International & Area Studies
Celebrating Black History Month in the Romance Languages
Contemporary Black, African, and African diaspora writers across the world are redefining literature and criticism in French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. Here are some noteworthy books in their original languages recently acquired by the UC Berkeley Library. Translations into English may also be available for some of the better known.
Mélio Tinga
Mohamed Mbougar Sarr
Léonora Miano
Cristina Roldão et al.
David Pullins
Aïssa Maïga et al.
Doris Wieser & Jessica Falconi, orgs
Léonora Miano
Ubah Cristina Ali Farah
Alain Mabanckou, Pascal Blanchard, et Abdourahman Waberi
Evelyne Trouillot
Dimitry Elias Léger
Tierno Monénembo
Djaïli Amadou Amal
Nétonon Noël Ndjékéry
Igiaba Scego
Pierre Singaravélou
Carlos Martens Bilongo
Dorothy Odartey-Wellington, ed.
Camilla Hawthorne
Inocência Mata et al., eds.
Please also see the related English literatures post for Black History Month 2024 and the Black History at Cal library research guide.
Conference at UC Berkeley: Ruling Together Consultation and Collaboration in the Political Regimes of Premodern Eurasia
Ruling Together: Consultation and Collaboration in the Political Regimes of Premodern Eurasia
February 16, 2024
Maude Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall, UC Berkeley
Organized by Tang Center for Silk Road Studies
The conference focuses on the medieval and early modern periods (1000-1700 CE) as a crucial era for cross-cultural contact, challenging the lesser emphasis this period has received within “Silk Road” scholarship. It argues that viewing Eurasia merely as a space of intermittent object and idea exchange through trade or diplomacy depoliticizes cultural and goods spread, which is inadequate for understanding the political dynamics of these centuries dominated by the Mongol Empire and its successors. Emphasizing the role of political institutions in transregional history, the conference aims to integrate the study of cross-cultural contact with political history, highlighting Central Asia’s significance in the global political history of the medieval and early modern periods.
8:30 Tea and Coffee
9:00 Welcome Remarks
Panel 1
Who Should Rule? Institutions of Sovereignty and Succession
9:15 Christopher Atwood, University of Pennsylvania
The First Interregnum: Imperial Stake Holders in a (Temporarily) Khan-less World
9:45 Michael Bechtel, Nazarbaev University
Mongol Empire 1229-46: Frameworks of Rule and Redistribution (Related article is here)
10:15 Jonathan Brack, Northwestern University
Chinggisid Family Feuds, Islamization, and the Religious Sphere in Mongol-ruled Iran
10:45 Evrim Binbaş, University of Bonn
The Theater of Constitutional Ideas: The First Timurid Civil War and Shahrukh’s Ascension to Timur’s Throne
11:15 Discussion
11:45 Lunch break
Panel 2
How to Rule? Transcontinental Institutions
1:30 Carol Fan, University of Bonn
Revenue sharing networks within the Mongol Empire and transregional contacts
across Eurasia in the 13th and 15th centuries
2:00 Paehwan Seol, Chonnam National University
The Jarghu: Mobile Courts and Justice Networks of the Mongols throughout East-
West Asia during the 13th to 14th Centuries
2:30 Natalia Królikowska, University of Warsaw
Numerous Nogay peoples, the Circassians and innumerable Tatars’ influence on the decision-making process in the Crimean khanate.
3:00 Discussion
3:30 Tea and Coffee
Panel 3
What is Ruling? Conceptualizing State and Empire
3:45 David Sneath, University of Cambridge
The Lords’ Administration: Mongolian aristocratic governance and the state as social
relation
4:15 Munkh-Erdene Lhamsüren, National University of Mongolia
The Chinggisid Sovereignty: Myth, Archetype, and Transformation (see similar article here)
4:45 Kaveh Hemmat, Benedictine University
Rule of Law in Islamicate Civic Lore Concerning the Mongol Empire and China
5:15 Discussion
Graduate Student Colloquium in Armenian Studies at UCLA
The above image is from one of the pages of the Gladzor Armenian Manuscripts. It was used last year at the 2023 graduate student colloquium
Royce Hall 314
Friday, February 16th, 2024
9:30 a.m.-10:00 Breakfast
10:00-10:10 Opening Remarks
Lori Pirinjian
Director of the 2024 Graduate Student Colloquium in Armenian Studies (Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA)
Dr. S. Peter Cowe
Narekatsi Professor of Armenian Studies (Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA)
Panel 1: Contemporary Policy in the Armenian Republic
Chair: Lori Pirinjian (UCLA)
10:10-10:30 Arev Papazian “Fishing Ban on Lake Sevan in Post-Soviet Armenian Republic” (Central European University, Vienna)
Read about the fishing ban here: https://www.azatutyun.am/a/32742178.html
10:30-10:40 Discussion
Panel 2: Modern Political Developments Chair: Lori Pirinjian (UCLA)
10:40-11:00 Orhun Yalcin, “The ARF in the Ottoman Empire” (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich)
11:00-11:20 Kima Saribekyan, “Cilicia under the French Mandate” (Peter Pazmeny Catholic University, Budapest)
