Monthly Archives: March 2016

Fifth Annual German Undergraduate Research Conference

Illinois Wesleyan University will host the fifth annual German Undergraduate Research Conference April 1-2 with most sessions in State Farm Hall and The Ames Library. It is the only undergraduate research conference in the nation that takes place entirely in German, with poster and oral presentations by undergraduates from IWU and 11 other participating institutions.

Kristopher Imbrigotta, visiting assistant professor of German studies at the University of Puget Sound, will present Saturday’s keynote address.

Illinois Wesleyan students presenting include: Kristen Andersen ’17, Hilary Doyle, Nancy Guzman ’16, Elizabeth Sanders ’16, Sophia Staerz ’19, Niyant Vora ’19 and Michaela Wilson ’16.  Students from Carleton College, the University of Chicago, Dartmouth, Knox College, Macalester College, Marian University, North Central College, University of North Texas, University of Notre Dame, Pomona College and Worcester Polytechnic Institute will also attend.

The conference is designed to provide an outlet for students from any field of research within German Studies to present their research to their peers and to receive feedback in an academic setting. Presenting at the conference provides students with valuable communication experience relevant to any field of post-graduate work or study being considered, according to Adam Woodis, visiting assistant professor of German.

The German Undergraduate Research Conference is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation “Re-Centering the Humanities” grant, Student Senate, Isaac Funk Endowed Professorship, held by Marina Balina, and the IWU President’s Office.

Ousmane Sembène Film Festival

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Ousmane Sembène has been called “the father of African film.”

A film festival highlighting the work of African filmmaker Ousmane Sembène, including a documentary selected for the Sundance Film Festival, will be held March 29-31 at Illinois Wesleyan University.

Born in 1923 in Senegal, Sembène has often been called “the father of African film.”  A fifth-grade dropout, Sembène was a self-taught novelist before he realized films would reach wider African audiences. Over a nearly 40-year film career, Sembène tackled recurring themes of the history of colonialism, the failings of religion, critique of the new African bourgeoisie, and the strength of African women. His final film, the 2004 feature Moolaadé, explored the subject of female genital mutilation and won awards at the Cannes Film Festival. Sembène died in 2007.

The filmmaker is the subject of the documentary Sembène! , which was screened in 2015 at the Sundance, Telluride and Cannes film festivals. Sembène! is told through the experiences of the man who knew him best: his biographer Samba Gadjigo, who co-wrote, co-directed and co-produced the documentary.

Sembène! will be screened March 31 at 4 p.m. at Illinois Wesleyan. Gadjigo, who is also a professor of African studies and French at Mount Holyoke College, will lead a discussion of the film at its conclusion. In a review of Sembène!, The Hollywood Reporter called it “a welcome spotlight on the legendary Senegalese director.”

Sembène films to be shown at IWU include Faat Kine on March 29 and Mandabi (The Money Order) on March 30. A 1968 film exploring themes of neocolonialism, religion,

Director Samba Gadjigo will discuss his documentary, Sembène!

Director Samba Gadjigo will discuss his documentary, Sembène!

corruption and relationships to Senegalese society, Mandabi will be shown March 30 at 4 p.m.

Sembène’s film Faat Kiné, set in the present day, provides a critical look at modern, post-colonial Senegal and the place of women in that society and will be shown March 29 at 7 p.m. All screenings will take place in The Ames Library’s Beckman Auditorium, and are free and open to the public.

The Sembène Film Festival is sponsored by Illinois Wesleyan’s Center for Human Rights and Social Justice with the assistance of a Re-Centering the Humanities Mellon Foundation grant.

Home Away from Home: Benefits and Losses in the Filipino Diaspora

Come out to The Ames Library on Thursday, 24 March at 4pm (Beckman Auditorium) for the International Studies Colloquium featuring Jason Reblando.

For his Fulbright fellowship to the Philippines, Jason Reblando produced a photographic survey of different aspects of the Filipino diaspora and how Filipinos stay connected to their homeland. From balikbayan boxes to remittances, Filipinos maintain relationships with their home despite the social hardships and geographic boundaries that separate friends and families. As families experience the benefits and absence of an _MG_7750Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW), Reblando’s photographs examine how workers abroad are changing the Philippine landscape and Filipinos’ relationship to home.

Biographical Information

Jason Reblando received his MFA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago and a BA in Sociology from Boston College. He is the recipient of a U.S. Fulbright Scholar grant and an Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowship award. His work has been published in the New York Times, Camera Austria, Slate, Bloomberg Businessweek, Real Simple, Places Journal, Chicago Magazine, and the Chicago Tribune. His photographs are part of the collections in the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Midwest Photographers Project of the Museum of Contemporary Photography, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He teaches photography at Illinois State University.

JSTOR eBooks!

JSTOR now offers full-text access to over 20,000 academic ebooks. Ebooks are cross-searchable with journal articles, and you can view ebook chapters online or download them as standard PDFs.  There are no limits on downloading or printing, and you won’t need to log in or use any special software to use the ebooks.

This one-minute video demonstrates how to find and integrate full-text ebook chapters into your research on JSTOR: Using E-Books on JSTOR.  You will also find records for these e-books when you search in Megasearch or the catalog from the Ames Library homepage.

Celebrate Women’s History Month!

Women’s History Month celebrates women’s endeavors and accomplishments.

For whatever your topic about women – related to society, culture, history, science, etc., – Ames Library has resources and our librarians can help you find the best ones.

Here are just a few of the databases that feature women’s sources and scholarship:

Databases

Academic Search Complete

Comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals.

Black Thought and Culture

Approximately 100,000 pages of monographs, essays, articles, speeches, and interviews written by leaders within the black community from the earliest times to the present.

Women and Social Movements in the United States: 1600-2000

A collection of 91 document projects and archives with more than 3,600 documents and 150,000 pages of additional full-text documents, and more than 2,060 primary authors. Includes book, film, and website reviews, notes from the archives, and teaching tools.

Other Resources

Women’s History and Resource Center Catalog

This catalog currently provides access to a growing body of information and images related to GFWC’s history, including archival material, photographs, publications, art, and artifacts. Tips for searching are available by clicking the Help button on the search screen. To avoid too many hits, leave outGFWC when searching for names of clubs and state federations. Watch for catalog updates as new material is added.

 

Compiled and maintained by the Smithsonian, explore the various collections to learn about women inventors, voting, African American women artists, and many other collections.

 

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