Past Calendar
Past ACP Events
AMERICAN COMMUNITIES PROGRAM: RESISTANCE
Fall 2021 Calendar
all events are virtual & open to the public
Faculty are invited to bring their classes to and all events.
Please let Maria Karafilis, ACP Director, know if you plan to do so to ensure space on the zoom links ([email protected])
Monday, September 13/12:15pm
American Communities Program Fellows Symposium
Zoom Meeting ID: 858 6921 0715
Please join us as the 2021-22 ACP fellows discuss humanities-based modes of inquiry and ways of theorizing our theme, RESISTANCE. The fellows are John Kennedy (Music), Birte Pfleger (History), and Sara Pugach (History).
Monday, September 27/2pm (we will focus on the Introduction and Ch. 2)
Wednesday, October 6/6pm (we will focus on Chapters 3 and 5)
ACP Reading Group—Dr. Sianne Ngai’s The Theory of the Gimmick
(free copies of the book available—see below)
Reading Group Zoom Meeting ID: 851 9717 4896
All are welcome to the ACP reading group. We will meet twice during Fall semester to discuss Sianne Ngai’s latest book, The Theory of the Gimmick. Dr. Ngai will be giving a virtual talk on campus on October 4th at 6pm, so let’s read her work together. Contact Dr. Juan Lamata ([email protected]) as there is a limited number of free copies of her book that we can distribute to attendees on a first ask, first served basis. Note that Zoom ID above is for reading group only and the October 4th talk requires webinar registration at link listed below.
Monday, October 4/4:30pm
Resistance, Immunity, and the Uses of the Humanities:
A Virtual Conversation with Essayist and Critic Eula Biss
Webinar Link: https://calstatela.zoom.us/j/83956288072
Zoom Meeting ID: 839 5628 8072
Please join us for an interactive discussion with essayist and critic Eula Biss, whose book On Immunity: An Inoculation (Graywolf 2014) is a wide-ranging investigation of the myths and metaphors surrounding vaccination that explores questions raised by parenting, privilege, feminism, environmentalism, science fiction, and political power. On Immunity was a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in criticism. Her most recent book, Having and Being Had (Penguin 2020), explores the value system behind property ownership and the terms we use to understand, or misunderstand, our relationship to money and class.
Monday, October 4/6pm
The Gimmick as Aesthetic Judgment and Capitalist Form: A Virtual Talk
by Sianne Ngai
Webinar Registration Link: https://bit.ly/kubal2021
Dr. Ngai’s (University of Chicago) recent work analyzes the “gimmick” as a form that, both repulsive and yet strangely attractive, can be found virtually everywhere in capitalism. Above all, she argues, gimmicks provoke questions about value bound to labor and time—misgivings that indicate broader anxieties about the measurement of wealth in capitalism. The theory of the gimmick represents a crucial contribution to aesthetic theory from a thinker lauded by The Chronicle of Higher Education as the “most influential literary theorist of her generation.” Dr. Ngai’s talk is the 2021 David L. Kubal Memorial Lecture sponsored by the Cal State LA Department of English.
Wednesday, October 13/12:15pm
Afghanistan and Theatres of War
Webinar Link: https://calstatela.zoom.us/j/81684011585
Zoom Meeting ID: 816 8401 1585
Historically, theatre has played a crucial part in processing the trauma of war, which applies with immediate relevance to Afghanistan today. Five esteemed contributors to a landmark new book titled Theatres of War (Bloomsbury, 2021) provide contemporary perspectives on how theatre can help us understand the past and present situation in Afghanistan. These interdisciplinary experts will address topics including cultural diplomacy, the role of Islam, self-rule, women’s rights, soldiers and families, and how and why literature can play critically important social and political roles.
Tuesday, November 16/6pm
New Research on the History of Cal State LA:
A Virtual Exhibit Launch
LINK FORTHCOMING
What do you know about the history of your own university? Discover the controversies, visions, and transformations that have shaped today's Cal State LA. Join us for an interactive launch of an online exhibit featuring research by History Department students, in cooperation with the University Library's Archive and Special Collections.
SPRING 2020 Calendar of Events
In/Visibilities
February 13
12:15pm/U-SU Theater, First floor U-SU
The California Primary: What’s at Stake?
