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Humanities

Memory Rehearsal presentation by Eleni Sikelianos, Poet

Memory Rehearsal Presentation by Eleni Sikelianos, Poet November 14, 2026 4:00 P.M. 314 Royce Hall, UCLA Campus Reception to follow RSVP at this link to attend In 1901, Eva Palmer abandoned her life as a privileged New York socialite, moving to Paris with her lover, the writer and salonist, Natalie Barney. The two Americans became the center of a wild tangle of lesbian love affairs and backyard performances based on intentional reimaginings of Sappho’s work and life. A chance encounter led Eva to Greece, where she married Angelos Sikelianos, a visionary poet who would become a Greek national hero. Celebrated…

Λέσχη Ανάγνωσης Ελληνικών Βιβλίων της Δυτικής Ακτής: Αιολική Γη του Ηλία Βενέζη

Λέσχη Ανάγνωσης Ελληνικών Βιβλίων της Δυτικής Ακτής Αιολική Γη του Ηλία Βενέζη Τη συζήτηση θα συντονίσουν η Δρ. Σάρον Γκερστέλ, διευθύντρια του Κέντρου Μελέτης Ελληνικού Πολιτισμού Ίδρυμα Σταύρος Νιάρχος στο UCLA, και η Δρ. Ειρήνη Κωτσοβίλη, λέκτορας Παγκόσμιων Ανθρωπιστικών Σπουδών του Πανεπιστημίου Simon Fraser. Η διάλεξη θα γίνει στα Ελληνικά. Σάββατο, 7 Νοεμβρίου 2026 10:00 π.μ. Λος Άντζελες / 8:00 μ.μ. Ελλάδα Μέσω Zoom Πατήστε εδώ για να δηλώσετε συμμετοχή στη συνάντηση της Λέσχης Ανάγνωσης. Το πρόγραμμα αυτό πραγματοποιείται χάρη στη γενναιόδωρη υποστήριξη του Ιδρύματος Σταύρος Νιάρχος (ΙΣΝ). Μπορείτε να βρείτε την ελληνική έκδοση εδώ: https://www.greeceinprint.com/index.php/en/literature/literary/aioliki-gi-detail For those who understand…

Backgammon Night

Backgammon Night Friday, October 9, 2026 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM 2117 Rolfe Hall, UCLA Campus This event is free, but space is limited. Join us for mezedes and conversation. RSVP for Backgammon Night here Parking information: If 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. To purchase your permit, please visit the Bruin ePermit website and choose “Campus Event,”…

West Coast Hellenic Book Club: Diary of a Soldier in the Asia Minor Campaign, 1919-1921 by Pantelis C. Karatasakis

West Coast Hellenic Book Club Diary of a Soldier in the Asia Minor Campaign, 1919-1921 by Pantelis C. Karatasakis (Published by Alec P. Karys, 2023) This discussion will feature book editors Alec P. Karys and Gregory Kontos. The 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. This discussion will be held in English. Saturday, October 3, 2026 10:00 A.M. Los Angeles / 8:00 P.M. Greece Via Zoom Click here to RSVP for this book club…

Uncertain Empire: Jews, Nationalism, and the Fate of British Imperialism – Elizabeth E. Imber

Following the British conquest of Ottoman Palestine, Jews across the British Empire—from Jerusalem to Johannesburg, and London to Calcutta—found themselves at the heart of global Jewish political discourse. As these intellectuals, politicians, activists, and communal elites navigated shifting political landscapes, some envisioned Palestine as a British dominion, leveraging imperial power for Jewish state-building, while others fostered ties with anticolonial movements, contemplating independent futures. This talk, based on Imber’s new book Uncertain Empire: Jews, Nationalism, and the Fate of British Imperialism (Stanford University Press, 2025), will explore this intricate interplay between British imperialism, Zionism, and anticolonial movements from the 1917 British…

Yiddish in the Land of Sunshine: Race, Labor, and Jewish Radicalism in Los Angeles – Caroline Luce

Yiddish in the Land of Sunshine examines how a cohort of young Jewish radicals from Eastern Europe helped reshape multiracial left-wing activism in Southern California. It traces their migration from the Russian Empire to Los Angeles and their involvement in labor and left-wing movements. Focusing especially on Boyle Heights, the book explores how the neighborhood’s diverse communities shaped Yiddish public culture and Jewish political organizing. It highlights the relationships, collaborations, and tensions that emerged as Jewish radicals built multiracial coalitions with Mexican, Asian, and African American neighbors. Drawing on previously untranslated Yiddish sources, the book challenges traditional Jewish immigration narratives centered…

From Debdou’s Little Seville to America’s Guess: Rural Artisans and Global Designers – Aomar Boum

In this talk, Prof. Boum will develop the concept of aesthetic funds of knowledge to name the embodied, socially transmitted, and commercially usable repertoires through which Sephardic Moroccan Jews built aesthetic and sartorial competence across Debdou, France, and the Americas. Drawing on ten years of ethnographic and archival research in the Moroccan Jewish community in Los Angeles and building on Luis Moll’s account of the relation among household, community, and education, he examines how the Marcianos and other LA- and Montreal-based Moroccan Jews, whose family history links rural Moroccan Jewish life to transnational fashion commerce, negotiated Sephardic cultural identity and…

Zionism in Translation: Encounters in the German-Hebrew Archive

Zionism in Translation concerns exchanges—primarily of letters but also drafts, reviews, and other ephemera—sent to or from Jerusalem in the decades around 1948. All were written in German and Hebrew by a fascinating range of literary figures, including Hannah Arendt, Gershom Scholem, Yehuda Amichai, Ludwig Strauss, Erich Auerbach, Walter Benjamin, Leah Goldberg, Peter Szondi, Paul Celan, and Tuvia Ruebner. The writers discussed in the book contend with the genocidal violence that brought the rich historical relation between German and Hebrew to a seeming end. They also grapple, in different ways, with the new reality in Israel/Palestine in the wake of…

Sacred Betrayal: How the French Catholic Church Broke Its Pledge to Protect Jews During the Holocaust – Aliza Luft

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. Aliza 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…