webcast.berkeley: UC Berkeley Events

The Rise of Manchu Power in Northeast Asia (c. 1600-1636): local and global dimensions

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0800

The Manchu conquest of China is arguably the greatest historical event of the seventeenth century, both for the changes it engendered within Asia and for its far-reaching implications in world history. Yet if we take even the simple phrase "Manchu conquest of China" we see that whether the conquerors were really "Manchu," whether it was an actual "conquest," and whether they ruled a land that could have been defined as "China" at the time are all disputable notions. Indeed, historians have argued against the concept that the Qing state can be identified with a single ethnicity, that the Qing rulers occupied China less as an act of willful conquest than as the result of the Ming dynasty's collapse, and that China under the Ming was very different from that ruled by the Qing.

This talk will focus on the process of formation of Manchu power in northeast Asia and on local, regional, and even global dimensions of the rise of the Manchus. An appreciation of several aspects of this process, and especially of the nature of the solutions adopted by the early Manchu rulers to the several challenges they faced, is essential in order to understand what happened in and after 1644.

Discussant: Wen-hsin Yeh, Professor, History, UCB

After the Water War: Contemporary Political Culture in Cochabamba, Bolivia

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Panel Discussion: Bolivia Working Group) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 00:00:00 +0800

In 2000, widespread protests against the privatization of water systems brought Cochabamba , Bolivia into the international limelight and propelled a process of further mobilizations that have utterly reconfigured the country?s political landscape. Three panelists will present their papers, all based on recent on-the-ground research in Cochabamba , which examine the context and perspectives of popular political culture in a city that epitomizes social movements and political change in Bolivia and Latin America today.

Speakers:
Cristina Cielo, Ph.D. candidate, Sociology, UC Berkeley
Sarah Hines, Ph.D. student, History, UC Berkeley
Michael Shanks, MA student, Latin American Studies, UC Berkeley

Borders and Crossers: Landscapes for Politics

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Rebecca Solnit) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 00:00:00 +0800

Rebecca Solnit will read from her new anthology, Storming the Gates of Paradise and discuss the cultural geographies of political protest, the border and the social landscape. The anthology contains 36 essays from the last decade of her writing, dealing with everything from gender politics to the geographies of political protest, the representation of nature and the hybrid cultures of California.

Rebecca Solnit is an essayist, contributing editor to Harper?s and the recipient of a Guggenheim and the National Book Critics Circle award.

Islam, Global Politics, and U.S. Foreign Policy

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Multiple) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 00:00:00 +0800

Fawaz A. Gerges, Christian A. Johnson Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies, Sarah Lawrence College
His publications include The Far Enemy: Why Islam Went Global and The Journey of a Jihadist: Inside Muslim Militancy

Ira Lapidus, Emeritus Professor of History, UCB
His publications include A History of Islamic Societies and Contemporary Islamic Movements in Historical Perspective

Darius Zahedi, Lecturer, International and Area Studies, UCB
He is the author of The Iranian Revolution Then and Now: Indicators of Regime Instability and the editor of Iran in the New Millennium: Opportunities and Challenges

This series of panels, conferences, and lectures is sponsored by the Institute of Governmental Studies and the Institute of International Studies.
More information is available at http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/SpecialEvents/2007/Issues_Islam.html

The American Presidency: Iraq, Elections, and the Second Term

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Multiple) — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 00:00:00 +0800

The 26th in a series of annual assessments of the American presidency presented by the Center on Politics at the Institute of Governmental Studies and UC Berkeley Extension.

As Americans went to the polls in 2006 to determine control of Congress, Democrats fought to make the midterm elections a referendum on President Bush and his leadership. The president's popularity ratings consistenly have been below 50 percent and public opion polls revealed substantial discontent with the progress of the war in Iraq. How did those public perceptions influence the president and his performance in office? What impact will the November elections have on the president?s final two years in office?

