FLOW: Philosophy and Jiu-Jitsu Workshop
2025-12-11 - 2025-12-13 | John Wooden Center (Blue Room) & Dodd Hall
December 11-13, 2025
John Wooden Center (Blue Room) & Dodd Hall 399
RSVP HERE

Please join us December 11-13, 2025 for FLOW: Philosophy Workshop.

FLOW is a pre-read workshop in which leading philosophers working in a range of areas in philosophy will present work in progress and receive comments from other leading philosophers in their respective fields. In addition to the usual academic discussions, FLOW will have a distinctive community-building component– the workshop will include sessions at the Blue Room in the John Wooden Center in which workshop participants will be able to participate in sport jiu-jitsu together. We will be offering seminars by Dominyka Obelenyte, Michael Schweiger, and Christian Barry, as well as open-mat sessions. These sessions will take place in the mornings of Dec 11-13.

In the afternoons, we will shift over to the philosophy position of the workshop. The format here is pre-read. Talks will be made available either as a paper or a recorded video. If you need access to view the papers, please reach out to Ashna Madni at ashnamadni@humnet.ucla.edu.

Seminars
Dominyka Obelenyte, Frogtown Jiu-Jitsu
Christian Barry, Australian National University
Michael Schweiger, Alliance Lucas Lepri

Pre-Read Talks

Christian Barry, ANU / Comments by Josh Armstrong, UCLA
Daniel Greco, Yale / Comments by Rush Stewart, Rochester
Caroline Wall, Boston University / Comments by Thomas Lambert, Pitzer
Adam Elga, Princeton / Comments by Isaiah Lin, Providence Christian College

Workshop Program

***Update on 12/10/25 at 2:30 PM PST***: Adam Elga’s session has moved to Friday and Daniel Greco’s session has moved to Saturday. Isaiah Lin, Providence Christian College, will comment on Adam Elga’s paper.

Thursday, December 11
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM – Gi Seminar with Michael Schweiger and Open Mat (Wooden Center Blue Room)
4:00 PM – 4:30 PM – Welcome and introductions (Dodd Hall 399)
4:30 PM – 5:30 PM – Talk by Dominyka Obelenyte on Philosophy of Jiu-Jitsu (Dodd Hall 399)
5:30 PM – 7:30 PM – Pre-Read Talk: Christian Barry, “Regulated Responsibilities.” Comments by Josh Armstrong (Dodd Hall 399)

Friday, December 12
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM – Open Mat (Wooden Center Blue Room)
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM – Lunch provided for participants
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM – Pre-Read Talk: Adam Elga, “A money pump argument against imprecise credences.” Comments by Isaiah Lin (Dodd Hall 399)
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM – Gi Seminar with Dominyka Obelenyte (Wooden Center Blue Room)

Saturday, December 13
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM – No-Gi Seminar with Christian Barry (Wooden Center Blue Room)
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM – Lunch provided for participants
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM – Pre-Read Talk: Caroline Wall, “No Scars Left Behind: A Hegelian Account of Apologies and Forgiveness.” Comments by Thomas Lambert (Dodd Hall 399)
3:30 PM – 5:30 PM – Pre-Read Talk: Daniel Greco, “Can the Fragmentationist Accept a Formal Account of Irrationality?” Comments by Rush Stewart (Dodd Hall 399)

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Chamber Music at the Clark presents: Escher Quartet
2026-01-11 14:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 2520 Cimarron Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90018, United States
Within months of its inception in 2005, the Escher Quartet came to the attention of key musical figures worldwide. Championed by the Emerson Quartet, the Escher Quartet was invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be Quartet-in-Residence at each artist’s summer festival: the Young Artists Program at Canada’s National Arts Centre, and the Perlman Chamber Music Program on Shelter Island, NY.
The Escher Quartet has received acclaim for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. A former BBC New Generation Artist and recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the quartet has performed at the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall and is a regular guest at Wigmore Hall. In its home town of New York, the ensemble serves as season artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
The 2023–2024 season found the Escher Quartet embarking upon a major project: performances of the complete cycle of quartets by Bela Bartók, culminating in a single concert performance of all six at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
The Escher Quartet takes its name from the Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher, inspired by Escher’s method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole.
Further details and the full program are on our website.

Tickets for the Escher Quartet concert will go on sale at 12 noon on Tuesday, December 9, 2025.

