QUICK REGISTER HERE OR SEE BELOW FOR PROGRAM INFORMATION
The Monk and the Gun Film Screening w/POPCORN
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2024, 3:30 - 5:30PM
FilmScene at the Chauncey
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2024, 3:30 - 5:30PM
FilmScene at the Chauncey
Writing, Democracy, and Global Threats to Both w/ LUNCH
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2024, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Iowa City Public Library
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2024, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Iowa City Public Library
Election Watch 2024: Journalistic Experience From the Global Stage w/LUNCH
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2024, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Iowa City Public Library
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2024, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Iowa City Public Library
Manufacturing Consent: The Failure of EU Elections, Media, and the Public Sphere w/LUNCH
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 09, 2024, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Iowa City Public Library
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 09, 2024, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Iowa City Public Library
South African Democracy: Lessons from 30 Years w/LUNCH
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2024, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Iowa City Public Library
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2024, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Iowa City Public Library
Authoritarianism and Christian Nationalism in Viktor Orban’s Hungary
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2024, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Old Capitol Museum
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2024, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Old Capitol Museum
Democracy’s Future in Iowa, the US, and Beyond w/DINNER
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2024, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Iowa City Public Library
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2024, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Iowa City Public Library
FALL 2024 EVENTS
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PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH FILMSCENE and iowa city welcoming week
The Monk and the Gun is a Bhutanese film set in 2006 during the country's transition from a constitutional monarchy to a democracy. The film explores this period through intertwined narratives: a young monk tasked with finding a gun for his lama, an American searching for a historic firearm, and villagers navigating their first democratic election.
These stories unfold against Bhutan's stunning landscapes and a society encountering modernity and Western culture for the first time while offering a satirical and thought-provoking commentary on democracy, modernization, and cultural change. It highlights the challenges and paradoxes faced by a traditionally isolated society opening up to global influences, including the introduction of democratic processes and the clash of cultural values.
In the context of global democracy and the upcoming U.S. elections, The Monk and the Gun provides a nuanced reflection on the value of democratic participation and the influence of external cultural forces. It invites viewers to consider the complexities and consequences of political and cultural transitions, making it a relevant and engaging piece for discussions on the state of democracy worldwide and the factors that shape electoral processes and outcomes.
These stories unfold against Bhutan's stunning landscapes and a society encountering modernity and Western culture for the first time while offering a satirical and thought-provoking commentary on democracy, modernization, and cultural change. It highlights the challenges and paradoxes faced by a traditionally isolated society opening up to global influences, including the introduction of democratic processes and the clash of cultural values.
In the context of global democracy and the upcoming U.S. elections, The Monk and the Gun provides a nuanced reflection on the value of democratic participation and the influence of external cultural forces. It invites viewers to consider the complexities and consequences of political and cultural transitions, making it a relevant and engaging piece for discussions on the state of democracy worldwide and the factors that shape electoral processes and outcomes.
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PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE UI International writing program
AND IOWA CITY WELCOMING WEEK
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Writing, Democracy, and Global Threats to Both w/LUNCH
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 18, 2024, 12:00 - 1:00PM IOWA CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY Hosted by Thais Winkleblack, ICFRC Board Member Also Streaming Online:
https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/cu/LxO7kkV |
Join International Writing Program (IWP) director Christopher Merrill and 2024 Fall Residents Lyuba Yakimchuk (Ukraine) and Tabish Khair (India/Denmark), three writers with unique voices and experiences, offering fresh insights into how democracy shapes and is shaped by culture, identity, and the written word. In this engaging conversation, the panel will discuss how poets, playwrights, screenwriters, performance artists, academics, and others view democracy, as well as how they persist during the most difficult of times. The trio will share why creative expression is vital for democracy in their home countries as well as the risks to artists’ lives and the societies in which they live when authoritarian leaders seek to limit democratic freedoms. Yakimchuk and Khair will read from their original work.
