Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures – 91̽��News

Q&A: 91̽��professor on Iranian regime, US-Israeli strikes and a divide among the Iranian diaspora

Lauren Kirschman — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 16:30:36 +0000

Aria Fani, a professor of Persian and Iranian studies at the UW, spoke with 91̽��News about the U.S.-Israeli strikes, the impact on Iranians and more. Photo: Pixabay

The U.S. and Israel against Iran on Feb. 28 that targeted military and civilian infrastructure, missile launchers, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The strikes killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and triggered hundreds of retaliatory missiles from Iran.

More than 1,200 civilians so far in the conflict, Iran reports, while nearly 10,000 civilian sites have been hit and 3.2 million Iranians have been displaced. An ongoing military investigation also determined the U.S. is responsible for a deadly strike on an Iranian elementary school, according to a .?

President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have offered for the war with Iran �� now entering its third week �� including the regime��s nuclear ambitions, its ballistic missile capabilities and its support for groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon. Rubio said that the U.S. abandoned negotiations and bombed Iran because Israel had already attacked and Washington expected Iranian retaliation against U.S. bases.?

Before the strikes, in December 2025, massive anti-government protests erupted in Iran. The protests, driven largely by the economic crisis caused by U.S. imposed sanctions and regime corruption, were the largest since the 1979 revolution. The Iranian government thousands of protestors in response.

, a professor of Persian and Iranian studies at the UW, researches modern Iranian and Afghan histories and modern Persian literature and has been widely quoted in the media since the war began. He spoke with 91̽��News about the U.S.-Israeli strikes, the impact on Iranians and more.

The spectacle of imperial violence is designed to demoralize a generation of youth all over this beautiful planet who dare to dream of a different system. To them I say: do not despair and work toward positive change at any level you can.

Aria Fani 91̽��professor of Persian and Iranian Studies

What should people know about how Iranians and the Iranian diaspora feel about the conflict?

Aria Fani: The Iranian diaspora is . A segment of Iranians in the West has advocated for war on Iran, while others have against military intervention. Voices from within Iran appear conflicted as well, reflecting the precarity and desperation of the moment. As we have seen in Iraq, Venezuela and Cuba, the U.S. has relied on a security, economic and political apparatus that creates a state of paranoia for the ruling regime and collectively punishes the population, pushing them to the brink of despair. Equally undeniable is the Iranian regime��s brazen corruption, both moral and economic, and its violent repression of protesters.

When weighing in public opinion, as reflected in the media, we should not forget that the U.S. media to be a reliable partner for the military-industrial complex. The way in which pro-war voices are currently being amplified is a testament to this alignment. I immigrated to the United States when President George W. Bush was running for re-election and remember how the media failed to hold his administration to account. In many ways the media landscape is even worse today, as of major outlets. Yet, unlike the early 2000s, we now also have a number of independent platforms that cover war with greater transparency and skepticism.?

On a personal note, as a teenager living under an Iranian regime that made anti-U.S. rhetoric a cornerstone of its revolutionary ideology, I held an abstract yet largely positive view of the U.S. Moving to the U.S. in 2004 �� studying its history and traveling through and living in Latin American countries it has ravaged �� profoundly shifted my perspective. Two wrongs do not make a right. The mantle of anti-colonial and anti-imperial struggle has never been on the minds of this Iranian regime, but it is a mantle we cannot afford to put down for a livable planet.?

Iranian youth, much like their counterparts in places such as Hong Kong, Egypt and the United States, confront a militarized state that shows little regard for collective dignity and insatiable appetite for money and power. History teaches us that effecting durable change takes time. If change begins with a supposition of violence, it will undoubtedly end with more of the same. The spectacle of imperial violence is also designed to demoralize a generation of youth all over this beautiful planet who dare to dream of a different system. To them I say: do not despair and work toward positive change at any level you can.

What misconceptions about Iran do you see in Western media?

AF: The military-industrial complex thrives on generating hysteria and fear of racialized others. A familiar example is the claim that the Iranian regime is an ideological actor hellbent on the total destruction of the West. Yet the same regime entered into a nuclear agreement in 2015 with the United States and other world powers that placed its nuclear program under international scrutiny. Unlike the United States and Israel, both of which possess hundreds of nuclear weapons �� the U.S. remains the only country that has used them �� Iran is a signatory to the , and its nuclear facilities were regularly monitored before the United States withdrew from the agreement in 2018. Like Iraq, Iran is being attacked not because it has nuclear weapons, but because it does not.?

Every time politicians sell the public a new war, the narrative is predictably the same: baseless claims of an imminent threat paired with promises that military objectives will be easily attainable and the suffering minimal. However, Israel and the United States have a documented history of destroying civilian infrastructure; we have seen this clearly in Gaza and Beirut. That it is happening again breaks my heart. Whether one believes the current war is justified or not �� and on what grounds �� the abuse of power and through which it is conducted should concern everyone. Equally disturbing is the role of religious fundamentalism as evidenced by references to the .?

Let me be clear again: the Iranian regime��s willingness to engage in diplomacy abroad does nothing to absolve it of state violence, which it directs at . The regime poses a deadly threat to its own people and to Iran��s ecology, as evidenced by the brutal suppression of protesters in recent weeks.

Vengeance does not offer a positive agenda for the working class and minoritized Iranians. The greatest victims in war are civilians and the infrastructure on which their lives depend.

Aria Fani 91̽��professor of Persian and Iranian Studies

How will this conflict impact Iran and its people in ways that are being overlooked?

AF: There are those in my community who accept any collateral damage if it means the Islamic Republic might ultimately collapse. This mindset is profoundly dangerous. For decades, the Iranian regime has invoked the men it lost during the (1980�C1988) to justify cracking down on dissent years after the war ended. In effect, the regime has argued that any sacrifice at home is justified if it preserves the revolutionary state. Yet some of its most ardent opponents now accept the same logic in reverse: that widespread bloodshed and ecological destruction are acceptable if it leads to the regime��s downfall.

Even more troubling is that their idea of who counts as part of the ��regime�� is dangerously broad. It is not difficult to imagine a similarly vengeful purge to the one carried out by the regime��s own founders in 1979, should the regime fall. My mother recounts how her father �� the Friday prayer imam in Shiraz �� fled Iran after the Islamic Revolution because he was aligned with the Shah. He was never in the Shah��s regime, a fact that mattered little to those who were doing the purging. We cannot break the cycle of violence by doing one last purge.??

Vengeance does not offer a positive agenda for the working class and minoritized Iranians. The greatest victims in war are civilians and the infrastructure on which their lives depend. The more bombs that fall, the further we move from the day when those responsible for atrocities against the Iranian people might be held accountable.

For a big segment of the Iranian diaspora to throw up their hands and say, ��bomb them,�� is not an act of courage but the greatest abdication of collective responsibility. And to ask the same power that has economically strangled Iran to save it through its bombs is the stuff of Orwellian fiction. Millions of American voters feel deeply disempowered by the ongoing dismantling of democratic institutions here at home. Yet who among them would seriously advocate for their country to be bombarded by a foreign power??

The world has changed in the wake of the U.S.-Israel war on Iran. One thing seems increasingly clear: the cheerleaders of today��s war will later warn about a ��caravan of Muslim refugees�� supposedly arriving to invade the nation. This is already happening, as Iranian . While I do not begrudge any of my suffering compatriots celebrating the downfall of a brutal dictator, history suggests that the only actors ultimately left dancing on the global stage will be weapons manufacturers and oil industry executives.?

For more information, contact Lauren Kirschman at lkirsc@uw.edu.

Aria Fani has been quoted extensively in media coverage of Iran. Read more from Fani in the following stories:

Opinion: Iranian voices in Seattle may not be unified, but we still must listen |
Divisions emerge among Iranian-Americans in Washington over military strikes, regime change |
Iranian Americans divided on US military intervention in Iran |
91̽��professor fears for family amid strikes in Iran, doubts regime-change war success |
Iran��s internet blackout reverberates in Washington |
Local reactions to fallout from US strike on Iran |
Iranian Americans wonder ��what is the end game�� for war in Iran |

‘Ways of Knowing’ Episode 3: Ge’ez

91̽��News staff — Wed, 28 May 2025 20:52:40 +0000

The kingdom of Aksum was one of the most powerful empires in the world in the fourth century. It played a major role in the histories of Egypt, Persia and Rome, as well as the early days of Christianity and Islam. But Aksum��s accomplishments have long been overlooked because they are recorded in the ancient African language of �ұ𡯱��.

Ways of Knowing

The World According to Sound

Season 2, Episode 3

�ұ𡯱��

[instrumental music plays]

Sam Harnett: In the middle of the fourth century CE, the kingdom of Aksum was one of the most powerful empires in the world. Centered in modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea, it stretched from Sudan across the Red Sea to Yemen. Its location on the Red Sea allowed it to have a monopoly on the trade route between Rome and India. It played a major role in the histories of Egypt, Persia and Rome, as well as the early days of Christianity and Islam. Aksum left an extensive written record of its accomplishments, but that record was long overlooked by Classics scholars in part because of the language it was written in: the ancient African language of �ұ𡯱��.

[background music continues]

[Hamza Zafer reading �ұ𡯱��]

SH: Like Latin, �ұ𡯱�� is rarely spoken today. It survives as the liturgical language of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Churches. But in the fourth century, it was the language of the Aksum empire.

[Zafer reading Aksum inscription in �ұ𡯱��]

SH: This is an account of how the Aksum conquered its neighbors and expanded. It is being read in �ұ𡯱�� by Hamza Zafer, a professor of Middle Eastern languages and cultures.

