Tuesday, April 24
3:30 PM
Olin Rice
Gabrielle Civil, Beaudelaine Pierre and Valerie Deus
Haitian Literature/Poetry/Performance with Twin Cities Haitian Artists
Did you know that Haiti has one of the highest per capita number of writers in the world? It is a well-kept secret. This is also true of the Twin Cities. Three among a number of Haitian writers and artists living in the Twin Cities will present their work at Macalester.
Come listen to Gabriell Civil, Beaudelaine Pierre, and Valerie Deus.
Gabrielle Civil is a black woman poet, translator, conceptual and performance artist originally from Detroit, MI. Her original writing and translations of Haitian poet Jacqueline Beaugé Rosier have been published in Two Lines, Dislocate, XCP: Cross Cultural Poetics and Women in Performance. An Associate Professor of English, Women’s Studies and Critical Studies of Race & Ethnicity at St. Catherine University, she is currently circulating her critical/creative text Swallow the Fish: Adventures in Black Feminist Performance Art. The aim of her work is to open up space.
Beaudelaine Pierre has written three novels, two of them published in France, La négresse de Saint-Domingue and L’enfant qui voulait devenir président (2011). A fellow from the International Writers Program in Iowa, she co-edited the first post-earthquake volume of testimonials/poetry/short texts written entirely by Haitian artists, in French, Creole, and English, How to Write an Earthquake/Mo Pou 12 Janvyé.
Valerie Deus is well-published poet in the United States. She teaches English at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College and holds an MA in Creative Writing from Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus. Her work has appeared in several highly regarded poetry and creative writing journals and anthologies.
Thursday, April 12
11:30 AM
Humanities 401
Brian Concannon
Human Rights Issues in Post-Earthquake Haiti
Brian Concannon is an international human rights lawyer who has worked in Haiti many years with the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) in Haiti (1996-2004). While in Haiti, he contributed substantially to bringing justice and reparation to victims of the first military coup (1991-94). Upon returning to the United States after the 2004 coup, he created the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. Working in collaboration with the BAI, he is currently involved in a variety of cases, from bringing former President of Haiti and dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier to justice, to providing legal representation for cholera victims, as well as working on illegal IDP camps expropriations and rape issues in camps. Brian Concannon will update us on the current human rights and humanitarian situation in post-earthquake Haiti.
Thursday, April 5
4:30 PM
Olin Rice 250
Carolyn Armstrong
Film Screening and discussion of Kenbe La — Hold On (The Power of the Arts in Haiti, Before and After the Earthquake)
Filmmaker Carolyn Armstrong will present the film Kenbe La. Haiti’s Holy Trinity Music School was about to celebrate its 50th Anniversary when the January 12th 2010 Earthquake left it in ruins. Though many instruments and lives were lost the spirit of music persevered. Filmed before and after the earthquake, Kenbe La chronicles the work of musicians as they ignite hope in their communities. It proves the importance of music education and reveals music’s ability to heal and unite even amidst the most challenging circumstances. A discussion with the filmmaker will follow the movie.
Carolyn Armstrong and Stephen Anunson directed and produced Kenbe La before and after they graduated from Lawrence University in Music.
This Lecture will be in English.
Wednesday, February 29
4:45 PM
Humanities 401
Meryem Belkaid
Once Upon a Time Contemporary French Crime Fiction.
Some contemporary French crime writers set the action of their novels in undetermined cities or countries. By doing this, they can represent part of the globalization’s consequences in the world. This gives the new generation of crime fiction’s writers a chance to break away from the traditional genre characterized in France as in America, by its propensity to criticize in detail the reality of life, along with socio-economic and socio-political settings.
So what are contemporary French crime fiction secrets and ”new” codes? By analyzing novels by Fred Vargas and Tonino Benacquista, I will explain how crime stories bring into play the intellect and emotions of readers. We will explore both the intrinsic literary value of the crime novel and discuss its extrinsic value as a witness to our contemporary world.
Meryem Belkaid grew up in Algeria and Tunisia, and lived for fifteen years in Paris. She graduated from La Sorbonne where she studied French Literature. Meryem has also studied Sociology at Sciences Po Paris and completed a master’s thesis on Student’s Aspirations in Modern Algeria.
