Calling All Central Asia/ Inner Eurasia Enthusiasts!

This Friday, the Columbia Linguistics Society will be hosting a very

interesting event:

Linguists Andrew Hippisley and Greg Stump of the University of Kentucky have

been doing fieldwork documenting endangered/ little known languages in the

Pamirs and will be giving a talk titled:

"EXPLORING TAJIKISTAN'S MOUNTAIN LANGUAGES:

'THE PAMIR GRAMMAR PROJECT"

Come THIS Friday, December 3rd, to 703 Hamilton Hall at 3 pm to hear about their research.

Hope to see you all there!

And after that, come to our first Slavic Study Break!

http://www.therussianstore.com/blog/page/2

Come one, come all! This Thursday, November 18th, from 6 to 7 pm, in the Lerner East Ramp Lounge, join The Birch, the Russian International Association, the Ukrainian Students Society, and the Polish Club for a Slavic Study Break. There will be tasty pastries, an outstanding Slavic playlist, and fun activities (think matryoshka doll and tote bag decorating)!

Take a break from your studies and come find out about these clubs and our publication.

Learn more about Georgia on Thursday!

"Georgia's Economic Challenges After the August War"

Irakli Alasania

Former Georgian Ambassador to the United Nations

Thursday, November 18

12:15 pm

Room 1501 IAB

It's Time to Register

Both Beginner and Intermediate Uzbek will be offered next semester. Note the times and locations below.

UZBK W1101 (note: this is the first semester course)

M 4:30-6:30 (Ham 709)

F 1-3 Place TBA)

86101

UZBK W1202 (intermediate, second semester):

M 2-4 (Ham 709)

F 10:30-12:30 (Place TBA)

88149

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Look what I found in my Inbox today!

"Dear Friends,

We are happy to announce that the 10th Russian Film Week is coming to New York. Artsy flicks and political mavericks will be at the core of the festival program this year that opens on Friday, December 3rd and runs through Thursday, December 9th.

2010 screening venues include theaters at the School of Visual Arts, the New York Institute of Technology (formerly Clearview's 62nd & Broadway Cinema) in Manhattan and Millennium Theatre in Brooklyn. The 10th Russian Film Week will introduce the audience to 13 feature films, representing the best of Russia’s cinematography from 2009 and 2010.

Some of the anticipated film screenings at the 10th Annual Film Week include “Burnt by the Sun 2”, a follow-up to the 1994 Oscar-winning anti-Stalinist drama by a veteran director, actor and producer Nikita Mikhalkov. “Crush,” a film made up of five short love narratives directed by the leaders of Russia’s ‘new wave’ of filmmakers Boris Khlebnikov, Ivan Vyrypaev, Petr Buslov, Alexey German Jr, and Kirill Serebrennikov, critically acclaimed “Wolfy” (“Volchok”) by Vasily Sigarev, the Grand Prix winner at the Open Russian Film Festival in Sochi, an international premiere of the most controversial Russian film of the decade “Russia – 88“ as well as the London Film Festival Award Winner “How I Ended This Summer”.

Roman Karimov’s romantic comedy “Inadequate People” (“Neadekvatnie ludi”) will pleasantly surprise American movie goers. The winner of the People’s Choice Award and Grand Prix Award at the Window to Europe Film Festival, the film was recognized by the Guild of Film Critics as the best directorial debut and received the best actor and the best supporting actor duo awards.

The 10th Annual Russian Film Week will offer a unique opportunity for a meet-and-greet with the actors, directors and screenwriters of the participating films. A renowned actor Yuriy Stoyanov will present “Man by the Window” where he stars in the leading role. Alexey Serebryakov, the star of “Zolotoe Sechenie,” will discuss his experience of filming in Cambodia. Garik Sukachev, a veteran musician with a cult-like following among his fans, will present his recent directorial work,“The House of Sun” and may even sing for his audience.

We hope you will enjoy our film selection.

The screening of the films has been made possible by Fox International Productions, Film Movement, Latida Films, Kino International as well as other international and Russian distributors and production companies.

For more information on the event, venues, films or tickets, log onto www.RussianFilmWeekNYC.com or contact us at 646-292-7119 or email: info@russianfilmweeknyc.com.