[Zafer continues reading in �ұ𡯱��]

SH: The inscription was chiseled onto a giant slab of stone in the center of Aksum. It��s one of countless stone slabs, or stellae, that Aksum kings erected during the height of the empire. Over a hundred still stand in the center of modern day Aksum in Northern Ethiopia. These stones had the deeds of the kingdom written not just in �ұ𡯱��, but also Ancient Greek and Sabiac. Like the Rosetta Stone that helped decipher Egyptian Hieroglyphics, these other languages helped give insights into �ұ𡯱��.

[Zafer continues reading in �ұ𡯱��]

Hamza Zafer: It��s actually telling you about �� primarily it��s an inscription celebrating a particular conquest. That tends to be most of the inscriptions from this particular period.

SH: For Professor Zafer, the Aksumite Empire is just one of many threads of history and culture that this language brings to life.

HZ: I have been teaching �ұ𡯱�� for many years. I��m not from Ethiopia or Eritrea. I am from Pakistan. But I have been drawn to the language for a number of reasons, one of them being my own desire to bring into the fray languages of the Global South �� classical languages of the Global South �� which also includes languages from places like Pakistan.

SH: Hamza��s interest in �ұ𡯱�� began with his desire to better understand the Quran. He wanted to know how different cultures and languages influenced the writing of this sixth century text, and how that writing reflected the world that produced it.

HZ: There��s a lot of Syriac and Aramiac and Hebrew and even Greek influence in the language of the Quran. It��s a text from the sixth century in Western Arabia. It was a confluence of different cultures. But one language that was a part of the Quran��s language that I didn��t have easy access to at the time when I was doing my doctoral is �ұ𡯱��, classical Ethiopic, so really that��s where it started. It started with this curiosity because I was trying to have an expansive view of how the language of the Quran reflects its cultural world.

SH: The Quran is filled with vocabulary drawn from �ұ𡯱��. Knowing this language allows for a richer understanding of the text �� the history and culture that it draws on.

[instrumental background music plays]

Hamza��s study of �ұ𡯱�� led him to more and more fascinating texts. The Aksumite inscriptions. Early versions of Bible stories. Letters detailing the coming of Islam. Poetry, historical records, religious texts. He became entranced with the language itself �� its phonetics and beauty. Soon he was focused directly on studying �ұ𡯱��.

HZ: It��s the same type of reason that one would study Greek or Latin or Sanskrit or Arabic. It��s like an insight into the past, into the premodern world.

SH: Through �ұ𡯱��, the view of world history is quite different from what one sees through other classical languages like Latin and Greek. It provides a countervailing narrative to a Eurocentric perspective on world history.

HZ: Studying a language like �ұ𡯱�� will fundamentally change your notion of the way history has gone. Because so much of the way we have understood history, of course, is through a colonial, a postcolonial heritage, which places Europe at the top. But studying a language like �ұ𡯱�� opens you up to another world, opens you up to another set of possibilities about where knowledge comes from. It can be both an intellectual and also maybe a political act. We��re still at such an embryonic stage in the study of �ұ𡯱��. I imagine 20, 30, 50 years down the line, maybe it��s not going to be so odd or unusual to study a language like �ұ𡯱��. But right now, of course, because we��re still very much in an era where the idea is that knowledge comes from Europe and the North, it seems to be an outlier. But it is not an outlier. It is a language that has a 2000 year history.

SH: In most Classics departments, Greek and Latin are still the only two languages that are studied.

HZ: There are numerous other languages like �ұ𡯱�� that belong to what we call now the Global South, that are these classical traditions. Investigations of these languages tell us that there are these other trajectories of thought; there are other hierarchies of knowledge that are possible. So part of the attraction of studying �ұ𡯱�� is that it opens you up to understanding different connections. You understand that Africa and India, Africa and Arabia, Africa and Europe had these other types of connections and other types of movements of ideas, movements of thought. There were producers of culture, producers of intellectual traditions within Africa whose ideas spread widely, and this was the medium through which they travelled.

SH: Up until recently, the only reason European and American scholars studied �ұ𡯱�� was because of its importance in the history of Christianity. The Empire of Aksum converted to Christianity shortly after Rome in the fourth century, and �ұ𡯱�� was the language of Ethiopian Christianity. Some of the oldest surviving Bible texts are in �ұ𡯱��.

HZ: So this is the first chapter of the Book of Jonah.

[Zafer reads the Book of Jonah in �ұ𡯱��]

SH: The story is similar to the version that survived in Ancient Greek, but not quite the same. For instance, in the �ұ𡯱�� version, God is referred to in a totally different way. Instead of being named, he is called ��The Lord of the Land,�� which is a much older way of referring to a deity.

[Zafer continues reading the Book of Jonah in �ұ𡯱��]

SH: Scholars have pored over these kinds of differences to help get more insight on the history of early Christian stories. But that has often been where the study of �ұ𡯱�� has stopped.

HZ: The challenge now is to center �ұ𡯱�� in our study rather than to think of it only in relation to the North, only in relation to the Mediterranean world, but rather to understand it on its own account, on its own basis as a literary corpus, a premodern literary corpus that connects the Indian ocean world to the Eastern Mediterranean world, but also has a local universe connecting Arabia and Africa.

SH: Like any classical language, �ұ𡯱�� provides a different lens, a different way of thinking about the world. You don��t need some objective or goal to get a lot out of studying it.

HZ: Students are disincentivized from taking any courses that don��t have an immediate business use in a sense. I think taking a classical language, any classical language �� a European, an African, an Asian classical language �� is a way to side step that a little bit, to do something purely for the intellectual pleasure of opening this other world.

[background music begins]

HZ: For me, just the study of a classical language in itself as an intellectual exercise is really, really important for critical understanding. It teaches you historicity. Something that seems so immovable, so natural like a language �� when you study a premodern language that has such a long history like �ұ𡯱��, you understand that language changes, which is a very important thing to understand. Language changes so the way people conceive thoughts. The way people construct thought changes. Secondly, this is not something that has a direct, immediate use. But it kind of opens you up �� like time travel �� it opens you up to this whole other universe of culture, of language, of thought, of belief.

CH: Here are five texts that��ll help you learn more about publishing culture and the digital humanities as a way of knowing.
��The Throne of Adulis,�� by Glen Bowersock

A vivid reconstruction of the conflict between Christian Ethiopians and Jewish Arabs in the sixth century. This story is only possible to tell now because of a marble throne at the Ethiopian port of Adulis that was covered with �ұ𡯱�� inscriptions.

��The Garima Gospels,�� by Judith McKenzie

The earliest surviving Ethiopian gospel books capture the phonetic beauty and poetry of �ұ𡯱��. They also provide insight into the history of the Aksumite kingdom and early Christianity.

��The Golden Rhinoceros: Histories of the African Middle Ages,�� by Fran?ois-Xavier Fauvelle

A historical account of the Middle Ages focused on Africa, where the work of artists and thinkers in places like Ghana, Nubia and Zimbabwe reverberated beyond the edges of the continent.

��The Red Sea: In Search of Lost Space,�� by Alexis Wick

A critical, far-reaching history of the Red Sea that makes a deeper argument about how Eurocentrism has left us with a partial and distorted view of the world.

��Decolonizing the Mind,�� by Ngu?gi? wa Thiong?o Ng?g? wa Thiong’o

This collection of essays examines how language shapes national culture, history and identity; and presents a vision for linguistic decolonization.

SH: Ways of Knowing is a production of The World According to Sound. This season is about the different interpretative and analytical methods in the humanities. It was made in collaboration with the 91̽�� and its College of Arts & Sciences. Music provided by Ketsa, Nuisance, and our friends, Matmos. The World According to Sound is made by Chris Hoff and Sam Harnett.

END

Like Latin, �ұ𡯱�� is rarely spoken today. It��s taught at just three universities in the Western world, including by at the 91̽��. Zafer, associate professor of Middle Eastern languages and cultures, was drawn to �ұ𡯱�� by his desire to elevate classical languages of the Global South. In this episode, Zafer discusses the ways centering �ұ𡯱�� brings different pieces of history and culture to life.

This is the third episode of Season 2 of ��Ways of Knowing,�� a podcast highlighting how studies of the humanities can reflect everyday life. Through a partnership between The World According to Sound and the 91̽��, each episode features a faculty member from the 91̽��College of Arts & Sciences, the work that inspires them, and suggested resources for learning more about the topic.

Next | Episode 4: Global Disability Studies

ArtSci Roundup: June 2025

Arts & Sciences — Fri, 23 May 2025 21:35:36 +0000

From campus to wherever you call home, we welcome you to learn from and connect with the College of Arts & Sciences community through public events spanning the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. We hope to see you this June.

ArtSci on the Go

Looking for more ways to get more out of Arts & Sciences? Check out these resources to take ArtSci wherever you go!

Zev J. Handel, “Chinese Characters Across Asia: How the Chinese Script Came to Write Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese”?()

Black Composers Project engages the School of Music faculty and students ()

Ladino Day Interview with Leigh Bardugo & MELC Professor Canan Bolel ()

Back to School Podcast ?with Liz Copland ()

Featured Podcast: “Ways of Knowing” (College of Arts & Sciences)

This podcast highlights how studies of the humanities can reflect everyday life. Through a partnership between and the 91̽��, each episode features a faculty member from the 91̽��College of Arts & Sciences, who discusses the work that inspires them and suggests resources to learn more about the topic.

Episode 1: Digital Humanities with assistant professor of English and data science, Anna Preus.

Episode 2: Paratext with associate professor of French, Richard Watts.

Episode 3: Ge’ez with?associate professor of Middle Eastern languages and cultures, Hamza Zafer.

