced in March 2011. Grants must be used between April 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012.

For more information and to download a copy of the application form, please visit: http://library.duke.edu/specialcollections/services/grants/index.html

Applicants are encouraged to contact Jennifer Thompson, the Franklin Research Center's research services librarian, before submitting their application.

Past applications have demonstrated that those who spoke with a staff member about their projects produced stronger applications. Contact information is listed below:

Jennifer Thompson
Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture
Rare Book, Manuscript, & Special Collections Library
Box 90185
Duke University
Durham, NC 27708-0185
Phone: 919-660-5922
E-mail: jennifer2.thompson@duke.edu
Website: http://library.duke.edu/specialcollections/franklin/index.html

Thursday, November 11, 2010
6:00p.m. - 8:00p.m.
Mississippi Room (third floor), Coffman Memorial Union, University of Minnesota
300 Washington Ave, SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Speakers
The Honorable Sandra Pappas
Minnesota State Senator, Legislative District 65
Sister Shewaye Alemu Engeda
Nurse and Area Manager, Marie Stopes International--Ethiopia
Bilal Muche
Health Officer, Amhara Development Association (ADA), Ethiopia
Serra Sippel
President, Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE)
Kevin Winge
Executive Director, Open Arms of Minnesota (moderator)

Women and girls in Ethiopia today still die from preventable causes stemming from poverty and gender inequality, such as lack of access to voluntary family planning services, pregnancy related complications, and HIV/AIDS. In response, the Ethiopian government is pioneering holistic health delivery programs that target the hardest-to-reach women and families. Ethiopia has also been designated as a focus country for the newly launched U.S. Global Health Initiative--a woman-centered, integrated approach to U.S. international health policy and programs that has the potential to curb some of Ethiopia's most dire health challenges. At this event, panelists will discuss the reproductive health and human rights landscape in Ethiopia and how the Ethiopian and U.S. governments are responding, including the need for increased funding and less restrictive policies from the U.S. government.

This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
Please RSVP to Kiki Kalkstein at kkalkstein@genderhealth.org by Tuesday, November 9.

This event is co-sponsored by: Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota; Open Arms of Minnesota; Minnesota AIDS Project; WellShare International; UMN Law Students for Reproductive Justice; and UMN Medical Students for Choice

The University of Minnesota is not endorsing or sponsoring the activities conducted by CHANGE on the University of Minnesota campus. The relationship between the University of Minnesota and CHANGE is solely that of licensor and licensee.

Thursday, October 28, 2010
12:20 - 1:10 p.m.

Assembly Room 101
University International Center
331 17th Ave S.E. (East Bank)

Representatives from the U.S. Department of Education International and Foreign Language Education Service will present on U.S. priorities and initiatives in international education and the national needs for expertise in foreign language and international studies. The speakers will highlight funding and resource opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students and faculty with a specific focus on the Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowship program and the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad and Faculty Research Abroad Fellowship Programs. Open discussion of national priorities and funding opportunities will follow.

Presenters: Sam Eisen (Branch Chief), Peter Baker (Program Officer) and Cynthia Dudzinski (Program Officer) are members of the Advanced Training and Research Team from the U.S. Department of Education International and Foreign Language Education Service.

A light lunch will be provided.

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition, the Center for International Business Education and Research, the European Studies Consortium, the Institute for Global Studies, and the Office of International Programs.

Thursday, October 28, 2010
9:30 am - 3:30 pm

President's Room
Room 332
Coffman Memorial Union
University of Minnesota, East Bank

This year Mexico commemorates the bicentennial of its Independence movement and the centennial of its Revolution. The anti-colonial movement that led to Mexico's independence from Spain began on September 16, 1810, and the Mexican Revolution that sought to free Mexico from the Díaz dictatorship began on November 20, 1910. Presenting scholars will discuss the significance of these events for changing social and political relations in Mexico and the impact of this has had on North America.

9:30 AM
Continental Breakfast Reception

10:00 AM
Welcome by Representrative from the Consul of Mexico, St. Paul, MN

10:15 AM - 12:00 PM
Panel l: Representing Resistance and Revolution

Angélica Afanador Pujol
Department of Art History, University of Minnesota
"From Rags to Riches: Christianized Indigenous Identities
in the Illustrated Manuscript the 'Relacion de Michoacan (1539-1540)'"

Patrick McNamara
Department of History, University of Minnesota
"Commemorating Mexican Independence: 1910 Compared to 2010"

Joanna O'Connell
Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of Minnesota
"The Revolution in Mexican Fiction"

12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Luncheon Keynote with Historian Juan Mora Torres
Professor of History, De Paul University
"Sin Fronteras: Mexican Immigration and the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1930"

1:30 PM - 1:45 PM
Break

1:45 PM - 3:15 PM
Panel II: 20th and 21st Century Cultural and Human Implications of the Mexican Diaspora

Yolanda Padilla
Departments of Chicano Studies and English, University of Minnesota
"The 'Other' Novel of the Mexican Revolution"

Rodolfo Gutierrez
Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research (HACER)
"A Comparison of Past and Present Identity Formations of Mexican Immigrants"

Louis Mendoza
Department of Chicano Studies, University of Minnesota
"Voices from our America: Immigration, Xenophobia, and the Mexican Paradox"

This event is sponsored by
The Department of Chicano Studies, The Institute for Diversity, Equity and Advocacy (IDEA)
Hispanic Advocacy for Community Empowerment through Research (HACER)
In Search of Asia, a new Asian Film Festival, presented by Minnesota Film Arts/The Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul.

