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In This Issue
Community Liaison Committee Meets March 9
American University’s Community Liaison Committee (CLC) will hold a quarterly meeting on Tuesday, March 9. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. via RingCentral, a video-conferencing service powered by Zoom.
To register for the meeting, visit the registration page. Prior to the meeting, each registrant will receive an email and a calendar invite from Justice & Sustainability Associates with information on how to access the meetings.
The CLC was established to foster positive relations and to maintain regular communication between the university and its neighbors. As specified in the D.C. Zoning Commission Order for AU’s 10-year Campus Plan, the CLC comprises individuals from neighboring community organizations and representatives from the university.
Additional information on the CLC, including meeting agendas and minutes can be found at the CLC website.
Calendar and Events
Empowering Truth: Why America Needs True Journalists in an Increasingly Complicated World
March 2, 12 – 1 p.m.,
Virtual Meeting Room
Ethics for Excellence is the focus in the latest installment of this five-part series. Award-winning journalist Ann Curry examines what beyond talent, actually sets us apart in the world, and how to develop a code to guide us towards achieving our best. Session by session, Curry explores the value and vulnerabilities of truth and the fundamental skills we can develop, both practical and emotional to not only get it, but to defend it, and thus, each other. Click here to register.
Virtual Exhibit Opening Peace Corps’ 60th Anniversary Celebration
March 3, 7 – 8:15 p.m.
Virtual Meeting Room
Join Jack Rasmussen, director of American University Museum, and Patricia A. Wand, co-chair of Museum of the Peace Corps Experience, for a discussion about development of the exhibition Peace Corps at 60: Inside the Volunteer Experience. The talk follows welcoming remarks by Sylvia Matthews Burwell, president of American University; Carol Spahn, acting director of Peace Corps; and Glenn Blumhorst, president of National Peace Corps Association – and a video tour of the AU Museum exhibit installation. Click here to register.
Nicole Awai: AU Department of Art Visiting Artist Series
March 4, 6 – 7 p.m.
Virtual Meeting Room
Join artist Nicole Awai for a virtual lecture presented by American University's Department of Art and the AU Museum. Awai was a featured artist in the 2005 Initial Public Offerings series at the Whitney Museum of American Art and was awarded the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant in 2011 and an Art Matters Grant in 2012. Her work has been included in seminal museum exhibitions including Greater New York: New Art in New York Now, at P.S. 1/ MOMA (2000), the Biennale of Ceramic in Contemporary Art, Italy (2003), Open House: Working in Brooklyn (2004), Infinite Island: Contemporary Caribbean Art (2007) both at the Brooklyn Museum, and many other exhibitions. https://www.nicoleawai.com. RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nicole-awai-au-department-of-art-visiting-artist-series-tickets-137791964475
Indigenous Land Rights in Israel: A Comparative Study
March 8, 6 –7 p.m.
Virtual Meeting Room
Professor Morad El Sana will discuss his new book, Indigenous Land Rights of the Bedouin: A Comparative Case with Amal Elsana Alh'jooj, prominent Israeli Bedouin feminist and Executive Director of the International Community Action Network (ICAN) at McGill University in Montreal. The moderator will be Washington College of Law Professor David Hunter.RSVP to receive ZOOM link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/indigenous-land-rights-in-israel-book-talk-by-morad-el-sana-tickets-141750614905
Indigenous Land Rights in Israel" Book Talk by Morad El Sana
March 8, 6 – 7 p.m.
Virtual Meeting Room
Professor Morad Elsana will discuss his new book, Indigenous Land Rights of the Bedouin: A Comparative Case. Introducing the Negev–Bedouin land issue from the international indigenous land rights perspective, this comparative study suggests options for the recognition of their land. The book demonstrates that the Bedouin land dispossession, like many indigenous peoples’, progressed through several phases that included eviction and displacement, legislation, and judicial decisions that support acts of dispossession and deny the Bedouin’s traditional land rights. The final chapter suggests that the basic elements needed for Bedouin land recognition exist in the Israeli legal system. The discussion will be moderated will be Washington College of Law Professor David Hunter. RSVP:
The Ravine: A Family, A Photo, A Holocaust Massacre
March 11, 11:20 – 12:35 p.m.
Virtual Meeting Room
Book talk by award-winning author and AU PhD Wendy Lower. Moderated by Professor Pamela Nadell. Co-sponsored by Jewish Studies Program and Department of History.
RSVP to receive ZOOM link:
On the Othered Hand: Tactility, Music, and Marginalized Users
March 11, 2021, 3 p.m.
Virtual Meeting Room
How might user interfaces – the process of their development, their design, and the stories we tell about them – be informed by principles of social justice? Why is music touchscreen technology an important case study to unpack the normative accounts of the envisioned end-user? Join AU professor Victoria Simon for a talk that demonstrates the little-known role that theories of users and universal interface design in music technology have played in the cultural formation of smartphone and tablet technology reliant on AI. The event will be moderated by AU professor Aram Sinnreich. RSVP: https://othered-hand.eventbrite.com.