Closing Exhibits

: Christine Sun Kim: Ghost(ed) Notes at the Henry Art Gallery

Week of June 2

Prof. Daniel Bessner

Monday, June 2, 5:00 – 6:20 pm | ONLINE ONLY: (Jackson School)

Join the Jackson School for Trump in the World 2.0, a series of talks and discussions on the international impact of the second Trump presidency.

This week: Daniel Bessner; Anne H.H. and Kenneth B. Pyle Associate Professor in American Foreign Policy at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies.

Monday, June 2, 5:00 – 7:00 pm | (Jackson School)

Mediha Sorma, Ph.D

This talk discusses the unconventional forms of care that emerge out of Kurdish resistance in Turkey, where mothering becomes a powerful response against necropolitical state violence. By centering the stories of two Kurdish mothers who had to care for their dead children and mother beyond life under the violent state of emergency regime declared in 2015; the talk examines how Kurdish mothers ��rescue the dead�� (Antoon, 2021) from the necropolitical state and create their necropolitical power through a radical embrace of death and decoupling of mothering from the corporeal link between the mother and the child.

Monday, June 2, 3:30 – 5:00 pm | (The Ellison Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies)

Prof. Masaaki Higashijima

Why do some protests in autocracies attract popular participation while others do not? Masaaki Higashijima’s, University of Tokyo, paper argues that when opposition elites and the masses have divergent motivations for protesting, anti-regime mobilization struggles to gain momentum. Moreover, this weak elite-mass linkage is further exacerbated when autocrats selectively repress protests led by opposition elites while making concessions to those organized by ordinary citizens.

Tuesday, June 3, 5:00 – 6:30 pm | (Communications)

A conversation with local public media leaders about current challenges–including federal funding cuts–and pathways forward for sustaining public service journalism.

Speakers include:

Rob Dunlop, President and CEO, Cascade PBS
David Fischer, President and General Manager, KNKX
Tina Pamintuan, incoming President and CEO, KUOW
Matthew Powers, Professor and Co-Director, Center for Journalism, Media and Democracy

Wednesday, June 4, 3:30 – 4:30 pm | (Psychology)

Prof. Hadas Okon-Singer

Cognitive biases �� such as attentional biases toward aversive cues, distorted expectations of negative events, and biased interpretations of ambiguity �� are central features of many forms of psychopathology. Gaining a deeper understanding of the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying these biases is crucial for advancing theoretical models and clinical interventions.

In this talk, Prof. Hadas Okon-Singer will present a series of studies exploring emotional biases in both healthy individuals and participants diagnosed with social anxiety, major depressive disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder.

Wednesday, June 4, 12:30 – 1:30 pm | (Center for Statistics & Social Sciences)

Prof. Tyler McCormick

Many statistical analyses, in both observational data and randomized control trials, ask: how does the outcome of interest vary with combinations of observable covariates? How do various drug combinations affect health outcomes, or how does technology adoption depend on incentives and demographics? Tyler McCormick’s, Professor, Statistics & Sociology, 91̽��, goal is to partition this factorial space into “pools” of covariate combinations where the outcome differs across the pools (but not within a pool).

Friday, June 6, 7:30 pm | (School of Music)

David Alexander Rahbee leads the 91̽��Symphony in a program of concerto excerpts by York Bowen, Keiko Abe, and Camille Saint-Sa?ns, performed with winners of the 2024-25 School of Music Concerto Competitions: Flora Cummings, viola; Kaisho Barnhill, marimba; and Sandy Huang, piano. Also on the program, works by Mikhail Glinka, Richard Wagner, and Giuseppe Verdi.

Saturday, June 7 & Sunday, June 8, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm | (Burke Museum)

Artist Stewart Wong

Stewart Wong will share knowledge and personal experiences about working with Broussonetia Papyrifera. He will talk about the history, uses, and cultivation of the paper mulberry plant. In addition, Stewart plans on dyeing, drawing on, and printing kapa. Stewart will have printed information and material samples to supplement the talk.

Saturday, June 7, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm | On Our Terms with Wakulima USA (Burke Museum)

Join the Burke Museum for a short screening from “,” plus a conversation with co-producer Aaron McCanna and Wakulima USA’s David Bulindah and Maura Kizito about food sovereignty and community building.

Additional Events

June 2 | (Music)

June 2 | (Asian Languages & Literature)

June 2 – June 6 | (Astronomy)

June 3 | (Music)

June 4 | (Music)

June 4 | (Psychology)

June 5 | (Music)

June 5 | (Speech & Hearing)

June 5 | (Labor Studies)

June 5 | (Art + Art History + Design)

June 6 | (Dance)

June 6 | (Geography)

June 7 | (Music)

Week of June 9

Wednesday, June 11 to Friday, June 27 | (Jacob Lawrence Gallery)

At the end of the spring quarter, the academic year culminates in comprehensive exhibitions of design work created by graduating students. The 91̽��Design Show 2025, showcasing the capstone projects of graduating BDes students, will be held from June 11 to June 27 in the Jacob Lawrence Gallery.

Additional Events

June 11 | (Henry Art Gallery)

June 11 | (Art + Art History + Design)

June 12 & June 13 | (DXARTS)

June 13 | (Art + Art History + Design)

Events for the week of June 23

June 24 | (Information Sessions)

June 25 | (Information Sessions)

June 26 | (Information Sessions)

June 27 | (Information Sessions)

Commencement

June marks the end of many College of Arts & Sciences students’ undergraduate experience. Interested in attending a graduation ceremony? Click here to find information on ceremonies across campus.

Have an event that you would like to see featured in the ArtSci Roundup? Connect with Kathrine Braseth (kbraseth@uw.edu).

ArtSci Roundup: April 2025

cbrad50 — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 19:08:19 +0000

Worldwide Conversations

April 4 | (Political Science)

April 7 | (Jackson School)

April 8 | (Department of Asian Languages & Literature)

April 9 | (Political Science)

April 10 – April 11 | (Middle Easter Languages and Cultures)

April 10 – April 12 | (Jackson School)

April 11 | (Classics)

April 14 | (Jackson School)

April 15 | (French & Italian)

April 21 | (Jackson School)

April 23 | (Astronomy)

April 24 | (Middle Easter Languages and Cultures)

April 28 | (Jackson School)

ArtSci on the Go

Looking for more ways to get more out of Arts & Sciences? Check out these resources to take ArtSci wherever you go!

“Ways of Knowing” Podcast (College of Arts & Sciences)

Black Composers Project engages School of Music faculty, students ()

Ladino Day Interview with Leigh Bardugo & MELC professor Canan Bolel?()

Week of March 31

Dr. Victoria Meadows

Wednesday, April 2, 7 pm – 8 pm | (Department of Astronomy)

UWAB is excited to announce that we are hosting a public lecture series to celebrate the program’s 25th anniversary in April 2025! All talks will occur in Kane Hall (Room 120), with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. and lectures beginning at 7 p.m. Each event will feature an hour-long lecture and up to 45 minutes of Q&A with our speaker.

This week’s lecturer: Dr. Victoria Meadows, 91̽��Astrobiology Program Director?Professor of Astronomy at the 91̽��

s are required for both in-person and Zoom attendance

Wednesday, April 2, 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm | (Department of English)

P��draig ? Tuama (photo credit: David Pugh)

Poet and theologian, P��draig ? Tuama��s work centers around themes of language, power, conflict, and religion. Working fluently on the page and in public, he is a compelling poet, skilled speaker, teacher, and group worker. He presents Poetry Unbound with On Being Studios. Following the lecture, there will be a book signing and reception.

Friday, April 4, 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm | (Department of Political Science)

Join the 91̽�� Department of Political Science for a UWISC featuring Ian Callison and his lecture “The Blame Game: Militias, civilians, and the States’ accountability-effectiveness Trade-off.”

Friday, April 4, 7:30 pm | (School of Music)

The Bennardo Larson Duo (Photo: Pat_Swoboda)

The violin and piano duo��Maya Bennardo (violin) and Karl Larson (piano)��perform works by recent Rome Prize winner (and School of Music alumnus) Anthony Vine and others.

The Bennardo-Larson Duo is an NYC/Stockholm-based contemporary classical duo committed to the performance and promotion of forward-thinking works for violin and piano. Their programming features the complete Sonatas for Violin and Piano by Charles Ives, Morton Feldman��s monumental ��For John Cage,�� and ‘a Wind’s Whisper,�� a program featuring works by John Cage, Michael Pisaro, Eva Maria Houben, and two commissions by Adrian Knight and Kristofer Svensson. In April of 2024, the duo will present the world premiere of two substantial new commissions by Anthony Vine and Maya Bennardo on the Bowerbird Series in Philadelphia, PA.

Beyond the concert stage, Bennardo and Larson are passionate educators, offering workshops in contemporary string and piano techniques for performers and composers.

Friday, April 4, 12 pm – 1:30 pm | (Department of Political Science)

Brian Leung

Brian Leung: Firm Lobbying and the Political Economy of US-China Trade

Additional Events

April 1 | (Music)

April 2 | (Music)

April 3 – 5 | (Meany Center)

April 3 | (Applied Mathematics)

April 3 | (Jackson School)

April 4 | (Classics)

April 4 | (Mathematics)

Week of April 7

Monday, April 7, 5 pm – 6:20 pm | (Jackson School)

Prof. David Bachman

Trump in the World 2.0, is a series of talks and discussions from March 31 to June 2 on the international impact of the second Trump presidency. Faculty and guest speaker presentations will explore how different regions and global issues are affected by the Trump administration’s policies.

This week’s speakers: David Bachman, Radhika Govindrajan, and James Lin.

