Sunday, April 23
4:30 PM
Black Box Theatre
Taous Khazem ’03
In Algeria They Know My Name
This play is written and performed by Taous Khazem and directed by Zaraawar Mistry.
In Algeria, they say you don’t marry one finger, you marry all ten. In this heartfelt and humorous one woman play, Minnesota raised Taous Khazem travels to her father’s homeland to work as a theater artist, and unexpectedly falls in love with an Algerian clown. Caught in between traditions, religions and misconceptions, Taous struggles to find a sense of belonging in a foreign land, but ultimately discovers a fresh meaning of home, family, art and bicycle rides.
Thursday, April 13
6:30 PM
Alliance Française
The Burkini: a roundtable about what the veil means in France
Alliance Française and the Department of French and Italian at the University of Minnesota present a round table discussion about the current controversies in France regarding wearing the veil and burkini. The discussion will be led by three professors of French, Anne Berger, Hakim Abderrezak and Bruno Chaouat. The discussion will be in French.
Anne Berger is a visiting Professor of French and Comparative Literatures and Gender Studies at Paris VIII. Her most recent book focuses on Franco-American gender theory, and she has also worked extensively on postcolonial theory, French and Francophone literatures.
Hakim Abderrezak is an Assistant Professor in the Department of French and Italian at the University of Minnesota. His fields of interest include Postcolonial, Cultural and Gender Studies, and Beur and Francophone Literature & Cinema, especially from North Africa.
Bruno Chaouat, chair of the Department of French and Italian at the University of Minnesota, works on 19th-21st-century French literature, and the relationship between language, experience, and memory.
Monday, March 27
4:45 PM
Neill Hall 401
Jessica Pearson -Assistant Professor – History Department at Macalester College
Trump, Brexit, and the French Presidential Elections: A Historical Perspective on Racism and Xenophobia in Europe
In the summer of 2016, Britain’s decision to leave the European Union unleashed a new wave of xenophobic nationalism in Europe. In the wake of “Brexit,” right-wing parties in Europe such as the United Kingdom Independence Party, Germany’s AfD, the Alternative für Deutschland, and France’s National Front have capitalized on recent terrorist attacks, higher rates of unemployment, and the influx of refugees to mobilize anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, and anti-Semitic rhetoric and policies. While recent global events have galvanized European xenophobia, these movements have important historical precedents. This talk will explore the roots of the present-day European racism by contextualizing it in the history of global decolonization after 1945.
Thursday, March 23
11:15 AM – 1:00 PM
Neill Hall 401
Hip-Hop Artist Webster
Workshop with Hip-Hop artist Webster
Webster grew up in the Limoilou neighborhood of Québec City. Senegalese by his father and Quebecer by his mother, Webster presents himself as a SeneQueb citizen. He studied the presence of African people in Quebec in Canada from the 17th century on and he often lectures on this topic. He created the Qc History X guided visit of Quebec City around the theme of slavery. He is also a pioneer of the Quebec hip-hop movement and has been part of a musical group, Limoilou Starz, since 1995. He gives concerts and rap writing workshops all over the world.
Monday, November 7
4:45 PM
Neill Hall 401
Bernard Salva
French actor, director, playwright and drama teacher
Dalia an Odyssey – a poignant and playful tale of exile
A teenage Somalian girl, landing secretly in Canada to escape a forced marriage, meets up with Albert, a crazy vagrant who’s deeply in love with theater.
Bernard Salva’s Dalia – an Odyssey, written and performed in Edmonton (Alberta) in 2014, brings a new aspect to the landscape of franco-albertan culture with a cross-cultural stage. Though its heroine travels from one tragedy to another, the play celebrates also the joy and vitality of theater, whose constant call is to live as one, through the exuberance of a poetic human connection. The play-within-a-play, and the character of the idiosyncratic Albert who wrote it, exemplify this vitality.
Wednesday, November 2
4:45 PM
Neill Hall 401
Daniel Brewer – Emeritus Professor of French at the University of Minnesota
Scripting Revolution, Fractured Time, and the Construction of Ethical Citizens
As event, idea, and experience, modernity has been described as involving a crisis in political and ethical life. That crisis also involves a reconceptualization of the notion of time. How can the French Revolution and its problematic legacy help us understand that modernity? In the wake of the Revolution and the advent of modernity, to what extent does the notion of the ethical subject (the “virtuous citizen,” in revolutionary parlance) remain intact?
Tuesday, September 27
4:45 PM
Neill Hall 401
Catherine Guisan – Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota
Brexit: Demise? A New Start?
This lecture will explain the Brexit process (the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union), its origins, current state, and what to expect in the coming years, from the points of view of British, EU and US interests. It will offer some comments also on the role of direct democracy in European integration. Indeed, there are several kinds of direct democracy, an issue little understood or discussed, but which matters politically a great deal. Finally, should we consider Brexit as signaling the demise of the European Union or could it mark a new start? Obviously, opinions will vary on this question. However, knowledge of the political mindsets of the 1950s pioneers of European integration reveals that Brexit might be considered a new start as much as a demise. A Q & A session will follow the lecture.