Following are the online recordings (webcasts) of recent public programs pertaining to the Library’s international collections. To discover more videos, visit the four area studies divisions here: African and Middle Eastern, Asian, European, and Hispanic.
African and Middle Eastern Division
TITLE: The Life & Antecedents of a Peripatetic Persian: Culture and Society in the Last Years of the Qajar Dynasty (view on YouTube)
SPEAKER: Fereydoun Ala
EVENT DATE: 2017/09/09
RUNNING TIME: 61 minutes
TRANSCRIPT: View Transcript
DESCRIPTION: Fereydoun Ala discusses culture and society in the last years of Persia’s Qajar dynasty (1785 to 1925).
SERIES: Persian Book Lecture Series
Speaker Biography: Dr. Fereydoun Ala is an Iranian physician and historian, with a degree in medicine from Edinburgh University School of Medicine and a degree in history from Harvard. His specialties include internal medicine, hematology, blood transfusion and hemostasis. He was a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and of the Royal College of Pathologists in the U.K. As assistant professor at the Tehran University School of Medicine, he was instrumental in establishing the first clinical hematology department in Iran. At Dr. Ala’s proposal, the Iranian National Blood Transfusion Service was established in 1974, and remains the best developed service in the eastern Mediterranean region. It was recently been nominated the Regional World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Blood Transfusion. Dr. Ala is a member of the World Health Organization for the Eastern Mediterranean and Advisory Committee on Medical Research, was medical director of the National Blood Service, West Midlands Region in the U.K., a senior lecturer at the Birmingham University Medical Faculty, and a Consultant Hematologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Dr. Fereydoun Ala is the son of the late Hossein Ala, diplomat, sometime minister of court, and prime minister of Iran. He is the grandson of Mohammad-Ali Ala’ oh-Salteneh, foreign minister and prime minister. His maternal grandfather was Abolqasem Khan Gharagozlou Naser ol-Molk, who was regent while Ahmad Shah Qajar was still a minor, and is writing a book on his family’s history.
TITLE: Poet Antjie Krog (view on YouTube)
SPEAKER: Antjie Krog
EVENT DATE: 2017/09/28
RUNNING TIME: 69 minutes
TRANSCRIPT: View Transcript
DESCRIPTION: South African poet & writer Antjie Krog discussed and read from her work.
SERIES: Conversations with African Poets & Writers
Speaker Biography: Antjie Krog has won major awards in poetry, journalism, fiction and translation. Her work has been translated into English, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, Swedish and Serbian. Krog has translated Nelson Mandela’s autobiography “Long Walk to Freedom,” works by Henk van Woerden and Tom Lanoye, as well as a selection of South African verse written in the indigenous African languages into Afrikaans. This was followed by a reworking of narratives in the extinct language /Xam into Afrikaans poems in “Die Sterre Se ‘tsau'” and English poems in “The Stars Say ‘tsau’.”
TITLE: When in the Arab World (view on YouTube)
SPEAKER: Rana F Nejem
EVENT DATE: 2017/10/12
RUNNING TIME: 61 minutes
TRANSCRIPT: View Transcript
DESCRIPTION: Rana F. Nejem discusses her book, “When in the Arab World: An Insider’s Guide to Living & Working with Arab Culture.”
Speaker Biography: Rana F. Nejem is an author and social & cultural intelligence coach. She worked as a broadcast journalist with Jordan TV and CNN during the first Gulf war, served as foreign press secretary for King Hussein of Jordan and worked in communications and public diplomacy at the British Embassy in Amman. With her company, Yarnu – an Arabic word meaning to look towards, to aspire – she has been coaching, training and advising business executives, diplomats and officials to refine their professional profiles, increase the impact of their personal presence and raise their inter-cultural intelligence.
TITLE: The Genesis of Print in Afghanistan During the Reign of Amir Sher Ali Khan (view on YouTube)
SPEAKER: Elham Bakhtary
EVENT DATE: 2017/10/19
RUNNING TIME: 51 minutes
TRANSCRIPT: View Transcript
DESCRIPTION: Elham Bakhtary discussed the genesis of print in Afghanistan during the reign of Amir Sher Ali Khan (1871-77).
Speaker Biography: Elham Bakhtary is a doctoral candidate at George Washington University and a Mellon Fellow.
Asian Division
TITLE: Experimental Shadow Theater in Contemporary Bali, Indonesia (view on YouTube)
SPEAKER: Gusti Sudarta, Andy McGraw
EVENT DATE: 2017/10/18
RUNNING TIME: 61 minutes
TRANSCRIPT: View Transcript
DESCRIPTION: In recent years, several dalang (shadow masters) in both Bali and Java have presented reinterpreted shadow puppet performances of ancient Indonesian texts as part of considering religious pluralism and tolerance. It is within these texts, produced between 1100 and 1400 A.D. by the Javanese Hindu-Buddhist sages Mpu Kunturan and Mpu Tantular, that the Indonesian national motto bhineka tunggal ika (unity in diversity) first appeared. Cosponsored with the Indonesian Embassy, Education and Culture Section.
Speaker Biography: Gusti Sudarta is a Balinese shadow master, musician, composer, dancer and choreographer. He is a renowned performer of Balinese traditional forms and is at the forefront of contemporary experimentation.
Speaker Biography: Andy McGraw is an associate professor of music at the University of Richmond, Virginia. He has published extensively on traditional and experimental music in Southeast Asia.