Golden Apple Award

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Leon Litwack) — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 00:00:00 +0800

The Golden Apple Award is conferred exclusively by students to honor those professors who inspire students with their passion, energy, and care. The award is intended to recognize those teachers who consistently teach each lecture as if it were their last.

Prof. Leon Litwack delivers "An Ideal Last Lecture" to the public. His "actual" last lecture for his signature course, History 7B, will take place at 11:00am on Monday, May 7th, also in Wheeler Auditorium (you'll want to come early to that one, as colleagues and former students are flying in from around the country to attend!).

A Crisis in Human Rights: Genocide in Darfur and Beyond

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Multiple) — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 00:00:00 +0800

Focusing on the crisis in Darfur, the speakers will offer a comprehensive view of how and why a conflict evolves into a full-fledged genocide. The Darfur genocide has involved not just the outright immediate killing of people, but also the creation of conditions that have made life impossible by chasing people out into the desert and destroying their homes, villages, food supplies and livelihoods. Speakers will present eyewitness accounts of events on the ground in Darfur as well as academic research into conflict and peace within and between nations.

Featured panelists:

Shane Bauer is a current undergraduate student in UCB's Peace and Conflict Studies Department. The first year away from his home in Minnesota, he witnessed war for the first time in Macedonia at the impressionable age of 19. Following this traumatic yet illuminating exposure to war, he traveled as a photojournalist, documenting conflict and genocide around the world. Last year, Shane traveled to Chad and Sudan.

Martha Saavedra is the Associate Director of the UC Berkeley Center for African Studies, an interdisciplinary research center supporting basic research on Africa. Her research includes agrarian politics and ethnic conflict in Sudan.

David Tuller is a doctoral student in the School of Public Health and has a special interest in looking at public health through a human rights lens. He investigated some of Darfur's mass atrocities as part of a team from Physicians for Human Rights in 2005.

Does Humor Belong in Buddhism?

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Donald Lopez) — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 00:00:00 +0800

The Buddha Shakyamuni is said to have asked, "How can anyone laugh who knows of old age, disease, and death?" Despite the severity of this rhetorical question, Buddhists through the centuries and across cultures have incorporated humor into their religious lives. The literary, ritual, and artistic traditions of the Buddhist world contain a variety of humorous and comedic elements that challenge the representation of Buddhism as a humorless doctrine of detached austerity. As a result of this image of Buddhism, scholars have tended to view humorous elements of Buddhist texts and practices as anomalous or marginal rather than as vibrant and vital aspects of Buddhist traditions. This workshop will explore the role of humor in Buddhism from early canonical theories of humor and the unexpectedly robust comedy of the rules for monks and nuns to the outrageous behavior of tantric gurus and Zen Masters.

For more information, see the IEAS website for this event.

Sponsored by the Center for Buddhist Studies.

Combatants for Peace: The Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Sulaiman Khatib and Yonatan Shapira) — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0800

Combatants for Peace: Sulaiman Khatib and Yonatan Shapira on the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

Sponsored by Faculty for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, Students for Justice in Palestine, Israel Action Committee, Peace and Conflict Studies Program, Peace Studies Student Association, PeacePower Magazine, and Tikkun Magazine.

Bancroft at One Hundred: Bancroft Centennial Symposium

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (various) — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 00:00:00 +0800

Friday, February 10, 2006

8:30 AM	Welcome
	Running Time: 5 minutes Paul Grey, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, UC Berkeley

9:45 AM	Mexico
	Running Time: 49 minutes William B. Taylor, UC Berkeley, Chair Jessica Delgado, UC Berkeley Rachel Chico, UC Berkeley Sean McEnroe, UC Berkeley

11:00 AM	Nineteenth-century California
	Running Time: 38 minutes J.S. Holiday, Chair Susan Lee Johnson, University of Wisconsin, Madison Miroslava Ch�vez-Garc�a, UC Davis

1:15 PM	Twentieth-century California
	Running Time: 36 minutes Joyce Mao, UC Berkeley William Deverell, University of Southern California