And God Laughed: Humor in the Bible – Joel Kaminsky
2026-01-15 16:00 - 17:30 | Royce Hall, 306, 306 Royce Hall, 10745 Dickson Plaza, Los Angeles, 90095, United States
Since the Hebrew Bible is a sacred text for Jews and Christians many readers naturally assume it cannot contain any humor. This talk will explore several biblical narratives that employ humor to make serious theological points. Becoming aware of such biblical humor can enrich our understanding of these stories and of certain theological ideas the ancient biblical writers wished to emphasize.
Joel Kaminsky is the Morningstar Family Professor of Jewish Studies and a professor of Bible in the Religion Department at Smith College where he has taught since 1997. His research explores the intersection between narrative and theological currents in the Hebrew Bible and Rabbinic literature and seeks to illuminate the distinct ways that Jews and Christians over the past two millennia have interpreted the Hebrew Bible.
And God Laughed: Humor in the Bible
The Bible and the Ancient World Seminar Series
Joel Kaminsky (Smith College)
Moderator: Carol Bakhos (UCLA)
RSVP

World Languages Day 2026
2026-01-21 10:00 - 14:00 | Wilson Plaza
World Languages Day, a cherished UCLA tradition, returns to spotlight the university’s diverse language programs.
Open to all UCLA students, World Languages Day offers opportunities to explore UCLA’s language offerings, engage with faculty and peers and learn about the academic and professional benefits of multilingualism.
Whether you’re curious about studying a new language or deepening your existing knowledge, World Languages Day invites you to discover the many ways languages shape our understanding of the world.
Join us on January 21 to enjoy interactive activities, cultural experiences, performances and opportunities to win prizes!

A Tattered Leaf Covers the Torn: Class Dynamics of Buddhist Charity in Vietnam
2026-01-21 16:00 - 17:30 | 290 Royce Hall
Professor Sara Ann Swenson (Dartmouth College) presents new research on how global trends in humanitarianism are enacted at the local level through the everyday ethics and informal practices of low-income and middle-class Buddhist volunteers in Vietnam.
Studies of humanitarianism tend to focus on the large-scale. They analyze disaster relief, international diplomacy, development politics, and privatized welfare. These studies highlight trends and policies that suggest generosity is becoming homogenized into “industrialized philanthropy.” Yet when global trends actualize in local communities, diverse ethics and interpretations of care reemerge. Differences flourish and conflicts arise over how to best care for others.
Sara Ann Swenson’s research examines the point at which national trends toward philanthropy are enacted on the ground by focusing on the role of low-income and middle-class Buddhist volunteers in Vietnam. Informal giving and “random acts of kindness” are difficult to quantify, meaning they are often overlooked among large-scale studies of humanitarianism. Yet these everyday ethics of care are also a major way that citizens—particularly low-income earners and middle-class workers—transform ethics of care into civic engagement and moral citizenship. Moreover, as volunteers draw on Buddhist teachings and practices to explain care in Vietnam, their religious ethics permeate secular and public institutions such as hospitals, universities, and social service programs. Close qualitative research shows how—even as processes of giving are increasingly globalized—the motivations, experiences, and relationships that arise from giving can vary greatly by context, depending on intersectional dynamics between donors and recipients. Researchers must always attend to questions of who is giving to whom and why for a comprehensive understanding of how social service needs are being met amid high-speed development and privatization in late socialist countries like Vietnam.
Register here.
Sara Ann Swenson is an Assistant Professor in Religion at Dartmouth College. She researches contemporary Buddhism in Vietnam. She holds a PhD and MPhil in Religion from Syracuse University, an MA in Comparative Religion from Iliff School of Theology, and a BA in English from the University of Minnesota Duluth. Her book Near Light We Shine: Buddhist Charity in Urban Vietnam is forthcoming with Oxford University Press.
Sponsor(s): Center for Buddhist Studies, Center for the Study of Religion, Center for Southeast Asian Studies

Prelude to the Holocaust: The Anti-Jewish Pogroms of Summer 1941 – Jeffrey Kopstein
2026-01-27 14:00 - 15:30 | Royce Hall, 314, 314 Royce Hall, 10745 Dickson Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
This lecture examines a particularly brutal wave a violence that occurred across hundreds of predominantly Polish and Ukrainian communities in the aftermath of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. The dominant explanations for pogrom violence center around three most frequently cited causes: endemic antisemitism in Eastern European societies, a desire for revenge for alleged Jewish involvement in Soviet crimes during the occupation of 1939–1941, and opportunistic appropriation of Jewish property. But a difficult question needs to be posed: why did pogroms occur in some places and not in others? Situating pogroms within the long history of local intercommunal relations sheds light on the sources of mass ethnic violence and the ways in which such gruesome acts might be avoided.
Jeffrey Kopstein is Dean’s Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine. In his research, Professor Kopstein focuses on interethnic violence, voting patterns of minority groups, antisemitism, and anti-liberal tendencies in civil society. These interests are central topics in his latest books, Intimate Violence: Anti-Jewish Pogroms on the Eve of the Holocaust (Cornell University Press, 2018), Politics, Memory, Violence: The New Social Science of the Holocaust (Cornell University Press, 2023), and The Assault on the State: How the Global Attack on Modern Government Endangers our Future (Polity, 2024). Professor Kopstein’s writings also appear in outlets like The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, and The Washington Post.