Christopher Merrill has published seven collections of poetry, including Watch Fire, for which he received the Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets; many edited volumes and translations; and six books of nonfiction, among them, Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars, Things of the Hidden God: Journey to the Holy Mountain, The Tree of the Doves: Ceremony, Expedition, War, and Self-Portrait with Dogwood. His writings have been translated into nearly forty languages; his journalism appears widely; his honors include a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the French government, numerous translation awards, and fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial and Ingram Merrill Foundations. As director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa since 2000, Merrill has conducted cultural diplomacy missions to more than fifty countries. He served on the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO from 2011-2018, and in April 2012 President Barack Obama appointed him to the National Council on the Humanities.
Lyuba YAKIMCHUK (poet, playwright, screenwriter, performance artist; Ukraine) is the author of the poetry books Абрикоси Донбасу [Apricots of Donbas] (2015) and Як мода [Like Fashion] (2009), as well as the plays Wall and Schrödinger's Cat. She also wrote the screenplays for both the film Slovo House. Unfinished Novel (2021) and the documentary Slovo House (2017). Yakimchuk was a songwriter and spoken word artist on the album Ukrainian Songs of Love and Hate (2022) and coauthor with Mary Brnley of the libretto for the musical Freedom Letters. Her writing has been translated into more than twenty languages, and she read her poetry as part of John Legend’s performance during the 2022 Grammys. Her work has been covered by The New York Times, BBC, CBC, and CNN. Her participation is made possible by an anonymous gift to the IWP.
Tabish KHAIR (poet, fiction writer, journalist, academic; Denmark) was born and educated in the small town of Gaya in Bihar, India. An Indian citizen, he now resides in Denmark, where he teaches in the Department of English at the University of Aarhus. His most recent novels are Just Another Jihadi Jane (2016) and The Body by the Shore (2022). His first collection of short fiction is Namaste Trump & Other Stories (2023). Oxford University Press will publish his new nonfiction book, Literature Against Fundamentalism, in 2024. He participates courtesy of the Paul and Hualing Nieh Engle Fund.
Christopher Merrill has published seven collections of poetry, including Watch Fire, for which he received the Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets; many edited volumes and translations; and six books of nonfiction, among them, Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars, Things of the Hidden God: Journey to the Holy Mountain, The Tree of the Doves: Ceremony, Expedition, War, and Self-Portrait with Dogwood. His writings have been translated into nearly forty languages; his journalism appears widely; his honors include a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the French government, numerous translation awards, and fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial and Ingram Merrill Foundations. As director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa since 2000, Merrill has conducted cultural diplomacy missions to more than fifty countries. He served on the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO from 2011-2018, and in April 2012 President Barack Obama appointed him to the National Council on the Humanities.
Lyuba YAKIMCHUK (poet, playwright, screenwriter, performance artist; Ukraine) is the author of the poetry books Абрикоси Донбасу [Apricots of Donbas] (2015) and Як мода [Like Fashion] (2009), as well as the plays Wall and Schrödinger's Cat. She also wrote the screenplays for both the film Slovo House. Unfinished Novel (2021) and the documentary Slovo House (2017). Yakimchuk was a songwriter and spoken word artist on the album Ukrainian Songs of Love and Hate (2022) and coauthor with Mary Brnley of the libretto for the musical Freedom Letters. Her writing has been translated into more than twenty languages, and she read her poetry as part of John Legend’s performance during the 2022 Grammys. Her work has been covered by The New York Times, BBC, CBC, and CNN. Her participation is made possible by an anonymous gift to the IWP.
Tabish KHAIR (poet, fiction writer, journalist, academic; Denmark) was born and educated in the small town of Gaya in Bihar, India. An Indian citizen, he now resides in Denmark, where he teaches in the Department of English at the University of Aarhus. His most recent novels are Just Another Jihadi Jane (2016) and The Body by the Shore (2022). His first collection of short fiction is Namaste Trump & Other Stories (2023). Oxford University Press will publish his new nonfiction book, Literature Against Fundamentalism, in 2024. He participates courtesy of the Paul and Hualing Nieh Engle Fund.
