Professor Emerita of Film & Media and Rhetoric Linda Williams’ book examines the HBO television series The Wire (2002-2008). She argues that the series transforms close observation into an unparalleled melodrama by juxtaposing the good and evil of individuals and institutions. Introduction by Professor Alan Tansman.
Incarceration, Education, and Reentry
Panelists discuss higher education programs in prison and after release, and their effects on experiences and opportunities during reentry.
The story of Rosina da Silva, the sophisticated eldest daughter of a wealthy Jewish Italian family living in a small enclave in London in the 1840s, who accepts a position as a governess in Scotland.
The First Epoch: The 18th Century and the Russian Cultural Imagination
Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures Luba Golburt's book examines the complex place of the eighteenth century in the subsequent Russian literary tradition, tracing how later Russian writers paradoxically view the epoch as both formative and obsolete. Introduction by Professor Harsha Ram.
Filmmaker Safinez Bousbia tells the story of a group of Algerian Jewish and Muslim musicians who were torn apart by the Algerian Revolution (1954-1962) and reunited 50 years later for an exceptional concert.
Culture and Politics in Latin America: Another Art of Transition?
Writers, artists, and scholars from Latin America and the U.S. gather for a two-day symposium exploring 21st century Latin America with an emphasis on the transitions and crises that have marked the cultural field.
Beatriz Sarlo is a scholar of Latin American literature and culture and one of the most important Argentine literary and cultural critics of the last 40 years. Her Una’s Lecture examines populism in relation to Borges’ work, to the paintings of the distinguished artist Daniel Santoro, and to its most recent avatar, found in post-pop political populism.
Professor of Art History Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby’s book illustrates how a runaway slave, Sojourner Truth, gained fame in the nineteenth century as an abolitionist, feminist, and orator and earned a living partly by selling photographic images of herself at lectures and by mail.
Saved by Language (2014) + Jews of the Spanish Homeland (1929)
This film recounts the personal story of Moris Albahari, a Sephardic Jew from Sarajevo, who spoke Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), his native tongue, to survive the Holocaust. The screening will be followed by a short 1929 documentary film, rediscovered in 1992, portrays Sephardic community life in Macedonia, Turkey, Yugoslavia, and Romania, including rare footage of Jewish schools, residential quarters, synagogues, and cemeteries.
The Life Cycle of the Problem
The first event in The [in]Justice System series, The Life Cycle of the Problem, examines the school-to-prison pipeline, race and poverty, mental health, health care, solitary confinement, and more.