Information Session on Funding Resources for Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies
Erin Crawley, fellowships officer for the International Institute, and Jennifer Tishler, associate director of CREECA
Date and Time: Tuesday, November 3 at 12:00 - 1:00 P.M.
Location: 849 Van Hise Hall, 1220 Linden Drive
Sponsors: CREECA and International Institute
About the lecture: IREX? SSRC? NSEP? NCEEER? Are you lost in the alphabet soup of funding for graduate study and research? Please join us for an information session on funding resources for Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies.
Erin Crawley, fellowships officer for the International Institute, and Jennifer Tishler, CREECA, will provide information on:
* campus and external funding resources: what they are and how to find them
* external grants for research: applications and deadlines
* which grants have an internal campus deadline?
* the basics of preparing a grant proposal
Joining us to share their expertise will be Lauren McCarthy (PhD candidate in political science, Fulbright to Russian Federation, 2007-08) and Danielle Ross (PhD candidate in history, Fulbright to Kazakhstan, 2003-2004 and IREX to Tatarstan, Russian Federation, 2007-2008).
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"Tatar Spiritual Songs and Death Rituals"
Agnès Kefeli-Clay, Arizona State University, Department of Religious Studies
Date and Time: Thursday, November 5 at 4:00 P.M.
Location: 206 Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive
Sponsors: CREECA and CASP
About the lecture: In the nineteenth century, spiritual songs, called munajat, often constituted the bulk of Islamic knowledge of Tatar peasants, who had limited access to Qur’anic schooling. They also served to spread Islam among the animistic and Eastern Orthodox Finno-Ugric peoples of the middle Volga, the Maris and Udmurts, who were exposed to them orally at various Tatar religious festivals. Only recently have Tatar scholars started collecting and categorizing the munajat by theme. But there has been no effort to investigate these munajat in the context of religious rituals during the Soviet Union, and even less during the imperial period. This presentation attempts to reconstruct at least one ritual use of the munajat before the revolution, when families and neighbors gathered to commemorate the death of a loved one.
About the speaker: Trained at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes and Arizona State University, Agnès Kefeli teaches about Islam and world religions in the School of History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies at ASU. Having received multiple grants from the International Research and Exchanges Board, the American Association for University Women, the Kluge Center, and the Spencer Foundation, Dr. Kefeli explores Islamic religion, culture, and education among the Volga Tatars, who, remarkably, succeeded in spreading their faith even under a Russian Orthodox government. She is currently completing a monograph entitled “Becoming Muslim in Imperial Russia: Apostasy, Conversion, and Literacy among Volga Tatars (1865-1917),” which examines debates over and effects of religious education among the Tatars.
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"The Wall Came Down: On the Twentieth Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall"
The 42nd Wisconsin Workshop
Date and Time: November 5 - 7
Location: Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street
Sponsors: UW-Madison German Department, European Studies Alliance, Anonymous Fund, German Consulate Chicago, CREECA, UW-Madison History Department, Center for the Humanities, UW-Madison Global Studies
About the conference: The Berlin Wall has attained paradigmatic status for its geopolitical position within globalized contexts of border crises. As the twentieth century’s leading symbol of difference and division, it had an enormous cultural and historical impact on the two former Germanies and serves as a lingering specter haunting the new walls, barriers, and fences dividing populations in the twenty-first century. Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall (November 9, 1989), this conference, the 42nd Wisconsin Workshop, aims not only to assess retrospectively how German culture East, West, and post-unification came to terms with national and political division but also to elaborate the dynamics of contemporary scenarios of peoples divided against themselves. A group of interdisciplinary scholars from the fields of German studies, history, anthropology, communication studies, and geography will address cultural and social dimensions of borders, boundaries, and exclusions as well as bridges and crossings.
For detailed events: Please check the UW-Madison German Department's web calendar at http://german.lss.wisc.edu/new_web/. A tentative conference schedule in PDF form is also available here.
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Jazz Concert
Liudas Mockunas, Lithuanian Saxophonist and Composer
Date and Time: Saturday, November 7 at 2:00 P.M.
Location: Capitol Lakes Grand Hall, 333 West Main Street
Sponsors: Madison Vilnius Sister Cities, Inc.
About the concert: Madison Vilnius Sister Cities, Inc. is thrilled to sponsor a FREE concert by Lithuania’s own Liudas Mockunas, considered to be one of Europe’s finest jazz saxophonists. This performance will showcase Mockunas’ wide range of talent, including his own compositions and improvisation. Liudas Mockunas will be performing earlier in the week at the “European Jazz Meets Chicago” festival at the Chicago Cultural Center along with Jim Baker, Brian Sandstrom, and Steve Hunt. The event is part of an annual production of the Umbrella Music Festival, one of the most esteemed improvisational jazz fests of its kind. Mockunas is especially excited for his solo performance here in Madison and it's an honor to have him in our midst; let’s come out in droves to welcome him!