Sincerely yours,

10th Russian Film Week in New York Org. Committee"

Splendid, splendid, splendid!

A Taste of Tlep

Click here, here, and here for several video clips of the Tlep performance. We apologize for the poor quality!

An Evening with Tlep

On Wednesday, November 3rd, The Birch was proud to co-sponsor, with Columbia University's Global Health Research Center of Central Asia (GHRCCA) and the Consulate General of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kazakh Quartet "Tlep." As the sun set over Low Library, the J.D. Satow Room of Lerner Hall was quickly filled with eager Columbia students and Kazakh families invited by the Consulate. Since 2004, the Quartet has performed in Australia, Spain, Russia, Jordan, Japan, Turkey, and now, the United States. We greatly enjoyed listening to the talented kobyz (qobyz) players and thank them and their young guest for their inspired performance.

Harriman Undergraduate Fellowship Program Reminder

It is that time of the year again! The Harriman Institute is still accepting applications for their fellowship program. The Institute will provide up to $2500 for you to conduct research in the post-Soviet and/or East-Central European regions over the 2010-2011 winter or spring vacation. If you have a serious interest in this region and a project in mind (senior thesis!), please do not forget to apply. The deadline is Friday, November 5th by 5:00 pm. Please contact Lydia Hamilton (lch2111@columbia.edu) with any questions or concerns. For more information about the program, click here. As Rebekah mentioned last time, remember to take many photographs of your journey and send them to us at thebirchjournal@gmail.com!

Fall is here and so is TLEP!

The Birch Journal,

Columbia University's Global Health Research Center of Central Asia,

and the Consulate General of the Republic of Kazakhstan

present an evening of traditional Kazakh music

THE KAZAKH QUARTET “TLEP”

Wednesday, November 3, 5:30pm

J.D. Satow Room, 5^th floor, Lerner Hall

2920 Broadway, New York, NY 11027

*Free and open to the public. For those without Columbia ID cards, please request a free entry ticket from the CUArts ticket will-call booth next to Lerner’s turnstile entrance.

For more information:

http://www.eng.filarmonia-astana.kz/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=9&Itemid=17

Kazakhstan, Health, and Lunch

Dear Birch Enthusiasts!

I am delighted to inform you about a brown-bag lecture next month. Here is the official invitation:

*****

The Culture, Religion and Communications Unit at Columbia University’s Global Health Research Center of Central Asia is launching its series of speaker presentations this Fall 2010 as well as organizing a conference in Spring 2011. The theme for this lecture series and conference is “Taboo & Stigma: Perceptions of Health and Disease in Central Asia.” The first lunch lecture is:

The History of Medicine and Health in Modern Central Asia
Presentation by Dr. Paula A. Michaels
Associate Professor of Russian/Soviet history, University of Iowa
Friday, November 5, 2010 12:00-1:30pm, 1219 IAB
(420 W. 118th St., New York, NY, 10027)
Co-sponsored by GHRCCA & the Harriman Institute
Open to the Public, please RSVP to ah2883@columbia.edu

Incorporating elements of Islamic, shamanic, Indian, and Chinese medical systems, as well as modern biomedicine, twentieth-century Kazakhstan offers a rich field for inquiry into the use of medicine as what historian Daniel Headrick describes as a "tool of empire." Kazakhstan provides a vivid case study in knowledge transfer and cross-cultural contact, as the Soviet state and Communist Party used improved access to biomedical care and upward mobility for indigenous medical workers in an attempt to win the support of the local population for the Soviet project. Moscow's effort to entrench Soviet power in part through the use of medical and public health initiatives met with considerable success, as methods that ranged from didactic to violent drove indigenous forms of healing underground. A syncretic system emerged in which Kazakhs continued to turn to both biomedical caregivers and ethnomedical practitioners.

GHRCCA’s Culture, Religion, and Communication (CRC) Unit is committed to fostering culturally specific and culturally-inspired approaches to health-related research in Central Asia.

For more about the lecture and CRC Unit, visit: http://ghrcca.columbia.edu/en/node/118.

This lecture is part of the CRC’s 2010-2011 lecture series and conference “Taboo and Stigma: Perceptions of Health and Disease in Central Asia.” The conference will take place in April 2011 and is co-sponsored by Columbia’s Global Centers.