11:20-11:40 Nils Berliner, “Armenian Genocide in Germany” (Technical University of Berlin)
11:40-12:00 Levon-Leonidas Ntilsizian, “Aspects of Greece’s state policy towards the Armenian community in Greece (1945-1975)” (Panteion University, Athens)
12:00-12:25 Discussion
12:25-12:45 Coffee/Tea Break
Panel 3: Early Modern Armenian Communities
Chair: Martin Adamian (UCLA)
12:45-1:05 Andranik Nahapetian, “The Armenian Colony of Nor Nakhichevan” (Free University of Berlin)
1:05-1:25 Andranik Yesayan, “Demographic Transformations in Armenian Peripheral Canton Tavush Under Safavid and Ottoman Rule (1600-1725)” (Institute of History, The National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia)
1:25-1:40 Discussion
1:40-3:00 Lunch Break
Panel 4: Armenian Literary Practices in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages Chair: Nora Bairamian (UCLA)
3:00-3:20 Lorenzo Colombo, “Censorship Greek-Armenian” (Universities of Pisa and Geneva)
3:20-3:40 Anush Apresyan, “The Spiritual-Cultural Significance of Translation: Nemesius of Emesa’s Treatise on Human Nature” (Matenadaran Institute, Yerevan)
3:40-4:00 Hayarpi Hakobyan, “Medieval Armenian Book Production in the Lake Van Region in 1275-1350: Scriptoria, scribes, manuscripts” (Martin Luther University of Halle- Wittenberg)
4:00-4:15 Discussion
4:15-4:35 Tea/Coffee Break
Panel 5: Medieval Trade across the Northern Hemisphere Chair: Arpi Melikyan (UCLA)
4:35-4:55 Francesca Cheli, “Chinese Pottery Imports” (University of Florence)
4:55-5:05 Discussion
Panel 6: 19th century Socio-Cultural Developments
Chair: Alexia Hatun (UCLA)
5:05-5:15 Aram Ghoogasian, “Learning to Read in the mid-19th Century” (Princeton University)
5:15-5:35 Emma Avagyan, “19th century Armenian-Jewish Revitalization” (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
5:35-5:55 Nazelie Doghramadjian, “Armenian Women’s Archives” (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
5:55-6:20 Discussion
6:20-6:35 Guest Speaker
Professor Shushan Karapetian
Director of the Institute of Armenian Studies, USC
6:35-8:00 Reception (Royce Hall 306)
Co-sponsored by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA Promise Armenian Institute, UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies, UCLA Center for European and Russian Studies, UCLA Center for Early Global Studies, UCLA Center for the Study of Religion, UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture, UCLA Department of Classics, UCLA Leve Center for Jewish Studies, UCLA History Department.
For further details, please consult the website <nelc.ucla.edu>.
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Svidok: A Story From Every Ukrainian
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues without a meaningful resolution in sight, Ukrainians continue to document the stories of Russian aggression in their country. One such project is Svidok. Svidok (свідок) means witness. The bilingual multimedia website allows Ukrainians to record their stories associated with Russian aggression. The purpose of recording is not only documenting their everyday lives but also to bear witness to history as it unfolds in their independent nation-state.
Below is a three-part screenshot of the Svidok’s website. The website also has a memorial board for the fallen heroes and the civilian victims.
Svidok’s self-description is below,
Svidok is your personal war journal. Where you can safely and securely store your experiences of living through the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and collect evidence of all the atrocities and war crimes that were committed by the Russians.
Svidok has been built by Ukraine’s proud citizens and friends in partnership with the AI for Good Foundation to ensure the truth of this war is accurately documented.
Про Свідок
Свідок – це ваш особистий щоденник війни. Ви можете безпечно та надійно зберігати свій досвід життя під час російського вторгнення в Україну та збирати докази всіх звірств та військових злочинів, які були скоєні росіянами.
Свідок був створений щирими громадянами та друзями України у партнерстві з Фундацією AI for Good, щоб гарантувати, що правда цієї війни буде точно задокументована.
Library purchases digital archive of Prensa Libre (Guatemalan Newspaper): 1951-2024
UC Berkeley Library has purchased ongoing access to Prensa Libre Digital Archive (1951-2024). Prensa Libre is a well-respected Spanish-language Guatemalan Newspaper. It began publishing in 1951, and since then has provided extensive coverage of politics, news, social conditions, history, governance issues, Garífuna, Mayan, and other indigenous communities (Pueblos Originarios en Guatemala), and civil war(s) in Guatemala and Central America.
We hope that this newspaper resource will be of great use to our faculty and students who study Anthropology, Politics Social Sciences, History of Central America, and Latin America.
Prensa Libre digital archive can be accessed from off-campus locations using the proxy or VPN here.
Below is the screenshot of the landing page of the archive. It has a robust search interface.