For detailed events: Liudas Mockunas is a Lithuanian clarinet and saxophone player and composer who was born in 1976 in Panevezys. Mockunas began playing jazz at the age of eight. He later studied classical clarinet at the Vilnius M. K. Ciurlionis Art Academy and saxophone at the Lithuanian Musical Academy. Since 1999, he has studied at The Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, Denmark. He has won classical competitions for reed instruments, was awarded a scholarship to study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and was the 2nd Prize Winner at the International Saxophone Competition’s Brilliant Note, 2000, and a winner of the International Competition of Jazz Soloists in Klaipeda. Together with Jacob Anderskov and Stefan Pasborg, Mockunas won the first prize at the 2001 European Tournament in Pointiers, France. Since the turn of the millennium Mockunas has gradually made a name in Denmark as sideman in groups like Copenhagen Art Ensemble and Ok Nok Kongo. He has also played in Prize Winner Andrew Hill's JAZZPAR 2003 Nonet and with Mikko Innanen, Mads Hyhne, Kasper Tranberg, Nils Davidsen, Marc Ducret, Mark Solborg, and Pierre Dørge, among others, and he has had a seat in several Lithuanian Symphonic orchestras. Acclaimed pieces for musicals and a film also bear Mockunas name. Though he is a representative of a young Lithuanian jazz generation, he is a mature and experienced musician who has played in many parts of Europe. This reed player works with highly unorthodox mixtures, with sounds ranging from expressive instrumental burnouts over filmic horror to apocalypse-hymns and transcendent bells. His music may be unpredictable with an energized mixture of free jazz, lyricism and mid-European expressionism.
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"Political Selection and Persistence of Bad Governments"
Konstantin Sonin, SUEK Assistant Professor at the New Economic School/CEFIR in Moscow
Date and Time: Thursday, November 19 at 11:45 A.M.
Location: North Hall, 1050 Bascom Mall
Sponsors: CREECA, Political Economy Colloquium (PEC), Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE)
About the lecture: Professor Sonin will discuss the dynamic selection of governments under different political institutions, with a special focus on institutional “flexibility.” A government consists of a subset of the individuals in the society. The competence level of the government in office determines collective utilities (e.g., by determining the amount and quality of public goods), and each individual derives additional utility from being part of the government (e.g., corruption or rents from holding office). This presentation is based on work completed jointly with Daron Acemoglu and Georgy Egorov.
About the speaker: Konstantin Sonin is the SUEK Professor of Economics at the New Economic School/CEFIR in Moscow. His research interests include political economics and applied theory. He earned a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Moscow State University in 1998, was a postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard from 2000 through 2001, and a member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton from 2004 to 2005. Professor Sonin writes a biweekly column on economic and political affairs, which appears in Russian in Vedomosti, the leading Russian business daily, and in English in the Moscow Times. Also, he is a regular contributor to the Russian edition of SmartMoney magazine, as well as to other Russian printed and electronic media.
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"Russia's Resource Curse"
Konstantin Sonin, SUEK Assistant Professor at the New Economic School/CEFIR in Moscow
Date and Time: Thursday, November 19 at 4:00 P.M.
Location: 206 Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive
Sponsor: CREECA and The Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE)
About the lecture: Drawing on materials prepared for the 2009 EBRD Transition Report, Professor Sonin will discuss the political and economic issues of Russia’s resources in the energy sector.
About the speaker: Konstantin Sonin is the SUEK Professor of Economics at the New Economic School/CEFIR in Moscow. His research interests include political economics and applied theory. He earned a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Moscow State University in 1998, was a postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard from 2000 through 2001, and a member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton from 2004 to 2005. Professor Sonin writes a biweekly column on economic and political affairs, which appears in Russian in Vedomosti, the leading Russian business daily, and in English in the Moscow Times. Also, he is a regular contributor to the Russian edition of SmartMoney magazine, as well as to other Russian printed and electronic media.
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Polish Film Festival
Cinematheque
Date and Time: Friday through Sunday, November 20-22
Location: 4070 Vilas Hall, 821 University Avenue
Sponsor: Polish Students Association, CREECA and the Polish Heritage Club of Madison
About the event: This event brings the best of the 2009 Polish Film Festival in America to Madison. All screenings at the Cinematheque are free, but seating is on a first-come, first-seated basis. Doors open 30 minutes before showtime and seats can be saved no later than 10 minutes before showtime. Please see the film festival page on Cinamatheque's web site for more information.
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