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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261003T100000
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DTSTAMP:20261002T210413Z
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SUMMARY:West Coast Hellenic Book Club: Diary of a Soldier in the Asia Minor Campaign\, 1919-1921 by Pantelis C. Karatasakis
DESCRIPTION:West Coast Hellenic Book Club \nDiary of a Soldier in the Asia Minor Campaign\, 1919-1921 by Pantelis C. Karatasakis\n(Published by Alec P. Karys\, 2023) \nThis discussion will feature book editors Alec P. Karys and Gregory Kontos. \nThe conversation will be facilitated by Professor Sharon Gerstel\, Director of the UCLA SNF Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture\, and Dr. Eirini Kotsovili\, Senior Lecturer in Global Humanities at Simon Fraser University. \nThis discussion will be held in English. \nSaturday\, October 3\, 2026\n10:00 A.M. Los Angeles / 8:00 P.M. Greece\nVia Zoom \nClick here to RSVP for this book club \nForeword by Gonda Van Steen\, Koraes Chair\, King’s College London: \nThis short\, poignant account of an ordinary soldier’s experiences at the front during the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1921 is well worth reading. Pantelis Karatasakis manages to evoke both the valiant spirit of the Greek troops and the awful hardships they were forced to endure. Even though this lively account ends a year before Greece’s defeat\, the conditions the author witnessed were an omen of what was to come: hunger and freezing cold\, haphazard military operations\, scorched earth tactics by both sides. The heroism of Pantelis Karatasakis and his comrades would not be enough for the Greeks to prevail\, and the Asia Minor Disaster of 1922 ensued. Alexander Kitroeff said\, “When empires dissolve and new nation-states emerge\, it is easy for the voices of ordinary people to get lost in the turmoil.” This publication of the diary of Pantelis C. Karatasakis brings not only the voice\, but also the tears\, sweat\, and blood\, of the foot soldiers of history back to the forefront. Pantelis moves us with Xenophon-like descriptions of places and distances\, which he interspersed with lyrical notes and the markers of a growing awareness of the sufferings of war -any war. He leaves a record of facts\, emotions\, hardships\, but ultimately survival and wisdom gained. Kudos to his son and to Gregory Kontos of Greek Ancestry to realize the value of this unique testimony. \nThis program is made possible thanks to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF). \nClick here to purchase this book on Amazon.
URL:https://humanities.ucla.edu/event/west-coast-hellenic-book-club-diary-of-a-soldier-in-the-asia-minor-campaign-1919-1921-by-pantelis-c-karatasakis/
LOCATION:by Zoom
CATEGORIES:Community,Hellenic,Heritage,History,Literature,Modern Greece
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261008T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261008T150000
DTSTAMP:20260924T224935Z
CREATED:20260916T222844Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260924T224935Z
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SUMMARY:“Performing Dragons” Conference
DESCRIPTION:This conference presents ongoing research findings of an international group of scholars studying the topic of dragons in performance. \nIn the past\, the cartographic legend “hic sunt dracones” (like “hic sunt leones”) indicated the extent of known territories (land and seas) and the boundaries of safety\, yet what laid beyond pervaded the consciousness of many artists\, travelers and scholars. Dragons\, which have occupied the human imagination since antiquity\, gained particular importance after 1400 CE\, and appear in many guises— St. George plays\, Karagöz\, Chinese shadow puppets\, etc.—and so mark the outlines of a Denkraum (or “thinking space”) between cosmology\, zoology\, superstition\, and spectacle\, with many offspring up to the present day. While theatre history is also a theatre of migration\, circulation\, miscegenation\, globalism\, and affect\, performance often indexes all these experiences within “marvels” such as dragons and mystics. \nWe began “sharing dragons” in 2022 and have met in Chicago\, Cologne\, Beijing\, Shanghai\, and now\, in Southern California. In our ongoing discussions over the course of the Southern California conference\, our current questions encompass the following: \n\nWhere and how do dragons emerge\, enchant\, and connect? What and how do they signify? How are they entangled within their own contexts\, and how do they provoke and inspire further entanglements with other bodies\, texts\, beings?\nHow do dragons arise in a media ecology across times\, places\, and diverse cultures? How do they destabilize or consolidate through/as performance?\nWhat do performing dragons ask of historiography? How does centering dragons in research sustain counter-histories? How does it reveal grounded performance theory?\nWhat are “dragons” in any given culture? How are their performances evidence of syncretism\, either from human migration and trade or technological exchange? What do such insights suggest for further research?