Anthropology

Sita Sings the Blues

September 2, 7 pm.

The Neville Museum is hosting the first film in the Green Bay Film Society 2009-2010 film series.  The films will be from all over the world, and all are free.  The Neville is located on the west side of the river at the foot of the Main Street bridge (you don’t need to pay admission to the museum to see the film, but if you go early and do so [$4], among the exhibits are a teapot show including Prof. Emeritus David Damkoehler’s work [among many others] and the Art Annual [including some works by UWGB students and faculty]).

Here’s a description of the film:

Sita is a Hindu goddess, the leading lady of India’s epic the Ramayana and a dutiful wife who follows her husband Rama on a 14 year exile to a forest, only to be kidnapped by an evil king from Sri Lanka. Nina (the filmmaker Nina Paley herself) is an artist who finds parallels in Sita’s life when her husband – in India on a work project – decides to break up their marriage and dump her via email. Three hilarious Indonesian shadow puppets narrate both the ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully animated interpretation of the epic. Paley juxtaposes multiple narrative and visual styles to create a highly entertaining yet moving vision. Musical numbers choreographed to 1920’s jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw feature a cast of hundreds: flying monkeys, evil monsters, gods, goddesses, warriors, sages, and winged eyeballs. “Sita Sings the Blues” earns its tagline as “The Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told.”

About the Director:

Nina Paley (b. May 3, 1968, Champaign IL, USA) is a longtime veteran of syndicated comic strips, creating “Fluff” (Universal Press Syndicate), “The Hots” (King Features), and her own alternative weekly “Nina’s Adventures.” In 1998 she began making independent animated festival films, including the controversial yet popular environmental short, “The Stork.” In 2002 Nina followed her then-husband to Trivandrum, India, where she read her first Ramayana. This inspired her first feature, “Sita Sings the Blues,” which she animated and produced single-handedly over the course of 5 years on a home computer. Nina teaches at Parsons School of Design in Manhattan and is a 2006 Guggenheim Fellow.

Sita Sings the Blues

Directed, written, produced, designed and animated by Nina Paley

82 minutes

Animation

Color, stereo

Digital Cinema Package, HDCAM, DVD; soon on 35mm

2008

http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/press.html

As part of both our Common Theme and our team-taught course on War and Peace, we have a special treat tomorrow night – Wednesday, Feb. 25. 

Dr. James Marten, Chair of the History Department at Marquette University will be present with us through the use of telecommunications technology.  Dr. Marten is the influential author and editor of many books including Children in Colonial America: Children and Youth in America, The Boy of Chancellorville and Other Civil War Stories, Childhood and Child Welfare in the Progressive Era & Muckraking, Lessons of War: The Civil War in Childern’s Magazines, The Children’s Civil War and of course the text we are using in the course – Children and War. 

He will speaking about the book and about his own work on children’s lives during the Civil War.  He’ll be able to provide a historian’s insight on interpreting children’s feelings, thoughts, experiences and behaviors in the past.  It will be an amazing opportunity to ask about different research methodologies.

We are very excited to welcome him and would love to have you join us.  We will be in IS 1034 at 5:15 pm.  Please come along for an interesting evening.

Dr. Von Dras has extended an invitation to the broader campus community to visit his Spirituality and Development class on March 2 at 5:15.  It is an opportunity to hear Rick Stirr, current leader of the Madison Zen Center and a student of Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede, Abbot of the Rochester Zen Center.  Roshi Kjolhede is the Dharma heir of Roshi Phillip Kapleau, author of “The Three Pillars of Zen.” 

The presentation will be an introduction to Zen practice using Seng Ts-an’s “Affirming Faith in Mind.”

It promises to be a very interesting evening, and we don’t even have to drive to Madison for it!  If you would like to check it out, come to MAC 103 and be sure to leave some of the desks for the actual students.

The editor wishes to apologize for the long gaps between posts.  There have been some health-related issues that have kept her from being as active as she would like.  There may still be reduced traffic here, but things are looking up, and we hope to have a more active site this semester. 

Please send us your news, your ideas for topics, and anything else you think the community of anthropologists and culture-lovers might be interested in. 

Like this:  The travel course to Ecuador returned recently and has posted many wonderful pictures.  For those thinking about taking this trip next year, you might want to check it out!

http://blog.uwgb.edu/inside/index.php/log-news/news/02/09/cruz-photos-ecuador-galapagos/

The Office of International Education will host several workshops this month for students interested in traveling internationally.  The first will offer information about how to land jobs teaching English in other countries.  Others will provide a forum to hear about study abroad programs and international student exchanges.  These are all great ways to get some real experience immersing yourself in another way of life.

