Fall 2002 - Spring 2003
All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre) (Spain 1999)
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Date: Monday, September 23, 2002
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: 2-105
Paul Julian Smith
Pedro Almodóvar is the most important filmmaker working in Europe. Yet his career is contradictory.
Paul Julian Smith will describe the transition Almodóvar has made between an extravagant 'rose' period and
more sober 'blue' period. He will argue that Almodóvar has single-handedly resurrected an endangered genre,
the art move, as part of a shift into cultural distinction typical of recent Spanish culture.
This talk will pay particular attention to Almodóvar's Oscar-winning All About My Mother, focusing on the treatment of literature, sex, and the city.
Date: September 26, 2002
Time: 7:00pm
Location: 2-105
Ken Bugul
In this lecture Ken Bugul addresses the issue of African women writing on the challenges of Africa today and the expectations of being a Muslim woman writer.
Ken Bugul's real name is Mariétou Mbaye. Ken Bugul is a pseudonym which means in Wolof: "Nobody wants me". She was born in 1948 in the Ndoucoumane, in Senegal. She has published several novels. Her first three are autobiographical. Her fifth novel, De L’autre côté du regard, is forthcoming.
Date: October 17, 2002
Time: 4:30 - 6:30 PM
Location: 4-163
Co-sponsored by the McMillan-Stewart lecture series
Dai Sijie
Native of the Fujian province of China, filmmaker and author Dai Sijie left China in 1984 for France where he has lived and worked ever since.
Dai Sijie was sent away from his "bourgeois doctor'' parents to be "re-educated'' during the Chinese Cultural Revolution in 1966-1971. He was exactly 22 when Mao Zedong died in 1976. He then applied to the University of Arts and was awarded a grant to study abroad.
His first novel "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seastress" was an overnight sensation when it first appeared in France in 2000, becoming an immediate best-seller and winning five prizes.
Dai Sijie is also known as a filmmaker, with three films to his credit: "Chine, ma douleur" (1989), "Le Mangeur de Lune" (1993) and served as both writer and director for "The Eleventh Child" (1998). Dai Sijie has just finished shooting "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress''. Shot on location in China, the film is scheduled for release in 2002.
Date: November 7, 2002
Time: 2:00 PM
Location: E38-714
Co-sponsored by MISTI France
Eva Hoffman
Eva Hoffman will read from her novel, The Secret, and will talk about genes and selves, family relationships in the 21st century, and the impact of contemporary science on our notions of human nature.
Date: November 21, 2002
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: 4-163
Kim HwaSun
As a girl, Kim HwaSun was forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Forces during World War II.
She will discuss her horrifying experience and psychological struggles during and after the war.
Date: February 26, 2003
Time: 7:15 PM
Location: Killlian Hall
Co-sponsored by FL&L, History, Women's Studies Program, MIT Japan Program, Korean Association, and MIT Committee on Campus Race Relations
Rosario Ferré
Rosario Ferré is a Puerto Rican bilingual writer, teacher, and critic. She is the author of Papeles de Pandora (1976), The Youngest Doll (1991), Maldito Amor (1985), Diamond Dust (1989), House on the Lagoon (1995), La Casa de la Laguna (1996) and The Flight of the Swan (2001). House on the Lagoon was picked as one of the five finalists for the National Book Awards in 1995.
A book signing will follow the talk.
Date: April 9, 2003
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: 6-120
Co-sponsored by FL&L, Center for Bilingual/Bicultural Studies, Mujeres Latinas, Women's Studies Program, and the Kelly Douglas Fund
Aparna Sen
In conjunction with this talk, a film Screening of 36 Showringhee Lane will be held on March 12, 2003 at 8 pm in 4-237.
Date: April 16, 2003
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: 10-250
Co-sponsored by The Office of the Arts, FL&L, Center for Bilingual/Bicultural Studies, Women's Studies Program, CMS, Political Science, Anthropology, STS, SAAS, and Sangam
