Join Professor Jiqin Han of Nanjing Agricultural University for a special lecture examining China's approach to food security through its arable land red line system and regional spatial planning. The talk will explore how China addresses urbanization, agricultural sustainability, and regional development while maintaining a stable food supply. Light refreshments will be provided.

Join PeaceWorks on Campus for a powerful conversation with Israeli and Palestinian peacebuilders who are challenging the status quo and working toward a better future. Bringing firsthand experience and deep insight from the ground, these peacebuilders will share their vision for coexistence and discuss how emerging leaders in the United States can help uplift and support their efforts. This is a unique opportunity to hear personal stories, ask questions, and explore meaningful ways to engage in dialogue on this topic.
 

PeaceWorks is limited to current MSU students, staff, faculty, and administrators. This event is not open to the public. Complimentary dinner will be provided.

Experience India through student-made documentary films exploring women artisans, street dogs, music, cinema, cricket, sacred spaces, and everyday life. This special screening showcases the creativity and research of students in the Cultural Studies with Purpose program. Light refreshments, including samosas and chai, will be provided.

This event is FREE and open to the public!

This event is hosted by the MSU Center for Integrative Studies in Social Science lead by Prof Eddie Boucher and co-sponsored by the India Council Endowment administered by the MSU Asian Studies Center.

Join MSU alumnus and former CNN international correspondent Marc Stewart for an engaging conversation about his journey from East Lansing to international journalism, including his experiences reporting from Beijing, China. Marc will share stories from his career, discuss the realities of reporting across cultures and borders, and reflect on the skills he learned while at JMC that shaped his path to CNN and work in the filed of journalism.

Please fill out this form to register.

Nathan L. M. Tabor is an associate professor in the Department of History at Western Michigan University.

City of Lyrics: Ordinary Poets and Islamicate Popular Culture in Early Modern Delhi chronicles the origins of a global poetry phenomenon. For centuries, Urdu-speaking poets and their audiences have gathered for mushairahs, literary competitions centered on spoken-word verse. Today, these gatherings draw audiences in the millions, both in person and online.

Tracing this tradition back to its origins, Nathan Tabor explores the popular emergence of the mushairah in eighteenth-century Delhi. Through the work of common and elite poets, these gatherings circulated lyrics, satires, and songs while shaping ideas of hierarchy, taste, and cultural expression.

Co-sponsors: James Madison College, Asian Studies Center, and the MSU Muslim Studies Program.

Join Ven. Di Xing, an independent scholar of Buddhist thought, for the Joseph Lee Lecture exploring Buddhist perspectives on causation through the Yogacarabhumi-Sastra. The lecture examines how the text approaches the longstanding philosophical debate over whether an effect already exists within its cause. Food and beverages will be provided.

Join in-person or via Zoom Here. 

This event is made possible by the Joseph Lee Endowment administered by the MSU Asian Studies Center, co-hosted by Prof Tze-lan Sang of MSU LiLaC Department, and co-sponsored by the MSU Religious Studies Department.

A public screening featuring Etgar Keret: Based on a True Story alongside a selection of short films, offering a dynamic exploration of Israeli literature, storytelling, and visual culture.

In his short stories, Israeli writer Etgar Keret mixes fantasy and reality. His own life story also comes across as a modern fairy tale. In this hybrid documentary, the filmmakers investigate why storytelling is essential for Keret's survival.

Vered Weiss is Assistant Professor at the Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities at Michigan State University and a core faculty member of the Serling Institute.

Featuring MSP Founding Coordinator Mohammed Ayoob

Join the Muslim Studies Program in celebrating its 20th anniversary and reflecting on two decades of interdisciplinary teaching, research, and outreach focused on Muslim societies and communities around the world. The event will feature Mohammed Ayoob, the program's founding coordinator and University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of International Relations, as the program commemorates its history and contributions to the MSU community. The Muslim Studies Program was established at MSU in 2006.

Israel, Drama, 2007, 1 hr. 18 min.

Directors: Shira Geffen and Etgar Keret

Meduzot, the Hebrew word for Jellyfish, tells the story of three very different Israeli women living in Tel Aviv whose intersecting stories weave an unlikely portrait of modern Israeli life. Batya, a catering waitress, takes in a young child apparently abandoned at a local beach. Batya is one of the servers at the wedding reception of Keren, a young bride who breaks her leg while trying to escape from a locked toilet stall, ruining her chance at a romantic honeymoon in the Caribbean. One of the guests is Joy, a Filipino caregiver attending the event with her employer. She does not speak Hebrew and communicates mainly in English, while struggling with guilt after leaving her young son behind in the Philippines.

Winner of three Cannes Film Festival awards, including the prestigious Camera d'Or, Jellyfish boasts five wins and 14 nominations.

Etgar Keret is an internationally acclaimed Israeli writer and filmmaker known for his distinctive short stories, which blend the bizarre with the everyday to create surreal worlds that are both dark and comic. His books have been published in more than 45 languages and are bestsellers in Israel. He is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Sapir Prize, the Prime Minister's Prize, and the Charles Bronfman Prize.

More than 60 short films and feature films have been based on Keret's work. As a filmmaker, he co-directed Jellyfish with his wife, Shira Geffen, which won the Camera d'Or for Best First Feature at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. His latest short story collection, Autocorrect, was published in 2025.

Keret's work has appeared in publications including The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and The Paris Review. He teaches creative writing at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and directs the MFA program at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.