For more about the conference, visit: http://globalcenters.columbia.edu/conferences.


*****

This is a great opportunity to meet individuals at Columbia who are interested in Central Asia and have your cake too (well, a Milano sandwich to be precise). Bring your friends and meet me there!

-Tanah

Welcome home, comrades!

The Birch is back! We had many adventures this summer and look forward to sharing them with you. Until then, enjoy these stunning photographs available at boston.com. They are from a photographic survey conducted by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944).

Khlebnikov lives

Was just told about an awesome site dedicated to Russian Futurist poet Khlebnikov. Here is the link to listen to music using his poetry as lyrics: http://khlebnikov.info/audio/56/music-khlebnikov

Who is Khlebnikov? Apparently, a primitivist, Futurist, anti-Symbolist, Slavophile, shy, pillowcase-carrying, pointillist-and-cubist-appealing-to poet.

Here is a translation of one of his poems:

Bo-beh-oh-bee is the lipsong
Veh-eh-oh-mee is the eyesong
Pee-eh-eh-oh is the eyebrowsong
Lee-eh-eh-ay is the looksong
Gzee-gzee-gzeh-oh is the chainsong
On the canvas of such correspondences
somewhere beyond all dimensionshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
the face has a life of its own.


translated by Paul Schmidt

Contemporary Central Asian Music: View from Uzbekistan

Contemporary Central Asian Music: View from Uzbekistan
Friday, 02 April 2010, 5:00pm
2nd floor, Broadway Room, Lerner Hall

Please join the Harriman Institute and IOV-UNESCO Central Asia for a presentation on contemporary Central Asian music and discussion about recent developments in classical and contemporary music in this region. Guest speakers will present a brief overview of the history and dynamics of music culture in Central Asia and will make live demonstrations of classic, R&B as well as modern rhythms of Central Asia.

Participants: Ravshan Namozov, honorary artist of Uzbekistan;
Dilmurod Musaev, classic musician and performer; Shakhnoz, composer and poet; and Jakhongir.Uz, R&B singer.

Introduction by Rafis Abazov, Author of The Culture and Customs of the Central Asian Republics.

Part of the Harriman Institute Central Asia Lecture Series.

Please RSVP by e-mailing uzbekistancu@yahoo.com no later than Tuesday, March 30, 2010.

For further info and questions, please contact Rafis Abazov at ra2044@columbia.edu

Moscow Mourns

Today, Tuesday, March 30, is an official day of mourning in Moscow.

During the morning rush hour on Monday, two female suicide bombers set off their explosives in the Lubyanka and Park Kultury metro stations, about 40 minutes apart. The death toll is now 39, and over 70 people were injured.

It is still unclear who the two women were, though it is suspected that they were from the North Caucasus. Remains of their bodies have been recovered. It is believed that each woman had a pair of bombs. Officials estimate that the Lubyanka explosion was the result of 4 kilograms of dynamite, which killed at least 23 people and injured 20. It seems that one of the bombs at Park Kultury did not go off, because the force of the explosion was only about half that at Lubyanka.

President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin both made public statements about the terrorist act, vowing to eliminate the perpetrators.

Footage from surveillance cameras suggests that the two suicide bombers had accomplices: "two Slavic-looking women" and a man in his 30s, according to The Moscow Times.

For coverage of the aftermath, see The Moscow Times, Ria Novosti, Radio Free Europe, and The New York Times.

Harriman undergrad fellowship

Remember that the Harriman Institute is still accepting applications for their undergraduate fellowship program. The Harriman will provide up to $2500 for you to do research in the post-Soviet region over summer vacation. If you have a project in mind, put together an application and spend the summer doing something amazing!

The application deadline is technically tomorrow, March 26, but it might be extended. The contact person is Lydia Hamilton (lch2111@columbia.edu). Here is the link to the description of the program. Good luck, and remember to take lots of photos when you're abroad so you can submit them to The Birch.

Oudn't you like to go?

Forgive the terrible pun. On March 31, there will be a wicked concert of classical Armenian and Ottoman music played on the oud, an instrument similar to the lute. For only $5 (or free, if you're a student), you oudn't want to miss this.