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PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE World Press Institute
and Stanley Center for Peace and Security
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Election Watch 2024: Journalistic Experience From the Global Stage w/LUNCH
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2024, 12:00 - 1:00PM IOWA CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY Hosted by Christine Shea, ICFRC Board Member Also Streaming Online: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/cu/PA4Wrv
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Moderator
Gugulethu Mfuphi - Host of KayaBiz for Kaya959 in Johannesburg
Gugulethu Mfuphi, a multi-award-winning financial journalist and radio broadcaster, is based in Johannesburg, South africa. Her show, KayaBiz on Kaya 959, is a platform where she simplifies the world of business. She engages with corporate giants, policymakers, and up-and-coming entrepreneurs, providing a valuable platform for their voices. Gugulethu's invitation to guests to share their analysis of markets, corporate activity, and economics, along with discussions on personal finance and thought leadership, keeps the audience included and valued.
Panelists
Anando Bhakto - Senior assistant editor, Frontline, and contributor to The Wire, The Globe Post, and Open Democracy among other publications in New Delhi
Anando Bhakto is a New Delhi based journalist covering India's Opposition parties, national and provincial elections, and the Kashmir conflict. His in-depth reportage on the groundswell of Hindutva shed light on the ongoing ideological restructuring in India and its repercussions on the minorities. In Kashmir, his stories highlight festering alienation under an iron-fist bureaucratic power apparatus.
Haruna Ibrahim - Senior digital journalist for the BBC World Service (BBC) in Abuja
Haruna Ibrahim Kakangi is a senior digital journalist working with the BBC in Abuja, Nigeria. He was inspired to work in the media to bring about positive change in society. Prior to this position, he worked as a senior journalist where he produced shows on accountability in Nigeria, and on which political leaders are held to account for the promises they made during election campaigns.
Ana Bazo Reisman - Data and political reporter for El Comercio newspaper in Lima
Ana Bazo Reisman is a data and political reporter for El Comercio newspaper in Lima. She occasionally contributes as a stringer for France 24 and has been an ICFJ and IJP fellow in the United States and Germany.
Gugulethu Mfuphi - Host of KayaBiz for Kaya959 in Johannesburg
Gugulethu Mfuphi, a multi-award-winning financial journalist and radio broadcaster, is based in Johannesburg, South africa. Her show, KayaBiz on Kaya 959, is a platform where she simplifies the world of business. She engages with corporate giants, policymakers, and up-and-coming entrepreneurs, providing a valuable platform for their voices. Gugulethu's invitation to guests to share their analysis of markets, corporate activity, and economics, along with discussions on personal finance and thought leadership, keeps the audience included and valued.
Panelists
Anando Bhakto - Senior assistant editor, Frontline, and contributor to The Wire, The Globe Post, and Open Democracy among other publications in New Delhi
Anando Bhakto is a New Delhi based journalist covering India's Opposition parties, national and provincial elections, and the Kashmir conflict. His in-depth reportage on the groundswell of Hindutva shed light on the ongoing ideological restructuring in India and its repercussions on the minorities. In Kashmir, his stories highlight festering alienation under an iron-fist bureaucratic power apparatus.
Haruna Ibrahim - Senior digital journalist for the BBC World Service (BBC) in Abuja
Haruna Ibrahim Kakangi is a senior digital journalist working with the BBC in Abuja, Nigeria. He was inspired to work in the media to bring about positive change in society. Prior to this position, he worked as a senior journalist where he produced shows on accountability in Nigeria, and on which political leaders are held to account for the promises they made during election campaigns.
Ana Bazo Reisman - Data and political reporter for El Comercio newspaper in Lima
Ana Bazo Reisman is a data and political reporter for El Comercio newspaper in Lima. She occasionally contributes as a stringer for France 24 and has been an ICFJ and IJP fellow in the United States and Germany.
