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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260520T121500
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DTSTAMP:20260520T015108
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SUMMARY:Alyssa Battistoni - Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature
DESCRIPTION:Co-sponsored by the Center for Critical Urban and Environmental Studies \nAlthough capitalism is typically treated as a force for relentless commodification\, it consistently fails to place value on vital aspects of the nonhuman world\, whether carbon emissions or entire ecosystems. Free Gifts argues that to understand contemporary ecological problems from biodiversity collapse to climate change\, we have to understand how some things come to have value under capitalism—and how others do not. The book recovers and reinterprets the idea of the free gift of nature used by classical economic thinkers to describe what we gratuitously obtain from the natural world\, and builds on Karl Marx’s critique of political economy to show how capitalism fundamentally treats nature as free for the taking. This novel theory of capitalism’s relationship to nature not only helps us understand contemporary ecological breakdown\, but also casts capitalism’s own core dynamics in a new light. \nAlyssa Battistoni is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Barnard College. She works and teaches on climate and environmental politics\, capitalism\, Marxism\, feminism\, and other topics in contemporary social and political thought. Alyssa is the co-author of A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (Verso 2019)\, and Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature (Princeton 2025)\, and her academic work has been published in the American Political Science Review\, Political Theory\, NOMOS\, Perspectives on Politics\, Contemporary Political Theory\, among other outlets. \n\nPresented by the Center for Cultural Studies and co-sponsored by the Center for South Asian Studies and the Department of Anthropology Colloquium. This event is open to all students\, faculty\, staff\, and members of the public consistent with University policy and state and federal law. \n\n \nSpring 2026 COLLOQUIUM SERIES \nTHE CENTER FOR CULTURAL STUDIES hosts a weekly Wednesday colloquium featuring work-in-progress by faculty & visitors. We are pleased to announce our Spring 2026 Series. Sessions begin promptly at 12:15 PM and end at 1:30 PM (PST) in Humanities Building 1\, Room 210. \nStaff assistance is provided by The Humanities Institute.
URL:https://thi.ucsc.edu/event/alyssa-battistoni-free-gifts-capitalism-and-the-politics-of-nature/
LOCATION:Humanities 1\, Room 210\, 1156 high st\, Santa cruz\, CA\, 95060\, United States
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260520T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260520T173000
DTSTAMP:20260520T015108
CREATED:20260423T175919Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260507T195609Z
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SUMMARY:2026 Helene Moglen Lecture in Feminism and Humanities with Donna Haraway – Staying with the Trouble for Still Possible Times
DESCRIPTION:The sky has not fallen – yet. In troubled times\, this lecture joins human and more-than-human companion species to ask how to think\, really think\, without either the apocalyptic violence or salvific comfort of human exceptionalism. Revisiting themes\, images\, arguments\, and collaborations from a lifetime of feminist work and play in science studies\, biology\, cultural studies\, and arts\, Haraway asks how to tell evidence-laden\, effective stories for earthly flourishing in exterminationist times. Is it still possible to make powerful oddkin in opposition to techbro anti-immigrant pronatalism and extraterrestrial settler nationalism in order to partially heal devastated worlds together? If oddkin hold up the sky\, we have a chance. \n \nThis event is both in-person and virtual. \nDoors will open at 5:00pm with refreshments from 5:00 – 5:30. \nThe lecture with a Q&A will begin at 5:30pm with a reception to follow. \n \nDonna Haraway is Distinguished Professor Emerita in the History of Consciousness Department at the University of California Santa Cruz. She writes and speaks in science and technology studies\, feminist theory\, and multispecies studies. She is an active participant in the Science and Justice Research Center and Center for Cultural Studies. Attending to the intersections of biology with culture and politics\, Haraway’s work explores the string figures composed by science fact\, science fiction\, speculative feminism\, speculative fabulation\, science and technology studies\, and more-than-human worlding. Haraway’s renowned essay\, “A Cyborg Manifesto” (1985) is considered a foundational text in multiple scholarly fields. Some of her books include Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene (2016); When Species Meet (2008); The Companion Species Manifesto (2003); Modest_Witness@Second_Millennium (1997\, 2nd ed 2018); Simians\, Cyborgs\, and Women (1991); Primate Visions (1989); and Crystals \, Fabrics\, and Fields (1976\, 2004). \n\nThis lecture is presented by the Center for Cultural Studies and made possible by the Helene Moglen Lecture in Feminism and Humanities for the Center for Cultural Studies Endowment\, and The Humanities Institute.
URL:https://thi.ucsc.edu/event/2026-helene-moglen-lecture-in-feminism-and-humanities-with-donna-haraway-staying-with-the-trouble-for-still-possible-times/
LOCATION:Cultural Center at Merrill\, Merrill Cultural Center\, UC Santa Cruz\, Merrill College\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064\, United States
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260520T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260520T203000
DTSTAMP:20260520T015108
CREATED:20260318T190045Z
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SUMMARY:Film Screening with Raed Rafei - Tripoli: A Tale of Three Cities
DESCRIPTION:Pre-Screening Reception: 5:30-7pm\, Communications 139 \nFilm Screening:  7-8:30\, Communications\, Studio C \nWhile living abroad\, a filmmaker returns to Tripoli\, Lebanon\, to confront a hometown that once rejected him as a queer child. With a microphone in hand\, he walks around coffee shops\, public squares\, and a park to ask the city’s inhabitants about their cultural and social beliefs and their embrace of new ideas. Gradually\, he meets a group of marginalized individuals whose eccentric life choices contradict the general lifestyle in this religiously and socially conservative city. Through intimate conversations with a communist activist\, a queer music producer\, and other unconventional characters\, Tripoli: A Tale of Three Cities explores the complicated relations one forms with a hometown in crisis. This contemplative urban symphony paints a picture of a city trapped in a self-spun web\, paralyzed by a deep economic crisis\, a faltering revolution\, and a looming doomsday. \nJoin us for a screening of the film followed by a discussion between UC Santa Cruz alum\, Raed Rafei\, and Professor of Film and Digital Media\, Peter Limbrick. \nRaed (El) Rafei is a filmmaker\, scholar\, and multimedia journalist who has directed award-winning documentaries and experimental films. As a journalist\, he has worked for international publications like the Los Angeles Times and news outlets like CNN and Al-Jazeera Documentary Channel. Rafei holds a PhD in Film and Digital Media from the University of California\, Santa Cruz\, and an MA in Journalism from the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is an Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of Pittsburgh and his research focuses on queer cinema in the Arab region and its diasporas. His films\, which include Tripoli: A Tale of Three Cities\, 74 (The Reconstitution of a Struggle) and Al-Atlal (The Ruins)\, have screened at international film festivals and venues like IDFA\, the Centre Pompidou in Paris\, Doc Lisboa\, Visions du Réel\, and the Pacific Film Archives in Berkeley. \n\nPresented by the Center for the Middle East and North Africa and co-sponsored by Film and Digital Media \n 
URL:https://thi.ucsc.edu/event/film-screening-tripoli-a-tale-of-three-cities/
LOCATION:Communications 150\, Studio C
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