Livestream only for the public. In-person for students only.

Tuesday, April 8, 5:30 pm – 8 pm | (Asian Languages & Literature)

Prof. Davinder Bhowmik

The?Omoro S��shi?is an indigenous compilation of 1500 songs, poems, and prayers that extoll the golden age of the Ryukyu Islands. It offers insights absent from official histories that focus on great heroes. The collection sheds light on the Ryukyu’s semitropical flora and fauna, and by extension, the everyday life of the common people.

This presentation will be held by Professor Davinder Bhowmik and will introduce the main features of the Omoro S��shi and pay particular attention to key aspects of the landscape that shaped traditional communal formations. It aims to consider whether the compilation reflects a history of the region as top-down (Yamato) or bottom-up (Ryukyu).

Wednesday, April 9, 11:30 am – 12 pm | (Henry Art Gallery)

James Turrell Skyspace (photo credit: Lara Swimmer)

Join?Ashwini Sadekar, founder of the Conscious Creative Circle, in the?James Turrell Skyspace for a guided meditation to cultivate calm and presence through mind-body-breath connection. Immersed within the awe-inspiring interior of Turrell��s artwork, participants will enjoy a 20-minute guided meditation followed by a 10-minute small group reflection. All are welcome, no previous experience is required. Registration is encouraged.

Wednesday, April 9, 7 pm – 8 pm | (Department of Astronomy)

Dr. Giada Arney

UWAB is excited to announce that we are hosting a public lecture series to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the program in April 2025! ll talks will take place in Kane Hall (Room 120) with doors open at 6:30 pm, and lectures beginning at 7 pm. Each event will feature an hour-long lecture followed by up to 45 min of Q&A with our speaker.

This week’s lecturers: Dr. Giada Arney, 91̽��Astrobiology Program Graduate 2016, NASA Research Scientist & Interim Project Scientist for Habitable Worlds Observatory, and Dr. Rika Anderson, UWAB Graduate 2013,?Associate Professor of Biology at Carleton College

s are required for both in-person and Zoom attendance

Thursday, April 10 – Saturday, April 12 | (Jackson School)

2022 Ellison Center Director Scott Radnitz speaking at the REECAS Northwest Conference

REECAS Northwest?welcomes students, faculty, independent scholars, and language educators from the United States and abroad.?Established in 1994, REECAS Northwest is an annual event for scholars and students in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. The interdisciplinary conference is organized by the 91̽��s Ellison Center for Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies.

The conference hosts many panels on a variety of topics from a wide diversity of disciplines including political science, history, literature, linguistics, anthropology, culture, migration studies, gender studies, LGBTQ studies, film studies, and more.

Additional Events

April 8 | (Meany Center)

April 9 | (Political Science)

April 10 | (Music)

April 10 | (Political Science)

April 10 | (Sociology)

April 10 – April 11 | (Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures) – ONLINE

April 11 | (Geography)

April 11 | (Music)

April 12 | (Meany Center)

April 12 | (Taiwan Studies)

Week of April 14

Prof. Sabine Lang

Monday, April 14, 5 pm – 6:20 pm | (Jackson School)

This week’s speakers: Sabine Lang in conversation with U.S. Ambassadors (ret.) Jeff Hovenier and John Koenig

Livestream only for the public. In-person for students only.

Wednesday, April 16 | (Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures)

Farhat J. Ziadeh

This annual lectureship was established in honor of Farhat J. Ziadeh, whose contributions to the fields of Islamic law, Arabic language, and Islamic Studies are truly unparalleled.

The Ziadeh fund was formally endowed in 2001 and since that time, it has allowed MELC to strengthen its educational reach and showcase the most outstanding scholarship in Arab and Islamic Studies.

Wednesday, April 16, 7 pm – 8 pm | (Department of Astronomy)

Dr. Ken Williford

This week’s lecturer: Dr. Ken Williford, 91̽��Astrobiology Program Graduate 2007,?Deputy Project Scientist for the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover

s are required for both in-person and Zoom attendance

Friday, April 18, 12 pm – 1:30 pm | (Department of Political Science)

Emily Broad Leib

Emily Broad Leib is a Clinical Professor of Law, Director of the Harvard Law School Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, and Founding Director of the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic, the nation��s first law school clinic devoted to providing legal and policy solutions to the health, economic, and environmental challenges facing our food system. Working directly with clients and communities, Broad Leib champions community-led food system change, reduction in food waste, food access, food is medicine interventions and equity and sustainability in food production.

Saturday, April 19 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)

Don’t miss your last chance to experience?artists & poets at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery!

Working to emulate the interdisciplinary artistic environment Jacob Lawrence experienced in his formative years, this exhibition explores a legacy of collaboration between artists and poets.?artists & poets?is a part of the re-grounding of the Jacob Lawrence Gallery in its mission of education, experimentation, and social justice.

Additional Events

April 14 | (Jackson School)

April 14 | (Communication)

April 14 | (Simpson Center)

April 14 | (Jackson School)

April 15?| (Political Science)

April 15 | (Philosophy)

April 15 | (French & Italian)

April 16 | (Music)

April 17 | (Art + Art History + Design)

April 18 | (Political Science)

April 18 | (Music)

April 18 | (Simpson Center)

April 18 | (Linguistics)

April 18 | (Speech and Hearing Sciences)

Week of April 21

Monday, April 21, 5 pm – 6:20 pm | (Jackson School)

This week’s speakers: Liora R. Halperin, Randa Tawil, and Re?at Kasaba

Livestream only for the public. In-person for students only.

Wednesday, April 23, 7 pm – 8 pm | ?(Department of Astronomy)

Dr. Aomawa Shields

This week’s lecturer: Dr. Aomawa Shields, 91̽��Astrobiology Program Graduate 2014, Clare Boothe Luce Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California Irvine

s are required for both in-person and Zoom attendance

Wednesday, April 23, 7 pm – 9 pm | (Department of Psychology)

Allen L. Edwards

The 17th Annual Allen L. Edwards Psychology Lectures presents The Science of Altruism. This interdisciplinary panel brings together leading experts from psychology, anthropology, neuroscience, and animal behavior to explore the biological, cognitive, and social foundations of altruistic behaviors.

Moderated?by KUOW Host Bill Radke, the event features the following panelists:

Abigail Marsh, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Psychology & Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University
Kristen Hawkes, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor in Anthropology, University of Utah
John M. Marzluff, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Wildlife Science, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, 91̽��
Andrew Meltzoff, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at the 91̽��.

Thursday, April 24, 6 pm – 7:30 pm | (Center for Child & Family Well-Being)

Luc��a Magis-Weinberg, M.D., Ph.D.

This?webinar?will include a panel of experts discussing parents��,?�ٱ��Բ��,?and preteens��?digital technology and?social media use and its relation to mental health.?Panel members will be asked to discuss current patterns of social media use by parents and?youth, and share about?the potential for both positive and detrimental?effects of social media,?including?the role of technology and social media in supporting social connectedness and awareness, while also contributing to mental health challenges. Panelists will?suggest?approaches to social media use that incorporate mindfulness and?support?well-being.?

Thursday, April 24, 7 pm – 8:30 pm | (Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures)

After the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Ottoman elites at the imperial court turned to poetry to craft distinctive modes of expression to articulate their place within the Ottoman sultanate.

In this talk, Oscar Aguirre-Mandujano will discuss his new book, Occasions for Poetry: Politics, Literature, and Imagination Among the Early Modern Ottomans (Penn Press, 2025), where he explores how scholars and bureaucrats interacted with each other through poetic imagery, revealing how literary language affected bureaucratic practice.

Friday, April 25, 7:30 pm | (School of Music)

Guitarist Bill Frisell (Photo: Monica Jane Frisell).

The School of Music and the student-run Improvised Music Project present IMPFest, featuring 91̽��Jazz Studies students and faculty performing with special guests: renowned guitarist Bill Frisell; saxophonist?Josh Johnson; and bassist (and School of Music alumnus)?Luke Bergman.

Seating is limited; please order tickets in advance.

Additional Events

April 21 | (Political Science)

April 22 | (Music)

April 22 | (East Asia Center)

April 22 – April 26 | (Drama)

April 24 | (Music)

April 24 | (Taiwan Studies)

April 24| (Slavic Languages)

April 27 | (Henry Art Gallery)

Week of April 28

Monday, April 28, 5 pm – 6:20 pm | (Jackson School)

Prof. Jessica L. Beyer and Prof. Scott Radnitz

This week’s speakers: Jessica L. Beyer and Scott Radnitz

Livestream only for the public. In-person for students only.

Tuesday, April 29 – Friday, May 9 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)

Join the School of Art + Art History + Design in celebrating the work of this year’s students. There will be four student exhibits throughout the spring quarter!

Wednesday, April 30, 4 pm – 5:30 pm | (Department of History)

Prof. Nathan Connolly

In ��Letters from the Ancestors,�� Prof. Connolly follows the experiences of four generations of his Caribbean family, offering an intimate view of the history of late capitalism in the Atlantic World. Under twentieth-century colonialism, he argues, working people developed uniquely gendered coping strategies for managing the precarities of racism and reputation. Even in post-colonial times, these strategies continue to govern how we relate to institutions, set our aspirations, and even narrate our own personal and political histories. More than just a tour through a single family��s experience, ��Letter from the Ancestors” seeks to retain and advance our fluency in the history of colonized families. This history, Connolly suggests, seems all the more relevant today, in a nation and world of dwindling government protections for women and people of color.

Wednesday, April 30, 5 pm – 6:30 pm | (Department of Political Science)

��Populist Power Plays: Erdogan��s Turkey, Trump��s USA, and the Future of Democracy,�� Garo Paylan, former Member of the Turkish Parliament, in conversation with 91̽��Professor?Asli Cansunar.