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Manufacturing Consent:
The Failure of EU Elections, Media, and the Public Sphere w/LUNCH WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 09, 2024, 12:00 - 1:00PM IOWA CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY Hosted by Daniel Vorwerk, ICFRC Board Member Also Streaming Online: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/cu/Z4zJULC
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Europe still lacks a "European" public sphere and a media system that serves it. As was the case during the 2019 EU parliamentary election, the 2024 contest exhibited regional differences in the themes covered by national media and their emphasis on European-wide issues. Most voters' choices of representative MPEs reflected national politics and perceived interests, and relatedly, the ideological divides that positively or negatively assessed European-wide problems, e.g., climate change, ongoing wars, EU expansion, etc. The dominant reliance on social media for news, in informal ways significantly augmenting the traditional media's "journalism of perspective," contributed both to reinforcing and enhancing the existing political and ideological polarization in most EU member nations. As such, unevenly across the continent, they also further splintered the national public spheres, diminishing the prospects of "manufacturing of consent" on several issues important to the European Union.
Peter Gross is professor emeritus and former Director of the University of Tennessee’s School of Journalism and Electronic Media (2006-2016). Before his tenure at UT, he held the Gaylord Family Endowed Chair at the University of Oklahoma, Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. His research focus is East and Central Europe society, media and journalism.
Peter Gross is professor emeritus and former Director of the University of Tennessee’s School of Journalism and Electronic Media (2006-2016). Before his tenure at UT, he held the Gaylord Family Endowed Chair at the University of Oklahoma, Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. His research focus is East and Central Europe society, media and journalism.
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South African Democracy: Lessons from 30 Years w/LUNCH
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 16, 2024, 12:00 - 1:00PM IOWA CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY Hosted by Sunday Goshit, ICFRC Board Member Also Streaming Online: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/cu/NffxqJC
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"My research examines the intersection of citizenship, kinship, and economy in the everyday lives of South African families. As the availability of wage labor declines globally, I research how women rework the obligations entailed by kinship and citizenship in order to combat their social and economic insecurity. Drawing on approaches from feminist anthropology, women’s history, and gendered theories of capital, my work considers how intimate relationships—such as those between couples or kin—reproduce or transform both economic inequalities and political belonging. I address these questions in South Africa, where gender, race, and work mark the shifting boundaries of political inclusion.
I am in the process of writing up a book on my research on poor women’s efforts to garner resources for themselves and their children between 1960 and 2014. During this period, the availability of both marriage and waged work declined dramatically, rendering social reproduction and political recognition quite tenuous. Using archival and ethnographic research on family life and welfare provision, I tracked the livelihood strategies of poor mothers living in a multiracial inner-city neighborhood in the apartheid and democratic eras. My work reveals that women responded to men’s declining ability to earn a family wage and to formalize marriage relationships by cultivating new relations of obligation and dependency. I show how women built resource networks across families, friends, and communities that outlined alternative conditions of debt and duty not grounded in either a marital contract or relations of affinity. In the process, I argue, women not only responded to, but actively constructed the gendered and racial economy of the country and forged new relations between men and women, persons and communities, citizens and the state."
I am in the process of writing up a book on my research on poor women’s efforts to garner resources for themselves and their children between 1960 and 2014. During this period, the availability of both marriage and waged work declined dramatically, rendering social reproduction and political recognition quite tenuous. Using archival and ethnographic research on family life and welfare provision, I tracked the livelihood strategies of poor mothers living in a multiracial inner-city neighborhood in the apartheid and democratic eras. My work reveals that women responded to men’s declining ability to earn a family wage and to formalize marriage relationships by cultivating new relations of obligation and dependency. I show how women built resource networks across families, friends, and communities that outlined alternative conditions of debt and duty not grounded in either a marital contract or relations of affinity. In the process, I argue, women not only responded to, but actively constructed the gendered and racial economy of the country and forged new relations between men and women, persons and communities, citizens and the state."
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Authoritarianism and Christian Nationalism
in Viktor Orban’s Hungary FRIDAY NOVEMBER 1, 2024, 6:00 - 7:30PM OLD CAPITOL MUSEUM Hosted by Peter Gerlach, ICFRC Executive Director Also Streaming Online:
https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/cu/ZNymb9y |
H. David Baer is Professor of Theology and Philosophy at Texas Lutheran University. He is the author of The Struggle of Hungarian Lutherans under Communism, Recovering Christian Realism: Just War Theory as a Political Ethic, and Essays in Defense of Religious Freedom (in English and Hungarian). He is co-editor of the journal Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe and an academic advisor to FOREF Europe (Forum for Religious Freedom Europe), a Vienna-based NGO.