Another exciting event coming up before Spring Break is the performance of Host and Guest at Columbia's Miller Theatre. Here is the blurb on the Harriman site:

"The Harriman Institute welcomes the award-winning Washington, DC-based Synetic Theater company to Columbia University’s Miller Theatre on Thursday, March 11, 2010 for a rare New York performance of its acclaimed production Host and Guest, based on the epic poem by 19th-20th century Georgian writer Vazha Pshavela. Host and Guest centers around two Caucasian men, one Muslim and one Christian, who befriend one another in a time of war despite the harsh resistance they face from their own respective communities. The Washington Post recently named Synetic's Host and Guest one of the top five theater productions of the decade.

Proceeds from this event will support Georgian studies programming at the Harriman Institute. A limited number of tickets are available to Columbia students, faculty, staff for $25."


Here is the link to get tickets.

Make of It What You Will

Familiarize yourself with Péter Esterházy

Words Without Borders is a wonderful site where you can explore contemporary international literature. It conveniently features an interview with Péter Esterházy. To learn more about this writer, click here.

Don't miss readings from Péter Esterházy!

Words and Music: Péter Esterházy and András Schiff

92nd Street Y
March 1, 8:00PM

A rare U.S. appearance by one of Europe's leading writers. "Peter Esterházy is one of the most interesting and original writers of our time," wrote Mario Vargas Llosa. "And his ambitious magnum opus, Celestial Harmonies, is a masterwork. Esterházy's reading from Harmonies includes musical interludes by Schiff, his dear friend.

Admission: $27 All Sections / $10 35 & younger
Kaufmann Concert Hall
Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street, NYC
212 415-5440, 92y.org

*Information provided by the Hungarian Cultural Center of New York.

Check out the Extremely Hungary website for more events and activities in New York!

Sand painting

Take a look at this video of Kseniya Simonova doing a sand painting. Simonova won the top prize on Ukraine's Got Talent.

Procrastination is the best way to spend a cold day...

especially when you find a gem like this website!

While its layout might be a little overwhelming, the site features wonderful texts, translations, summaries, and an encyclopedia of Soviet writers. The "Chairman (Comrade)"/Editor-in-Chief, Eric Konkol (B.A., Harvard University, Slavic Languages and Literatures), has dedicated this nonprofit educational organization to the study and preservation of Soviet Literature.

Note: SovLit was found through the blog "A Journey Round My Skull" that features beautiful illustrations and covers from "forgotten literature." I was particularly intrigued by George Kovenchuk's 1974 illustrations for Klop (The Bedbug) by Mayakovsky.

Enjoy!

It's Not Too Late

Today is the last day that Film Forum is showing ANDREY KHRZHANOVSKY's A ROOM AND A HALF.



Description: "Joseph Brodsky, the Russian-Jewish-American poet, won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1987 and was made poet laureate of the U.S. in 1991. Given that he was expelled from the USSR in 1972, it’s not surprising that much of his writing deals with themes of exile, loss and memory. An imagined return to the parents he never saw again and his childhood home of St. Petersburg (“a city whose color was fossilized vodka”) is the essence of this wonderfully nostalgic, whimsical movie. Made by famed Russian animator Andrey Khrzhanovsky, A ROOM AND A HALF recalls the glory years of a much-loved child and the particular absurdities and indignities suffered by Jews under the Soviet regime in the ’50s and ’60s. The filmmaker’s light touch — his use of animation, stills, archival footage, and scripted, dramatic material — melds the sophisticated surrealism of Magritte with the folk mysticism of Chagall."

Experience the magic at 3:30 PM, 6:30 PM, or 9:00 PM tonight.
Click Here to purchase tickets.

The Winter 2009 issue is now online!

Hello, all! The Birch is very pleased to announce that the Winter 2009 issue of the journal is now online. You can access it through our official site. We hope you enjoy it.

We are also excited to announce that we are now calling for submissions for the Spring 2010 issue! If you have any papers from relevant courses or want to pitch an essay that you think would make a great addition to The Birch, please submit it to thebirchjournal@gmail.com by our February 24 deadline.

Chekhov broadcasts

If you're keen to hear Uncle Vanya read with a British accent, check out the BBC Radio series on Chekhov. 2010 is the 150th anniversary of Anton Chekhov's birth, and to mark the occasion, BBC Radio is broadcasting both new programs and archive recordings of Chekhov plays. The programs are only available online a week after the broadcast, so settle down, you small fries and peasant wives, and check it out here.