Additional Events

April 29 | (Mathematics)

April 29 | (Political Science)

April 30 | (China Studies Program)

April 30 | An Evening with Christine Sun Kim (Public Lectures)

April 30 | (Art + Art History + Design)

Have an event that you would like to see featured in the ArtSci Roundup? Connect with Kathrine Braseth (kbraseth@uw.edu).

ArtSci Roundup: November 2024

Arts & Sciences — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 23:43:48 +0000

Election & Democracy Events

November 7 |

Shortly after the General Election, three Washington Secretaries of State discuss the history and evolution of voting in our state��from the various systems in place to the complex and polarized climate we now operate in. If you missed the event, check out the TVW recording .

November 12 |

After the 2024 election, hear from Jessica Beyer (Jackson School of International Studies), Victor Menaldo (Political Science), and Scott Lemieux (Political Science) for a discussion on what happened and what happens next as part of the Democracy Discussions Series.

December 3 |

In this talk, James Gregory, professor of history at the UW, will explore the history of West Coast radicalism and factors that have made it influential beyond what is common in other regions, including those with blue state traditions.

Week of October 28

October 29, 6:00 – 8:00 pm | (School of Art + Art History + Design)

The Jacob Lawrence Gallery’s Shared Tools exhibition begins to unravel Lawrence��s interest in hand tools and the work of builders, and what role the community might have in building the future of the gallery. Shared Tools is the first of a series of exhibitions that pulls inspiration from the life and legacy of Jacob Lawrence.

Free

October 29, 4:30 – 6:00 pm | ONLINE OPTION (Department of Classics)

Professor Erich Gruen (UC Berkeley) will address the age-old issue of the roots of antisemitism in antiquity and the degree it may have arisen in the Jewish experience in the Greek and Hellenistic worlds. This event is co-sponsored by the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies and the Department of Classics.

Free

October 31, 7:30 pm | (School of Music)

Dr. Stephen Price is joined by students, colleagues, and friends of the 91̽��Organ Studies program in this concert of spooky organ classics and Halloween fun.

Free

November 1, 7:30 pm | ?(School of Music)

David Alexander Rahbee leads the 91̽��Symphony in a program of works by Ludwig van Beethoven and Akira Ifukube. With Percussion Studies Chair Bonnie Whiting, marimba.

November 2 – 10 | (School of Drama)

THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE is a parable inspired by the Chinese play CHALK CIRCLE. Written at the close of World War II, the story is set in the Caucasus Mountains of Georgia, and retells the tale of an abandoned child whose custody is contested by his caretaker and his biological mother. In this production, a group of modern-day actors come together with real questions about justice, what is fair, and how to do right when it seems impossible.

Additional Events

October 29 |? (French & Italian Studies)

Beginning November 1 | (Henry Art Gallery)

Beginning November 1 | ?(Henry Art Gallery)

November 1 | (CSDE)

November 2 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)

Week of November 4

November 4, 4:00 – 6:00 pm | ?(Scandinavian Studies)

Witness a conversation between dancer/choreographer and drag performance artist Jody Kuehner (Cherdonna Shinatra) and artist and dramaturg Maggie L. Rogers. The conversation will focus particularly on Kuehner and Rogers’ 2017 production, Cherdonna’s A Doll’s House, staged in collaboration with the Washington Ensemble Theater on Capitol Hill.

Free

November 7, 7:30 – 9:00 pm | ONLINE OPTION (College of Arts & Sciences and Evans School)

Join three Washington Secretaries of State as they discuss the history and evolution of voting in our state��from the various systems in place to the complex and polarized climate we now operate in. Current Secretary of State Steve Hobbs joins former Secretaries of State Kim Wyman and Sam Reed for a panel discussion convened by the 91̽��’s College of Arts & Sciences and the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance.

If you missed the event, check out the TVW recording .

Free

November 7 & 8, 7:30 pm | (Digital Arts and Experimental Media)

Fictions in Fugue is an interdisciplinary collaboration by new media artists/performers who come together to activate Meany Theater as a space in fugue and fragmentation. Combining interactive storytelling, Extended Reality technologies and Machine Learning experiments, a series of embodied narratives emerge throughout the evening.

Free

November 10, 4:00 pm | ?(School of Music)

The School of Music joins with the Seattle Flute Society (SFS) for its Flute Celebration Day, featuring Professor Zhao Rong Peter Chen, School of Music alumnus and faculty member at China Conservatory of Music and other highly regarded institutions throughout China. His performance is followed by additional performances from the Seattle Flute Society Flute Choir and other SFS members.

Free

Additional Events

November 6 | (Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences)

November 7 | ONLINE (Simpson Center)

November 7 |? (Asian Languages & Literature)

Week of November 11

November 12, 5:00 – 6:30 pm | (Political Science)

Department of Political Science and the Political Economy Forum are hosting a post-election faculty roundtable moderated by Professors James Long, Jessica Beyer (Jackson School), Victor Menaldo (Political Science), and Scott Lemieux (Political Science) one week after the election on what we know so far and what to expect next.

Free

November 13, 6:00 – 8:00 pm | (Law, Societies & Justice)

Join 91̽��Honors�� annual Global Challenges��Interdisciplinary Thinking event as they bring Tony Lucero (Indigenous studies and critical university studies), Megan McCloskey (international human rights law and disability rights), and Ed Taylor (leadership, social justice and critical race theory in education) together with Interdisciplinary Honors student moderator, Jaya Field, to discuss the many purposes of public research universities like the 91̽��in our world today.

Free

November 13, 7:00 – 8:30 pm | ONLINE OPTION (Psychology)

Learn about a neurobiological perspective on anxiety, fear, and panic as adaptive and maladaptive behavior. Michael S. Fanselow,? a professor in the Department of Psychology at UCLA, will describe how defensive behavior is organized into 3 distinct modes that fall along a continuum related to the proximity of threat, known as the predatory imminence continuum.

Free

November 14, 5:30 – 7:00 pm | ONLINE OPTION (American Indian Studies)

Join the Department of American Indian Studies for the annual literary and storytelling series Sacred Breath, this year featuring Richard Van Camp and Roger Fernandes. Indigenous writers and storytellers share their craft at the beautiful w???b?altx? Intellectual House.

Free

November 14, 7:30 pm | (School of Music)

91̽��Jazz Studies students perform in small combos over two consecutive nights of original tunes, a homage to the greats of jazz, and experiments in composing and arranging.

Free

Additional Events

November 12 | (School of Music)

November 13 | (Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest)

November 13 | ?(Simpson Center)

November 13 | (Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures)

November 14 | (Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures)

November 14 | (Scandinavian Studies)

November 14 | (Simpson Center)

November 15 | (Jackson School)

Week of November 18

November 18, 7:30 pm | (School of Music)

Pianist Craig Sheppard is joined by Rachel Lee Priday, violin; Noah Geller, viola; and Efe Baltacigil, cello, in performing Gabriel Faur�� Piano Quartet #1 in C minor, Opus 15; and Piano Quartet #2 in G minor, Opus 45.

November 20, 3:30 – 5:00 pm | (Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies)

Centering on oral histories in Fujian, Shuxuan Zhou situates firsthand accounts of labor and resistance in forestry and wood processing within the larger context of postrevolutionary socialist reforms through China��s rapid economic development after the 1990s. This book opens a conversation among the fields of gender studies, labor studies, and environmental studies.

Free

November 20, 3:30 – 4:30 pm | ONLINE OPTION (Department of Chemistry)

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry celebrates groundbreaking achievements in computational biology, awarded to David Baker from the UW. Professors Mike Gelb and Jesse Zalatan from the Department of Chemistry will introduce and set the stage for a brief presentation by Nobel Laureate David Baker. The talk will be followed by a moderated Q&A session.

Free

November 22, 3:30 – 5:00 pm | (South Asia Center and Department of Communication)

Taking stock of the centrality of streaming video and other forms of social media entertainment in Indian public culture, this lecture focuses on the enduring significance of linguistic and cultural regions. This lecture will explore the range of imaginations and understandings of regional languages, cultures, and caste politics that media companies mobilize in their quest for audiences and markets.

Free

November 23, 5:00 pm | ��Bad River�� Screening & Panel (UWAA)

Head to the w???b?altx? �C Intellectual House for a special screening of ��Bad River,�� the critically acclaimed new documentary film. “Bad River�� chronicles the efforts of the Bad River Band��s ongoing fight for sovereignty. Stay after the screening for an in-depth discussion of Indigenous water rights, Indigenous health, and Native sovereignty.

Free

Additional Events

November 19 | (School of Music)

November 21 | (Geography)

November 21 | (School of Music)

November 22 | (German Studies)

November 22 | (American Ethnic Studies)

November 23 | (School of Music)

November 23?| (Burke Museum)

November 24?| (Burke Museum)

Week of November 25

November 30, 2:00 – 3:00 pm | (Henry Art Gallery)

Visit the Henry for an illuminating tour of two exhibitions, Overexposures: Photographs from the Henry Collection and Recent Acquisitions in the Henry Collection with Em Chan, curator of Overexposures and the Henry��s Curatorial Assistant. During the tour, Chan will guide visitors through a selection of photographs and artworks from the collection.

Free

December 2, 6:30 pm | (School of Music)

Phyllis Byrdwell leads the 100-voice Gospel Choir in songs of praise, jubilation, and other expressions from the Gospel tradition. Phyllis is the director of the 91̽��Gospel Choir, was inducted into the Washington Music Educators Association’s Hall of Fame in 2002, and serves on the Seattle Symphony Board of Directors.