She completed her PhD in French Literature on The World Representation in French Contemporary Crime Novels. She taught two years in a private high school and three years as a junior lecturer at La Sorbonne.
This Lecture will be in English
Thursday, February 9
11:30 AM
Humanities 401
Anna Tahinci
French Women Artists and the Permanent Collection: The “Elles” Exhibition at the Centre Georges Pompidou (2009-2011)
What happened when the Centre Georges Pompidou decided to store all artworks created by male artists in order to exhibit for the first time in the world the feminine side of its permanent collection? With a clear intension to show commitment to women artists and place them to their rightful place in modern and contemporary art, the exhibition “Elles” (elles@centrepompidou) not only highlighted women artists, but also asked critical questions on gender and cultural identity, and addressed the challenges of making curatorial choices. Discussion will include the ideology and aims of the exhibition, its structure from a museum studies perspective and some of the controversy involved in the project.
Anna Tahinci studied History and Archaeology in Greece, Museum Studies at the Ecole du Louvre, and Comparative Literature and Art History at the Sorbonne. She earned her Ph.D. in Art History at the University of Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne with a dissertation on “The Collectors of Rodin’s sculptures during his lifetime”. She has worked at the Musée Rodin, the Musée d’Orsay, the Harvard Art Museum, and the Louvre. She has taught at Boston University-Paris, the University of Minnesota, Macalester College, and the College of Visual Arts and she is currently an Adjunct Professor of Art History at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She co-curated the sculpture exhibition for the Athens Olympic Games in 2004 and the exhibition Rodin and America at the Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University in 2011.
Thursday, November 3
4:45 M
Humanities 401
Jennifer Capraru
Ta(l)king Intercultural Theatre in Rwanda and Canada On the Road: The Adaptations of The Monument and Littoral
Jennifer Capraru will discuss the adaptation and non-adaptation, both theatrical and cultural, of two Canadian plays on tour in Rwanda. Her choice of these two dramatic texts was informed by their connection to specific themes embodied in Rwanda’s history, yet at the same time for their universal narratives, which exist in placelessness and archetype. In material terms, she will focus on how The Monument reached the stage in a country with little cultural infrastructure and on what it accomplished in Rwanda from 2008-2011, by situating the production in its relationship to the burgeoning theatre scene in Rwanda, its impact on emerging artists, and audience reception. She will present challenges that arose on The Monument’s tour to Toronto’s World Stage, when the starkly staged and linguistically unfamiliar production of this award winning Canadian play toured out of Rwanda for the first time to a high profile Western arts festival. In addition, she will examine the intercultural exchanges which took place for the team on Isôko’s second production, Wajdi Mouawad’s Littoral in 2010, on tour to four cities in Rwanda.
All those with an interest in theatre, dramatic literature, and performance from the West to Africa and back again, should attend. “Where we live is in our language. ” (Heidegger)
Tuesday, October 18
11:45 AM
Humanities 401
Virgil Benoit
Midwest French Heritages
From Beaulieu, Minnesota, to Bottineau County, North Dakota, the Upper Midwest boasts a strong French heritage that goes back hundreds of years. Professor Benoit will demonstrate where to find them and how they can be studied in and outside of the classroom. He will discuss engaging strategies developed by the group “Initiatives in French Midwest to Better Understand Global Diversity” that mentor Midwest French heritages into becoming more active in our schools, cities, villages and rural communities.
Virgil Benoit is professor of French and Founding director of Initiatives in French Midwest at the University of North Dakota. He teaches 17th century French drama. He researched and taught about the relationship of culture to society in the francophonie of the Americas. Professor Benoit’s writings on French-Canadian communities in the Midwest have been published by the Minnesota Historical Society, Laval University Press, Septentrion (Quebec), Concordia, and in numerous reviews and magazines.
Thursday, September 29
4:40 PM
4th Floor Old Main
Alumni Panel
Come listen to our alumni discuss their career paths, bring your questions, and expand your professional networks!
Taous Khazem, (’03) Actor and Teaching Artist
Susan Jacobsen, (’92) Entrepreneur
Chris Holden (’88) Principal, Cornelia Elementary School, Edina, MN
Constance Fantin (’86), Sales Assistant and Business Events Planner
Dr. Charles Harris (’75) Surgical Doctor in southwest Virginia