A boy named Sen (Wu Zhi-Xuan) struggles to cope with the recent death of his older brother. While his mother works each night at a local convenience store, Sen rides his bike around their suburb. He does homework in a fast food restaurant, hanging out at a manhwa (comics) library, and searching through his later brother's mobile telephone. Via the telephone Sen learns that his brother was a regular viewer of a streaming videocast. Through the cast he contacts its presenter, an elderly woman known simply as Granny (Nina Paw). Granny is a taxi driver suffering from stage 4 lung cancer and has been given three months to live. She obstinately insists she will make it to day 100. Together she and Sen make an unexpected connection and develop a stronger acceptance of death between them.
Co-Sponsors: Asian pop-up Cinema, Asian Studies Center, Center for Gender in Global Context, Chinese Program, Film Studies Program, Global Studies in the Art & Humanities, LGBT Resource Center, Ministry of Education of R.O.C. (Taiwan), Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago
Author Jeff Lilley will speak about his book Have the Mountains Fallen? Two Journeys of Loss and Redemption in the Cold War traces the lives of these two men as they confronted the full threat and legacy of the Soviet empire. Through narratives of loss, love, and longing for a homeland forever changed, a clearer picture emerges of the struggle for freedom inside the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Please email for more information regarding this event.
Co-Sponsored by: James Madison College; Asian Studies Center; and Center for European, Russian and Eurasion Studies.
Arabic Diwan is a gathering of Arabic students who are in the Arabic program, where they speak the language and learn about the culture in a relaxed environment with our Fulbright teaching assistant. Students from all Arabic language levels are encourages to attend. Also, we extend the invitation to the Arabic speaking students at the English Center.
The Unorthodox
A film by Eliran Malka, 2018. When Yakov Cohen's daughter is expelled from school for ethnic reasons, he decides to fight back. It's 1983 and Yakov is just a regular guy. But he has the will and the passion to take action, and a belief that he and other Sephardic Jews should be able to hold their heads up proudly.
Sponsored by the Michael and Elaine Serling Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel
Co-sponsored by James Madison College, the Lester and Jewell Morris Hillel Jewish Student Center, the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, the Department of Religious Studies, the Department of English, the Department of History, the Department of Linguistics & Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages, the Asian Studies Center, Global Studies in the Arts and Humanities, and the College of Arts and Letters.
Muhi: Generally Temporary
1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
A film by Rina Castelnuovo and Tamir Elterman, 2017. For seven years Muhi, a brave and spirited boy from Gaza, has been living in Tel Hashomer, an Israeli hospital, the only home he has ever known. Caught between two homes and two peoples, he is raised by Israeli volunteers in the hospital and his grandfather.
And Then She Arrived
3:15 - 5:30 p.m.
A Charming romantic comedy about Dan Freilich, a handsome, easy-going nerd who is quite sure his future is organized for the next 50 years. The plan is that soon he will marry Tamar, his high school sweetheart. That's all he needs...until he meets Meirav, a waitress from Jerusalem. Followed by a complimentary dinner catered by Woody's Oasis Mediterranean Deli.
Shoelaces
6:30-8:45 p.m.
A film by Jacob Goldwasser, 2018. Moving, crowd-pleasing drama about the complicated relationship between an aging father and his special-needs son. Reuben's kidneys are failing and his son Gadi wants to donate one of his own kidneys to help save his father's life. However, the transplant committee objects, claiming that Reuben, Gadi's sole legal guardian, has a conflict of interest.
Sponsored by the Michael and Elaine Serling Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel
Co-sponsored by James Madison College, the Lester and Jewell Morris Hillel Jewish Student Center, the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, the Department of Religious Studies, the Department of English, the Department of History, the Department of Linguistics & Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages, the Asian Studies Center, Global Studies in the Arts and Humanities, and the College of Arts and Letters.
Speaker: Chengzhi Chu, Associate Professor of Chinese, Faculty of the Graduate Group in Lingustics, Undergraduate Faculty Advisor for Chinese
In linguistic studies and Chinese character teaching, it is common to consider properties of old and modern Chinese scripts together as within a synchronic system. Such a treatment has several consequences. This talk will select the following issues to address:
The pictographic and ideographic myths of Chinese characters;
Character teaching methods based on the ideographic understanding;
Development of writing tools and the properties of Chinese characters; and
Traditional vs. simplified characters. Implications for Chinese character teaching and learning will also be discussed.
Please register in advance for this event.
This workshop series is supported by the Asian Studies Center Virtual Speaker Program and is organized by Xuefei Hao, Academic Specialist of the MSU Chinese Program.
Book: The First Muslim: The Story of Muhammad
by Lesley Hazleton
Lecture/discussion led by Dustin Byrd, Associate Professor of Humanities, Olivet College
Muhammad's was a life of almost unparalleled historical importance; yet for all the iconic power of his name, the intensely dramatic story of the prophet of Islam is not well known. In The First Muslim, Lesley Hazleton brings him vibrantly to life. Drawing on early eyewitness sources and on history, politics, religion, and psychology, she renders him as a man in full, in all his complexity and vitality. Impeccably researched and thrillingly readable, Hazleton's narrative creates vivid insight into a man navigating between idealism and pragmatism, faith and politics, nonviolence and violence, rejection and acclaim. The First Muslim illuminates not only an immensely significant figure but his lastingly relevant legacy.
This event will feature a short presentation from Dr. Dustin Byrd (MSU Department of Religious Studies), followed by small group discussions of the book led by graduate students and question and answer time with the author. Free and open to the public. Presented by MSU Muslim Studies Program and MSU Libraries. Co-sponsored by East Lansing Public Library.
Please register in advance for this book discussion:
Zoom link:
https://msu.zoom.us/j/894960440
Speakers: Prof. Zoya Hasan JNU
Dr. Rajesh Tandon, PRIA
Discussion leaders: Mark Axelrod, Linda Racioppi, Sejuti Dasgupta (all JMC faculty)
Sponsored ;by United Madison Multicultural Assn., MSU Muslim Studies Center and Asian Studies Center, JMC Comparative Culture and Politics
FLAS Fellowships
Global Speaker Program
Asian Studies Center Newsletter
AIFIS-MSU Conference on Indonesian Studies