December 3, 6:30 pm | (Simpson Center)

How did the West Coast become the ��Left Coast�� and what does that mean for American politics? The term ��Left Coast�� has further underlined the significance of progressive and radical movements in the political systems and reputations of these states. In this talk, Gregory explores the history of West Coast radicalism and factors that have made it influential beyond what is common in other regions, including those with blue state traditions.

Free

Additional Events

November 25 | (Physics)

November 25 | (School of Music)

November 26 | (School of Music)

December 2 | (School of Music)

December 2 | (Department of Anthropology)

December 3 | ?(School of Music)

December 3 | (Meany Center)

Have an event that you would like to see featured in the ArtSci Roundup? Connect with Kathrine Braseth (kbraseth@uw.edu).

ArtSci Roundup: Election Events, Meany Hall Performances, Artist Panel and more

Arts & Sciences — Thu, 10 Oct 2024 23:06:18 +0000

This week,?attend the?Conversation on Race, Gender, & Democracy?lecture at Kane Hall, check out performances at Meany Hall, learn from a panel of artists at Henry Art Gallery, and more.

Election & Democracy Events

October 14, 6:30 – 8:00 pm | , Kane Hall

The Washington Institute for the Study of Inequality and Race (WISIR), in conjunction with the Department of Political Science, welcomes award-winning scholar and NPR co-host Professor Christina Greer to the stage with 91̽��Professor Megan Francis for a discussion on race, gender, and democracy in the context of the elections.

October 15 – 29 | Democracy in Focus lecture series , 91̽��Seattle Campus?& Online

Leading up to the 2024 election, 91̽��faculty members will share their expertise through a public lecture on an election-related topic. The series spans 91̽��partners, including the College of Arts & Sciences, the Evans School, the School of Law, and the Information School, with support from the Office of the Provost.
Oct. 15 | Zooming Out: 2024 Elections in Historical, Social, and Cultural Contexts
Oct. 22 | Presidential Power
Oct. 29 | Who Votes and Why Voting Matters

October 17 | , Husky Union Building & Livestream

Join faculty from across the Jackson School of International Studies as they explore the United States election from the perspective of China, India, Taiwan, the Middle East, European Union, and Mexico. Featuring professors David Bachman, Vanessa Freije, Sunila Kale, Re?at Kasaba, Sabine Lang, and James Lin.

October 17? | , Alder Hall

As part of the Samuel E. Kelly Distinguished Faculty Lecture, Dr. Sara Curran will discuss past and present ways in which demographic diversity has been measured and why, and also the intersectional complexities of measuring demographic diversity. She will discuss the history, politics, and statistics of changing demographic diversity in the U.S. and in Washington State.

October 22 | , Online

What is the current level of trust in our electoral system? What do Washingtonians see as the top priorities for their elected officials? How do they view candidates running for state and federal office? The Seattle Times�� Claire Withycombe joins Danielle Lee Tomson from the 91̽��Center for an Informed Public to analyze key findings from the WA Poll.

October 24 | ?, Online

In recent years, American democracy has bent but not broken. What are the threats facing American democracy, and what are its sources of resilience? In this talk, Dr. Jake Grumbach will investigate trends in three areas of American democracy: the rule of law, majority rule, and political equality.

November 7 | , Town Hall Seattle & Livestream

November 12 | , Kane Hall

December 3 | , Kane Hall

October 14, all-day | , Radio Broadcast

Tune into KEXP to celebrate Indigenous Peoples�� Day. All day, the station will share music from people and communities who have been actively resisting histories of colonization since time immemorial.

Hosted by Sounds of Survivance co-hosts Tory J (American Indian Studies Lecturer and Native American Studies Ph.D. Candidate) and Kevin Sur, along with more KEXP DJs and special guests. If you can’t listen live, make sure to listen back on KEXP’s .

Free |

October 15, 10:00 – 11:00 am | Annual President��s Address, Livestream

Join President Ana Mari Cauce for her annual address where she will share her vision for how the 91̽��will create the greatest possible impact in the world for the good of students, the public, and future generations.

Free | More info

October 16, 5:00 – 7:00 pm | , Kane Hall

Join the 91̽��Department of Communication and the journalism community to learn about the changing lives of orcas in the Puget Sound from Lynda V. Mapes, an environment reporter for The Seattle Times. She will discuss the process of reporting the story of a mother orca who carried her dead calf around the Salish Sea for 17 days and more than 1,000 miles. Mapes also will discuss the dangers orcas continue to face as a species and the potential ways their population could recover.

Free |

October 16, 7:30 pm | Meany Hall

This collaboration of three like-minded and powerhouse virtuosos, each carving out their own niche in American music, delivers an innovative program including the music of J.S. Bach and the world premiere of a new string trio by seven-time Grammy winner Edgar Meyer. Dynamic performers, Lark, Roman, and Meyer promise to bring fancy fiddling on the violin, cello, and bass.

Ticketed |

October 17 – 19, 8:00 pm | Meany Hall

In this Meany Hall performance, the boundaries of gravity and creativity blur, offering an intimate window into the essence of creativity itself with Pilobolus’s re:CREATION. In re:CREATION the company brings their celebrated collection of repertory to delighted audiences. re:CREATION is a transformative odyssey of reinvention where both audience and artists rediscover, redefine, and recreate timeless narratives through new visions of history, myth, and the innate human need for expression.

Ticketed |

October 18, 1:00 – 3:00 pm | , Denny Hall

Join the 91̽��Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures Department alongside its Persian & Iranian Studies Program to welcome California-based, Iranian American artist, Yasmeen Abedifard, to the campus for a book talk and Q&A session about her newly published comic collection: When to Pick a Pomegranate. This event is co-hosted by MELC student and artist, Amelia Ossorio.

Free |

October 18, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm | , Communications Building

Wendy Call (she/ella), co-founder and co-editor of the annual anthology Best Literary Translations, and translator of three trilingual books by Mexican Binniz�� poet Irma Pineda, will speak about translating poetry written in Mexican languages, its unique challenges and cari?os.

In his translations, Hamza Ahmad (doctoral student in English) embraces the transmodal ghazal and revels in what he feels are possibilities for affecting audiences. Given that the vast majority of people already approach poetry through music, Ahmad explores digital object creation as a translational strategy.

Free |

October 18, 7:00 – 9:00 pm | , Henry Art Gallery

Join the Henry in celebration of the museum’s fall exhibitions: A.K. Burns: What is Perverse is Liquid, Lucy Kim: Mutant Optics, Tala Madani: Be flat, and Christine Sun Kim: Ghost(ed) Notes. Be among the first to see the new exhibitions, meet the artists, and enjoy music by KEXP DJ Abbie.

Free |

Beginning October 19 | , Burke Museum

Immersing guests in the world of bats, bees, birds, and butterflies, this all-ages exhibit demonstrates the ways humans are an inextricable part of the environment and offers strategies �� big and small �� to slow or reverse the threats to these winged creatures. This exhibit is based on the book RARE AIR: Endangered Birds, Bats, Butterflies & Bees, with additional stories, research, and collections created by the Burke Museum and project collaborators.

Tickets |

October 19, 2:00 – 3:30 pm | , Henry Art Gallery & Livestream

Moderated by Berette Macaulay, this panel brings together three of Henry��s current artists, A.K. Burns, Lucy Kim, and Tala Madani. Their work challenges and redefines notions of power, control, and agency through contemporary art.

This conversation promises to be both thought-provoking and inspiring. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear firsthand from the artists about their creative processes and the ways in which they confront and subvert control in their work, with time for questions at the end.

Free |

October 19, 6:30 pm | An Evening with Raymond ��Boots�� Riley,?Kane Hall

Spend an evening with film director and writer Raymond ��Boots�� Riley, of Sorry to Bother You, and I��m a Virgo, fame and 91̽��Assistant Professor in Cinema and Media Studies, Dr. Golden M. Owens, for a conversation on making movies, rapping, storytelling, and activism.

Free |

Have an event that you would like to see featured in the ArtSci Roundup? Connect with Kathrine Braseth (kbraseth@uw.edu).

ArtSci Roundup: Center for Environmental Politics talk, ‘What Makes a Good Art Critic?’, Yefim Bronfman at Meany Hall and more

Arts & Sciences — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 17:10:15 +0000

This week, head to Meany Hall for multiple Grammy Awards recipient Yefim Bronfman’s performance, learn from panelists during “What Makes a Good Art Critic?”, explore “The Imperative Challenges of Sustainability for the Forgotten” during the Center for Environmental Politics’ talk, and more.

April 15, 3:30 – 5:00 pm | Thomson Hall

The 91̽��Japan Studies Program invites Dr. Charles T. McClean to explore why young politicians are so rare in Japan. Young people in Japan are considerably underrepresented in the country��s political institutions, leaving decision-making mostly in the hands of older politicians. This may have profound consequences for the structuring of welfare policies in Japan, which faces a declining birth rate and a rapidly aging population.

Free |

April 16, 1:00 – 2:30 pm | ?Kane Hall

The 91̽��Teaching & Learning Symposium brings together faculty, staff educators, and graduate instructors from across UW��s three campuses to share and explore teaching practices that support student learning and engagement.

This year��s Symposium focuses on the theme of ��Empowering students.�� The theme acknowledges that our classrooms, like the world around us, are filled with power dynamics �C novice/expert, student/instructor, listener/doer, marginalized/privileged. How does or should power shape learning environments? What are ways to acknowledge, redistribute, and responsibly use power in the classroom? How can our teaching practices empower students?

