Russian Writer-in-Residence Short Story Reading

Marianna Goncharova

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Russian Writer-in-Residence

Current Grinnell College International Visiting Fellow 

Please join us for a reading of short stories as read by the author, Marianna Goncharova, and translated by students in the Russian Senior Seminar:

Jacob Cohn '16
Charles Eddy '16
Jordan Matosky '16 
Rachel Morgan '16
Luke Panciera '16

Tuesday December 1, 2015 at 4pm in ARH 201 
Refreshments will be served

A Level Playing Field?

Zombie Theories of Athletic, Genetics, and Race in Mainstream Global Media

Presentation Monday, November 30, 7:30pm at Joe Rosenfield '25 Center, Room 101

Matthew W. Hughey, PhD

Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Connecticut where he also serves as Affiliate Faculty in the Africana Studies Institute and the American Studies Program

Professor Hughey is set to discuss the debate over black athleticism and biological determinism. He proposes that with the domination of black athletics over white challengers—such as boxer Jack Johnson or sprinter Jessie Owens—some began to assert that blacks possessed a biological predisposition toward athletic excellence and that Darwinian winnowing during chattel slavery’s harsh conditions magnified African American and West Indian athletic prowess.

© Creative Commons

Despite biological and sociological evidence to the contrary, recent mainstream journalism has collectively advanced the proposition that black athletic success is the product of little more than genetic traits. In this talk, Professor Hughey will examine the events and ideologies employed to reify a media discourse of “black brawn vs. white brains.” He demonstrates how such a thesis is empirically untenable and represents a “zombie theory”—an idea that just won’t die.

Free and open to the public, refreshments will be served.

International Faculty Development Seminar Opportunity

Grinnell College is a member of the Academic Consortium through the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE). CIEE promotes international education and exchange. There are funds still available for 2015 through the CIEE's International Faculty Development Seminar (IFDS) to be applied to the winter 2016 seminars.

Here are the general guidelines for awarding the grant:

• Recipients must be first-time IFDS participants. 
• The grant can be awarded in one of the following ways:
• (1) x $2,000 grant to one participant OR
• (2) x $1,000 grants to two participants OR 
• (4) x $500 grants to four participants

Please note that only $1000 of the benefit can be used towards a 7-day seminar.

The two seminars that are still eligible for this grant are:

The Intersection of Language Learning & Intercultural Learning Argentina Jan. 4-10, 2016

                                And

Consuming Istanbul: Politics of Space and Spectacle Turkey, Jan. 5-14, 2016

Faculty, please contact the Center for International Studies if you are interested in applying for this grant. Enrollment for winter seminars closes Tuesday, November 17, 2015.

Xu Xing, author and filmmaker, visits Grinnell

Photo courtesy of East Asian Studies Department and History Department.

Iconic Chinese author and filmmaker, Xu Xing, will visit campus next week on Nov. 9 and 10 to talk about one of his documentaries, "A Chronicle of My Cultural Revolution." Sponsored by the East Asian Studies and History Departments, Xing will visit Grinnell as one of his last stops of his American collegiate tour, which included talks at Harvard, University of Pittsburgh and Yale.

Xing attained literary fame and acclaim post-Chinese Cultural Revolution as an integral member of the literary revival movement in China. After living in Berlin after the Cultural Revolution, Xing finally returned to China settling in Beijing where he currently lives.  A lot of his work focuses on themes of spatial and individual freedoms, and humor and fantasy. Given his worldly knowledge after traveling to foreign countries, he explores popular culture in his literary and other artistic works.

Film Screening:
On Monday, Nov. 9, from 7:30p to 10p in ARH 302, Xu Xing will be present at the screening of his own documentary, "A Chronicle of My Cultural Revolution," which details his personal reflection of China's Proletarian Cultural Revolution. The screening will conclude with a Q&A session. Translation will be provided.

Xu Xing: An International Life of Arts and Letters
On Tuesday, Nov. 10, from 4:15p to 5:15p in Burling Lounge, Xu Xing will share insight on his own journey within the world of arts and letters in contemporary China. Translation will be provided as well.