Teaching Abroad
Learn about teaching English abroad
Monday, Nov. 10, 3 p.m., Office of International Education, Cofrin Library 207

Study Abroad Panel
Learn about study abroad from UWGB students who made the journey.
Wednesday, Nov. 12, noon, American Intercultural Center, UU150
 
National Student Exchange Info Session
Study in more than 200 universities in the US, Puerto Rico, Guam, Virgin Islands and Canada.
Thursday, Nov. 13, noon, American Intercultural Center, UU150

The World of Foods
Learn about cooking healthy recipes from around the world. Samples included.
Thursday, Nov. 13, 2:30 p.m to 3:30 p.m., LS 231, Cost: Students $3, Staff/ Faculty/ Community $5
MUST RSVP to: aokik@uwgb.edu Sponsored By:  Human Biology/Nutritional Sciences
 
UWGB Nites! International Twist!
Come to the Union for UWGB Nites gone international. See the Union Web site for details: www.uwgb.edu/union 

Friday, Nov. 14, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., University Union

Gloria Holguín Cuádraz

Associate Professor, Arizona State University 

Mexican Americans and the Making of Community in Litchfield Park, 1916-1986: Oral Histories from the Goodyear Farms Camps 

206 Ingraham Hall –

UW-Madison campus

Friday, October 17

4-5:30 pm

Dr. Cuádraz’s talk is based on oral histories of Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants that worked for Goodyear Farms and lived in “los campos” of Litchfield Park, Arizona (1916-1986). This project documents the history of Mexican American agricultural workers and their families, chronicling the development of the camp communities, while capturing the memories and places special to the former residents of the Goodyear Farms camps. Based on more than more than 45 oral histories and hours of video documentation, this lecture will provide both substantive information about the lives of Mexican Americans as well as several methodological practices.  Its interdisciplinary approach will be of interest to scholars of culture, history, and Mexican American lives. It will also appeal to community based researchers who are interested in establishing university-community projects and the different types of projects that can be produced from these collaborations. It will provide a comparative look at Mexican Americans in another part of the United States. As the Latino population grows in Wisconsin, this will serve to provide an understanding of the historical incorporation of Mexican Americans in U.S. history.  

Career Services is serving as a host site for an upcoming virtual seminar – A Call to Serve:  2009 Nonprofit Career Paths.  This seminar is open to the entire campus community – faculty, staff and students. The seminar will be held on Thursday, November 6 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. in MAC 137.  Feel free to bring your lunch with soda, water and cookies provided.

The seminar will feature Shelly Cryer, author of The Nonprofit Career Guide: How to Land a Job That Makes a Difference.  Shelly will offer a birds-eye view of jobs in the nonprofit sector in 2009 and the career paths within it. Cryer will focus on opportunities and obstacles to helping interested students land meaningful nonprofit sector jobs and will provide concrete strategies for successful nonprofit sector career counseling and advice on the best resources.

During this seminar, participants will discover and explore:

• the size and scope of the nonprofit sector, the key subsectors within it, and range of job functions,
• key barriers to landing a nonprofit job, and strategies for overcoming those barriers,
• job search strategies specific to the nonprofit sector,
• the best resources for nonprofit sector job preparation and job hunting, and
• tips for building connections to a campus’ local nonprofits, as well as national nonprofits.

If you are interested in attending please RSVP to Linda Peacock-Landrum in Career Services by email to peacockl@uwgb.edu or calling Career Services at 465-2163.

Welcome back, all culture vultures!  The editors apologize for being so far behind the times, and vow to do better from now on! 

There are a lot of wonderful things happening this semester, on campus and in the community, for everyone interested in culture and anthropology.  One of the most exciting new developments is a new student organization – The Cultural Lens – which is open to everyone who really cares about culture.  We will profile it very soon and provide a way for you to sign up.

Stay tuned, too, for news about many of the field trips and campus activities The Cultural Lens will be sponsoring.  There are many other happenings you might want to check out, offered through the Human Mosaic, the Cofrin Friends of the Library, the Common Theme (Waging War, Waging Peace), and many others.  We will remind you about them and let you know when and where they are (and try to be timely about it!) as they happen.

Let us also take this moment to give three huge cheers to WELCOME BACK Dr. Lynn Walter, who was away on what we hope was a very refreshing and yet productive sabbatical last year.  Dr. Walter is back in her position as Chair of Anthropology, and as such is the person you should go to with your advising questions.  We are all very happy to have you back, Lynn!

Please remember to send us information about cultural events in your communities, papers or exhibits you are presenting or are involved in, or anything else you think folks would like to know about. 

There is a wonderful new resource for everyone interested in learning more about different cultural groups here in Green Bay.  The Multicultural Center of Greater Green Bay has the mission of preserving and sharing diverse cultures, and promoting the full inclusion of individuals of all cultures at all levels of society.

The center is located at 217 N. Madison in Green Bay.  You can check out their new website by clicking here, and there is a permanent link on the links list.

The website has a lot of different kinds of resources; some are about diversity in general, and there are informational materials about specific cultural groups.  There are also links to community resources.  These are lists of organizations and individuals who serve the needs of minority populations. 

This would be a great place to start if you are looking for places for service learning opportunities!

This Saturday, April 12th – Kress Events Center – from noon to 10pm

Over 1,000 people are expected this year; you should be one of them!

Schedule of Events

• Noon – Doors open

• 1 p.m. – Grand entry (song and dance with performers in full, traditional regalia)

• 3 p.m. – Ceremony honoring education the First Nations major

• 4 p.m. – Musician Wade Fernandez

• 5 p.m. – Feast (at the neighboring Ecumenical Center provided by M & J’s Traditional Catering)

• 7 p.m. – Second grand entry

• 10 p.m. – Event closes