Benjamin Novak is a doctoral candidate at the John Hopkins University, and a Research Affiliate at the Central European University Democracy Institute. He was a reporter based in Budapest, Hungary at New York Times until 2022. He has reported from Hungary since 2013, and began reporting for The New York Times in 2018. He is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies and now is a doctoral student at Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Benjamin Novak is a doctoral candidate at the John Hopkins University, and a Research Affiliate at the Central European University Democracy Institute. He was a reporter based in Budapest, Hungary at New York Times until 2022. He has reported from Hungary since 2013, and began reporting for The New York Times in 2018. He is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies and now is a doctoral student at Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
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Also Streaming Online:
https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/cu/DjH59JB |
Democracy’s Future in Iowa, the US,
and Beyond WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 20, 2024, 6:00 - 7:30PM IOWA CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY Hosted by Dimy Doresca, ICFRC Board Member |
Moderator
Dimy Doresca is a Certified Global Business Professional (CGBP), an International Business Specialist and Consultant, and an International Trainer in Entrepreneurship. He is the Director of the Institute for International Business, Associate Professor of Practice in International Business and Entrepreneurship, and International Recruitment Advisor at The University of Iowa. He is also the Academic Director of the Mandela Washington Fellowship Program at the University of Iowa. In the last 20 years his professional experience includes international market research, doing business overseas, risk analysis, strategic planning, budgeting, financial management, business development and operations, contracts administration and negotiations, claim analysis, and international banking, international business and entrepreneurship training in many countries in the Middle East, Asia, Sub Sahara Africa and the Caribbean. Dimy holds a BA in International Business from Augustana College and an MS in Foreign Service (International Affairs) from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.
Panelists
Janice Weiner was elected to her first term in the Iowa Senate in 2022. She represents Senate District 45, which includes most of Iowa City. Senator Weiner is an Assistant Democratic Leader. Janice is a graduate of Iowa City West High School, Princeton University and Stanford Law School. Janice joined the U.S. State Department in 1987, where she was first posted in East Berlin – both before and after the Berlin Wall fell. She also served in Belgium, Turkey, Poland, Canada, Mexico, Germany, and Washington, D.C. After retiring from the Foreign Service, Janice worked for the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), the bargaining unit and professional association of the Foreign Service. Prior to her election to the Senate, Janice served as an at-large member of Iowa City City Council. She currently serves as president of the board of Agudas Achim synagogue, and has held leadership roles at Shelter House, UNA/USA, the Council for International Visitors to Iowa Cities (CIVIC), and the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council. She is a founding member of the grassroots group Potluck Insurgency. She enjoys playing with the Community Band and has worked as a short-term substitute teacher for ICCSD.
Marina Zaloznaya joined the Sociology faculty at the University of Iowa in 2012, after she received a Master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Ph.D. in Sociology from Northwestern University. Dr. Zaloznaya’s research explores public sector corruption, political behavior, and gender in non-democratic regimes from a range of methodological perspectives, including ethnography, survey methods, comparative-historical, and network analysis. Her first book, The Politics of Bureaucratic Corruption in Post-Transitional Eastern Europe (Cambridge University Press 2017) analyzed the impact of hybrid political systems in Ukraine and Belarus on petty corruption in local universities, from the dissolution of the Soviet Union to the present day. For her second major project, funded by two grants from the U.S. Department of Defense, Dr. Zaloznaya and her collaborators carried out a series of national representative surveys in Russia, China, Ukraine, and Georgia. Using these rich data, they analyzed individual-level causes and gendered patterns of public sector corruption, its impact on citizens’ political views and behaviors, and its embeddedness in citizens’ social networks.
Dr. Christopher Peters, MD is a health care provider primarily located in Iowa City, IA, with another office in Coralville, IA. He has 35 years of experience. His specialties include Thoracic Surgery, Vascular Surgery, Cardiovascular Disease. Peters was a 2016 Republican candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 2nd Congressional District of Iowa. Peters was also a Libertarian candidate for District 15 of the Iowa State Senate.