Tuesday, January 27, 2026 • 314 Royce Hall • 2 PM
Prelude to the Holocaust: The Anti-Jewish Pogroms of Summer 1941
Jeffrey Kopstein (UCI)
Moderator: Jared McBride (UCLA)
The 1939 Society Program in Holocaust Studies
RSVP

After the Catastrophe: Ezra-Nehemiah and the Rebuilding of Community and Identity – Tamara Cohn Eskenazi
2026-01-29 16:00 - 17:00 | Royce Hall, 306, 306 Royce Hall, 10745 Dickson Plaza, Los Angeles, 90095, United States
The deaths and deportations that accompanied the destruction of the Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 BCE mark the turning point in the arc of biblical narrative. The book of Ezra-Nehemiah describes the reconstruction of life in Judah in the aftermath that catastrophe. It is the only book in the Hebrew Bible to depict this period. For over a century, scholars neglected Ezra-Nehemiah and the period it describes. But the pendulum swung at last, and in recent decades the book became a focal point for several reasons; among them is the growing consensus that the Pentateuch received its decisive shape during this period. Additionally, as a story about a return from exile to an ancient homeland, Ezra-Nehemiah has been embroiled in current political discourse linked with the return to Israel in the 20th century. Detractors and admirers alike concur that its messages had an enduring significance in the past and important messages for the present. This session will explore the book’s contribution to its own time as well as its relevance to today’s challenges.
Tamara Cohn Eskenazi, Ph.D. is the Effie Wise Ochs Professor Emerita of Biblical Literature and History at Hebrew Union College. She is an award-winning scholar who specializes in writings from the Persian Period (538-333 BCE), with special focus on Ezra-Nehemiah. Her book, In an age of Prose: A Literary Approach to Ezra-Nehemiah (1988) set the study of Ezra-Nehemiah on a new foundation. See also her recent Ezra: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Anchor Yale Bible Series (2023). Prof. Eskenazi is the first woman professor appointed to the Rabbinical School at Hebrew Union College and a major contributor to Women’s Studies. Her publications include, The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, a 1400 page volume (2007) which won “The Book of the Year Award” granted by The Jewish Book Council, and her JPS Bible Commentary: Ruth (2012, authored with the late Tikva Frymer-Kensky) which won the award for Women’s Studies.
Moderator: Catherine Bonesho (UCLA)
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California Medieval Seminar (Winter 2026)
2026-01-31 09:30 - 16:00 | Royce 306, 10745 Dickson Ct, Los Angeles CA, 90095, United States
Participation in the Seminar consists of group discussion of pre-circulated papers, typically drafts of articles, book chapters, or dissertation chapters (with complete apparatus). Two of the papers are ordinarily by emerging scholars (including PhD students) and the other two are by established scholars. We allocate one hour per paper and presenters should anticipate substantial, and substantive, feedback. Calls for presenters are circulated via e-mail from the Center approximately two months prior to each meeting and papers are accepted on a first-come basis.
Faculty, postdocs, and grad students from across California are welcome to participate.
Register to attend in Royce 306
Register to attend via ZOOM
The following papers will be discussed at the seminar (in no particular order):

“The Politics of Failure in late medieval Iceland,” Basil Arnould Price (State University of New York, Oneonta)
“Sylvan Nostalgia: Responses to Deforestation in Medieval German Arthurian Romance,” Eric William Lindheim-Marx (Stanford University)
“Homo legum: The Making and Classification of Legal Experts in Montpellier, 1200-1380,” Shahrouz Khalifian (Mount Saint Mary’s University)
“When is a Document Lost? Interrogating Archival Silence in Early Medieval Italy,” Maya Maskarinec (University of Southern California)

More information can be found here.

California Medieval Seminar (Winter 2026)
2026-01-31 09:30 - 16:00 | Royce 306, 10745 Dickson Ct, Los Angeles CA, 90095, United States
Participation in the Seminar consists of group discussion of pre-circulated papers, typically drafts of articles, book chapters, or dissertation chapters (with complete apparatus). Two of the papers are ordinarily by emerging scholars (including PhD students) and the other two are by established scholars. We allocate one hour per paper and presenters should anticipate substantial, and substantive, feedback. Calls for presenters are circulated via e-mail from the Center approximately two months prior to each meeting and papers are accepted on a first-come basis.
Register to attend in Royce 306
Register to attend via ZOOM
More information can be found here.