\n\nInvestigating performing dragons allows for an in-depth reading of how form and content are inseparable\, providing a critical object with which to reflect on representations\, implied modes of perception\, and the historical (dis)continuities that make the dragon appear. In staging dragons\, certain conventions are always involved\, but a more inclusive investigation addressing multiple centuries and cultural vectors enables a better grasping of their complex histories. The dragon is very specific\, and at the same time exemplary for culturally bound cyphers that can manifest in many forms and shapes. We look forward to exploring these topics with our UCLA participants and audiences. \nSpeakers: \nErith Jaffe-Berg\, University of California Riverside\nLeo Cabranes-Grant\, University of California Santa Barbara\nTracy C. Davis\, Northwestern University\nPeter W. Marx\, University of Cologne\, Germany \nEvent Schedule \nRegister to attend in Royce 314 or via Zoom
URL:https://humanities.ucla.edu/event/performing-dragons-conference/
CATEGORIES:Conference
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261009T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261009T180000
DTSTAMP:20261002T211910Z
CREATED:20261002T211910Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261002T211910Z
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SUMMARY:Colloquium: “Kant’s Awakenings” – Desmond Hogan\, Princeton University
DESCRIPTION:Friday\, October 9\, 2026\n4:00 – 6:00 PM\nDodd Hall 321\nRSVP HERE\n  \nJoin us on Friday\, October 9\, 2026\, for a colloquium with Desmond Hogan\, Princeton University. The talk will take place from 4:00 – 6:00 PM with a reception to follow. \n  \nKant’s Awakenings\n  \nIn a famous biographical reflection on the origin of his epochal Critique of Pure Reason\, Kant writes that Hume’s analysis of causation “first interrupted my dogmatic slumber and gave a completely different direction to my researches in the field of speculative philosophy” (Prolegomena 4:260). We encounter strikingly similar language in Kant’s explanation elsewhere that his Critique arose out of a discovery of an antinomy of pure reason centered on “unavoidable” contradictions in realist theories of space and time: “This was what first woke me from the dogmatic slumber and drove me to the critique of reason in order to solve the scandal of the apparent contradiction of reason with itself” (Correspondence 12:258; Prolegomena 4:338). Notwithstanding efforts to join the dots between these two “awakenings\,” it remains the overwhelming consensus of experts that they must describe unrelated motivations and events. I argue here that Kant’s awakenings are intimately related\, and this relation vindicates his further assertion that “the origin of the critical philosophy is morality\, with respect to the imputability of action” (Ak. 20:335). \n  \nDesmond Hogan is Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University. He began his studies in his hometown of Galway in the beautiful west of Ireland and received his Ph.D. from Yale University. His research interests include metaphysics\, philosophy of science\, ethics\, and aesthetics\, with a focus on the modern period and nineteenth century. \n  \n  \nJoin our mailing list!\nSign up for our mailing list to stay up-to-date with future UCLA Philosophy events\, conferences\, and colloquia! \nSIGN UP HERE
URL:https://humanities.ucla.edu/event/colloquium-kants-awakenings-desmond-hogan-princeton-university/
LOCATION:Dodd Hall 321
CATEGORIES:Colloquia
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261009T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261009T200000
DTSTAMP:20261002T210413Z
CREATED:20260916T205351Z
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SUMMARY:Backgammon Night
DESCRIPTION:Backgammon Night \nFriday\, October 9\, 2026\n6:00 PM – 8:00 PM\n \n2117 Rolfe Hall\, UCLA Campus \nThis event is free\, but space is limited. \nJoin us for mezedes and conversation. \nRSVP for Backgammon Night here \nParking information: \nIf you plan on driving to UCLA\, please note that parking is available at Parking Structure 5\, located at 302 Charles E Young Dr N\, Westwood\, Los Angeles\, CA 90095. We highly recommend purchasing your parking permit in advance for $18\, as there will be no attendant on-site and parking is limited. \nTo purchase your permit\, please visit the Bruin ePermit website and choose “Campus Event\,” then “Backgammon Night”: https://bruinepermit.t2hosted.com/pnw2/selectValue.aspx. This permit will be valid for only levels 1-4 in parking structure 5. \nAccessible parking: If you have accessibility needs\, you may park in the Pay-By-Space/Visitor Parking area on the rooftop (level 5) of this structure\, and proceed to the Self-Service Pay Station machine to pay by credit card. Elevators are accessible on levels 1 and 4 only. Please visit our Campus Accessibility Map to view related information. \nThe nearest guest drop-off is the rooftop level of parking structure 5\, next to the Anderson School of Business (see directions above).
