Past Events

Costa Rican Democracy, Oppositional Movements, and the Central American Free Trade Agreement

Costa Rican Democracy, Oppositional Movements, and the Central American Free Trade Agreement

02/28/2012
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Room 5414

In October of 2007, mounting contention over the Central American Free Trade Agreement in Costa Rica culminated in a historic referendum, pitting the decentralized, grassroots movement of the “No” against a “SÍ” campaign supported by big businesses together with the Costa Rican and US governments. This panel will discuss the significance of CAFTA for Central America as well as the contention over the treaty’s ratification in Costa Rica. We will explore how this conflict over “free trade” contributed to the creation of new political subjectivities and forms of political participation, while raising fundamental questions about the meaning of democracy and popular sovereignty in the context of neoliberal globalization.

Squatting Europe Kollectiv

Squatting Europe Kollectiv

02/27/2012
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Room C201

A collective of activist researchers from the European squatting movement are gathering in New York City. They will be at CUNY to meet with students and faculty and speak about the decades-old movements of squatting and building occupations in their respective countries. Generations of activists have participated in occupations of vacant buildings in Europe, beginning in the 1970s. With the worldwide rise of the Occupy movement, the deep reservoir of experience within the movements of political squatting have becomesuddenly significant. In two events at CUNY, these scholars and activists will share their methods for collective, participatory, interdisciplinary research and their knowledge of the history and present practices of squatting in Europe.

PCP Book Party

PCP Book Party

02/23/2012
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Room 6107

Saadia Toor’s The State of Islam: Culture and Cold War Politics in Pakistan tells the story of the Pakistani nation-state through the lens of the Cold War, and more recently the War on Terror, in order to shed light on the domestic and international processes behind the rise of militant Islam across the world. Costas Panayotakis’ Remaking Scarcity: From Capitalist Inefficiency to Economic Democracy (The Future of World Capitalism), is a powerful challenge to the current economic orthodoxy. It asserts the core principle of economic democracy, that all human beings should have an equal say over the priorities of the economic system, as the ultimate solution to scarcity and ecological crisis. Join us as we celebrate both of their books!

Elvin Wyly on “Housing and the Predatory Flight Plan of American Capitalism”

Elvin Wyly on “Housing and the Predatory Flight Plan of American Capitalism”

02/22/2012
5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Room C202

Scholar Activist Lecture Series:

Honoring the Legacy of Marilyn Gittell

“Housing and the Predatory Flight Plan of American Capitalism”

Dr. Elvin Wyly, Associate Professor of Geography, University of British Columbia

Wednesday, February 22nd, 5-7pm
Room C202

CUNY Graduate Center

365 Fifth Avenue, NY NY 10016

This event is free and open to the public (bring a photo ID for building admission)!

 

 

 

Rachel Pain: Bringing terrorism home: fear, security and domestic violence

Rachel Pain: Bringing terrorism home: fear, security and domestic violence

02/22/2012
11:45 am - 1:45 pm
Environmental and Social Psychology, 6th Floor

In this paper, domestic violence is understood as everyday terrorism. The effect of terrorism rests on its ability to exert some control over everyday geographies. I focus on the ways in which emotions have been understood to play a role in this coercion, by reviewing ideas from medical, political and feminist science.

Protest and Sacrifice: A Discussion on Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Protest and Sacrifice: A Discussion on Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

02/16/2012
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
The James Gallery, Ground Floor

Join Jeffrey Ferguson (Black Studies and American Studies, Amherst College) and Uday Mehta (Political Science, The Graduate Center, CUNY) for a discussion about these two important figures and their shared principles and disagreements. Moderated by Sujatha Fernandes (Sociology, Queens College and the Graduate Center, CUNY)

Made in L.A. (Hecho en Los Angeles)

Made in L.A. (Hecho en Los Angeles)

02/16/2012
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Room 5307, CUNY Graduate Center

María, Lupe and Maura are three Latina immigrants struggling to survive in Los Angeles sweatshops. But one day, determined to win basic labor protections, they embark on a three-year odyssey that will transform their lives forever. Compelling, humorous, deeply human, Made in L.A. is a story about immigration, the power of unity, and the courage it takes to find your voice.

Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin

Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin

02/10/2012
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Martin E. Segal Theatre

This documentary reflects on the life of Bayard Rustin, master strategist and tireless activist, best remembered as the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. Helping mold Martin Luther King, Jr. into an international peace symbol, he suffered backlash for being an openly gay man.

Clean Up and Shape Up! Revolution, Bodies, and Urban Space in Egypt

Clean Up and Shape Up! Revolution, Bodies, and Urban Space in Egypt

02/10/2012
12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
The James Gallery, Ground Floor

On February 10th from 12-2 the Public Space Working Group and the Center for the Humanities will host a special event in the James Gallery on the ground floor of the Graduate Center. We hope you will join us for this exciting and provocative talk about urban space in Cairo during the Arab Spring with a response by our own Claire Panetta.

Clean Up and Shape Up! Revolution, Bodies and Urban Space in Egpyt

with

Jessica Winegar | Anthropology | Northwestern University

response by Claire Panetta | Anthropology | the CUNY Graduate Center

Friday, February 10, 2012 | 12-2pm
The James Gallery | ground floor
The CUNY Graduate Center
365 5th Avenue, NYC

This working paper discusses young, middle class activists’ attempts to remake people’s relationships to urban space in the aftermath of Mubarak’s resignation in February 2011. It examines the deep political-economic factors, from the Mubarak era, that led to a deluge of garbage cleaning and urban beautification projects, as well as campaigns to change people’s movement and behavior in public space. The reproduction of social hierarchies in these projects suggests the limits of revolutionary practice.

For working group members there will be a bridge piece circulated before the talk. The presentation will be followed by an open discussion. See you there!

This event is free and open to the public.

Nuruddin Farah in conversation with Peter Hitchcock

Nuruddin Farah in conversation with Peter Hitchcock

02/01/2012
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Martin E. Segal Theatre

The first African to win the coveted Neustadt International Prize for Literature, Nuruddin Farah has been described by Salman Rushdie as “one of the finest contemporary African novelists.” Educated in Somalia and India, Farah was hounded into exile by the Somali government in the Seventies for his writing. Farah has since lived in several African countries as well as holding teaching positions in Europe and the United States (he currently lives in Cape Town, South Africa). The author of over a dozen books, Farah recently completed his third trilogy of novels with the publication of Crossbones.

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