This week’s events include an Islamic manuscript exhibit and an all-day Dante symposium!

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Student Event Spotlight

• On Thursday, October 20, at 7:30 pm, the Alexander Hamilton Society will host an in-person discussion on the crisis in Ukraine with Ian Brzezinski, former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Europe and NATO Policy. Professor Matthew Waxman of Columbia Law School will moderate the conversation, which will take place in Pupin 428.

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Recommended 

• On Tuesday, October 18, from 12 to 1 pm, the Committee on Global Thought will host a “lunchtime seminar” on “The First 21st Century: From Globalization to Fragmentation.” Professor Jean-Marie Guéhenno of the School of International and Public Affairs will discuss his recent book Le premier XXIe siècle (The First Twenty-First Century) about clashing Western and Eastern models of social organization. The discussion will take place in Fayerweather 411, with free lunch provided.
• On Tuesday, October 18, from 6 to 8 pm, Butler Library will be holding an opening reception for the exhibit “Science, Nature, and Beauty: Harmony & Cosmological Perspectives in Islamic Science.” The exhibit showcases over 90 manuscripts, instruments, and objects from the Muslim World Manuscript collection housed in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library of the Columbia University Libraries. The items exhibited help to bring into sharp relief the complex and dynamic ways science permeated almost all aspects of life within the Muslim world, while contributing to an understanding of Islamic science as a robust, diverse, and lively scholarly endeavor. The event will begin with opening remarks in Butler 203, with proof of COVID-19 vaccination required to enter. Please register online.
• On Tuesday, October 18, from 6:30 to 9 pm, there will be a discussion and film screening of the 2018 Belarusian film Crystal Swan. Set in the 1990s, Crystal Swan is a drama centered around Velya, a young woman from Minsk who dreams of moving to Chicago and pursuing her passion for house music. A forged document for her American visa application takes her on a trip to the provinces. The film follows her moving, messy, and painful journey in search for personal freedom against the background of the post-Soviet transition. The screening will be followed by a conversation with the director Darya Zhuk. Please register to attend the in-person event in Room 1219 of the International Affairs Building.
• On Thursday, October 20, from 6 to 7 pm, The Atlantic journalist Caitlin Dickerson will join the Columbia School of Journalism’s Professor David Alarcón for an evening discussion. Dickerson has previously written for the New York Times and NPR, and wrote the major September cover story, “An American Catastrophe,” about the US Government’s family separation policy. The event will take place in Pulitzer Hall.
• All day on Friday, October 21, from 8:30 am to 6 pm, Columbia’s Italian Department and the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies will host a symposium celebrating the 30th anniversary of Professor Teodolinda Barolini’s landmark book The Undivine Comedy: Detheologizing Dante. This event brings together international perspectives on how Barolini’s book has shaped the field of Dante studies, with the full program of morning and afternoon discussions available online. All program events will take place at the Casa Italiana Building on Amsterdam Avenue. Please register online to attend any of the events.

Dante and Virgil hope you have a lovely week! via the Columbia University Events Calendar