February 2016 - urbanstudiescircular@lists.qc.cuny.edu

[UrbanStudiesCircular] Feb 17: Speaking Truth to Power: A Panel on Academic Freedoms and the War Against Kurds in Turkey
by urbanstudiescircular＠lists.qc.cuny.edu 15 Feb '16

15 Feb '16

Speaking Truth to Power: A Panel on Academic Freedoms and the War Against Kurds in Turkey Wednesday, February 17th 6:00-8:00 pm | Room C203/C204/C205 A panel discussion featuring David Harvey (The Graduate Center, CUNY) Nazan Üstündağ (Boğaziçi University),Aslı Iğsız (New York University), and Kamal Soleimani, moderated by Anthony Alessandrini (The Graduate Center, CUNY and Kingsborough Community College. This event will be live streamed. Please visit: http://videostreaming.gc.cuny.edu. *Co-sponsored by Middle Easter Studies Org (MESO); MEMEAC; Department of Anthropology Following the June 2015 general elections, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) renewed the state’s forty-year-long war against Kurds. This move ended the peace negotiations that had been taking place between the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) and the government since 2013. The resurgence of the war has led to increasing ultranationalist rhetoric in the media, public shaming of dissidents, and persecution of Kurdish and leftist politicians, further curtailing the already-limited political freedoms and basic rights in the country. Since August 16, 2015, the government has been imposing indefinite curfews in seven Kurdish-populated cities in Turkey. The curfews and clashes have resulted in the deaths of at least 198 civilians, while hundreds of thousands have been forced to migrate. On January 10th, 1,128 academics released a peace petition condemning the Turkish state’s acts and declared that they “will not be a party to this crime.” The statement quickly went viral, mostly due to President Erdogan’s open targeting of the signatories by declaring them “traitors.” In less than two hours following Erdogan’s speech, the Turkish Higher Education Council announced that it would launch an investigation against those signatories who are affiliated with Turkish higher education and research institutions. Since then, academics who signed the petition have been publicly targeted, criminalized, and fired from their positions in universities. Despite increasing pressure from the government, media, and judiciary, the peace petition’s signatures had increased to 2,279 by January 20th. This panel sheds light upon the ongoing attacks against academic freedoms and freedom of speech in Turkey. Perhaps more importantly, it also intends to publicize the current war in Kurdish cities and unmask the atrocities committed by the Turkish state — the original intent of the Turkish academics’ peace petition. Organized by the Middle Eastern Studies Organization (MESO) Co-Sponsored by the Department of Anthropology and the Middle East & Middle Eastern American Center (MEMEAC). Nazan Üstündağ is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Boğaziçi University. She received her PhD from Indiana University. Her interests include theories of modernity and postcoloniality, feminist studies, ethnography of the state, state and violence and resistance. Currently, she is working on a book manuscript on how state violence has been inscribed on the things, spaces, bodies, as well as visual and written documents in and on Kurdistan. Besides her academic interests, she also writes in political journals and newspapers. She is a founding member of the Peace Parliament and Academics for Peace, as well as a member of Women for Peace. David Harvey is a Distinguished Professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY); Director of The Center for Place, Culture and Politics; and author of numerous books. Harvey earned his Ph.D. from Cambridge University, was formerly professor of geography at Johns Hopkins, a Miliband Fellow at the London School of Economics, and Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography at Oxford. His highly influential books include The New Imperialism; Paris, Capital of Modernity; Social Justice and the City; Limits to Capital; The Urbanization of Capital; The Condition of Postmodernity; Justice, Nature, and the Geography of Difference; Spaces of Hope; and Spaces of Capital: Towards a Critical Geography. Aslı Iğsız is Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University. Iğsız earned her PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Michigan (2007). Her publications span a variety of issues that include the politics of memory; nation branding; liberal multiculturalism; alliance of civilizations and image wars; law, neoliberalism, and the Gezi Park Protests in Turkey. Her current book project, Humanism in Ruins: Liberal Multiculturalism, Memory, and the 1923 Greek-Turkish Population Exchange in Contemporary Turkey, examines the implications of diversity and cultural memory as a mode of humanism in the post-Cold War and the post 1980 military-coup era. Iğsız’s new project explores place branding, image, and discourses of civilization with regards to the Middle East. Kamal Soleimani received his PhD from the department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University (2014). Until recently, he worked as an Assistant Professor at Mardin Artuklu University (MAU), Turkey. Soleimani was one of the 14 international scholars who were fired by the MAU administration. Soleimani’s book on Islam and nationalism in the Middle East will be out in April 2016. Anthony Alessandrini is a Professor of English at Kingsborough Community College and the MA Program in Middle Eastern Studies at The CUNY Graduate Center, where he is also a member of the Committee on Globalization and Social Change. Alessandrini received his Ph.D. in English at Rutgers University (2000). He is the author of Frantz Fanon and the Future of Cultural Politics: Finding Something Different; the editor of Frantz Fanon: Critical Perspectives; and the co-editor of the JadMag special issue “Resistance Everywhere”: The Gezi Protests and Dissident Visions of Turkey. He is a member of the faculty of the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, and is a Co-Editor of Jadaliyya E-Zine.??