Join us as scholars and journalists discuss the California primary and its significance for the 2020 election.
February 18
6:30pm (reception begins at 5:30)/Golden Eagle Ballroom
The Annual Jean Burden Poetry Reading: An Evening with Marilyn Chin
Join us for a reading and discussion with award-winning translator, educator, and writer Marilyn Chin, whose work is known for being formally and thematically daring as it explores issues of identity, immigration, and place. Co-sponsored with the Center for Contemporary Poetry and Poetics.
March 2
4:30pm/Los Angeles Room, U-SU Third Floor
Vaporized: The Dematerialization of the World
Join us for a talk by Robert Tercek, renowned futurist and digital media/interactive content expert, as he explores our theme of in/visibilities through the workings and implications of a mobile economy and the narratives and ethics surrounding it.
March 6-April 17
JFK Library, Cal State LA, First Floor
Words UnCaged Exhibit
Check out our interactive exhibit featuring work from formerly incarcerated Cal State LA students to learn more about mass incarceration and the human beings affected by it.
April 22
6-7:30pm/Golden Eagle Ballrooms
An Evening with Angela Davis
Join us for a talk by activist, scholar, and educator Angela Davis. Presented by the Vice President for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion; the Ann Garry & Sharon L. Bishop Feminist Philosophy Endowed Lecture Series; and the Program in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Co-sponsored by the American Communities Program, et.al.
March 10
National Humanities Advocacy Day
Join us for a constellation of activities throughout the day celebrating and advancing the humanities in our communities.
Reading of Karen McDermott’s prize-winning screenplay, “Lullabies of La Jaula”
12:15pm/Cal State LA State Playhouse
Screening of documentary “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am”
6pm/U-SU Theater
April 15
12:15pm/Alhambra Room, U-SU
ACP Fellows Symposium
The ACP 2019-20 fellows (Pablo Baler, Gabriela Fried-Amilivia, and Angela Vergara) will discuss their current research.
April 15
6pm/Los Angeles Room, U-SU
Alternative Histories of Peace and Pluralism: A Talk by Dr. Bruce Grant, New York University
Since 9/11, and fueled by incidents of intolerance in certain Muslim majority countries, there has been a growing perception in the United States that Islam is a religion antithetical to reason, satire, and humor. Professor Bruce Grant offers us another vision of a pluralistic, tolerant, and vibrant public sphere in his study of Muslim satirical magazines and discussion of the implications of satire as an effective weapon of social change and public policy.
We also will have additional pop-up events during the semester, so like us on Facebook to get all of the latest updates!
Co-sponsors include the Cross-Cultural Centers, College of Arts and Letters, Department of History, Pat Brown Institute, Department of Theater Arts and Dance, Department of Political Science, Department of Philosophy, Center for the Study of Genders and Sexualities, and Center for Contemporary Poetry and Poetics.
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Fall 2019 Calendar of Events
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9
AMERICAN COMMUNITIES PROGRAM: FELLOWS SYMPOSIUM
Please join us as the 2019-20 ACP fellows discuss humanities-based modes of inquiry and ways of theorizing our theme, in/visibilities. The fellows are Pablo Baler (Department of Modern Languages and Literatures), Gabriela Fried-Amilivia (Department of Sociology), and Angela Vergara (Department of History).
12:15 pm ● Alhambra Room
3rd Floor ● University-Student Union
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9
QUEER DISAPPEARANCE: A MULTIMEDIA DIALOGUE
Presented in collaboration with the Center for the Study of Genders and Sexualities.
6 PM ● U-SU Theatre
1st Floor ● University-Student Union
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
A BODY IN THE O by Tim Miller: A PERFORMANCE
Join us as we welcome internationally-acclaimed queer performer Tim Miller as Miller performs excerpts from A Body In The O, demonstrating how performance can change our lives and challenge the world to create a better future.
6 PM ● State Playhouse
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16
RACE, GENDER, POWER ALONG THE U.S. - MEXICO BORDER
Join us as we discuss the politics of race, gender, and power along the U.S. - Mexico border.