2:20 PM	Ancient Egypt and the Tebtunis Papyri
	Running Time: 35 minutes Todd Hickey, UC Berkeley, Chair Brian Muhs, University of Leiden

3:45 PM	Biotechnology and the Biological Revolution
	Running Time: 56 minutes David Farrell, The Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley, Chair Sally Hughes, The Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley Daniel Kevles, Yale University

4:45 PM	Mark Twain and His Era
	Running Time: 25 minutes Robert Hirst, The Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley, Chair Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Stanford University

Saturday, February 11, 2006

9:00 AM	Artistic and Literary Perceptions of California
	Running Time: 1 hour, 5 minutes Jack von Euw, The Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley, Chair Isabel Breskin, UC Berkeley Michelle Morton, The Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley Margaretta Lovell, UC Berkeley

10:30 AM	The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire
	Running Time: 16 minutes Theresa Salazar, The Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley, Chair Philip Fradkin, environmental historian

1:00 PM	Big Science and Big Bridges
	Running Time: 25 minutes John Heilbron, UC Berkeley

2:15 PM	Modern Literary Manuscripts
	Running Time: 53 minutes Tony Bliss, The Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley, Chair Kathleen Cleaver, Emory University Kevin Killian, Poet and Critic Nancy Peters, City Lights Bookstore, San Francisco, CA

3:45 PM	The Environmental Movement
	Running Time: 45 minutes Anne Lage, The Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley, Chair Sylvia McLaughlin, Save the Bay Susan Schrepfer, Rutgers University

4:45 PM	The Beats
	Running Time: 57 minutes Michael Davidson, UC San Diego Michael McClure, poet

Jung Chang & Jon Halliday - Mao: The Unknown Story

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Chang, Jung) — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0800

In their new book "Mao: The Unknown Story" Jung Chang and Jon Halliday make an impassioned case for a reevaluation of Mao - as a tyrant worse than Stalin or Hitler. Based on a decade of research into previously untapped sources worldwide and on unprecedented interviews with Mao's inner circle and with virtually everyone outside China who had significant dealings with him, this book raises new questions about Mao's role in the rise and success of the Chinese Communist movement.

Jung Chang is the author of "Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China", a best-selling memoir that chronicles the sufferings of her family under Mao. Jon Halliday, her husband, is a British historian.

The College Presents: Science and the Soul: J. Robert Oppenheimer and Doctor Atomic

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Various) — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 00:00:00 +0800

Celebrating San Francisco Opera's world premiere of Doctor Atomic, this free evening symposium will bring together composer John Adams, director Peter Sellars, and San Francisco Opera General Director Pamela Rosenberg to discuss SCIENCE AND THE SOUL: J. Robert Oppenheimer and Doctor Atomic. Additional panelists include Dean of Physical Sciences Mark Richards and Professor of Physics Marvin Cohen. The program will explore J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the creation of the first atomic bomb as well as examine the historical, scientific, and musical background of Doctor Atomic.

Cokie Roberts: Founding Mothers

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Roberts, Cokie) — Wed, 30 Mar 2005 00:00:00 +0800

Cokie Roberts in Conversation with Cynthia Gorney

This event took place on March 30, 2005 in Wheeler Auditorium, UC Berkeley.

Cokie Roberts is a political commentator for ABC News where for fifteen years she has covered Congress, politics and public policy. She also serves as Senior News Analyst for National Public Radio. From 1996-2002 she and Sam Donaldson co-anchored the weekly ABC interview program This Week. In her more than thirty years in broadcasting, Roberts has won countless awards, including two Emmys. She has been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame, and was cited by the American Women in Radio and Television as one of the fifty greatest women in the history of broadcasting.

