The Fries Center team was busy at the end of the last academic year creating and refining tools that the campus can use going forward. Decentering Europe. As a complement to our listing of units with a regional or area-studies approach, we have added a list of academic units that have taken steps to decenter the…
Events
Eurovision @ Wes
by Oleksandra Volakova Last weekend, dozens of singers, musicians, and bands from different countries performed in the Grand Final of Eurovision, an annual international song competition. It unites people of various countries who are overwhelmed and inspired by emotions and is meant to create a politics-free safe space. Each country of the European Broadcasting Union…
Adventures Around the World for Children: Wes Students Volunteer at Russell Library for Intercultural Fair
by Oleksandra Volakova Traveling to ten different countries in four continents in less than two hours sounds impossible, but not for those who visited Russell Library on Saturday, April 27. At the “Adventures Around the World” event, children got a chance to get acquainted with different cultures, listen to other languages, and taste various international…
Power of Language Week: A Week Around the World
by Oleksandra Volakova Power of Language Week is an annual event aimed to bring together multilingual students worldwide and help them share their cultural experiences with peers, staff, and faculty. This year, the second annual weeklong initiative took place from February 16 to February 23, successfully hosting 28 unique events, organized and led Wesleyan students…
Kazakh Songs and Instrumental Tunes: Performances by Wesleyan’s Central Asian Music Ensemble
by Oleksandra Volakova Last December started with a unique concert by Wesleyan’s new Central Asian Music Ensemble featuring the Kazakh qyl-qobyz (bowed lute), dombyra (plucked lute), jetygen (plucked zither), saz-syrnai (clay ocarina), asatayaq (wand with bells), danghyra (frame drum), and the Kyrgyz temir ooz komuz (jaw harp). The ensemble was initiated by Professor Saida Daukeyeva…
Hindi-Urdu FLTA Priyanka Chakraborty Rediscovers Indian Classical Dance at Wes
Priyanka Chakraborty, our Fulbright Foreign language Teaching Assistant for Hindi-Urdu 2022-2023 participated in the Spring Semester Concert of ‘World of Dance’. She performed Swarajathi, an 18th century piece and a popular form of Carnatic music. This 21st century rendition was choreographed by Professor Hari Krishnan of the Wesleyan Dance Department and performed with live music by students of the Music department. Coming…
“Stitching Radical Friendship” — Chinese Artists and Organizers’ Collective Visit to Wesleyan
On March 5th, five artists from Chinese Artists and Organizers Collective (CAO) held an artist talk and stitching workshop at the CFA’s south gallery in collaboration with student-artists at Wesleyan. CAO Collective is a group of Chinese diasporic queer feminist artists. They see their practice as rooted in China, the Sinophone diaspora, and every life…
Kuang’s Bestseller on the Power of Language
“By the time I finished reading Babel this past winter break,” said Stephen Angle, Professor of Philosophy and East Asian Studies and Director of the Fries Center for Global Studies, “I realized that it is was a perfect entry point for this year’s Power of Language Week.” Babel is a critically acclaimed best-seller that has…
Meet Iddrisu Saaka, Assistant Professor of Dance
Introducing Iddi Iddi Saaka is a dancer, choreographer, drummer, dance teacher, and performer from Ghana. He earned his diploma at the University of Ghana, then came to the United States to attend UCLA for his Master’s in Fine Arts. In 2008, Iddi applied and gained the position of West African Dance professor at Wesleyan. In…
Deadline extended: submit an event proposal for IEW!
What is IEW? Taking place from this year from Saturday, November 12, to Friday, November 18, IEW is a week-long event at Wesleyan that aims to increase awareness of and promote global learning opportunities within and outside of Wesleyan; preserve and celebrate our interconnected cultural and linguistic heritages and shared environment; foster togetherness via intercultural…