New Digital Resource: Собрание законов и распоряжений правительства РСФСР и СССР= Collection of laws and orders of the government of the RSFSR and the USSR
Recently in light of Russian invasion of Ukraine, with almost everything Russian being canceled in society at large, I wanted to bring to our readers’ attention a new digital resource on the Collection of laws and orders of the government of the RSFSR and the USSR. The resource is in Russian, and it was created by the Elektronnaia biblioteka istoricheskikh dokumentov (Электронная библиотека исторических документов).
The source provides access to digital copies of the laws and various orders of the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic and Soviet Union. I hope historians of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation will find this resource of academic interest.
One can search within the text using specific keywords.
Trial Access to the Africa Commons Digital Archival Collections
Trial access to the Africa Commons digital archival collections, produced by Coherent Digital, is available until January 31st. This resource provides access to books, magazines, newspapers, government documents, manuscripts, photographs, videos, and oral histories related to African history and culture. Africa Commons is a project which aims to enable Africa to easily control, digitize, and disseminate its cultural heritage–within Africa, and internationally.
Africa Commons comprises four distinct collections:
History and Culture, an index of open source materials related to African history and culture.
Black South African Magazines created from 1937-1973 targeting Black audiences.
Southern African Films and Documentaries including propaganda, newsreels, documentaries, feature films, and interviews spanning the 1900s to the early 2000s.
The Hilary Ng’wengo Archive documents the fifty-year career of the iconic Kenyan journalist, publisher, commentator, and public figure Hilary Ng’wengo through his magazines, newspapers, television programs, and documentaries.
Send your feedback to mmckenzie@berkeley.edu.
Center for Research Libraries releases Soviet-Era Ukrainian Newspapers Online
Center for Research Libraries in collaboration with the Global Press Archive of East View has released its latest digital collection of select Soviet-Era Ukrainian Newspaper. The collection can be accessed here: https://gpa.eastview.com/crl/seun/ or here
About the collection:
The early 20th century was a crucial time in Ukraine’s history, marked by attempts to establish an independent state, leading to the Ukrainian War of Independence. This conflict resulted in the creation of two countries by 1922: the Second Polish Republic in western Ukraine and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in the rest of the country.
Following this, rapid Soviet collectivization in the Ukrainian SSR triggered the Holodomor, a famine that began in 1932 and claimed millions of lives.
The Soviet-Era Ukrainian Newspapers (SEUN) collection, with over 50,000 pages and five titles, documents Ukraine’s history during this turbulent period, including events leading up to WWII. It includes newspapers from Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Lviv, featuring content in both Ukrainian and Russian.
Revamped Guides for French/Francophone and Italian Literatures
A recent overhaul of the two literary research guides for French and Francophone Literatures and Italian Literature & Criticism first created quite a long time ago will improve navigation and discovery in these vast print collections. Over the course of the past year, we have critically reviewed the former guides, weeded outdated resources, and replaced them with more current content with links to digital resources when available.
These two literature research guides are now benefiting from the LibGuides platform, which makes it much easier to revise than the former PDFs. Each guide is structured by sections for article databases, general guides and literary histories, reference tools, poetry, theater & performance, and literary periods. They interface seamlessly with related guides published by the UC Berkeley Library. For example, on the home page of each LibGuide, there is a prominent link to the lists of recently acquired publications in both French and Italian, making it even easier to stay current on new books in any particular call number range.
Because the guides are much easier to update, they encourage user interaction and invite community suggestions for inclusion (or deletion).
If you have time over the winter break, please take a whirl and let us know what you think. We’ll be unveiling a similar guide for Iberian Literatures & Criticism this spring!
Celebrating more than 150 years of World Languages at Berkeley
New banners celebrate 150+ years of Berkeley’s prominence in teaching world languages
At least 60 languages — from Mongolian and Old Norse to Polish, Catalan, Ancient Egyptian, Arabic and Biblical Hebrew — are taught at UC Berkeley, one of the nation’s top institutions for the breadth and depth of its world languages program. A growing emphasis also is being placed at Berkeley on revitalizing and preserving endangered languages, most of them spoken by Indigenous peoples.
To help honor more than 150 years of global languages at Berkeley, 63 colorful banners will begin flying throughout campus today, and for the next 18 months, that feature facts about the campus’s language programs, as well as 21 bilingual and multilingual faculty members, students and alumni.
Among the messages on the banners:
- Collectively, undergraduates at UC Berkeley speak more than 220 different first languages.
- More than 500 language learning classes are taught at Berkeley annually.
- More than 6,000 Berkeley students enroll in those classes each year.
- In 1872, the first endowed chair in the UC system was created — for the study of East Asian languages at Berkeley.
- Students at all UC campuses can take online African language classes at Berkeley, which is well-known for Amharic, Igbo and Swahili instruction.
Reposted from Berkeley Letters & Science 10/25/23
See also: https://artshumanities.berkeley.edu/celebration-world-languages-uc-berkeley