Antisemitism, an American Tradition – Pamela Nadell
2026-02-05 16:00 - 17:30 | Royce Hall, 314, 314 Royce Hall, 10745 Dickson Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
In Antisemitism, an American Tradition Pamela S. Nadell, the Patrick Clendenen Chair in Women’s and Gender history at American University, recounts the powerful story of antisemitism in America and how it has shaped the lives of Jews for almost four centuries.
Indeed, Jews have met antisemitism since first landing in New Amsterdam in 1654 when Peter Stuyvesant tried to expel them. The founding of the US changed little, as negative European stereotypes rooted into American soil. They faced restrictions on holding office, admission to schools, and employment in industry, while their synagogues and cemeteries were vandalized. Recently, white nationalists chanted “Jews will not replace us” in Charlottesville, Virgina, and a gunman killed eleven members at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue building. Antisemitic incidents have increased each year.
Professor Pamela Nadell holds the Patrick Clendenen Chair in Women’s and Gender History at American University. Her book America’s Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today won the 2019 National Jewish Book Award’s Everett Family Foundation “Book of the Year” and was translated into Hebrew. Her new book Antisemitism, an American Tradition, was published by W.W. Norton in October. A past president of the Association for Jewish Studies, she consults to the museum planned for the rebuild of Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life and has testified before Congress three times.
Moderated by Dov Waxman (UCLA)
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Chamber Music at the Clark presents: Benjamin Appl, Baritone & James Baillieu, Piano
2026-03-15 14:00 - 16:00 | William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 2520 Cimarron Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90018, United States
Baritone Benjamin Appl is celebrated for a voice that “belongs to the last of the old great masters of song” with “an almost infinite range of colours” (Suddeutsche Zeitung), and for performances “delivered with wit, intelligence and sophistication” (Gramophone). Appl was awarded Gramophone Award Young Artist of the Year (2016), and has since begun a multi-album deal with Alpha Classics, releasing his first album Winterreise with James Baillieu in February 2021 to enormous critical acclaim. Some of Appl’s recent recital debuts include Carnegie Hall, New York’s Park Avenue Armory, Sydney Opera House, and Mozarteum Salzburg.
Described by The Daily Telegraph as ”in a class of his own,” James Baillieu is one of the leading song and chamber music pianists of his generation. He has given solo and chamber recitals throughout the world and collaborates with a wide range of singers and instrumentalists. Baillieu is a frequent guest at many of the world’s most distinguished music centers including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Metropolitan Opera House, and Concertgebouw Amsterdam. His recording projects include Forbidden Fruit (Alpha Classics), Winterreise (Alpha Classics) and Heimat (Sony Classical) with Benjamin Appl.
Further details and the full program are on our website.

Tickets for the Benjamin Appl & James Baillieu concert will go on sale at 12 noon on Tuesday,
February 17, 2026.

Chamber Music at the Clark presents: Notos Quartett
2026-03-22 14:00 - 16:00 | William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 2520 Cimarron Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90018, United States
Praised for its virtuoso brilliance, passion, sensitivity, and mature interpretive powers, the Notos Quartett is one of the most celebrated young chamber ensembles to emerge in recent years. Founded in 2007, the Berlin-based piano quartet first drew attention by winning first prize in six major international competitions. Since then it has established itself worldwide, performing at renowned European concert halls such as the Philharmonie Berlin, Konzerthaus Berlin, and London’s Wigmore Hall. The quartet made their American debut in 2022 with three concerts for Chamber Music San Francisco and returned in October 2023 for their first North American tour.
The Notos Quartett’s repertoire spans from the great classical masterpieces to contemporary music. They have a strong commitment to new music, as shown by numerous commissions and collaborations with such composers as Bryce Dessner, Garth Knox, and Bernhard Gander. They also search for important lost or forgotten works to bring to new audiences.
Further details and the full program are on our website.

Tickets for the Notos Quartett concert will go on sale at 12 noon on Tuesday, February 24, 2026.

Chamber Music at the Clark presents: ATOS Trio
2026-04-26 14:00 - 16:00 | William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 2520 Cimarron Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90018, United States
Founded in Berlin, Germany in 2003, the ATOS Trio has established itself as one of the finest piano trios performing today. After intensive studies with Ilan Gronich, Menahem Pressler, and the Alban Berg Quartet, the Trio won the Deutsche Musikwettbewerb, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award, and the Melbourne Chamber Music Competition. A New Generation Artists Award from the BBC and a Borletto Buitoni Award soon followed.
Since then, the ATOS Trio has performed in many of the world’s prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and the Berlin Philharmonic Kammersaal, to name but a few, with a repertoire that includes all the piano trio masterworks as well as many contemporary pieces.
Further details and the full program are on our website.

Tickets for the ATOS Trio concert will go on sale at 12 noon on Tuesday, March 24, 2026.