1 0

[UrbanStudiesCircular] Feb 11: Power and Planning in the Ancient Maya City
by urbanstudiescircular＠lists.qc.cuny.edu 08 Feb '16

08 Feb '16

The Pre-Columbian Society of New York invites you to join us for our February Lecture: Timothy Pugh (Professor, Dept. of Anthropology, Queens College, CUNY) Power and Planning in the Ancient Maya City Thursday, February 11, 2016 6:00 PM in the Lecture Hall The Institute of Fine Arts 1 East 78th Street Planned city grids, typically associated with strong central (state) control, were rare in ancient Mesoamerica, and, until now, unknown among the lowland Maya. Yet the site of Nixtun-Ch'ich' on the western shore of Lake Petén Itzá, in Petén, northern Guatemala, exhibits a clear grid, which new data suggest was constructed between 400 and 200 BC. During this period, states, kingship, and cities were coming into being in the Maya lowlands, accompanied by complex forms of administration for a growing and increasingly diverse and stratified population. One wonders about the power dynamics necessary to "rationalize" the landscape in such a novel and imposing matter in an area where such organization was unheard of and far from traditional. One might also consider how such overt manipulations of space by elites (strategies) were received by the general population (tactics). This talk traces the organization of Nixtun-Ch'ich' from the implementation of the highly regulated cityscape to its abandonment at the end of the Late Preclassic period (ca. AD 200).? (Please note that seating in the Lecture Hall is on a first-come, first-served basis with RSVP<mailto:info@pcsny.org?subject=RSVP%2C%20Feb.%2011th%20Lecture>. There will be a simulcast in an adjacent room to accommodate overflow. Latecomers are not guaranteed a seat.) Followed by a reception with wine and cheese in the Loeb Room?

1 0

[UrbanStudiesCircular] Marcella Bencivenni: US Anticommunism & Espionage: Case of Carl Marzani
by urbanstudiescircular＠lists.qc.cuny.edu 08 Feb '16

08 Feb '16

Marcella Bencivenni: US Anticommunism & Espionage: Case of Carl Marzani The Graduate Center 365 Fifth Avenue, Room 5318 February 25, 4:30 - 6:30 PM Description This paper examines the case of Carl Marzani, one of the first political victims of the Cold War. A former employee of the Office of Strategic Services (wartime precursor to the CIA), Marzani was charged with hiding his past communist affiliations to keep his government job and was sentenced to three years in jail. His case went to the Supreme Court twice, but both times deliberations ended in a tie vote, therefore upholding his conviction. The Marzani case illustrates a highly charged debate about the history of American communism and Soviet espionage that has exploded in the last two decades as a result of recently declassified documents, most notably the "Venona files" and the KGB and CIA archives. Marcella Bencivenni: A native Italian and CUNY Graduate Center alumna, Marcella Bencivenni is Associate Professor of History at Hostos Community College/CUNY, where she has been teaching since 2004. Her research focuses on the histories of im/migration, labor, and social movements in the modern United States, with a particular interest in the Italian American experience. She is the author of Italian Immigrant Radical Culture: The Idealism of the Sovversivi in the United States, 1890-1940 (2011, repr. 2014), and co-editor of Radical Perspectives on Immigration (2008). She has also published over a dozen book chapters, articles and historiographical essays on topics related to the Italian diaspora and American radicalism and was recently featured in the Grammy-nominated TV show "Who Do You Think You Are?" helping Italian American actress Valerie Bertinelli trace her past. Marcella is currently working on two new projects: she is editing the autobiography of leftwing activist Carl Marzani, who became the first political victim of McCarthyism, and has also started a new book tentatively titled Italian Immigration, the Triangle Fire and the Politics of Memory for which she received a Chancellor Research Award for the 2014-2015 academic year and a Distinguished CUNY Fellowship for the Spring 2016. Sponsor: Advanced Research Collaborative More info: http://www.gc.cuny.edu/Public-Programming/Calendar/Detail?id=34711

