Spring 2023 Speaker Series

February 16, 2023 | 4 - 5 PM ET. Virtual Speaker Series Program
Held via Zoom:  https://tinyurl.com/Feb16-SpeakerSeries

Dogmeat, Chop Suey, and “Mozzarella Gialla”: Communicating Chinese Migrant Alimentary Stereotypes in Italian Popular Culture Featuring: Dr. Gaoheng Zhang

Dr. Gaoheng Zhang is Associate Professor of Italian Studies at the University of British Columbia. His first book, Migration and the Media: Debating Chinese Migration to Italy, 1992-2012 (University of Toronto Press), is the first detailed media and cultural study of the Chinese migration from both Italian and Chinese migrant perspectives. A second book is tentatively titled “Chinese Recipes, Italian Designs, American Resonances: Communicating Food and Fashion Cultures Through Migration and Tourism, 1980s-2010s.” It examines cultural representations and dynamics pertaining to food and fashion mobilities between China and Italy that migration and tourism help deepen. He is a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence and a Visiting Professor at the University of Florence during 2022-2023, where he studies media debates between Western Europe and China regarding the latter’s “Belt and Road Initiative” in certain East African countries.

March 1, 2023 | 6 - 7 PM ET. Loeb Playhouse. Speaker Series Featuring: Alok

What feminine part of yourself did you have to destroy in order to survive in this world? At what point does femininity become synonymous with apology? Who hurt the people who hurt you? ALOK is trying to figure it out. Join for an evening of poetry, stand-up comedy, drag, and more as they take their audience on an emotional roller coaster all the way from the personal to the political. 

March 24, 2023 | 3 - 5 PM ET. Honors South STEAM Lab. Speaker Series Featuring: Film Screening of "Stranger at the Gate" & Discussion with Bibi Bahrami

SCREENING & DISCUSSION OF STRANGER AT THE GATE
In observance of Women's History Month and International Women's Day
In partnership with Asian American Alliance Inc. Speaker Series Seat at the Table
Featuring Bibi Bahrami

Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary Short Film, Stranger at the Gate features an Afghan refugee named Bibi Bahrami – and the members of her little Indiana mosque – who comes face to face with a U.S. Marine who has secret plans to bomb their community center. These plans take an unexpected turn. Directed by Joshua Seftel, this movie is a story of grace, transformation, and hope. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Bibi Bahrami and light refreshments (or take-home snack kits for those observing Ramadan).

Rupal Thanawala is CEO/Managing Director of Trident Systems and leads in digital transformation and management consulting practice. Rupal has over two decades of experience in strategy and management consulting in Fortune 500 companies and specialization in Life Sciences industries. She is a community minded business executive providing leadership in non-profit sectors focusing on diversity and inclusion, technology, health, and education. She serves on the boards of Asian American Alliance, Inc. (President), Indiana Chamber of Commerce, American Lung Association, BDPA (Black Data Processor Association), Techpoint Foundation for Youth Health Science Innovation, and the Dean’s Advisory Committee of Indiana University School of Informatics and Computer Engineering.

RSVP using the link or provided QR Code: https://tinyurl.com/PurdueAPAHM23