Free |

April 16, 7:30 pm | ?Meany Hall

The Israeli Chamber Project is a dynamic ensemble of strings, winds, harp, and piano that brings together some of today��s most distinguished musicians in concert. Based in Israel and New York, the group was created as a means for its members to give something back to the community where they began their musical education and to showcase Israeli culture through its music and musicians. For their Meany debut, they are joined by Grammy Award-winning tenor Karim Sulayman, a Lebanese American artist consistently praised for his sensitive and intelligent musicianship, riveting stage presence, and beautiful voice.

Tickets |

April 18, 5:15 – 6:45 pm | Henry Art Gallery

Join the Henry Art Gallery for a panel featuring visiting curator and art critic Seph Rodney, PhD; Kemi Adeyemi, 91̽��Associate Professor of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies and Director of The Black Embodiments Studio; and artist Srijon Chowdhury.

The panelists will engage in dialogue facilitated by Sangram Majumdar, 91̽�� Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing at the 91̽��School of Art + Art History + Design.

Free |

April 18, 7:00 – 9:00 pm | Kane Hall

Mihri Hatun (d. circa 1512) was the first Ottoman woman whose poetry was collected during her lifetime and is still intact in four manuscript copies. The way she is registered in intellectual history vis-��-vis her own writing reveal not only her story in the male-dominated intellectual circles, but also the performative nature of the intellectual world.

Associate Professor at Duke University, Didem Havlioglu will discuss Mihri��s unapologetically marginal voice as a way to understand the physical and discursive contours of the Ottoman intellectual world.

Free |?

April 18, 7:30 pm | Meany Hall

Internationally recognized as one of today’s most acclaimed and admired pianists, Yefim Bronfman is known for his exceptional lyrical gifts backed by a commanding technique. Widely praised for his solo, chamber, and orchestral recordings, Bronfman has won multiple Grammy awards, the Avery Fisher Prize and has a prolific catalog of recordings and illustrious collaborations. His return to Meany features a program of piano sonatas by Schubert, Chopin, and Prokofiev, plus Schumann��s celebration of Carnival, Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op. 26.

Tickets |

April 19, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm | Communications Building

Join the?Translation Studies Hub for two presentations. Jang Wook Huh will speak on “American Sentimentalism and the Translation of ‘Race’ in Korea.” He will examine how translation facilitated the migration of Western notions of Blackness to Korea at the turn of the twentieth century.

The second workshop is led by Aria Fani and Maxine Savage on ��How to Edit a Work of Translation?��, highlighting their approaches to editing poetry in translation. The two will focus on two poems to ground their discussion.

Free |

April 19, 12:00 – 1:30 pm | Gowen Hall

The Department of Political Science invites Dr. Gary Machlis, Clemson University’s Professor of Environmental Sustainability, to speak on “The Imperative Challenges of Sustainability for the Forgotten.”

Free |

April 19, 3:30 – 5:00 pm | Gowen Hall

Join the Department of History for a talk and discussion with Waleed Salem, Graduate Student in the Department of Political Science at the 91̽��, and faculty discussant George Lovell, 91̽�� Political Science?Department.

Free |

April 21, 3:00 – 4:30 pm | ?Henry Art Gallery ??

Inspired by the process of regeneration and rebirth embodied in??currently on view at the Henry, we will conjure the power and possibilities of imminent failure in an experimental combination of poetry craft talk, courageous conversation, community freestyle, improv music, and facilitated dialogue.

Free |

Have an event that you would like to see featured in the ArtSci Roundup? Connect with Kathrine Braseth (kbraseth@uw.edu).

ArtSci Roundup: Calder Quartet, Psychology Colloquium, Black Girls (Re)Creating Space through Digital Practice and more

Arts & Sciences — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 20:52:25 +0000

This week, attend the Psychology Loucks Colloquium, visit the Henry Art Gallery for Martine Gutierrez’s Monsen Photography Lecture, hear from Ashleigh Greene Wade on “Where Can We Be? Black Girls (Re)Creating Space through Digital Practice” and more.

March 27, 12:30 – 1:30 pm | ?Husky Union Building

Join the Jackson School of International Studies for a talk with Lieutenant Colonel Aaron Hamilton, a 91̽��U.S. Army War College Fellow 2023-2024. Lieutenant Colonel Aaron Hamilton will be joined by Nadine Fabbi, 91̽��Director, Canadian Studies Center and Arctic and International Relations, and Chair, Arctic Studies Minor, at the UW.

Free |

March 27, 3:30 – 4:20 pm | Kincaid Hall or Zoom

The Department of Psychology, led by faculty host Ariel Rokem and student host Mckenzie Hagen, invites Dr. Emily Jacobs, Associate Professor of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of California Santa Barbara, to speak at the Psychology Loucks Colloquium.

Free |

March 27, 3:30 – 5:00 pm | Communication Building

The Communication Department invites Ashleigh Greene Wade, assistant professor of Media Studies and African American Studies at the University of Virginia, to discuss: “Where Can We Be? Black Girls (Re)Creating Space through Digital Practice.”

Through this lecture, Wade will answer the question of how Black girls can carve out spaces for themselves within sociocultural contexts that encourage their silence and erasure. Wade shows how Black girls deploy digital content creation as a way to (re)structure their spatial realities, thereby expanding places where they can simply be.

Free |?

March 27, 5:00 – 9:00 pm | ?Kane Hall

Join the Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI) in partnership with the Center for Korea Studies (CKS) for a two-part panel series that examines trilateral cooperation in several key areas. Bringing together experts from all three countries, the two panels will explore, respectively, trilateral security cooperation in regard to North Korea and the broader Indo-Pacific region as well as trilateral cooperation on economic security, emerging technologies, and development finance.

Free |

March 27, 7:00 – 8:30 pm | Kane Hall

Can an early modern religious Hebrew poet remain relevant to contemporary audiences? Join the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies to hear from Professor Edwin Seroussi why Rabbi Najara��s poetry of hope and redemption has persisted in synagogues, in Jewish homes, and on Israeli pop stages to this very day.

Free |

March 28, 7:00 – 8:30 pm | Kane Hall

��Ruins�� are the remnants of past civilizations that modern people objectify, manipulate, reproduce, reconstruct, and sell as artifacts. As sites of remembrance, ��ruins�� are also visual constructions of the past that can be visited and experienced in the present.

Drawing on his forthcoming book, Sonic Ruins of Modernity: Judeo-Spanish Folksongs Today, musicologist Edwin Seroussi will examine the ��ruinization�� of a repertoire of Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) folksongs, transmitted by Sephardic Jews.

Free |

March 28, 7:30 pm | ?Meany Hall

The Calder Quartet joins choreographer and Deaf advocate Antoine Hunter for an imaginative and joyful collaboration of chamber music and dance. Developed by the Quartet and Hunter, and featuring dancers Hunter and Zahna Simon,?The Mind’s Ear?draws inspiration from the collaboration between Merce Cunningham and John Cage, as well as the musical interchange between Julius Eastman and Cage. The program also offers a poignant insight into Beethoven’s Quartet No. 13, written when his deafness had a profound impact on his life and work.

Tickets |

March 29, 12:30 – 1:30 pm | Denny Hall

The Department of Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures invites Busra Demirkol, PhD student studying Near and Middle Eastern Studies, to give a lecture for the Turkish & Ottoman Studies Program Talk series.

Free |

March 29, 3:30 – 5:30 pm | ?Livestream

Arthur Obst, Allen Thompson, Emma Maris are invited to speak at the Department of Philosophy’s colloquium.

Free |

March 29, 7:30 pm | Meany Hall

Acclaimed new music group the Mivos Quartet, dubbed by the Chicago Reader as ��one of America��s most daring and ferocious new-music ensembles,�� will perform works by Jo?l-Fran?ois Durand and other 91̽��faculty composers in this guest artist performance.

Tickets |

March 30 – July 28 | Henry Art Gallery ?

Martine Gutierrez is a transdisciplinary artist, performing, writing, composing, and directing elaborate narrative scenes that subvert pop-cultural tropes in the exploration of identity. Through works created in diverse media��music videos, billboard campaigns, episodic films, photographs, live performance artworks, and publications ��Gutierrez investigates identity as both a social construct and an authentic expression of self. These complex intersections are innate to Gutierrez��s own multicultural upbringing as a first-generation artist of Indigenous descent and as an LGBTQ ally.

Tickets |

Have an event that you would like to see featured in the ArtSci Roundup? Connect with Kathrine Braseth (kbraseth@uw.edu).

ArtSci Roundup: Katz Distinguished Lecture, Book Talks, Michelle Cann Piano Performance, and more

ArtsUW — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 21:08:36 +0000

This week, listen to the Katz Distinguished Lecture series led by Sasha Su-Ling Welland, join a book talk event with Dr. Alexander Bubb, be awed by Michelle Cann’s piano performance, and more.

January 26, 10:00 – 11:00 am | Zoom

91̽��Textual Studies will host a virtual book talk event with Dr. Alexander Bubb on his latest book, Asian Classics on the Victorian Bookshelf. There will be a featured presentation and Q&A session that follows.

Free |

January 26, 12:30 – 1:30 pm | ?Denny Hall

The Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures invites Semih Tareen, the Seattle Turkish Film Festival Director, to give a talk on viruses, biotechnology, and horror movies.?

Free |

January 29, 6:30 pm | ?Brechemin Auditorium

91̽��keyboard performance students perform concerto movements for outside judges for a chance to perform with the 91̽��Symphony.

Free |

January 29, 3:30 – 5:00 pm | ?Thomson Hall

Sponsored by the 91̽��Japan Studies Program, the China Studies Program is hosting book talk with Wenkai He, author of Public Interest and State Legitimation: Early Modern England, Japan, and China.?