In addition to her appearances on the airwaves, Roberts, along with her husband, Steven V. Roberts, writes a weekly column syndicated in newspapers around the country by United Media. The Roberts are also contributing editors to , and together they wrote From this Day Forward, an account of their more than thirty five year marriage and other marriages in American history. The book immediately went onto The New York Times bestseller list, following a run of half a year on the list by Cokie Roberts' other book, We Are Our Mothers' Daughters. The number one bestseller is an account of women's roles and relationships throughout American history. Roberts latest book, Founding Mothers, offers stories of the women who raised this nation.

Cynthia Gorney is a professor of Journalism, a former staff writer for The Washington Post, where she worked as a West Coast-based national correspondent, South America bureau chief, and metro reporter. She is the author of "Articles of Faith: A Frontline History of the Abortion Wars," and has written for numerous magazines, including the The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Mother Jones, Health, O: the Oprah Magazine, and Bazaar. She has also worked as a visiting Poynter Institute teacher, a newsroom writing coach and consultant, and a host and interviewer on "Forum," the Northern California public affairs radio program on KQED-FM. Gorney is a past recipient of the American Society of Newspaper Editors feature writing award, and at the Journalism School she teaches feature writing, reporting the news, law and ethics, profiles, and a variety of other writing courses.

Berkeley Writers at Work: Yuri Slezkine

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Slezkine, Yuri) — Wed, 16 Mar 2005 00:00:00 +0800
Slezkine reads from his works, is interviewed about his writing process, and answer questions from the audience.
Slezkine, who received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, is a specialist in late-modern European and Russian history. He has taught at Berkeley since 1992 and has been a recipient of Guggenheim and Fulbright-Hays fellowships.
His book "Arctic Mirrors: Russia and the Small Peoples of the North" (Cornell, 1994) was named best book of the year in 1995 by the American History Association's Pacific Coast Branch. Daniel Orlovsky, writing in Slavic Review, called it "one of the most original contributions to our field in recent years, brilliant in conception and beautifully written with just the right touch of sardonic wit and empathetic wisdom."
Slezkine's most recent book is "The Jewish Century" (Princeton University Press, 2004), a history of 20th-century Russia. He has also edited two other books: "In the Shadow of the Revolution: Life Stories of Russian Women From 1917 to the Second World War" (with Sheila Fitzpatrick; Princeton, 2000) and "Between Heaven and Hell: The Myth of Siberia in Russian Culture" (with Galya Diment; St. Martin's Press, 1993).
The Berkeley Writers at Work series provides a forum in which campus authors discuss all aspects of their writing, from gathering material and crafting the framework of a piece of writing, to creating a mood, editing, and revising.
This event took place on March 16, 2005, in the Morrison Library, UC Berkeley.

The College Presents: Oliver Stone - A Dialogue on Classic Filmmaking

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Stone, Oliver) — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 00:00:00 +0800

Academy Award-winning director Oliver Stone will discuss his recent major motion picture Alexander with UC Berkeley dean and professor of classics Ralph Hexter. This epic film is based on the biography of one of history's most luminous and influential leaders - Alexander the Great. Stone will speak to the lure, the responsibility, and the challenges inherent in his role as filmmaker. The evening's dialogue will center on representing ancient history and society to a broad modern audience, with opportunity for audience participation as well.
Stone has been nominated for 11 Academy Awards as a screenwriter, director, and producer, winning the Oscar three times, twice for Directing and once for Writing.
The College Presents series highlights the intellectual vitality, diversity, and excellence of UC Berkeley's liberal arts college by presenting to the public prominent scholars, scientists, thinkers, artists, and leaders in many fields on topics of broad appeal.
The event was held in Wheeler Auditorium, UC Berkeley on 3/14/05.
For more information, visit The College Presents website.