European Division
TITLE: The Book Thieves: The Nazi Looting of Europe’s Libraries & the Race to Return a Literary Inheritance (view on YouTube)
SPEAKER: Anders Rydell
EVENT DATE: 2017/10/18
RUNNING TIME: 59 minutes
TRANSCRIPT: View Transcript
DESCRIPTION: Anders Rydell discussed his book, the story of the systematic pillaging of Europe’s libraries by Nazis during World War II, and the small team of heroic librarians now working to return the stolen books to their rightful owners. Through extensive new research, Rydell reveals the untold story of how the Nazis began to compile libraries of their own that were used to wage an intellectual war on their enemies. In this secret war, the libraries of Jews, communists, liberal politicians, LGBT activists, Catholics, Freemasons and other opposition groups were appropriated for Nazi research and used as an intellectual weapon against their owners.
Speaker Biography: Anders Rydell is an established journalist, editor and author of nonfiction. His works on the Nazi looting of art and books have been translated into 19 languages. “The Book Thieves: The Nazi Looting of Europe’s Libraries and the Race to Return a Literary Inheritance” is his first book in English.
TITLE: Celebrating 100 Years of Finnish Independence: The History & Future of the Finnish Language (view on YouTube)
SPEAKER: Hillary Virtanen, Daniel Karvonen, Alli Flint, Kirsti Kauppi
EVENT DATE: 2017/10/19
RUNNING TIME: 126 minutes
TRANSCRIPT: View Transcript
DESCRIPTION: In celebration of 100 years of Finnish independence, the Library co-sponsored with the Embassy of Finland a symposium on the history and future of the Finnish language.
Speaker Biography: Hilary Virtanen is assistant professor of Finnish and Nordic studies at Finlandia University.
Speaker Biography: Daniel Karvonen is senior lecturer in Finnish and linguistics at the University of Minnesota.
Speaker Biography: Aili Flint is senior lecturer in Finnish emerita at Columbia University.
Speaker Biography: Kirsti Kauppi is the Ambassador of Finland to the United States.
TITLE: The Albanian Press After Communism (view on YouTube)
SPEAKER: Flora Nikolla
EVENT DATE: 2017/10/20
RUNNING TIME: 56 minutes
TRANSCRIPT: View Transcript
DESCRIPTION: Flora Nikolla discussed the Albanian press after Communism and the Albanian diaspora and its relationship to Albania.
Speaker Biography: Flora Nikolla is the editor-in-chief of the Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA), Albania’s main press agency.
TITLE: Jacob Riis: Revealing New York’s Other Half (view on YouTube)
SPEAKER: Bonnie Yochelson
EVENT DATE: 2016/05/23
RUNNING TIME: 66 minutes
TRANSCRIPT: View Transcript
DESCRIPTION: Bonnie Yochelson describes her book, “Jacob A. Riis: Revealing New York’s Other Half: A Complete Catalog of His Photographs” and how Riis, a Danish-born immigrant to the United States who found his life’s most important work in the slums of early 20th-century New York City, changed the course of history.
Speaker Biography: Bonnie Yochelson is a former curator of prints and photographs at the Museum of the City of New York and an art historian specializing in photography. Her books include “Alfred Stieglitz New York” and “Berenice Abbott: Changing New York, The Complete WPA Project.”
Related Library Resources: Jacob Riis: Revealing “How the Other Half Lives” Online Exhibition
Hispanic Division
TITLE: Entre Alambradas y Exilios (view on YouTube)
SPEAKER: Jose Mar&iactue;a Naharro-Calderón, German Labrador Mendez, Sebastian Faber
EVENT DATE: 2017/09/29
RUNNING TIME: 94 minutes
TRANSCRIPT: View Transcript
DESCRIPTION: Jose María Naharro-Calderón discussed his new book “Entre alambradas y exilios: Sangrías de las Españas: Sangrías de las Españas y terapias de Vichy” with Sebastian Faber of Oberlin College and German Labrador of Princeton University. The book addresses the changing memories of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) throughout generations and within a complex network of various concentration camp witnesses and films. (In Spanish)
TITLE: Portraying Benito Juárez in Film (view on YouTube)
SPEAKER: Michela Giorelli
EVENT DATE: 2017/10/09
RUNNING TIME: 34 minutes
TRANSCRIPT: View Transcript
DESCRIPTION: Following the screening of a new docudrama, “Benito Juárez, La Derrota de un Imperio,” producer Michela Giorelli of Discovery Communications discussed the film, which portrays the four years and 45 days Juárez itinerantly led Mexico from the road (1863-1867). Juárez was forced to act as Mexico’s itinerant president, carrying the National Archives and leading the country from a carriage while fleeing both the Mexican conservative army and the French troops.
TITLE: Mexico’s Nobodies: The Cultural Legacy of the Soldadera & Afro-Mexican Women (view on YouTube)
SPEAKER: Christine Arce
EVENT DATE: 2017/10/12
RUNNING TIME: 48 minutes
TRANSCRIPT: View Transcript
DESCRIPTION: Christine Arce discusses her book, “Mexico’s Nobodies: The Cultural Legacy of the Soldadera and Afro-Mexican Women,” which examines key figures of Mexican history that have remained anonymous despite their proliferation in the arts: soldaderas and Afro-Mexicans.
TITLE: Francisco de Miranda & the United States (view on YouTube)
SPEAKER: Claudia Isabel Navas
EVENT DATE: 2017/10/17
RUNNING TIME: 65 minutes
TRANSCRIPT: View Transcript
DESCRIPTION: Art historian Claudia Isabel Navas discusses Hispanic revolutionary Francisco de Mirand and his involvement in the United States Battle of Pensacola of 1782.