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* Additional information and regular updates on many “Of Interest” events can be found on the IHR website.
Monday & Tuesday, Feb 23-24 / UC PRESIDENTIAL CHAIR IN FEMINIST CRITICAL RACE & ETHNIC STUDIES / Film Screenings: “Anita: Speaking Truth to Power”
Two separate film screenings. Monday’s screening is at the Nickelodeon Theater from 7:00-8:30pm. The cost is $10.50. Tuesday’s screening is on campus in the Humanities Lecture Hall, Room 206 from 7:30-9:00pm. It is free.
Against a backdrop of sex, politics, and race, ANITA reveals the intimate story of a woman who spoke truth to power. Directed by Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Freida Mock, the film is both a celebration of Anita Hill’s legacy and a rare glimpse into her private life with friends and family, many of whom were by her side that fateful day 22 years ago. Anita Hill courageously speaks openly and intimately for the first time about her experiences that led her to testify before the Senate and the obstacles she faced in simply telling the truth. She also candidly discusses what happened to her life and work in the 22 years since.
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Wednesday, Feb 25 / FILM + DIGITAL MEDIA WEDNESDAY NIGHT CINEMA / “The Interview” & “A New Product” / 7:00pm / Studio C (Communications 150)
THE INTERVIEW (1997, 58 min.)
“In the summer of 1996 we filmed application training courses in which one learns how to apply for a job. School drop outs, university graduates, people who have to be retrained, the long-term unemployed, recovered drug addicts and mid-term managers – all of them are supposed to learn how to how to market and sell themselves, a skill to which the term “self-management” is applied. It was Kafka who likened being accepted for a job to entering the Kingdom of Heaven; the paths leading to both of them are completely uncertain. Today one speaks of getting a job with the greatest obsequiousness, but without any grand expectations.” — Harun Farocki
A NEW PRODUCT (2012, 36 min.
Scenes from meetings within a company which advises corporations how to design their offices — and the work done there. The film shows that words are not just tools, they have become an object of speculation.
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Thursday, Feb 26 / FILM + DIGITAL MEDIA DEPARTMENT / Thomas Poell / “How are Facebook and Twitter Entangled in Activist Communication?” / 10:00-11:45am / Oakes, Room 105
Over the past years, social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, have become vital elements in activist networks that connect local and national protests to global communication flows. These social media-enabled connections are, however, by no means smooth and unproblematic. In this lecture, Thomas Poell, Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam, will discuss some of the key complicating issues. First, the discussion will focus on language, or rather the multiplicity of languages used in global activist communication. Subsequently, the focus will shift to the social media platforms themselves. Far from constituting neutral communication platforms, these media very much shape the character of activist mobilization and communication. Finally, the lecture will highlight the role played by national states. A number of authoritarian states, most prominently China and Iran, have made far-reaching efforts to control online communication flows by filtering ‘harmful’ content, and by promoting national social platforms.
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Thursday, Feb 26 / ITALIAN STUDIES PROGRAM / Dacia Maraini / A Dramatic Reading of Dacia Maraini’s Play “Norma ’44” / 4:00-5:30pm / Cowell Provost House
Adapted for the stage from the translation by Monica Streifer and Lucia Re
Directed by Kimberly Jannarone (UCSC Theater Arts)
Set in an unnamed concentration camp in 1944 Germany, Norma ’44 tells the story of the perverse bond that grows between two female prisoners and the SS officer who coerces them into a performance of Bellini and Romani’s bel canto opera, Norma. The play explores dynamics of power, women’s solidarity, and art’s capacity to mediate, resist, and revise experience.
Author Dacia Maraini will be present for discussion with the audience.
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Thursday, Feb 26 / UC PRESIDENTIAL CHAIR IN FEMINIST CRITICAL RACE & ETHNIC STUDIES / Anita Hill / “Speaking Truth to Power: Gender & Racial Equality 1991-2015” / 5:30-7:30pm / College 9/10 Multipurpose Room
In 1991, Judge Clarence Thomas’ Senate Confirmation hearing sparked nation-wide conversations regarding gender representation, sexual harassment, and race. Anita Hill testified about Thomas’ inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace when he served as Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in the Department of Education and Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Her testimony before a television audience of 22 million put the issues of sexual harassment on the national agenda. In her lecture, she will explore the impact of the hearing, including the legal developments, and related issues of credibility, consent, agency, and the interplay of culture, race, class, gender, and sexuality.
After the talk Anita Hill will be signing copies of her book, “Reimagining Equality: Stories of Gender, Race, and Finding a Home” (book signing hosted by Bookshop Santa Cruz).
There will be live simulcast in the Humanities Lecture Hall as an overflow venue.
Live radio broadcast on KZSC 88.1FM and www.kzsc.org.
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Friday, Feb 27 / FRIDAY FORUM FOR GRADUATE RESEARCH / Tracy Perkins / “From Protest to Policy: The Political Evolution of California Environmental Justice Activism, 1980s-2010s” / 12:00-1:30pm / Humanities 1, Room 202
The Friday Forum is a graduate-run colloquium dedicated to the presentation and discussion of graduate student research. The series will be held weekly from 12:00 to 1:30PM and will serve as a venue for graduate students in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Arts divisions to share and develop their research. Light refreshments will be available.
For more info, or to inquire about joining the roster of presenters for Spring quarter contact: fridayforum.ucsc@gmail.com
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Friday, Feb 27 / ITALIAN STUDIES PROGRAM / Dacia Maraini / “An Evening with Italian Writer: Dacia Maraini” / 5:15-7:00pm / Cowell, Room 131
Preceded by Screening of 2013 Irish Braschi’s documentary film IO SONO NATA VIAGGIANDO: I was born travelling: A travel in Dacia Maraini’s memories.
Dacia Maraini is an influential writer, social critic and iconic figure in Italian contemporary literature and culture. She is the author of numerous novels, plays, short story and poetry collections including La lunga vita di Marianna Ucria, 1990, The Silent Duchess, and her latest work Chiara d’Assisi, Elogio della Disobbedienza, 2013, Chiara of Assisi, in Praise of Disobedience.
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