The Miriam Ellis International Playhouse XXII
2024-06-02 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Stevenson Event Center
Cowell College, Stevenson College and the Department of Languages and Applied Linguistics will present the 22nd season of the Miriam Ellis international Playhouse (MEIP XXII), May 31, June 1, and June 2, 2024 at 7:00 PM in the Stevenson Event Center at UCSC.
Four fully-staged theater pieces will be presented in French, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish, with English supertitles, performed by Language students and directed by their instructors.
To learn more about MEIP XXII and past performances visit: Miriam Ellis International Playhouse
All are welcome! Admission is free; parking in adjacent lots is $5.00.

CANCELLED - Experiments in Vision and Abstraction: the Making of Mary's Amber Spyglass with Neda Genova
2024-06-03 12:00 | Virtual and In Person
The History of Consciousness department presents Experiments in Vision and Abstraction: the Making of Mary’s Amber Spyglass with Neda Genova, University of Warwick.
Join us Monday, June 3 at 12pm in Hum 1 Rm 420 or register below to attend virtually:

“A fresh instrument serves the same purpose as foreign travel; it shows things in unusual combinations.” (A. N. Whitehead 1948)
In this talk, I will look closely at the process of constructing a fictional visualising device alongside A.N. Whitehead’s formulation of abstraction as a relational process of interaction, objectification, and differentiation (1985). The presentation will focus specifically on an episode from part three of Philip Pullman’s children’s book trilogy “His Dark Materials” – a book that arguably dramatizes the struggle between what with Donna Haraway we may describe as the “god trick” of infinite vision and domination, and the quest to end domination, to learn and know in an entangled world of difference. In the story that I want to explore, physicist Mary Malone is tasked with helping the mulefa – beings from a world parallel to her own, whose delicate ecological balance has been disrupted. Unable to see the elementary particles that pollinate the trees on whose thriving the mulefa depend, Mary ventures to construct an imaging device. What eventually becomes the “amber spyglass” turns out to be the result of an experimental and speculative process of layering and discarding material surfaces, invested with meaning and affect that gain relevance in relation to the technico-political problem that Mary sees herself faced with. In the talk I would like to trace the construction of the spyglass and offer a reading of this episode through recourse to Whitehead’s discussion of abstraction as productive practice, bringing it into conversation with Felix Guattari’s work on machinic assemblages, as well as with Donna Haraway’s and Isabelle Stengers’ contributions to feminist epistemologies. My aim in doing so is to use the fictitious terrain charted out by Pullman to think afresh about practices of experimentation and visualisation, touching upon issues such as truth-making as an ethically grounded and politically committed practice; the interplay between imagination and making sense in common (Stengers 2023); and the role of entanglement and separation in fabricating the worlds we want to inhabit.
Neda Genova is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies, University of Warwick (UK). Her research sits at the intersection of cultural, media and post-communist studies and explores questions such as visual culture and transformation of public space in contemporary Bulgaria; commoning as a political practice of imagination in a post-communist context; the production of abstraction; fiction and topology. Her first book, Politics of Surfaces, is forthcoming with Goldsmiths Press.
This event is a part of the Spring 2024 History of Consciousness Speaker Series.

THI Coffee Hour
2024-06-05 11:00 - 12:00 | Humanities 1, Room 515, 1156 High St, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, United States
The Humanities Institute is excited to welcome students, faculty, staff, and friends for a weekly Coffee Hour on Wednesdays, 11am to noon.
We invite you to visit our team, meet our new Faculty Director, Pranav Anand, and talk with us about your academic interests as well as upcoming THI events and programs. Learn about how THI supports Faculty, Graduate Students, and Undergraduate Students, including fellowship and grant opportunities, and hear more about our ongoing research initiatives and partnerships. Enjoy a free cup of coffee, pick up a THI sticker, and be a part of our humanities community.
Come say hi to us at the THI Suite, on the 5th floor of the Humanities 1 building. We look forward to seeing you!

CANCELLED: Gabriel Winant - Service Economy Dilemmas
2024-06-05 12:15 - 13:30 | Humanities 1, Room 210, 1156 high st, Santa cruz, CA, 95060, United States
This talk will explore the possible relationships between global economic restructuring and the emergence of new politics of family, gender, and sexuality. The rise of “service economies” in many forms around the world has had profound implications for individual life courses and the normative genders attached to them. Why is this, and what can we learn from it?
Gabriel Winant is assistant professor of history at the University of Chicago. His main interests include the history of work and class, political economy, and social policy. His prize-winning first book, The Next Shift: The Fall of Industry and the Rise of Health Care in Rust Belt America, was published by Harvard University Press in 2021 and offered a new account of the origins and meaning of the transition from industrial to service work in the United States.

The Center for Cultural Studies hosts a weekly Wednesday colloquium featuring work by faculty and visitors. We gather at 12:00 PM, with presentations beginning at 12:15 PM. Staff assistance is provided by The Humanities Institute.

UCSC Night at the Museum - From the Archives: Conversations on Filipino America
2024-06-05 19:00 - 20:30 | Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, 705 Front St., Santa Cruz, CA, 95060, United States
Join us for The Humanities Institute’s annual Night at the Museum featuring Watsonville is in the Heart and highlighting Sowing Seeds: Filipino American Stories from the Pajaro Valley, a community-driven exhibition that uplifts stories of Filipino American migration and labor in Watsonville and the greater Pajaro Valley of the Central Coast. The exhibition brings together oral history, archival materials, and contemporary works of art.
Several of the most prominent thinkers in Filipino American history: Catherine Ceniza Choy, Richard “Rick” Baldoz, and Rudy Guevarra, Jr will present their academic insights.

