With a population of 376,000—less than half the size of Cyprus—and land area of 40,000 square miles (103,000 square km), lceland is one of Europe's smallest states.

In his lecture "Can Small States Make a Difference? The Case of Iceland on the International Scene," President of Iceland Guðni Th. Jóhannesson shares his perspective as the leader of a small country that was a founding member of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

According to the Institute for Economics and Peace's Global Peace Index, Iceland is the world's most peaceful nation—for the 14th consecutive year. Iceland has consistently held the top position since the index launched in 2008.

Jóhannesson argues that Iceland's national commitment to peace; disarmament, arms control, and nonproliferation; and the shared values of the NATO alliance, including respect for democracy and human rights, are part of how his small state makes an outsized impact on international relations.

Hosted by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, this Distinguished Speakers series event is part of Einaudi's work on Democratic Threats and Resilience.

The event will be moderated by Peter Katzenstein, the Einaudi's Center Walter S. Carpenter Jr. Professor of International Studies and Professor of Government in the College of Arts and Sciences.

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Livestream

Don't miss this important lecture!

Join the livestream.Or view the event as it happens on the large screen in the Groos Family Atrium in Klarman Hall.***

In-Person: SOLD OUT

Please bring your Eventbrite ticket to the lecture. Doors open at 4:05pm.

Note: Due to security precautions, attendees may be searched, and bags will not be allowed in the auditorium. Free and secure bag storage will be available at the venue.

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About the Speaker

Guðni Th. Jóhannesson took office as Iceland's president in 2016. Previously, he was professor of history at the University of Iceland. He also taught at Reykjavik University, Bifröst University, and the University of London.

Jóhannesson has written numerous books on modern Icelandic history—including works about the Cod Wars, the Icelandic presidency, late Prime Minister Gunnar Thoroddsen, spying in Iceland, and the 2008 banking collapse—as well as dozens of scholarly articles and newspaper articles. In 2017 he was awarded an honorary degree by Queen Mary University of London, where he earned his PhD in history in 2003.

Open to the Cornell community.

In 1997, Azerbaijan launched a state program of cultural erasure that resulted in the destruction of nearly every vestige of the medieval and early modern Armenian past in the exclave of Nakhchivan. In a year-long forensic investigation, Caucasus Heritage Watch (CHW), a collaboration between researchers at Cornell and Purdue universities, conducted a detailed forensic analysis to systematically document the disappearance of over a hundred Armenian heritage sites. The resulting report bears witness to a new form of heritage crime and supports legal efforts to hold perpetrators accountable. CHW’s work poses new questions in heritage studies: What is the role of the researcher in documenting crimes? How can scholars create evidence that can be used in a court of law in struggles against racial discrimination? This presentation will provide an overview of CHW’s work to document silent erasure in Azerbaijan and address the challenges and stakes of archaeology in the maelstrom of politics and conflict.

Speakers
Lori Khatchadourian, Near Eastern Studies
Adam Smith, Anthropology

Presented by Critical Ottoman and Post-Ottoman Studies. Co-sponsored by the Institute for European Studies, Near Eastern Studies, Anthropology, the Cornell Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies, and the Armenian Students Organization.

Register for virtual viewing.

Christina Kiaer of Northwestern University will speak on Racial Solidarity at the Kyiv Film Festival: Black Skin, 1931. Request a copy of the paper: cf476@cornell.edu

On November 3 scholar and singer-songwriter Psoy Korolenko will present a lecture-concert that combines discussion of Jewish musical tradition in cross-cultural context of the 19-21st centuries and artistic performance.

Pavel Lion, PhD in Philology, MSU, more known by his art name Psoy Korolenko, is a singer-songwriter, translator, scholar, and journalist, often referred to as a ''wandering scholar'' and an ''avant-bard''. His multilingual one-person cabaret balances various genres and traditions, among which East European music, Klezmer, and Yiddish play a significant role. On stage since 2000, he released several books of essays, poetry, and song lyrics, and more than 20 CDs, solo or in collaboration with active Jewish and Klezmer musicians ("Opa!", Daniel Kahn, Igor Krutogolov, "Oy Division", Michael Alpert, Bob Cohen, Jake Shulmann-Ment). Featured in movies "Soul Exodus" (Hungary), "The Wandering Muse" (Canada), several Russian films (sometimes in cameo episodes). He has been a part of various international music projects, such as “Brothers Nazaroff'' (Smithsonian Folkways Records, 2015), ''Defesa'' (2015, tribute to Brazilian Tropicalists) and other. In 2020, ''Psoetry'' was published, a bilingual selection of Psoy's original Russian songs in English translations by other authors, and songs by Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Daniel Kahn and other artists, translated into Russian by Psoy.

One of his most recent achievements is his participation in ''Yiddish Glory'', a long-term collaborative project with the historian Anna Shternshis, professor of Toronto University. Yiddish Glory is an academic and artistic exploration of long-lost and recently discovered trove of Yiddish songs in Yiddish created and performed by a group of amateur singers and musicians from Ukraine evacuated to Middle Asia at the time of WWII. The album "Yiddish Glory" (2019) won “The Fiddler on the Roof” award from the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia and had been nominated for a Grammy award. Psoy is a voting member of the American Recording Academy, one of the organizers or the Russian American open-air music festival JetLAG, and participant of multiple klezmer music festivals. He had been artist/scholar-in-residence at the Trinity College (Hartford), University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), Dickinson College (Carlisle, PA), and he currently is a visiting lecturer at Dartmouth College.

Event sponsored by Jewish Studies Program, Department of Comparative Literature/Russian Program, Institute for European Studies, and Department of Music

Sara Brenneis

"Los campos: The Spanish Deportation to Nazi Concentration Camps"

5 p.m. Monday, October 17

Klarman Hall KG42

Reception to follow.

Sponsored by

the Department of Romance Studies, Institute for Comparative Modernities,

Department of German Studies, Jewish Studies Program,

Institute for European Studies and Department of History

Are you interested in a possible career in public service, and maybe specifically with the U.S. Department of State? Ever wondered what it's like to work in various capacities at State -- ranging from a Foreign Service Officer to policy analyst and intelligence officer -- or how to go about preparing yourself to be a successful applicant for jobs at State?

Please join the Einaudi Center for a virtual discussion about career paths and opportunities at the State Department and in public service, featuring three Cornell alumni who will share their insights:

Benjamin Brake, Director, Office of Cyber Affairs and Emerging Technology, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, U.S. Department of StateJason Oaks, Deputy National Intelligence Officer for East Asia, U.S. Department of StateEric Anderson, Foreign Service Office, Political Counselor in Islamabad, Pakistan, U.S. Department of StateThis career info session is presented by the Einaudi Center's International Studies Minor, and its outgoing director (Christopher Way) and incoming director (Oumar Ba). The International Relations Minor is open to all Cornell undergraduate students interested in learning about the politics, economics, history, languages, and cultures of the world.

Contact: irm@einaudi.cornell.edu

Monica Green, independent scholar - via Zoom

Between Samarqand and Granada: The 'Wind' of Plague Moves Through the Islamicate World