URL:https://humanities.ucla.edu/event/backgammon-night-2/
LOCATION:2117 Rolfe Hall\, 345 Portola Plaza\, Los Angeles\, 90095\, United States
CATEGORIES:Community,Cultural Heritage,Hellenic
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261015T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261015T153000
DTSTAMP:20261002T231916Z
CREATED:20260916T203426Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261002T231916Z
UID:2461772-1792072800-1792078200@humanities.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Sacred Betrayal: How the French Catholic Church Broke Its Pledge to Protect Jews During the Holocaust – Aliza Luft
DESCRIPTION:It is well known that the French Catholic Church\, which opposed Hitler before 1940\, silenced itself during the German occupation. But Aliza Luft shows that the Church was more than silent: it was complicit. Behind closed doors\, bishops repeatedly assured Jewish leaders of the Church’s support—only to betray their trust amidst the Nazi threat. \nAliza Luft is Associate Professor of Sociology at UCLA\, where her research examines how classifications of self and other shift in contexts of war and genocide and drive decisions to participate in\, resist\, or abstain from violence. Her book\, Sacred Betrayal: How the French Catholic Church Broke Its Pledge to Protect Jews during the Holocaust\, will be published by Harvard University Press in September 2026\, and her research has appeared in leading sociological journals as well as The New York Times\, LA Times\, Washington Post\, and other outlets. She currently serves as Interim Director of the UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute\, which houses the Initiative to Study Hate and Dialogue Across Difference\, and on the Steering Committee of the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Prior to UCLA\, Dr. Luft worked with USAID\, the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate\, and Facing History & Ourselves. \nTuesday\, October 15\, 2026 • 314 Royce Hall • 2 PM\nSacred Betrayal: How the French Catholic Church Broke Its Pledge to Protect Jews During the Holocaust \nAliza Luft (UCLA)\nModerator: Michael Rothberg (UCLA) \nCosponsored by\nThe UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute\nThe UCLA Department of Sociology \nRSVP
URL:https://humanities.ucla.edu/event/sacred-betrayal-how-the-french-catholic-church-broke-its-pledge-to-protect-jews-during-the-holocaust-aliza-luft/
LOCATION:UCLA Royce Hall\, Room 314\, 10745 Dickson Court\, Los Angeles\, CA\, 90095\, United States
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ORGANIZER;CN="UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies":MAILTO:levecenter@humnet.ucla.edu
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261015T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261015T173000
DTSTAMP:20261001T234913Z
CREATED:20260916T222137Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261001T234913Z
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SUMMARY:Study of Religion Welcome Reception
DESCRIPTION:Lift a glass to the new academic year and meet friends old and new! \nWelcome remarks by Dean Stern and Professor Bakhos at 4:30p. \nRSVP required by October 11. See you there!
URL:https://humanities.ucla.edu/event/study-of-religion-welcome-reception/
LOCATION:Royce Hall 306
CATEGORIES:CSR
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ORGANIZER;CN="Center for the Study of Religion":MAILTO:csr@humnet.ucla.edu
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261017T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261017T160000
DTSTAMP:20260924T224935Z
CREATED:20260916T222844Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260924T224935Z
UID:2462107-1792229400-1792252800@humanities.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:California Medieval Seminar (Fall 2026)
DESCRIPTION: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. \nFaculty\, postdocs\, and grad students from across California are welcome to participate. \nThe papers will be discussed at the seminar in the following order: \n\n“A King\, a Bishop\, and Three Narrators: Image of Bad Rule as a Political Argument\,” Piotr Górecki (UCR)\n“The Many Lives of Pelegrina de Saladino. Mother\, Businesswoman\, Tutor\, and Patroness\,” Giulia Giamboni (UCLA)\n“Saving the Fairies in the House of Two Buckets\,” Lisa Bitel (USC)\n“’Either all of them\, or the older ones’: Henry VIII\, Authenticity\, and Medieval Manuscripts\,” Matthew Fisher (UCLA)\n\n\nRegister to attend in Royce 306 or via Zoom\n\nMore information can be found here.