Mesopotamia Endangered: Witnessing the Loss of History

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Farchakh, Joanne) — Mon, 07 Feb 2005 00:00:00 +0800

In March 2003, the world turned its attention to the tragic looting of Iraqi museums and other cultural institutions. Since then, persistent looting and destruction have occurred at Iraq's archaeological sites. Whole cities that lay buried in the Iraqi countryside have been systematically plundered of their marketable artifacts, such as inscribed tablets, small sculptures and pottery. Farchakh's investigative reporting in Iraq documents this large-scale devastation of history in graphic images.
Joanne Farchakh made reporting trips to Iraq in 2002, 2003 and 2004. She holds a bachelor's degree in art and archaeology and a master's degree in journalism from the Lebanese University in Beirut. She has excavated in Lebanon (Beirut, 1993-1996) and in Syria (Um el-Tellal, 1997). Farchakh is Mideast correspondent for Archeologia magazine, and her reports have appeared in Archaeology Magazine and in publications in Beirut and Paris.
She has presented papers on her work in Iraq at the World Archaeological Congress (Washington D.C., 2003) and at the Global Heritage Fund Workshop on Iraqi Heritage, (Petra, Jordan, June 2004).
Co-sponsors include: Department of Near Eastern Studies, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Townsend Center for the Humanities, Graduate Group in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archeology, San Francisco Chapter of the Archeological Institute of America, College of Letters & Sciences' Division of Arts & Humanities.

Free Speech Movement at 40: Noontime Rally in Sproul Plaza

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Various) — Fri, 08 Oct 2004 00:00:00 +0800

It's the 40th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley, and a week of special events culminates in a noontime rally in Sproul Plaza with such notables as:

Chancellor Robert Birgeneau

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean

UCSC Women's Studies professor Bettina Aptheker

State Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg

Telegraph Ave. icon and poet Julia Vinograd

This video was shot and produced by UC Berkeley's Educational Technology Services.
Other FSM@40 events on webcast.berkeley include Molly Ivins and Seymour Hersh.

Lawrence Weschler: Vermeer in Bosnia

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Weschler, Lawrence) — Wed, 29 Sep 2004 00:00:00 +0800

Vermeer in Bosnia: A Conversation with Lawrence Weschler

Introduced by Rebecca Solnit.

A conversation with American art historian and writer Lawrence Weschler, director of the New York University Institute for the Humanities, author of The Looking Glass, and former long time writer for The New Yorker.

In a world wracked by war and mayhem, Vermeer retreated into a single light-filled room and, for all intents and purposes, invented a notion of peace grounded in the autonomous free agency of his fellow human beings. The terror, though, is conspicuously being held at bay -- in fact, argues Weschler, that is what those paintings are all about. Much as we'd like to believe so, however, artists have not always, like Vermeer, been on the side of the angels -- and Weschler will also invoke obverse instances.

Lawrence Weschler, the director of the New York Institute for the Humanities at NYU, was for twenty years a staff writer for the New Yorker. His dozen books include Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder and now Vermeer in Bosnia.

Sponsored by The Graduate School of Journalism and The Townsend Center.

This event took place on September 29, 2004 in Wheeler Auditorium, UC Berkeley.

The College Presents: Martin Goldsmith Discussing <I>The Inextinguishable ...

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Goldsmith, Martin) — Mon, 22 Mar 2004 00:00:00 +0800

A book discussion with Martin Goldsmith,
Author of The Inextinguishable Symphony: A True Story of Music and Love in Nazi Germany

Author Martin Goldsmith discusses his book The Inextinguishable Symphony: A True Story of Music and Love in Nazi Germany with Arts & Humanities Dean Ralph Hexter. The book recounts the story of Goldsmith's parents, German-Jewish musicians in the Nazi-sponsored Jewish Cultural Association's orchestra in the 1930s. Their story provides insight into the Kulturbund, as it was called in German, which has been criticized for encouraging Jews to ignore the desperate circumstances outside their own tightly knit and closely controlled community.

This interview took place on March 18, 2004.

Conversations with History: David Frum

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Frum, David) — Mon, 16 Feb 2004 00:00:00 +0800

Conversations with History Presents

A Conversation with David Frum
Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute
"Foreign Policy Ideas in the George W. Bush Administration"

This interview took place on January 20, 2004.

Complete transcript is available.

