News and Events

Why did Russia invade Ukraine, how is the war (un)likely to end, and why?

The Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs program on Global and International History presents “The Manchu Conquest of China in World History” with Nicola Di Cosmo. 

The Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs program on Science, Technology, Environment and Global Affairs presents “Bridging Science and Community for Climate Solutions” with Kyla Westphal.

Faculty, staff, and students are invited to a conversation with Kenneth Stern, drafter of the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism, and Emma Saltzberg of the Diaspora Alliance, on its implications for teaching, research, and campus policy. Speakers will explore how universities can address antisemitism while safeguarding academic freedom and open discourse.

This event will be in hybrid format, with virtual speakers.
Register via the Middlebury website at: go/AAUPIHRA/

“Between Tongues: The Art of Arabic-English Translation”

Between Tongues: The Art of Arabic–English Translation – a conversation with acclaimed translator maia tabet, whose career has helped shape the reception of modern Arabic literature in English. She has translated celebrated authors such as Elias Khoury and Sinan Antoon and her work reflects a lifelong engagement with language, politics, and literary form. In this talk, she reflects on the art and labor of translation—its challenges, its pleasures, and its power to mediate between cultures while resisting simplification. The event offers a rare opportunity to hear from one of the foremost voices in contemporary Arabic–English translation.

Professor Bender of Northumbria University in Newcastle will deliver a Zoom talk addressing key issues related to human rights and refugees— particularly the limited role of morality in the refugee regime and the political function of refugeehood in international politics.

URL to virtual event: https://middlebury.zoom.us/meeting/register/kKUCLeMrSxeaGxHCDey3LA

On the eve of the English language publication of her debut novel, Afro-Ecuadorian writer, poet, teacher and DJ, Yuliana Ortiz Ruano will be joined by her literary agent, Elianna Kan ‘10.5, in a broad-ranging conversation about translation. They will discuss the literal process of Yuliana’s experience working with a translator to convey her novel from Spanish into English, as well as translation across media: how does Yuliana approach the work of translating carnaval—its movements and sounds—from the corporeal experience into words?

Tabi Joda is an internationally influential figure in the ecological, sustainable development, and resilient agriculture movement. He is the Ambassador of the Great Green Wall Initiative of the African Union, UN Consultant, and coordinator for One Billion Trees for Africa—a movement promoting tree planting to combat the Sahara Desert and building sustainable micro-agriculture systems across the Sahel. While his work is in the realm of ecology, his work rests first on the local human ecosystems that must be strong and healthy for sustainable local projects to succeed.

As the war in Ukraine enters its fourth year, Ukrainians remain more determined than ever to resist the Russian invasion. The defense of their country is happening beyond the front lines: ordinary people are going to extraordinary lengths to support the military, enrich democracy in their country, learn and practice emergency medicine, and preserve national culture. There is a sophisticated civic resistance that is largely female, tech savvy, decentralized, nonhierarchical, multilingual, and highly innovative. This is the new Ukraine.

This lecture by Jason Springs (Professor of Religion, Ethics, and Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame) introduces a novel understanding of what restorative justice is and how it should be implemented. It explores the ways in which restorative justice ethics and practices exhibit moral and spiritual dynamics, and what difference such “lived religious” dynamics can make in transforming structural violence.

The Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs program on Security and Global Affairs presents David Cortright and “Protest and Policy.”

Presented by Clara Kriger, Universidad de Buenos Aires/CONICET

Come hear how village residents, local officials, and urban investors draw on customary norms, family networks, and bureaucratic documents in order to conduct land sales and to produce vast areas of commercial forestry in Tanzania.

In this talk, Greenhalgh (Professor of Chinese Society Emerita at Harvard University) tells the story of how, during 1995-2015, industry leader Coca-Cola mobilized allies in academia to create a soda-defense science that would protect profits by advocating exercise, not dietary restraint, as the priority solution to obesity, a view few experts accept.