1 0

[UrbanStudiesCircular] Feb 23: Migrant Labour in China: A Post-Socialist Transformation
by urbanstudiescircular＠lists.qc.cuny.edu 08 Feb '16

08 Feb '16

?Migrant Labor in China: A Post-Socialist Transformation Join us for an important discussion with Pun Ngai, author ofMigrant Labor in China, forthcoming in 2016 from Polity Press, moderated by Ruth Milkman, Research Director, Murphy Institute. February 23, 6:30 - 8:30 PM The Murphy Institute 25 West 43rd Street, 18th floor RSVP and more info: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/migrant-labour-in-china-a-post-socialist-trans… Long known as the world's factory, China is the largest manufacturing economy ever seen, accounting for more than 10% of global exports. China is also, of course, home to the largest workforce on the planet, the crucial element behind its staggering economic success. But who are China's workers who keep the machine running, and how is the labour process changing under economic reform? Pun Ngai received a PhD from the School of Oriental and African studies at the University of London in 1998. She is currently a professor in the social science department at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She has written extensively about labor and gender issues in China. Her book MADE IN CHINA: WOMEN FACTORY WORKERS IN A GLOBAL WORKPLACE was the winner of the C. Wright Mills Award in 2006.

1 0

[UrbanStudiesCircular] Feb 18: Charlotte Brooks: Chinese American Citizens in China's Treaty Ports
by urbanstudiescircular＠lists.qc.cuny.edu 08 Feb '16

08 Feb '16

Charlotte Brooks: Chinese American Citizens in China's Treaty Ports The Graduate Center 365 Fifth Avenue, Room 5318 February 18, 4:30 - 6:30 PM? Description The tension between formal citizenship status and actual "belonging" shaped the lives of Chinese American citizens in Republican China. In the most basic sense, legal complications abounded for people of Chinese ancestry who "returned" to China. US law recognized ethnic Chinese born on American soil as citizens, but the status of Chinese Americans who left the United States sparked intense debates within the US State Department about the degree of assistance and protection they, and all American citizens abroad, merited. Many US officials for racial reasons discounted Chinese American citizens' demands on the state, while Chinese governments after the turn of the 20th century contended that all children of Chinese fathers were themselves Chinese citizens. Until World War II, American citizens also enjoyed extraterritoriality in China, and Chinese Americans often sought refuge in their US citizenship at times of political and social upheaval. The legal status of Chinese Americans thus provoked constant disputes among American officials and between the US and China, reflecting not just different citizenship laws but also the growing anti-imperialist movement in Asia. Charlotte Brooks is Professor of History and Chair of the Program in Asian and Asian American Studies at Baruch College, CUNY. Her research interests include 20th century America, Republican China, Sino-American relations, transnationalism, urban history, immigration, race, and politics. She is the author of Alien Neighbors, Foreign Friends: Asian Americans, Housing, and the Transformation of Urban California and Between Mao and McCarthy: Chinese American Politics in the Cold War Years, as well as numerous articles. Currently, she is writing a book about the thousands of Chinese American citizens who left the United States to settle in China in the first of the 20th century. She received her Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 2002. Sponsor: Advanced Research Collaborative More info: http://www.gc.cuny.edu/Public-Programming/Calendar/Detail?id=34710

