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Letters and Cultures

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SILC This Week Newsletter: SILC This Week is the school's weekly newsletter of upcoming SILC and SILC-related news. Submit news/events for publication in the newsletter to silcnews@asu.edu no later than Noon, Fridays for distribution the following Monday. Access past issues of the newsletter here.

 


News and Events

Mar 26: Hors Concours - Rosa Bonheur, Animalier

2:00-3:15 p.m., LL 14
Please join the School of International Letters and Cultures French language program for guest speaker Betsy Fahlman's lecture on Rosa Bonheur, widely considered to be the most famous female artist of the nineteenth century. Bonheur's specialty was the painting of animals, and her most notable canvas was "The Horse Fair" (1853-1855). Speaker Betsy Fahlman is a professor of art history in ASU's School of Art in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. Her research interests include women and gender, the history of professional art training, the New Deal, and the relationship between art and industry. This lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, visit the event webpage. [download flyer]

Mar 28: SILC Arabic Professor Miral al-Tahawy's novel Brooklyn Heights to be discussed at next ASU Book Club meeting

Noon-1:00 p.m., Piper Writers House
At its next meeting, the ASU Book Club will discuss a book by School of International Letters & Cultures Assistant Professor of Arabic and Middle-East/Islamic Studies Miral al-Tahawy. Brooklyn Heights is about an Egyptian emigrant and her eight-year-old son who escape their native country and end up in Brooklyn amidst a mass of displaced and diverse ethnic people. The story is based on al-Tahawy's own experiences living in Brooklyn with her son while she was a post-doctoral fellow at New York University. The book was short listed for the 2011 International Prize for Arabic Fiction—the Arabic Booker Prize—and won the 2010 Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature. The story was recently translated into English and was named "best novel" for 2011 by the Arabic Literature website. Al-Tahawy, who grew up in a Bedouin society in Egypt, has been profiled by The Washington Post, Frontline magazine, and most recently by The New York Times. For more information, contact Judith Smith.

Mar 28: The Widow, the Prince and the Book: How Christine de Pizan Rewrote History

7:00 p.m., University club Heritage Room, ASU Tempe campus
School of International Letters & Cultures Associate Professor of French Mark Cruse will present this talk as part of the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (ACMRS) Public Programs Series, "Fearless Females: Audacious and Uppity Women of the Middle Ages and Renaissance." Christine de Pizan was a Venetian-born author who challenged the misogyny and stereotypes prevalent in late medieval culture. This event is free and open to the public. Because seating is limited, please RSVP to the ACMRS. For more information, visit the event webpage. [download flyer]

Mar 29: Preserving Maya Heritage - Examples from the Ancient and Historic Past

6 p.m., Business Administration Building C-wing, Room 116
The Maya past is looked upon with much interest as the evidence and remains of a once great civilization lost in the jungles of Central America. Both Mexican and American cultures have tied themselves back to this ancient culture, as have contemporary Maya people such as the Zapatista movement of Chiapas. These continuities and changes in the representation of the Maya past are the focal point of this talk by Richard Leventhal, Curator of the American section of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. This special Wilke Lecture of Archaeological Heritage is presented by the Central Arizona Society of the Archaeological Institute of America. It is free and open to the public. For more information, visit the Central Arizona AIA event webpage.

Mar 30: MyLanguageLabs Workshop

2-4 p.m., LL 02
The School of International Letters & Cultures Linguistics and Language Program invites all interested language instructors to this workshop, presented by Bob Hemmer from Pearson Publishing House. MyLanguageLabs provide engaging experiences that personalize, stimulate and measure learning for each student. The labs are available for Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese, Latin and Russian. Portuguese and German will be available for Fall, 2012 courses. If you are interested in attending this workshop, please RSVP your attendance with either Carmen García Fernandez or Carmen Scales. Refreshments and snacks will be offered. For more information about MyLanguageLabs, visit the event website. [download flyer] 

Jun 13-Aug 8: Intensive Chinese Language Program at Sichuan University

Sichuan University, Chendu, China
The School of International Letters and Cultures (SILC) will offer an intensive 8-week summer Chinese language program at Sichuan University. Contact Jenny Fisher in ASU's Center for Global Education Services for information about the application process and the program deadline, or visit the Study Abroad web page for this program. ASU students can apply for summer fellowships from the ASU Confucius Institute; click here for the application. Information about travel grants and other scholarships can be found on the Study Abroad website.

 

Can I study abroad?

As a student of ASU you have the opportunity to join fellow students in studying the richness of the world’s languages and cultures while earning ASU course credit. ASU offers more than 300 study abroad programs in over 60 countries around the world. For more information, visit the ASU Study Abroad Office website.

SILC Summer Programs: SILC offers over 20 study abroad programs for summer. For example, the Florence, Italy Summer Program was founded in 1981 and is the longest-running study abroad program at ASU. The Spanish Language, Literature and Culture in Seville, Spain program combines features of a traditional study abroad program and a traveling seminar, with guided visits to outstanding centers of Spanish cultural heritage. Likewise, the Leon, Spain program is a four-week program that focuses on Spanish language, literature and culture in the cities of Leon and Barcelona.

The summer program in Romania and Central Europe, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic and Slovakia is a five-week program that focuses on the societies and cultures of Central Europe, with study tours of the region's capitals: Bucharest, Budapest, Vienna, Prague and Bratislava, supplemented by a variety of cross-listed courses. [download flyer]

New for 2012, a summer program in Brazil is being developed that will focus on urban planning. This will be an exciting learning experience in one of the most energetic and fascinating countries in the world. During this intensive program the student will learn about the culture, geography, history and language of Brazil, visiting three interesting and very relevant locations in Southern Brazil: Sao Paulo, the economic locomotive of Brazil; Curitiba, a dynamic community regarded as one of the most livable cities in the world and a model for urban planning; and the Pantanal in Mato Grosso, one of the most spectacular concentrations of flora and fauna on the planet, as well as a United Nations World Heritage Site.

The Mexico program consists of a 5-week stay in the safe colonial city of Merida, where students reside with local families. The program also features extensive cultural travel to legendary Mayan ruins such as Chichén-Itzá and Uxmal, nature preserves, colonial monasteries and the exuberant nature seen in the underground cenotes, beaches, and a weekend trip to the international resort of Playa del Carmen. 

Ongoing: Study Abroad 101 Sessions Offered Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 3:30 pm at the Study Abroad Office: Attending a Study Abroad 101 information session is your first step toward making your international experience a reality. In this session we will cover the basic information you need to know, including how to choose a program, earning credits on your program, financial aid and scholarships. Study Abroad 101 information sessions are held three times a week year round. For more information, including a map of our location, please visit the Study Abroad 101 website.