Doors and exhibits open at 6pm, event program begins at 7pm
Dr. Rudy P. Guevarra, Jr. is Professor of Asian Pacific American Studies in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University. He is the author of Becoming Mexipino: Multiethnic Identities and Communities in San Diego, and most recently, Aloha Compadre: Latinxs in Hawaiʻi. He is a former Ford Foundation Senior Fellow and UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow. Dr. Guevarra is also co-editor of the forthcoming book, Culinary Mestizaje: Racial Mixing, Migration and Foodways in the U.S.
Dr. Catherine Ceniza Choy is a writer, historian, and professor of ethnic studies at UC Berkeley. She is the author of the books Empire of Care: Nursing and Migration in Filipino American History; Global Families: A History of Asian International Adoption in America; and Asian American Histories of the United States. The daughter of Filipino immigrants, she was born and raised in New York City. She currently lives in Berkeley with her husband Greg Choy.
Dr. Rick Baldoz is a third-generation Filipino-American. His research focuses on race, immigration law, and the politics of citizenship. His first major book The Third Asiatic Invasion: Empire and Migration in Filipino America 1898-1946 (NYU Press) examines the connection between the U.S. ascendancy as a global power and the racialization of Filipinos domestically. His book won book awards from the American Sociological Association and the American Library Association. His current book project is on US immigration policy over the past half century highlighting the interplay between US foreign policy entanglements and large scale population flows to the United States.
Enjoy an evening of conversation on the role of archives, the work of preserving memories, and the histories of Filipinos in the United States. THI’s annual Night at the Museum event welcomes members of the public to experience the ongoing exhibitions and gallery spaces at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History for free!
Night at the Museum is co-sponsored by I’m Just Nosy, a special collaboration between UCSC Special Collections & Archives and Watsonville is in the Heart (WIITH). I’m Jusy Nosy is a zine project highlighting the Pajaro Valley Filipino American community’s genealogical research and archiving expertise. As told by Maia Mislang (WIITH Undergraduate Public Fellow) with support from Meleia Simon Reynolds (Co-Director of the WIITH Community Digital Archive) and Sam Regal (Librarian in UCSC Special Collections), it spotlights Juanita Sulay Wilson, community matriarch and self-taught historian/archivist, whose work has been foundational to the Tobera Project and Watsonville is in the Heart. The zine is a resource for folks who wish to explore their own family and community histories. This project was generously supported by California Rare Book School’s Radical Librarianship Institute.

Watsonville is in the Heart and Sowing Seeds is presented with support from The Tobera Project, California Humanities, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, UCSC Humanities Division, Arts Division, Division of Social Sciences, Center for Labor and Community, Office of Research, Arts Research Institute, Committee on Research, Society of Hellman Fellows, Institute for Social Transformation, and Dr. Rebecca S. Hernandez, member of Rise Together, Community Foundation Santa Cruz County. The exhibition is made possible with generous contributions from Cristana DeGuzman and Bryce Lee, Cathy and Greg Reyes, and Ow Family Properties.
This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a partner of the NEH. Visit www.calhum.org. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of California Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Celebrating the Humanities: Spring Awards
2024-06-06 16:00 - 19:00 | Virtual and In Person
Please mark your calendars for June 6th as we acknowledge the achievements of our outstanding students at the annual Celebrating the Humanities: Spring Awards event.
This year, the hybrid event will take place both at the Museum of Art and History and virtually on Zoom with the program beginning at 4 p.m. A reception will follow for in-person guests. Friends and families of awardees are welcome to attend either in person or online.

Linguistics Undergraduate Research Conference (LURC) 2024
2024-06-07 14:30 - 17:30 | London Nelson Community Center, 301 Center St., Santa Cruz, United States
The Linguistics Department’s annual Linguistics Undergraduate Research Conference (LURC) will be held Friday, June 7th, from 2:30 – 5:30 pm in Multipurpose Room 3 at the London Nelson Center in downtown Santa Cruz, 301 Center Street. The Distinguished Alumnus speaker will be Kirby Conrod, Assistant Professor at Swarthmore College.
Poster Presentations (2:30 – 4:30 PM)
Monique Aingworth, Samuel Almer, Cal Boye-Lynn, Jordy Chanon, E.Z. Dashiell, Amenia Denson, Melissa Garcia, Julia Helmer, Jennifer Hernandez, Millie Hacker, Andrew Kato, Killian Kiuttu, Valen Munson, Grace Nighswonger, Amanda Pollem, Brenn Simons, Ben Sommer
Keynote Speech (4:40 – 5:30 PM)
Kirby Conrod – Assistant Professor in Linguistics, Swarthmore College
For more info contact: mgong9@ucsc.edu

Japanese Cultural Fair
2024-06-08 | Mission Plaza, 103 Emmett Street, Santa Cruz, 95060, United States
Since its founding in 1986, the Japanese Cultural Fair has provided an opportunity for members of the Santa Cruz County community to increase their awareness and understanding of Japanese culture, both traditional and contemporary. Through the arts, crafts, and culture of Japan, the fair has brought together thousands of people, improving their understanding of our Pacific Rim neighbor, as well as enriching the community of Santa Cruz.
Join us for this year’s wonderful showcase of Japanese Culture featuring crafts, music, and food!
Interested in volunteering? Volunteers are a major reason the festival has succeeded in becoming what it is today. Please consider being a part of that tradition and volunteer today at: https://www.jcfsantacruz.org/volunteer.
For more information visit: https://www.jcfsantacruz.org/