1 0

[UrbanStudiesCircular] Feb 11: ICE-FREE NYC meeting
by urbanstudiescircular＠lists.qc.cuny.edu 08 Feb '16

08 Feb '16

ICE-FREE NYC - A Campaign to End All Collaboration with ICE Dear Friends, Join ICE-FREE NYC at our next meeting, on Thursday, February 11th at 7PM at Families for Freedom (35 W. 31st Street, #702, New York, 10001). After two great mobilizations, we are developing a rapid response system to protect New Yorkers and our families caught in home raids and supporting efforts in local boroughs. We will be selecting individuals who would like to be part of the coordinating committee and representatives of work going on in the outer boroughs. Join us to plan our next steps! Please be on time. In Solidarity, ICE-FREE NYC More info: http://us8.campaign-archive2.com/?u=b5082bf0b99490377ff58bb9e&id=e6f79a355b…

1 0

[UrbanStudiesCircular] Documentary Series on Urban Studies and Film Screening at Van Alen, 2/17
by urbanstudiescircular＠lists.qc.cuny.edu 08 Feb '16

08 Feb '16

From: "Van Alen Institute" <vai(a)vanalen.org<mailto:vai@vanalen.org>> Date: February 3, 2016 at 10:29:52 PM GMT+1 To: <brian.t.rosa(a)gmail.com<mailto:brian.t.rosa@gmail.com>> Subject: Van Alen Institute, The Atlantic, and CityLab Launch Van Alen Sessions Reply-To: vai(a)vanalen.org<mailto:vai@vanalen.org> [https://staticapp.icpsc.com/icp/loadimage.php/mogile/1459655/aceb91c3b2a2bf…] Van Alen Institute, The Atlantic, and CityLab Launch Van Alen Sessions [https://www.vanalen.org/content/uploads/2016/02/VanAlenSessions-Intro-webv2…] We're thrilled to share the launch of Van Alen Sessions, a short-documentary series presented with The Atlantic<http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=25663144&msgid=165419&act=ZJZD&c=…> and CityLab<http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=25663144&msgid=165419&act=ZJZD&c=…>! Season One: "Tunnel Vision," directed by Kelly Loudenberg, takes viewers on revealing trips through the internal workings of three cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Seattle. Each episode explores what it takes to create the transit networks that shape our routines and relationships, and presents expert analysis alongside the experiences of ordinary people. Watch the first episode<http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=25663144&msgid=165419&act=ZJZD&c=…> on the $20 billion Gateway Project now. The video offers new vantage points into ongoing tunnel construction, offset with first-hand accounts from New Jersey Transit and Amtrak commuters. Interviews with Petra Messick (Amtrak) and Tom Wright (Regional Plan Association) provide insight into the current transportation crisis' roots in outdated infrastructure and the deterioration caused by Hurricane Sandy. Join Us! | Screening | Feb. 17[https://staticapp.icpsc.com/icp/loadimage.php/mogile/1459655/e4144203323… Come raise a glass at Van Alen's Flatiron hub, where we'll project all three episodes from Season One of Van Alen Sessions on loop, so attendees are welcome to drop in, catch an episode, and meet the team behind the project. REGISTER<http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=25663144&msgid=165419&act=ZJZD&c=…> Van Alen Sessions is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Van Alen Institute 30 West 22nd St. New York, NY 10010 212 924 7000<tel:212%20924%207000> vanalen.org Support Van Alen<http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=25663144&msgid=165419&act=ZJZD&c=…> [Twitter]<http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=25663144&msgid=165419&act=ZJZD&c=…> [Facebook] <http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=25663144&msgid=165419&act=ZJZD&c=…> [Instagram] <http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=25663144&msgid=165419&act=ZJZD&c=…> [https://staticapp.icpsc.com/icp/loadimage.php/mogile/1459655/e80d4be4be896b…]

1 0

[UrbanStudiesCircular] Media Studies Colloquium Series Presents: Prof. Laurie Ouellette 2/10
by urbanstudiescircular＠lists.qc.cuny.edu 08 Feb '16