"Only a mindless savage would burn up all this beauty in his stove and destroy what we're incapable of creating. Men have reason, and creative ability, so that they can make more of what's been given to them. But so far they haven't been creative, they've been destructive. There are fewer and fewer forests, rivers run dry, wild life is annihilated, the climate's ruined, and every day the land gets poorer and uglier. Oh, you stand there looking at me sarcastically, you don't take anything I say seriously, and maybe I am just a crank. But when I walk past the peasants' woods, which I saved when they were going to be cut down, and when I hear the rustle of young trees which I've planted with my own hands, I realize that to some extent at least I can control the climate. And that if people are happy in a thousand years' time, I will have made some small contribution towards that. When I plant a young birch and watch it turning green and swaying in the wind, my heart is filled with pride! I--anyway. It's time I went. I probably am a crank. Good day to you all." --Astrov in Uncle Vanya.

New Films from Hungary

Another week of Eastern European fun! The Film Society of Lincoln Center will be presenting Hungarian films from February 12-18, 2010 at the Walter Reade Theatre.

Description: "Even though faced with competition from a globalized Hollywood and dwindling theatrical audiences at home, Hungarian cinema has nevertheless managed against all odds to remain fresh, provocative and highly creative. We offer a selection of highlights from recent productions, works which provide ample testament to the vitality of Hungarian cinema as well as invaluable insights into life in the post-communist world."

Be sure to bring your student IDs! The "Sampler Pass" is available again for $18 for a student! Also, a "Day Pass" is available for students. On Saturday, February 13, see FIVE films for just $25.

Films in the Series:
1 (Pater Sparrow, 2009; 91m)
Chameleon (Krisztina Goda, 2008; 105m)
Delta (Kornel Mundruczo, Hungary, 2008; 110m)
Fragment (Gyula Maar, 2007; 86m)
Hunky Blues (Peter Forgacs, 2009; 100m)
The Investigator (Attila Gigor, 2008; 110m)
Iska’s Journey (Csaba Bollok, 2007; 93m)
Lost Times (Aron Matyassy, 2008; 90m)
The Man from London (Bela Tarr, 2007; 132m)
The Milky Way – (Ambient Movie) (Benedek Fliegauf, 2007; 82m)
Pile Up / Koccanás (Ferenc Torok, 2009; 70m)
preceded by The History of Aviation (Bálint Kenyeres, France/Hungary, 2009; 17m)
Puskas Hungary (Tamas Almasi, 2009; 116m)
Sun Street Boys (Gyorgy Szomjas, 2007; 89m)

Buy Tickets Here

STORM WARNINGS Resistance and Reflection in Polish Cinema, 1977-1989

The Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Polish Cultural Institute in New York have put together a wonderful program. From February 3-11, 2010, plenty of gems will be playing at the Walter Reader Center located on West 65th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam.

Description: "Coincident with the “Solidarity” workers’ movement, Polish filmmakers offered a number of hard-hitting looks at their nation that outlined in stark detail the regime’s failures—economic, political and especially spiritual. “Storm Warnings” includes ten key films that represented the moral conscience that helped lay the groundwork for the regime’s eventual collapse."

Please note that a "Sampler Pass" of any three films is available for students for $18! This is not an opportunity to be missed!

Films in the Series:
The Beads of One Rosary (Kazimierz Kutz, Poland, 1980; 116m)
Camera Buff (Krzysztof Kieslowski, Poland, 1978; 112m)
Camouflage (Krzysztof Zanussi, Poland, 1977; 106m)
How Do We Live (Marcel Lozinski, Poland, 1981; 83m)
Interrogation (Ryszard Bugajski, Poland, 1982; 118m)
Teddy Bear (Stanislaw Bareja, Poland, 1981; 111m)
Top Dog (Feliks Falk, Poland, 1978; 104m)
Without Anesthesia, a.k.a. Rough Treatment (Andrzej Wajda, Poland, 1978; 117m)
Without Love (Barbara Sass, Poland, 1980; 103m)
A Woman Alone (Agnieszka Holland, Poland, 1981-87; 110m)

Purchase Tickets