LBI Book Club, Vol. X: Nathan the Wise

Online

One of the most frequently performed and widely read comedies of the eighteenth century, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's Nathan the Wise (1779) combines rich characterization with an engaging plot. Set in Muslim-ruled Jerusalem at the time of the Crusades, it deals with universal themes -- including the nature of God, antisemitism, wealth and poverty, and the conflict between love and duty. Today…

Free

Women, Feminists, and Other Poets: A Series of Readings and Conversations

For the third installment of “Women, Feminists, and Other Poets: A Series of Readings and Conversations” the Jordan Center will host poets Dina Gatina, Polina Barskova, and Vlazhyna Mort alongside professor and translator Ainsley Morse. This April, the Jordan Center will host 6 contemporary Russian poets for a series of readings and conversations. With a view to the recent anthology…

Digital Forays: Lightning Talks from Junior Scholars

This year-long series starts from a simple premise: What does it look like to think, engage, and do research in this digital age?  This is not a call for researchers to simply produce digital outputs - but we live in an ever-increasingly digital world. In order to better activate our scholarship, and to grasp the terrain in which our research…

Samson Schames and the Art of Exile

Online

The German-Jewish painter Samson Schames represents a generation of artists who were forced to leave their homes due to Nazi persecution and yet demonstrated perseverance and resilience in their newly adopted lands. During his internment in an enemy aliens camp near Liverpool and later during the aerial bombardment of London by Nazi Germany, Schames continued to create art using improvised…

Free

Letters to Josef Tiso, President of the Slovak State, 1939-1945

Online

Between 1939 and 1944, thousands of ordinary people wrote to then President Jozef Tiso of the Slovak State about the so-called “Jewish question.” Some wanted mercy from anti-Jewish persecution, others coveted Jewish property. Why did these individuals write to Josef Tiso? In her talk, Madeline Vadkerty will respond to this question and describe her research at the Slovak National Archive.

Free

Kaffeestunde

Online

Email Silja Weber at svw2108@columbia.edu with inquiries.

Free

The Food Fix: Superplants, Microbe Sidekicks and Nutrient Heroes

Online

Global food systems are under pressure on a scale previously unencountered. A crisis is looming, fueled by population growth, climate change, water scarcity, energy supply and now the pandemic. The world must feed an estimated population of 9 billion by 2050 with diminishing natural resources while also ensuring the health of people and the planet. Luckily, emerging technologies and new research…

Free

Leftists on Left-Wing Antisemitism

There is a robust discussion inside the Left about antisemitism in its own ranks. This is not just related to Zionism, Israel, and Palestine, but also involves questions about conspiracy theories, notions of secret elites, and critiques of financial capital—as well as how to deal with openly antisemitic actors. This unique panel will bring together four scholars and activists on…

Glamorous, Glittering Gio’!

Glamorous, Glittering Gio'! Giovanna Battaglia Engelbert, Global Creative Director, Swarovski in conversation with Grazia D'Annunzio, Università Statale di Milano Broadcast on our Facebook page and website A fashion dynamo, a hyper–creative talent, a longtime social media darling, Giovanna Battaglia Engelbert has enlightened the visual world with her sophisticated, colorful joy de vivre. Internationally known for her editorial work in magazines such as Vogue Italia, Vogue Gioiello, Vogue Japan and…

‘A Brilliant Anomaly’: Nadezhda Durova/Aleksandr Aleksandrov’s Queer Autofiction

Join us for another 19v seminar! In Russia, the nineteenth-century writer Nadezhda Durova (1783-1866) is well-known as a cross-dressing ‘Cavalry Maiden’, a young noble woman who in 1806 left her home in provincial Russia and served, under the name Aleksandrov, as a cavalry officer during the Napoleonic wars. Outside of Russia, there has been in the last decade a sustained…