The global COVID-19 pandemic weakened Senegal’s already-precarious economy, causing a resurgence of pirogue migration from coastal towns to the Canary Islands and resulting in hundreds of fatalities. Faced with what they see as an inadequate governmental response, the civil society has been leading an online and on-the-ground campaign of denunciation. This study examines how COVID-19 restrictions have exacerbated economic conditions in Senegal and occasioned a resurgence of the “Barca wala barsax” phenomenon, a form of “illegal” migration in which candidates (generally from fishing communities) use fragile embarkations to cross the Atlantic in search of a better life. It also looks at the profile migrants as well as the modus operandi of migrant traffickers.

Bamba Ndiaye is a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University’s Society for the Humanities. He earned a PhD in Comparative Humanities at the University of Louisville. His research interests are the intersection of Black Atlantic social movements, critical race theory, Black Atlantic popular cultures, mobility and Pan-Africanism. He is the author of several peer-reviewed publications in leading interdisciplinary journals including “Social Movements and the Challenges of Resources Mobilization in the Digital Era” (in Africa Today), “Mbas Mi”: Fighting COVID-19 Through Music in Senegal” (in African Studies Review) and “African American Evangelic Missions and Social Reforms in the Congo” in Reflections of Leadership and Institution in Africa (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020). He is currently working on his book manuscript entitled Black Social Movements in the Digital Era. Bamba is the creator and host of The Africanist Podcast.

Margaret Rowley (she/her/hers) is a PhD candidate at Boston University where her work focuses on Islamic sound practices of the Layeen Sufi community in the Senegalese capital of Dakar. She is interested in interpretations of human and non-human sound, gender, and religion in everyday life, particularly the community's relationship with the ocean. Margaret holds master’s degrees in ethnomusicology and flute performance from Michigan State University, where her thesis examined women DJs in Chicago’s house music scene. Her previous work has focused on sonic torture in Guantanamo, and Islam and the secular state in France.

In this webcast, Cornell experts will examine how migrant stereotypes, discrimination, and xenophobia drive the militarization of borders and the ways in which migrant rights are — or are not — allowed and respected. Using insights from the first global Migrants’ Rights Database, the panel will explore how effectively states are protecting migrants' rights and complying with international law. They’ll also discuss how new research using these data offer crucial public policy evidence for developing an international law to protect all migrants.

Speakers:

Ian M. Kysel: Visiting Assistant Professor, Cornell Law School

Justin Gest: Associate Professor George Mason University

Stephen Yale-Loehr: Professor of Immigration Law Pracctice Cornell Law School

In this virtual talk, Professor Gilly Leshed will present the Xenophobia Meter Project (XMP), a cross-institutional collaboration that is responding to the rise of radical, racist, and nationalist politics. This global phenomenon has incited an unwitting habituation of the public toward hate-mongering against immigrants as part of normal political campaigns in many jurisdictions.

The Xenophobia Meter Project is funded by the Migrations initiative at Cornell, with additional support from an Einaudi Center seed grant. Read about it in the Chronicle.

Moderators:

Shannon Gleeson, co-chair of the Migrations initiative and professor of labor relations, law & history at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor RelationsWendy Wolford, vice provost for international affairs and Robert A. and Ruth E. Polson Professor of Global Development in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Kathleen "Kat" Cruz Gutierrez is Assistant Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she teaches courses on modern Southeast Asia, the Philippines, and the history of science and the environment. She completed her Ph.D. in Southeast Asian Studies with a Designated Emphasis in Science and Technology Studies (STS) at the University of California, Berkeley. Her dissertation on the international consolidation of botany in the Philippines was shortlisted for Best Dissertation in the Humanities by the International Convention of Asia Scholars in 2021. With Paul Michael Atienza, she is guest co-editing a special issue on STS for Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints. Presently, Dr. Gutierrez is in residence at the Humanities Institute of the New York Botanical Garden completing her first book manuscript.

This Gatty lecture will take place in person at the Kahin Center, but people are also welcome to join us on Zoom. Please register here if you wish to attend via Zoom: https://cornell.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0rduioqzgpHNMTX31Z7KpbwfHg58…

For questions, please contact seapgatty@cornell.edu.

In accordance with university event guidance, all campus visitors who are 12 years old or older must also present a photo ID, as well as proof of vaccination for COVID-19 or results of a recent negative COVID-19 test. If you are not currently participating in the Cornell campus vaccination/testing program, please bring proof of vaccination or the results of a recent negative test.

More information on acceptable documentation is available here: https://covid.cornell.edu/visitors/

CEAS publications and EAP welcome author Scott Mehl, Colgate University to discuss his book, "The Ends of Meter in Modern Japanese Poetry."

In "The Ends of Meter in Modern Japanese Poetry", Scott Mehl analyzes the complex response of Meiji-era Japanese poets and readers to the challenge introduced by European verse and the resulting crisis in Japanese poetry. Amidst fierce competition for literary prestige on the national and international stage, poets and critics at the time recognized that the character of Japanese poetic culture was undergoing a fundamental transformation, and the stakes were high: the future of modern Japanese verse.

2002 > Japan > Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
An animated tale of a young girl named Chihiro whose fantastic adventures are reminiscent of those in Alice in Wonderland. Winner of Best Animated Feature Oscar in 2002. The original Japanese language will be shown on March 24 & 26, and the English dubbed version on March 27. Subtitled. More at gkids.com/films/spirited-away
2 hrs 5 min

2007 > Japan > Directed by Satoshi Kon
With Megumi Hayashibara, T™ru Furuya, K™ichi Yamadera, Satomi Koorogi
In this masterly example of Japanese anime that looks at the connection between movies and dreams, our heroine is a genius scientist by day, and an eighteen-year-old dream warrior named Paprika by night. Only Paprika, who has the ability to enter people's dreams, can save the world from an evil genius threatening to invade and destroy the world's dream life. Subtitled. More at www.sonyclassics.com/paprika/
1 hr 30 min

Ithaca Premiere

2021 > Japan > Directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi

With Kotone Furukawa, Ayumu Nakajima, Hyunri

Hamaguchi (Drive My Car) spins three tales of chance meetings and the mysteries of desire in a film which is "Elegant and amusing, with a delicacy of touch and real imaginative warmth." (The Guardian) Subtitled. More at https://www.filmmovement.com/wheel-of-fortune-and-fantasy

2 hrs 1 min

1998 > Taiwan > Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien

With Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Michiko Hada, Carina Lau

Set in the world of 19th century courtesans, Flowers of Shanghai boasts a cast of Taiwanese stars and a remarkable long-take style that gives the impression of suspended time. Shown in a new restoration. Subtitled. More at https://www.janusfilms.com/films/2006

1 hr 53 min