URL:https://humanities.ucla.edu/event/california-medieval-seminar-fall-2026/
CATEGORIES:California Medieval History Seminar
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261021T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261021T173000
DTSTAMP:20261002T023409Z
CREATED:20260929T003632Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261002T023409Z
UID:2462392-1792598400-1792603800@humanities.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Indranil Chakravarty The Power of Intercultural Dialogue: Octavio Paz Between Mexico and India
DESCRIPTION:Based on his recent book\, The Tree Within: Octavio Paz’s Years in India (Penguin\, 2025)\, Chakravarty explains how the Mexican Nobel Laureate poet and diplomat\, Octavio Paz\, became a cultural bridge between two parts of the Global South that are separated by geography\, language\, culture and history. As Mexico’s ambassador to India in the 1960s\, Paz immersed himself in the country’s contemplative traditions\, travelled widely\, forged deep friendships with some of India’s finest minds\, and produced some of his most inspired poetry and essays. By his own admission\, he experienced a ‘second birth’. While exploring the poet’s inner journey by delving into multilingual archives\, declassified diplomatic files\, personal letters and intimate interviews\, Chakravarty explains how Paz prepared\, emotionally and intellectually\, for a deep engagement with India\, allowing it to reshape him. While he gave poetic form to several Indian philosophical concepts and became a mentor to an entire generation of avant garde painters\, he opened pathways through which Latin American writers and artists could draw inspiration from Indian culture. \n\n\n\nIndranil Chakravarty is a writer\, filmmaker and academic based in India. His main interest lies in tracing the history of cultural interactions between India and Latin America. For more than two decades\, he has been a professor of film history at India’s premiere film institutes and has made several documentaries. He studied at Presidency College in Calcutta\, Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV in Havana\, and received his PhD from Victoria University of Wellington. His publications include The New Latin American Cinema\, India’s Audiovisual Market\, and a book in Spanish titled Redescubriendo a Tagore\, about the discourse around the Indian poet in Hispanic literature. His next book\, Hometowns (2027)\, is the biography of an Indian villager in the 19th century who led Brazilian battalions in two wars.
URL:https://humanities.ucla.edu/event/indranil-chakravarty-the-power-of-intercultural-dialogue-octavio-paz-between-mexico-and-india/
LOCATION:Rolfe Hall 4302\, Lydeen Library\, Rolfe Hall 4302\, Lydeen Library
CATEGORIES:Humanities,Upcoming Events
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261026T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261026T171500
DTSTAMP:20261001T234914Z
CREATED:20260916T222139Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261001T234914Z
UID:2462093-1793030400-1793034900@humanities.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:The Paradox of Pointless Suffering
DESCRIPTION:Why do we suffer? Why do people die young? Is there any point to our excessive pain\, physical or emotional? This talk explores the ways that we have tried to minimize or eliminate suffering\, and examines people’s attempts to find ways to live with pointless suffering. Ultimately\, to be fully human—and to have healthy culture—means to acknowledge a mysterious paradox: we must simultaneously accept suffering and oppose it. \nRSVP to attend in person \nRegister for Zoom link \nScott Samuelson studied philosophy at Grinnell College (BA\, 1995\, valedictorian) and Emory University (PhD\, 2001).  He is currently a Professor of Practice in the Departments of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Iowa State University. In 2014\, he was named Distinguished Humanities Educator by the Community College Humanities Association.  Inspired by his students\, he wrote his first book The Deepest Human Life: An Introduction to Philosophy for Everyone (University of Chicago Press\, 2014)\, which has been well received not just by prominent reviewers but by numerous non-philosophers who found their philosophical voice with its help.  The book has been translated into Chinese and Portuguese.  Samuelson has published articles in the Wall Street Journal\, the Huffington Post\, the Chronicle of Higher Education\, The Philosopher’s Magazine\, and Christian Century.  His article “Why I Teach Plato to Plumbers” in The Atlantic has been widely circulated.  He’s been interviewed on NPR and given various public lectures and talks\, including a TEDx talk “How Philosophy Can Save Your Life.” \nScott Samuelson was the recipient of the 2015 Hiett Prize in the Humanities. \nCo-sponsored by the UCLA Center for Buddhist Studies.
URL:https://humanities.ucla.edu/event/the-paradox-of-pointless-suffering/
LOCATION:Royce Hall 306
CATEGORIES:CSR
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ORGANIZER;CN="Center for the Study of Religion":MAILTO:csr@humnet.ucla.edu
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