2021 Amos Perlmutter Memorial Lecture by Ehud Barak
March 15, 11:45 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Virtual Meeting Room
Ehud Barak, Israel’s Tenth Prime Minister, will deliver American University's 2021 Amos Perlmutter Memorial Lecture. The former Prime Minister Barak also served as Chief of the Israel Defense Forces General Staff and as the leader of the Labor Party. He is the most decorated soldier in Israeli history. Mr. Barak will speak about the strategic challenges posed by Israel’s neighbors, the Iranian nuclear threat, and the electoral stalemate in Israeli politics as well as the opportunities provided by Israel’s economic dynamism and the new peace accords with several Arab states. This annual lecture is in memory of beloved American University School of Public Affairs Professor Amos Perlmutter, who taught at the university for nearly thirty years, and was a world-renowned scholar of political leadership in the Middle East. Co-sponsored by American University's School of Public Affairs and Center for Israel Studies. RSVP to receive ZOOM link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2021-amos-perlmutter-memorial-lecture-by-ehud-barak-tickets-141366289377
Raw Hope of Humanity Rising 2021: Transformation of the Urban Space
March 17, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
Virtual Meeting Room
The American University Museum is pleased to be participating in Raw Hope of Humanity Rising, a series of public dialogues responding to the extreme challenges of the moment. Raw Hope brings together leading changemakers – from street artists to muralists to Black Lives Matter activists – creating a socially-engaged space for dialogue, participation, diversity and renewal in 2021. The panel will discuss initiatives such as Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, DC that demonstrate a clear and powerful signal of civic empowerment and the activation of contested urban space. Panelists include Randall Packer (moderator); Ian Callender, Owner, Suite Nation, Co-Owner, Sandlot Southeast DC; Keyonna Jones, DC Artist & Executive Director of Congress Heights Arts & Culture Center; David "Dez" Zambrano, DC artist/co-creator of the RBG mural BLM Plaza. To Register: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/raw-hope-2021-panel1
James Renwick Alliance Distinguished Artist Series: Bisa Butler
March 21, 2 – 3 p.m.
Virtual Meeting Room
Join American University's Department of Art and the AU Museum for a virtual lecture featuring artist Bisa Butler. Trained as a painter at Howard University in Washington, DC, Butler shifted to a textile-based practice to add vibrancy and dimension she found lacking in her paintings. In turning to textiles, Butler also connected with her family history. She had learned to sew at a young age from her mother and grandmother. In revisiting these early lessons and joining them with her formal studies, she found her artistic path. RSVP: https://www.jra.org/all-jra-events/bisa-butler
Charting a Path: How to Bring Diverse Approaches to Investigative Projects
March 24, 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Virtual Meeting Room
The Investigative Reporting Workshop, American University's Journalism Division, and Morgan State University's School of Global Journalism & Communication discuss the role of journalists of color in investigative reporting. A panel discussion will be followed by breakout sessions with mentors. Those who have ideas or are working actively on an in-depth story but need help can submit a pitch to compete for small awards to help complete their stories. RSVP: https://charting-a-path.eventbrite.com
The New Jewish Canon
March 25, 9:45 – 11 a.m.
Virtual Meeting Room
Join American University's Center for Israel Studies and Jewish Studies Program for a conversation with Yehuda Kurtzer and Claire Sufrin, co-editors of The New Jewish Canon: Ideas & Debates, 1980-2015. The conversation will be moderated by AU professor Lauren Strauss. The late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries have witnessed major changes in Jewish life, stimulating major debates. The New Jewish Canon: Ideas & Debates, 1980-2015 offers a conceptual roadmap to make sense of such rapid change. With more than eighty excerpts from key primary texts and corresponding essays by leading scholars on such topics as history and memory, Jewish politics and the public square, religion and identity, The New Jewish Canon promises to start conversations from the seminar room to the dinner table. The conversation will be moderated by AU professor Lauren Strauss. RSVP to receive ZOOM link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/conversation-with-the-new-jewish-canon-co-editors-tickets-138294258851
Legacy Russell: AU Department of Art Visiting Artist Series
March 25, 6 – 7 p.m.
Virtual Meeting Room
Join art critic Legacy Russell for a virtual lecture presented by American University's Department of Art and the AU Museum. Legacy Russell is a curator and writer. Born and raised in New York City, she is the Associate Curator of Exhibitions at The Studio Museum in Harlem. Russell holds an MRes with Distinction in Art History from Goldsmiths, University of London with a focus in Visual Culture. Her academic, curatorial, and creative work focuses on gender, performance, digital selfdom, internet idolatry, and new media ritual. Russell’s written work, interviews, and essays have been published internationally. She is the recipient of the Thoma Foundation 2019 Arts Writing Award in Digital Art, a 2020 Rauschenberg Residency Fellow, and a recipient of the 2021 Creative Capital Award. Her first book Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto (2020) is published by Verso Books. www.legacyrussell.com. RSVP:
How long will the Israeli Government last?
March 31, 12 – 1 p.m.
Virtual Meeting Room
Join the Center for Israel Studies as leading Israeli journalists unpack the fourth Israeli elections in two years. RSVP to receive ZOOM link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-long-will-the-next-israeli-government-last-with-israeli-journalists-tickets-142174272075