This pan-Asian festival, running November 3rd through 13th 2010 at the St. Anthony Main Theater, highlights some of the top classic and contemporary filmmakers in Asian and Asian-American cinema. The line-up, programmed by Al Milgrom, Linda Blackaby and Adam Chau, represents 12 Asian countries and features 40 exceptional films ranging from intriguing documentaries to shorts by emerging filmmakers to feature length masterpieces.

This first of its kind event in Minnesota launches a new series of yearly film events spotlighting areas around the globe of particular interest to the growing diversity of populations in Minnesota. The festival series is made possible in part by a grant provided by the Minnesota State Arts Board, through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature from the Minnesota arts and cultural heritage fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

Coming at it from the outside, we are not a hotbed of Asian, Asian American street culture like the West Coast USA, or elsewhere USA, yet Mother Asia is making its presence markedly felt in our many lives. So...what is Asia to us and we to Asia that we should be so mindful of her? No need to go back to Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Admiral Peary, or Richard Nixon to realize that the world village has trumped national giants in today's life. Yet cultural entities like ours have tended to be euro-centric. For that very reason, Minnesota Film Arts, with its looming Asian Film Festival ("in search of Asia") has mounted the largest Asian film focus seen to date in the Twin Cities, thanks to a grant from the Minnesota Legacy Fund.

"So what is Asia to us, besides being the largest continent, its huge concentration of people, the pundits telling us the new millennium will see a new Asia, and what can 30 some films from more than a dozen countries add to the perspective? (We did not manage to survey the some 43 countries considered). If you may be in search of your Asia, from a film perspective, here are a few clues: you can't generalize; too much variety.

Culture at a distance is what the program provides, underlining different story traditions from the American/European models, ones rooted in very old truths and often a different politics, from a variety Big Brothers--- who are still around!

Some impressive guests are due for a visit; special attention to Asian America is given in the noted Asian American sidebar. A balance has been sought for a variety of program tastes. Take note; a big thanks again goes to our relatively small staff who put this whole thing together in short time and to the board who raised the funding."
Sincerely,

Al Milgrom - Artistic Director
Minnesota Film Arts

ADVANCE TICKETS AVAILABLE ONLINE
& AT THE ST. ANTHONY MAIN BOX OFFICE TOMORROW!

STAY CONNECTED AND GET ALL THE LATEST INFO AT: www.mspfilmfest.org/aff10

The next IPID talk will be on Wednesday, November 3rd at 11:00am in Room 70 of the Minnesota Population Center (50 Willey Hall). Click here for a campus map: http://www1.umn.edu/twincities/maps/WilleyH/

The topic will be Silences in NGO discourse: The current and future role of NGOs in Africa.

Hindolo Pokawa from the Comparative & International Development Education (CIDE) program track will be the host.

Context of the discussion: We will discuss the Relationship between Civil Society and the states in Africa.

"...the transformation from a colonial subject society to a bourgeois society in Africa is incomplete, stunted and distorted. We have the continued domination of imperialist reproduction of the colonial model in different forms currently labeled globalization or neoliberalism. Within this context, NGO's are neither a third sector, nor independent of the state. Rather, they are inextricably implicated in the neoliberal offensive, which follows on the heels of the crisis of the national project. Unless there is awareness on the part of the NGOs of this fundamental moment in the struggle between imperialism and nationalism, they end up playing the role of ideological and organisational foot soldiers of imperialism..." Issa Shivjee

Questions:
1. How do you understand civil society?
2. In your view, is civil society a servant of the people or an extension of the broad social formations that reproduce privilege?
3. What is your critical evaluation of Shivjee's claim (above)?
4. Can civil society ever be free from the state?
5. Are there other ways of thinking about the role and practice of civil society?

To participate:

- Read a short article by Shivjee and come prepare to discuss international development. For the article, email Hindolo Pokawa at hindolo@gmail.com
- Because these are broad questions, our time will be spent discussing these issues as they affect and relate to our worldviews and experiences.

Agenda:

11:00 Introduction of the topic and quick summary of the reading.
11:10 Structured discussion.
11:50 Last thoughts.

A talk by Russell Menard, University of Minnesota

Friday, October 29, 2010 at 12:15 PM
History Conference Center in 1210 Heller Hall

A precirculated paper is available for advance reading in the History Department Copy Room, 11th Floor, Heller Hall or at CEMH in 1030 Heller Hall. You may bring a lunch or share in the light repast provided by CEMH. For additional information, contact the Center for Early Modern History:
612.625.6303 - cemh@umn.edu - www.cemh.umn.edu