David Frum is a Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. A journalist and speechwriter for President George W. Bush, he is the author of The Right Man: An Inside Account of the Bush White House and An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror, written with Richard Perle.

The Empire Dialogues: Lessons of History, Limits of Power

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Various) — Wed, 17 Dec 2003 00:00:00 +0800

The Empire Dialogues: Lessons of History, Limits of Power

November 13, 2003
Booth Auditorium, Boalt Hall School of Law, U.C. Berkeley

To further discussion and analysis of U.S. foreign policy, the Institute of International Studies, with the support of the Dean of International and Area Studies and the Chancellor, will sponsor a series of public events in the fall and spring semesters entitled The Empire Dialogues.

Tariq Ali s a writer, broadcaster and filmmaker, and a major figure in European New Left. A prolific author, Ali has written a dozen books covering everything from the Soviet Union, to South Asian politics to American Empire to the events of 1968. His most recent book is Bush in Bablyon: The Recolonisation of Iraq. Ali is editor of the New Left Review.

Jerry Sanders is a professor inthe Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at UC Berkeley. His most recent book is Peddlers of Crisis: The Committee on the Present Danger and the Politics of Containment.

Ruth Rosen is Professor Emerita of History at UC Davis and a columnist and editorial writer at the San Francisco Chronicle. Her most recent book is The World Split Open: How the Modern Women's Movement Changed America.

For more information including topics and speakers for pending Empire Dialogues, visit the Institute of International Studies website.

Keeping the Faith in Difficult Times

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Terkel, Studs) — Mon, 24 Nov 2003 00:00:00 +0800
Studs Terkel in conversation with Harry Kreisler, Producer and Host of Conversations with History. Introduced by Dave Eggers.
This event took place on October 29 2003 at UC Berkeley.
Sponsored by the UC Berkeley Institute of International Studies, KPFA Free Speech Radio, and "Mother Jones Magazine".

Conversations with Berkeley Faculty: Tim White (9/18/03)

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (White, Tim) — Mon, 06 Oct 2003 00:00:00 +0800

Conversations with History Presents
Faculty Research at the University of California, Berkeley

A Conversation with Tim White
Professor of Integrative Biology
"On the Trail of Our Human Ancestors"

This interview took place on September 18, 2003.

Romila Thapar: Searching for a Historical Tradition

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Thapar, Romila) — Fri, 02 May 2003 00:00:00 +0800

Searching for a Historical Tradition

Romila Thapar
Professor Emeritus of History
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Professor Romila Thapar, Professor Emeritus of History, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India visited the University of California at Berkeley at the invitation of the Center for South Asia Studies and the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies to present two lectures in November 2002. This lecture, the first of two, was held November 4, 2002 in the University of California at Berkeley's Sibley Auditorium.

Perhaps India's most eminent historian of its ancient history and culture, Professor Thapar is the author of the path breaking Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas as well as A History of India published by Penguin Books. Long the standard text on early Indian history and in print since 1966, the latter volume, thoroughly revised, will be republished by the University of California Press in February 2003. Information about the new edition of her book is available on the University of California Press' website.

In 1983 Professor Thapar was elected General President of the Indian History Congress and in 1999 a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. She holds honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Chicago, Oxford University and Calcutta University. In addition to her extensive writings on ancient India, Professor Thapar has engaged actively in the ongoing controversies regarding 'Hindutva,' Ayodhya and more generally the polemic uses of the past in contemporary India. As an historian steeped in the literature of the past, she brings to the politics of the present day an informed, thoughtful perspective. Her two lectures in Berkeley's Sibley Auditorium examined both the historical tradition and the contemporary scene in the India of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP).

Professor Thapar's last visit to the University of California at Berkeley was in 1992 when she was the invited Foerster Lecturer. At that time she presented a lecture titled "Sacrifice, Surplus and the Soul". Information about past Foerster Lecturers.

The lecture on November 4, 2002 was introduced by Dr. Thomas Metcalf, Chair of the Center for South Asia Studies, Professor in the Department of History, and holder of the Sarah Kailath Chair in India Studies.

