Rule Breakers tells the true story of Roya Mahboob, a visionary Afghan entrepreneur and advocate for girls’ education who defies rigid societal norms in her country. In a place where educating girls is treated like rebellion, Roya forms the first all-girls robotics team in Afghanistan and guides them to pursue their dreams in science and technology. As the team’s innovation and success draw international attention, they face mounting opposition, cultural resistance, and real threats, yet their courage, unity, and determination spark a broader movement that has the potential to change their nation forever.

The film focuses on themes of female empowerment, resilience, teamwork, and the transformative power of education. It follows the girls as they overcome personal and political obstacles, travel to competitions, and challenge deep-seated gender barriers in pursuit of their shared goals.

Following the screening, join filmmakers Roya Mahboob and Elaha Mahboob, along with Cornell faculty for a conversation on the film, their work, and the current context for Afghan communities in the U.S. today. The discussion will be followed by audience Q&A.

Free admission! This event is co-sponsored by Cornell Law School’s Migration and Human Rights Program, Berger International Speaker Series, Immigration Law & Advocacy Clinic, Gender Justice Clinic, Dorothea S. Clarke Program, and the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy.

Join us for a Chats in the Stacks book talk with Alex Nading, associate professor in the Department of Anthropology, as he discusses his latest book, The Kidney and the Cane: Planetary Health and Plantation Labor in Nicaragua (Duke University Press, 2025). Nading follows activists, scientists, and residents in the sugarcane zone who wrestle with the consequences of plantation life. Along the way, he raises critical questions about the capacity of corporations and states to care for people and ecosystems; the ability of citizens and experts to regulate toxic substances; and the future of work on a warming planet.

To attend the talk virtually, please register here: https://cornell.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CZSHaSwXQsm_ZP2dRbc5fg

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program supports U.S. citizens to study, conduct research in any field, or teach English in more than 150 countries. The program is open to graduate students, recent graduates, and young professionals. Undergraduate students who wish to begin the program immediately after graduation are encouraged to start the process in their junior year. Recent graduates are welcome to apply through Cornell.

The Fulbright program at Cornell is administered by the Mario Einaudi Center for International studies. Applicants are supported through all stages of the application and are encouraged to start early by contacting fulbright@einaudi.cornell.edu.

Register for the virtual session.

Can’t attend? Contact fulbright@einaudi.cornell.edu.

Learn and explore at our exhibition open house celebrating The Hum of Life: A Thousand and One Tales From Bali, free and open to all!

Exhibition cocurator Kaja McGowan will offer an introductory lecture, illuminating the cultural background, narrative elements, and visual aesthetics of the artwork on view. This portion of the event will be available as a live stream.

Afterward, explore the exhibition galleries and connect with members of the Indonesian Students Association at Cornell, who will be highlighting traditions, daily life, and religious practices in traditional attire. Enjoy Indonesian snacks, and taste Balinese coffee served by the Cornell Coffee Club.

Support for this program was provided by the Stoikov Asian Art Lecture Fund.

Award-winning Cree filmmaker Tasha Hubbard’s documentary Singing Back the Buffalo follows Indigenous visionaries, scientists, and communities who are rematriating the buffalo to the heart of the North American plains they once defined, signaling a turning point for Indigenous nations, the ecosystem, and all of our collective survival.

Together with Blackfoot Elder Leroy Little Bear, Hubbard weaves an intimate story of humanity’s connections to buffalo and eloquently reveals how their return to the Great Plains can indeed usher in a new era of sustainability and balance. On her journey, Hubbard explores the challenges faced by buffalo allies and shares the positive steps already taken towards the ultimate – but uncertain – goal of buffalo rematriation. After their dark recent history of almost extinction, and in this time of immense environmental degradation and global uncertainty, the buffalo can lead us to a better tomorrow.

Richly visualized and deeply uplifting, Singing Back the Buffalo is an epic reimagining of North America through the lens of buffalo consciousness and a potent dream of what is within our grasp, thanks to the unwavering vision of Indigenous leaders.

Free admission! Reserve your free ticket through Cornell Cinema. Sponsored by the Migrations Program at the Einaudi Center for International Studies and cosponsored by the American Indian & Indigenous Studies Program.

Speaker: Jina Kim, Associate Professor of Korean Literature & Culture, University of Oregon

Description: This presentation examines how a 1950s South Korean radio docudrama contributed to post-war reconstruction of national identity, shaped cultural narratives, and participated in collective healing. In South Korea, radio programs played a key role in addressing the emotional and social wounds caused by loss, displacement, and family separation in the postwar period. The docudrama media format came to capture this shared historical experience as well as everyday concerns of love, work, marriage, etc. One of the most popular radio programs during this time was Insaeng yŏngmach’a (The stagecoach of life), which was broadcasted from 1954 – 1958 on Seoul’s HLKA Station. This program was created based on listeners’ letters that were sent to the station with which professional writers then reconstructed the story into a radio drama while simultaneously providing advice to the letter writer for the dilemma that they were facing. In this presentation, I will explore how The Stagecoach of Life aestheticized real-life stories into dramatic form for the radio thereby serving as a model for the golden age of radio melodramas and docudramas in the 1950s and throughout the 1960s. By centering women’s letters and the responses crafted by elite women writers, this project traces how intimate, everyday dilemmas became mediated narratives of gendered experience. These exchanges provide insight into how modern womanhood was imagined, disciplined, and occasionally re imagined during South Korea’s post war transition. The docudrama format exposes the push and pull between evolving notions of female agency and the persistent cultural scripts of filial duty and moral propriety.

About East Asia Program

As Cornell’s hub for research, teaching, and engagement with East Asia, the East Asia Program (EAP) serves as a forum for the interdisciplinary study of historical and contemporary East Asia. The program draws its membership of over 45 core faculty and numerous affiliated faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students from eight of Cornell’s 12 schools and colleges.