WHAT: Showing of documentary film Dishonored, followed by a discussion led by Keera Allendorf, PhD (Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, UI)
WHEN: Tuesday, Mar. 1 @ 7 p.m.
WHERE: Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory Street, Urbana
Dishonored is a 52-minute documentary film, released in 2007. From the event description: “In June 2002, a dispute involving a question of honor between the Mai and Mastois clans in rural Pakistan was judged by a local tribal council. When Mukhtar Mai pleaded on her family’s behalf, the local imam consented to her punishment as honor-revenge, and she was brutally gang-raped by four men from the Mastois clan. Although local tradition presumed that Mukhtar would commit suicide because she had been dishonored, this strong-willed peasant woman reported the rape to the local police, and when they refused to do anything, a local journalist published her story, which soon erupted in a national controversy over the oppression of women under Islamic law.”
WHAT: “Black in Ukraine,” Terrell Starr, REEEC alumnus and Fulbright Hays recipient for study in Ukraine
WHEN: Tuesday, Mar. 1 @ 12 noon
WHERE: 101 International Studies Building, 910 S. Fifth Street, Champaign
The Google was unable to tell me much about the size of the black population of Ukraine nor Terrell Starr, REEEC alumnus, but I’d be surprised if the combination of the two doesn’t result in some interesting anecdotes
WHAT: “Drylands and Global Change: From Icid to Rio and Beyond,” Antonio Rocha Magalhaes, Center for Management and Strategic Studies, Brasilia
WHEN: Wednesday, Mar. 2 @ 12 noon
WHERE: 219 Davenport Hall (Geography Conference Room), 607 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana
From the event announcement: “The drylands of the world face key social, economic and environmental challenges while remaining politically marginal. They cover 40% of the planets surface, include 30% of the worlds population, and concentrate the majority of the worlds poor. Major environmental problems of land degradation and desertification are also concentrated in the drylands. These are the lands that will be most affected by global climate change. But, these regions have so far gained the least political attention and priority at global and national levels. Were it not for poverty in its semi-arid Northeast, Brazil could be considered as a developed country. Yet Brazil invests little in its drylands.”
Magalhaes is a former World Bank employee who co-wrote this review of Collapse by Jared Diamond.
WHAT: “The Arbitration Court for European Emigrants: Self-Governance and the Politics of Identity in the German Jewish Refugee Community of Republican Shanghai,” Jin Gong, U of I
WHEN: Thursday, Mar. 3 @ 3:30 p.m.
WHERE: Freeman Fellows Building, 912 S. Fifth St., Champaign
Sometimes no fewer than 22 words will allow you to describe the topic of your talk, as appears to be the case for this event. In fairness, it does sound quite fascinating.
WHAT: “What We Can Learn From Subsistence Marketplaces for Designing Sustainable Solutions,” Dr. Madhu Viswanathan, UI Department of Business Administration
WHEN: Thursday, Mar. 3 @ 3:30 p.m.
WHERE: Freeman Fellows Building, 912 S. Fifth St., Champaign
From the event announcement: “The intersection of sustainability and subsistence presents a most challenging arena for research and practice. This presentation will draw from over a decade of research on consumption and entrepreneurship in subsistence marketplaces and focus on understanding the notion of sustainability from the perspective of those living in subsistence. The talk will cover what our understanding means for designing sustainable solutions for resource-poor as well as affluent societies. This seminar will not be videotaped or archived.”
You live near a major university and a community college. There are smart people that come here every week to talk to the general public about interesting topics. Perhaps you were not aware of this fact, or were overwhelmed by the sheer number of opportunities for possible enlightenment. If that’s the case, Smile Politely understands and is here to help. Here are several events going on in town this week. Check out one or more of them if you have time. Get your learn on, as they say, and join the cognoscenti. It’s free, you know. Plus, sometimes there’s free food, too!
If you have a community event, speaker, or film event that you’d like to see featured on Listen Up!, send the event information to joelgillespie [at] smilepolitely [dot] com by Friday the week prior to the event. Listen Up! runs on Tuesdays.