Campus Forum: Implications of War in Iraq

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Various) — Wed, 02 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0800

Campus Forum: Implications of War in Iraq

The live event took place on April 1, in Zellerbach Auditorium, UC Berkeley.

To initiate a campus dialogue about the Iraq war, a panel of UC Berkeley faculty experts were invited to explore the war's economic, political and regional implications. The event was introduced by Chancellor Robert Berdahl and the panel was moderated by David Leonard, Dean of International and Area Studies. The panelists and their areas of knowledge are Nezar Al Sayyad, Middle Eastern Studies; Thomas G. Barnes, law and history; David D. Caron, law; Laura Nader, anthropology; Steven Weber, political science; and Janet L. Yellen, economics. Each faculty member makes a presentation, followed by an all-panel discussion.

Introduction by Chancellor Berdahl
Nezar Al Sayyad
Thomas G. Barnes
David D. Caron
Laura Nader
Steven Weber
Janet L. Yellen
Audience Q&A

The event was cosponsored by the Institute of International Studies, International and Area Studies, and the Office of the Chancellor.

Conversations with Berkeley Faculty: Ira Lapidus (1/14/03)

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Lapidus, Ira) — Mon, 24 Feb 2003 00:00:00 +0800

Conversations with History Presents
Faculty Research at the University of California, Berkeley

A Conversation with Ira Lapidus
Professor Emeritus of History
"Islamic Societies"

This interview took place on January 14, 2003.

Complete transcript is available.

Ira Lapidus, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Berkeley, and the founding Chair of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies on the Berkeley campus. Professor Lapidus has traveled extensively across the Muslim world and written many articles and books on Islam and related subjects. His publications include Islam, Politics, and Social Movements, edited with Edmund Burke, and Contemporary Islamic Movements in Historical Perspective. He is also the author of A History of Islamic Societies, which was published in 1988 and has recently been issued in a second edition.

For additional information see:

Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Department of History

Conversations with Berkeley Faculty: Nancy Scheper-Hughes (12/14/99)

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Scheper-Hughes, Nancy) — Mon, 20 Jan 2003 00:00:00 +0800

Conversations with History Presents
Faculty Research at the University of California, Berkeley

A Conversation with Nancy Scheper-Hughes
Professor of Anthropology
"Studying the Human Condition: Habits of an Anthropologist"

This interview took place on December 14, 1999.

Complete transcript is available.

Nancy Scheper-Hughes is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley, where she also directs the Doctoral Program in Critical Studies of Medicine, Science, and the Body. Her many publications include Saints, Scholars, and Schizophrenics, which received the Margaret Meade Award, and Death Without Weeping: the Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil, which received several awards including the International Pitre Prize and the Wellcome Medal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. She is currently co-director of a research project on "Money, Markets and Bodies" (funded by the Open Society Institute), which is exploring the global trade in human organs for transplant surgery.

For additional information see:

Department of Anthropology
Nancy Scheper-Hughes Departmental Website
Organs Watch Website

Conversations with Berkeley Faculty: Manuel Castells (5/9/01)

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Castells, Manuel) — Mon, 16 Dec 2002 00:00:00 +0800

Conversations with History Presents
Faculty Research at the University of California, Berkeley

A Conversation with Manuel Castells
Professor of Sociology and Professor of City and Regional Planning
"Identity and Change in the Network Society"

This interview took place on May 9, 2001.

Complete transcript is available.

A social theorist, Professor Castells has won the C. Wright Mills Award, and he has received the Robert and Helen Lynd Award from the American Sociological Association for his lifelong contribution to the field of community and urban sociology. Professor Castells has published twenty books and over one hundred articles in academic journals, and co-authored or edited fifteen books. His works are international, comparative, and have been translated into many languages.