08 Feb '16

Prof. Laurie Ouellette teaches television and new media at the University of Minnesota. She brings social and political theory into conversation with popular media in order to map and critique the cultural formations associated with neoliberalism and postindustrial capitalism. She will discuss her soon-to-be published book Lifestyle TV, which argues that phenomena like HGTV, the Kardashians, and Sister Wives are too important to ignore. Date: 2/10/2016 Time: 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm G Building, Room 200 More Information: http://www.qc.cuny.edu/Academics/Degrees/DAH/MediaStudies/Pages/Colloquia.a…

1 0

[UrbanStudiesCircular] Master's Funding Opportunities at Hunter College for Students Interested in Transportation
by urbanstudiescircular＠lists.qc.cuny.edu 06 Feb '16

06 Feb '16

1. The Master's program of the University Transportation Research Center at Hunter College has been approved for the AITE scholarship program ($25,000 per student for four semesters). Two applicants from our program were awarded this scholarship last year, 100% success rate. To apply for an AITE Full-Time Student Scholarship (http://www.utrc2.org/education/aite-scholarships) an applicant will need to: * Apply and be admitted as a matriculated student to our Master's program; * Have completed a bachelor's degree with a minimum grade point average of 2.7; * Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. 2. $1,500 award to an incoming female Master's student, funded by Society of Woman Geographers New York Group. Please contact Prof. Hongmian Gong at gong(a)hunter.cuny.edu<mailto:gong@hunter.cuny.edu> should you have any questions regarding these two funding opportunities. You may find more information here: More info here: http://www.utrc2.org/full-time-student-scholarship

1 0

[UrbanStudiesCircular] Job Opportunity: Program and Policy Implementation Manager, Community Food Advocates
by urbanstudiescircular＠lists.qc.cuny.edu 06 Feb '16

06 Feb '16

Job Announcement: Program and Policy Implementation Manager Summary: Community Food Advocates is seeking a Program and Policy Implementation Manager to join our team. We are a policy impact organization working to reform policies and programs relating to food and income so they are more equitable and accessible to low-income New Yorkers. Core to our mission is ensuring that communities most directly impacted by these policies and programs play a leading role in the advocacy process. We are seeking a Program and Policy Implementation Manager to monitor universal free school lunch in New York City middle schools to identify barriers to successful implementation and best practices. This position will play an important role in our campaign to eliminate the poverty stigma around school lunch by calling for free school lunch for all New York City public school students. In this role, the Program and Policy Implementation Manager will also collaborate closely with other CFA staff, and our numerous and diverse organizational and governmental partners. Must be comfortable working in a small collaborative environment that values healthy, respectful debate and be excited about the opportunities and challenges in building a new organization. Responsibilities: The primary responsibility of the Program and Policy Implementation Manager will be to help identify barriers to the implementation of universal free school lunch in New York City public schools. Key to this role will be engaging with New York City public school stakeholders who are most directly affected such as students, parents, community members, teachers, principals, the Department of Education, and the Department's Office of SchoolFood. Through a variety of methods including surveys, site visits, interviews, and focus groups, the Program and Policy Implementation Manager will solicit feedback from stakeholders and policy makers to evaluate student participation, identify barriers, and issue recommendations in order to increase student participation and enable successful expansion of the program to all New York City public school students. Qualifications: · 3-5 years experience with program evaluation and policy analysis · Passionate and committed to advancing economic and social justice · Strong planning, writing, and communication skills · Experience with political process and community engagement a plus · High level of responsibility, personal accountability and initiative · Strong interpersonal skills and able to relate well to people from different backgrounds · Able to work both independently and in collaboration with others including CFA colleagues, community and coalition partners, etc. · Well organized and able to manage multiple deadlines and details efficiently · Basic understanding of computer programs such as Microsoft Word, Excel, etc. Details of Position: · Full time position · Position will require travel throughout New York City · Benefits include health insurance; generous vacation, personal, and sick time off policies plus 1 week off between Christmas and New Years; and Transitcheck To Apply: Submit cover letter, resume, and a 1-3 page writing sample to Sara Trongone at strongone(a)foodadvocates.org<mailto:strongone@foodadvocates.org> People of color and low-income people are strongly encouraged to apply. Community Food Advocates is an equal opportunity employer.

1 0