Free |

January 30, 6:30 pm | Kane Hall

In this Katz Distinguished Lecture Series, Sasha Su-Ling Welland, Chair and Professor in the Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies, is invited to discuss “The Art of Living in the Nuclear Anthropocene.” This is a story of kinship, grief, and place that asks an impossible question. This lecture explores telling terrible stories in a way that centers relationally and compels those to seek repair instead of closure.

Free |

January 30, 6:00 – 7:00 pm | Thomson Hall

The converging forces of climate change, migration, and shifting livelihoods have thrust Nepal’s farmers into precarious positions. Join the South Asia Center and the Nepal Studies Initiative for a case study on how Sanskriti Farms & Research Centre is responding through innovative and sustainable agricultural practices at a local scale while empowering the community.

Shree Krishna Dhital is the Executive Director of Sanskriti Farms & Research Centre and Phoolbari Homestay. He has over a decade of experience in tourism, community farming, and sustainable technological implementation.

Free |

January 30, 5:00 – 6:20 pm | ?Husky Union Building

Karam Dana, Associate Professor at 91̽��Bothell, will discuss “The Question of Palestine and the Evolution of Solidarity and Resistance in the U.S.” His research examines Palestinian political identity and the impact of Israeli occupation on Palestinian society. He also studies American Muslims, how they are racialized, and what affects their political participation in the U.S.

This event is part of War in the Middle East, a series of talks and discussions on the aftermath of October 7, the war in Gaza, and responses worldwide.

Recordings of each lecture will be made available on the . Watch or listen to the January 16, 2024, recording of .

Free |

January 30, 7:30 pm | Meany Hall

Faculty colleagues Rachel Lee Priday and Craig Sheppard present a blockbuster program, including the Faur�� A Major Sonata and Bartok #1 and shorter works by Arvo P?rt and Franz Schubert.

Tickets |

January 31, 7:00 – 8:30 pm | ?Kane Hall

In this History Lecture Series, Professor Elena Campbell explores the multifaceted history of Seattle��s engagement with peoples from the Romanov Empire and the Soviet Union, including trade relations and commerce, Russian emigration, the ��Red Scare,�� Russian studies, and citizen diplomacy.

Free |

February 1, 7:30 pm | ?Meany Hall

Lauded as ��technically fearless with��an enormous, rich sound�� (La Scena Musicale), pianist Michelle Cann made her orchestral debut at age 14 and has since performed as a soloist with numerous prominent orchestras.

Cann��s Meany debut features a music program by luminaries of Chicago��s Black Renaissance, including Hazel Scott, Nora Holt, Irene Britton Smith, and others. A champion of Florence Price’s music, Cann also performs the composer��s Fantasies No. 1, 2,?and 4.

Tickets |

February 2, 3:30 – 5:00 pm | Gowen Hall

Join the Department of History and the Severyns Ravenholt Endowment at the 91̽��for a conversation with Suparna Chaudhry, Assistant Professor in the Department of International Affairs at Lewis and Clark College, and Ji Hyeon Chung, graduate student in the Political Science Department at the UW.

Free |

February 2, 7:30 pm | Meany Hall

David Alexander Rahbee conducts the 91̽�� Symphony and special guest Michelle Cann, piano, in a music program by Beethoven and Rachmaninoff. With acclaimed pianist Michelle Cann, performing Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, with the orchestra.

Buy Tickets |

February 2, 7:30 pm | ?Brechemin Auditorium

Guitar students of Michael Partington perform works for solo, duo, and group arrangements.

Michael Partington is one of the most engaging of the new generation of concert players. Praised by Classical Guitar Magazine for his ��lyricism, intensity, and clear technical command,�� this award-winning British guitarist has performed internationally as a soloist and with an ensemble to unanimous critical praise.

Free |

February 5, 7:00 pm | Walker-Ames Room, Kane Hall

Carole Terry, renowned organist and former longtime 91̽��professor of Organ Studies presents a lecture, “How the body works when playing piano, organ, or harpsichord.��

This series is made possible with support from the Paul B. Fritts Endowed Faculty Fellowship in Organ.

Free |

Have an event that you would like to see featured in the ArtSci Roundup? Connect with Lauren Zondag (zondagld@uw.edu)

ArtSci Roundup: History Lecture Series, Meany Center Dance Performance, “A Kabluna” Film Screening, and more

ArtsUW — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 23:18:48 +0000

This week, attend the History Lecture Series on Mediterranean Imprints and Erasures in Seattle, view the film screening of A Kabluna at the 91̽��,?head to Meany Hall to enjoy Spain��s premiere dance group Compa?��a Nacional de Danza, and more.

January 22, 7:30 pm | ?Meany Hall

Chamber group Frequency��violinists Michael Jinsoo Lim and Jennifer Caine Provine, violist Melia Watras, and cellist Sarah Rommel��performs works by Benjamin Britten, Felix Mendelssohn, Kaija Saariaho and the world premiere of a new work by Melia Watras in this exploration of the musical form of theme and variations.

Tickets |

January 22, 3:30 – 5:00 pm | Thomson Hall

Join Walter Hatch, an affiliate faculty at the Japan Studies Program, for a special book talk. Hatch will defend the argument that political cooperation best explains Germany’s relative success and Japan’s relative failure in achieving reconciliation with neighbors brutalized by each regional power in the past.

Free |

January 22, 7:00 – 8:30 pm | Kane Hall

Join the East Asia Center and the Japan Studies Program for a talk and discussion featuring Mira Sucharov, Professor of Political Science at Carleton University in Ontario and Omar M. Dajani, Professor of Law at the McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific, in Sacramento, California, as part of the department’s War in the Middle East Lecture Series on the aftermath of October 7, the war in Gaza and responses worldwide.

Free |

January 23, 6:30 pm | Brechemin Auditorium

91̽��instrumental performance students compete for a chance to perform with the 91̽��Symphony. Judges for this competition are Brian Shaw, trumpet, and Logan Esterling, oboe.

Free |

January 23 & 24 | Thompson Hall & Zoom

|El Houb (The Love, 2022), directed by Shariff Nasr, follows Karim as he navigates coming out as gay to his Moroccan-Dutch Muslim family. This film screening will be introduced by Louisa Mackenzie and Nicolaas P. Barr (Comparative History of Ideas).

| This virtual panel about the award-winning Dutch film El Houb (The Love, 2022) will discuss how dominant white European narratives of ��coming out�� normatively frame queer freedom in contradistinction to racialized Others �C particularly Muslim men.

January 24, 7:00 – 8:30 pm | ?Kane Hall

In this History Lecture Series, Professor Devin Naar takes a look at how Seattle became home to one of the largest communities in the United States of Jews from the Muslim world.

Free |

January 24, 4:00 – 6:00 pm | ?Allen Auditorium

Join the Canadian Studies Center for the premiere screening of A Kabluna at the 91̽��.

This is a documentary about Inuktitut Language Scholar Sydney Tate Mallon (“Mick”) and his life and partnership with the 91̽��. The film follows Mick as he visits the 91̽��to meet his students during his final year of teaching in 2019, where he shares about his life and work.

Free |

January 25 – 27, 8:00 pm | Meany Hall

Spain��s premiere dance group returns after 14 years for a rare Seattle engagement. The company is internationally renowned for its expressively powerful and refined movement style exemplified in three classic works: White Darkness, a lush and virtuosic one-act ballet created as a requiem; The vivacious and satirical Sad Case embodies the fiery, syncopated rhythms of Mexican mambo; And, Passengers Within is inspired by people determined to question the status quo.

Tickets |

January 25, 3:30 – 5:00 pm | Thomson Hall

Before World War II, traders, merchants, financiers, and laborers steadily moved between places on the Indian Ocean, trading goods, supplying credit, and seeking work. This all changed with the war and as India, Burma, Ceylon, and Malaya wrested independence from the British empire.

Boats in a Storm centers on the legal struggles of migrants to retain their traditional rhythms and patterns of life, illustrating how they experienced citizenship and decolonization.

Kalyani Ramnath (University of Georgia) narrates how former migrants battled legal requirements to revive prewar circulations, in a postwar context of rising ethno-nationalisms that accused migrants of stealing jobs and hoarding land.

Free |

January 25, 3:00 – 6:00 pm | ?Communications Building

Join the Department of Asian Languages & Literature for Washin Kai Conversations featuring Ven. Taijo Imanaka, Seattle Koyasan Temple. This is presented by Washin Kai: Friends of Classical Japanese at UW.

Free |

Have an event that you would like to see featured in the ArtSci Roundup? Connect with Lauren Zondag (zondagld@uw.edu)

Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures – 91̽��News

Q&A: 91̽��professor on Iranian regime, US-Israeli strikes and a divide among the Iranian diaspora

What should people know about how Iranians and the Iranian diaspora feel about the conflict?

What misconceptions about Iran do you see in Western media?

How will this conflict impact Iran and its people in ways that are being overlooked?

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Week of June 2

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ArtSci Roundup: April 2025

Worldwide Conversations

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Week of March 31

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ArtSci Roundup: November 2024

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Week of October 28

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ArtSci Roundup: Election Events, Meany Hall Performances, Artist Panel and more

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ArtSci Roundup: Center for Environmental Politics talk, ‘What Makes a Good Art Critic?’, Yefim Bronfman at Meany Hall and more

ArtSci Roundup: Calder Quartet, Psychology Colloquium, Black Girls (Re)Creating Space through Digital Practice and more

ArtSci Roundup: Katz Distinguished Lecture, Book Talks, Michelle Cann Piano Performance, and more

ArtSci Roundup: History Lecture Series, Meany Center Dance Performance, “A Kabluna” Film Screening, and more