His publications include a three-volume trilogy on the Information Age: Volume I: The Rise of the Network Society; Volume II: The Power of Identity, and Volume III: End of Millennium. His new book is The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business, and Society

For additional information see:

Department of Sociology
Manuel Castells Departmental Website

Romila Thapar: History and Contemporary Politics in India

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Thapar, Romila) — Thu, 12 Dec 2002 00:00:00 +0800

Romila Thapar
Professor Emeritus of History
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Professor Romila Thapar, Professor Emeritus of History, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India visited the University of California at Berkeley at the invitation of the Center for South Asia Studies and the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies to present two lectures in November 2002. The lecture held November 6, 2002 in the University of California at Berkeley's Sibley Auditorium was titled "History and Contemporary Politics in India".

Perhaps India's most eminent historian of its ancient history and culture, Professor Thapar is the author of the path breaking Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas as well as A History of India published by Penguin Books. Long the standard text on early Indian history and in print since 1966, the latter volume, thoroughly revised, will be republished by the University of California Press in February 2003. Information about the new edition of her book is available on the University of California Press' website.

In 1983 Professor Thapar was elected General President of the Indian History Congress and in 1999 a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. She holds honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Chicago, Oxford University and Calcutta University. In addition to her extensive writings on ancient India, Professor Thapar has engaged actively in the ongoing controversies regarding `Hindutva,' Ayodhya and more generally the polemic uses of the past in contemporary India. As an historian steeped in the literature of the past, she brings to the politics of the present day an informed, thoughtful perspective. Her two lectures in Berkeley's Sibley Auditorium examined both the historical tradition and the contemporary scene in the India of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP).

Professor Thapar's last visit to the University of California at Berkeley was in 1992 when she was the invited Foerster Lecturer. At that time she presented a lecture titled "Sacrifice, Surplus and the Soul". Information about past Foerster Lecturers.

The lecture on November 6th was introduced by Professor Vasudha Dalmia, Chair of the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies and Professor of Hindi Literature in the same department. Professor Dalmia is herself an internationally recognized scholar. Her Oxford University Press book, The Nationalization of Hindu Traditions (1997) is critically acclaimed as a pivotal study of the development of Hindi literature in 19th century India.

Conversations with Berkeley Faculty: Nelson W. Polsby (9/4/02)

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Polsby, Nelson) — Mon, 09 Dec 2002 00:00:00 +0800

Conversations with History Presents
Faculty Research at the University of California, Berkeley

A Conversation with Nelson W. Polsby
Heller Professor of Political Science
"Institutional Change in the U.S. Congress"

This interview took place on September 4, 2002.

Read the complete transcript.

Nelson Polsby is the Heller Professor of Political Science at the University of California at Berkeley. He was the Director of the Institute of Governmental Studies at U.C. from 1988 to 1999, and editor of the American Political Science Review from 1971 to 1977. He is the author and co-author of fourteen books, including Community Power and Political Theory, Congress and the Presidency, Political Promises, British Government and Its Discontent, Consequences of Party Reform, Political Innovation in America -- The Politics of Policy Initiative, and Presidential Elections, written with Aaron Wildavsky, which is in its tenth edition. His forthcoming book is How Congress Evolves: Social Bases of Institutional Change, which will be published by Oxford University Press. Professor Polsby has a Ph.D. from Yale, and among his honorary degrees are ones from Oxford and the University of Liverpool.

For additional information see:

Institute of Governmental Studies
Political Science Department

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak

webcast@media.berkeley.edu (Barak, Ehud) — Wed, 20 Nov 2002 00:00:00 +0800

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak delivers an address on "Peacemaking: Prospects for Israeli-Palestinian Peace".

Israel's 10th Prime Minister offers an insider's perspective on the past, current, and future efforts to bring peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

The live event took place at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, November 19 at UC Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall.

For additional information, visit Berkeley and the Mideast calendar of events.

Sponsored by the Israel Action Committee of UC, Berkeley, UC Berkeley, Berkeley Hillel, Jewish Student Union, ASUC, Akiva Movement, and Hillel International.