6 PM ● U-SU Theatre
1st Floor ● University-Student Union
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5
CSGS/ACP: KEN GONZALES-DAY: BONE GRASS BOY
Renowned LA-based Chicano artist Ken Gonzales-Day will present on his multimedia artwork, titled Bone Grass Boy. Part creative fiction, part creative biography, and part photography, Gonzales-Day will speak to what it's like to look for your queer, chicano, and indigenous family history in the archive and to not find it - so you have nothing left to do but invent it on your own.
4:30 PM ● U-SU Theatre
1st floor ● University-Student Union
Presented by the American Communities Program, and co-sponsored by Cross Cultural Centers; Center for the Study of Genders and Sexualities; College of Arts and Letters; Dr. Joseph A. Bailey, II, M.D.; University-Student Union; and student fees.
For more information, or to request accommodations for a disability, please contact Dr. Maria Karafilis, American Communities Program, at [email protected].
Nominal parking fee for off-campus guests.
AMERICAN COMMUNITIES PROGRAM
Spring 2019
The American Communities Program at California State University, Los Angeles promotes humanities-based inquiry into the formation of individual and communal identities in American society.
THE HUMANITIES AND AMERICAN CULTURES
ACP & WORDS UNCAGED
Be on the lookout for pop-up events on and around campus addressing the issue of mass incarceration. Follow the American Communities Program Facebook page or @wordsuncaged on Instagram and Twitter to find out when and where these events will be happening!
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11
EAST LA INTERCHANGE (Q&A with filmmaker Betsy Kalin)
6 PM ● U-SU Theatre
1st Floor ● University-Student Union
East LA Interchange explores the story of working-class Boyle Heights, the oldest neighborhood in East Los Angeles, and depicts the impact of freeways, gentrification and "gentefication," and environmental hazards on long-time residents. Directed by Betsy Kalin, 2016, 57 minutes.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12
JEAN BURDEN POETRY READING: KWAME DAWES, CHANCELLOR OF THE ACADEMY OF AMERICAN POETS AND ROYAL SOCIETY FELLOW
6 PM – 8 PM ● Golden Eagle Ballroom
3rd Floor ● Golden Eagle Building
Join us for this annual poetry event presented by the Center for Contemporary Poetry and Poetics, College of Arts and Letters, Cross Cultural Centers, ACP, and the Department of English.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27
PHOTOGRAPHY IN ARGENTINA: A NATIONAL PASSION
A TALK BY DR. DAVID WILLIAM FOSTER
3 PM ● LIBRARY CONFERENCE ROOM, B 131
In contemporary Argentina, photography profoundly intervenes in and informs politics and sociocultural phenomena. Foster’s presentation focuses on the photography of redemocratization (1983 – 2000) and the nexus of photography/politics in the 21st century.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27
COLD WAR MEAT: THE POLITICS OF PROTEIN BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN
A TALK BY DR. MARY NEUBURGER
6 PM ● LOS ANGELES ROOM BC
3rd Floor ● University-Student Union
Dr. Mary Neuburger, a historian at the University of Texas at Austin, explores the ways in which a newfound cult of meat, based on US forms of production, became central to postwar Eastern Europe’s alternative food system.
MONDAY, MARCH 4
2018 ELECTIONS: NOW WHAT?
4:30 PM ● Los Angeles Room C
3rd Floor ● University-Student Union
Join us for our third and final interactive roundtable on the 2018 election as we debrief and examine the implications of the election results.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10
AMERICAN COMMUNITIES PROGRAM
FACULTY FELLOWS SYMPOSIUM
1:40 PM ● LOS ANGELES ROOM A
3rd Floor ● University-Student Union
Join us as Drs. Shweta Adur, Libby Lewis, and Kimberly Robertson share their current research projects.
Presented by the American Communities Program, and co-sponsored by Cross Cultural Centers; College of Arts and Letters; Center for Contemporary Poetry and Poetics; English; History; Latin American Studies; TV and Film; Dr. Joseph A. Bailey, II, M.D.; University-Student Union; and student fees.
For more information, or to request accommodations for a disability, please contact Dr. Maria Karafilis, American Communities Program, at [email protected], or find us online at www.calstatela.edu/academic/al/acp/.
Nominal parking fee for off-campus guests.
AMERICAN COMMUNITIES PROGRAM
Fall 2018