WC Alum and Scholar to Share Story Of Correspondence Among Separated Austrian Jews

Dr. Jacqueline Vansant.

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Sometime between March and August of 1938, a small group of 15- and 16-year-old Jewish schoolboys stood on a bridge in Vienna and said goodbye to each other “forever.” Their families were about to flee Austria to avoid the increasing Nazi persecution. But pledging to stay in touch, the boys first devised a complicated plan for a group correspondence or “round robin.”

On Tuesday, October 23, Washington College alumna  Jacqueline Vansant ’76, a professor of German studies at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, will share the story of the remarkable correspondence the young men maintained for more than 15 years across three continents.  Her presentation, “Making Connections over Space and Time: The Extraordinary Group Correspondence of Jewish-Austrian Schoolboys,” will take place at 4:30 p.m. in the Washington College Hillel House, 313 Washington Avenue. It is free and open to the public.

Vansant says she was first drawn to exile studies as a student of Washington College professor of German Erika Salloch, who had fled Nazi Germany. She has long focused her research on post-war Austrian literature and culture and in 2001 published Reclaiming ‘Heimat’: Trauma and Mourning in Memoirs of Jewish-Austrian Reemigres.

When Vansant heard about the correspondence among the nine Viennese schoolboys, she saw an opportunity to study how the experiences of the youth compared with those of the adult Jews who escaped Austria. “I was also fascinated by the thought of looking at texts that were contemporaneous with the historical events described in them,” she adds. “The letters indeed are amazing!”

 John Kautsky.

Vansant has worked closely with one of the original correspondents, John Kautsky, now a professor emeritus of Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis. She also met the son of correspondent Ali Hector, who emigrated to Erez Israel, and learned more about Ali’s life after the correspondence ended.

“My conversations with John Kautsky have given me a fuller understanding of just how important the correspondence was for the young men,” says Vansant. “John remained friends with some of the correspondents until their recent deaths. His wife, Lilli, has also shared her experiences of flight from Austria, which bring home how many stories are out there to be told.”

The Oct. 23 talk is sponsored by the Department of Modern Languages; the Institute for the Study of Religion, Politics, and Culture; the Office of Multicultural Affairs; and Hillel House.  For more information, contact Nicole Grewling at (800) 422-1782, ext. 5763, or by email, ngrewling2@washcoll.edu.

Roundtable Discussion Leads Events for Hispanic Heritage Month at Washington College

CHESTERTOWN, MD — As it continues to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, the Washington College community welcomes the public to a series of events that include a serious roundtable discussion, lessons in Flamenco dancing, and a lecture on the travel writing of a 16th century explorer from Spain.

First up, Wednesday, September 28, is a roundtable discussion on “Hispanics on the Eastern Shore” that will begin at 5 p.m. in Hynson Lounge of Hodson Hall. Representatives from non-governmental agencies such as Shared Opportunity Services and the Maryland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce will join faculty members Adalbert Mayer (economics), Bridget Bunten (education) and Elena Deanda (Spanish), and students Ryan Bankert ’13 and Charlotte Costa ’14 for a deeper look into issues affecting Hispanic residents of the area.

On Wednesday, October 5, professional instructor and dancer Natalie Sager from Washington, D.C. will offer a master class on Flamenco dancing at 5 p.m. in the Egg, a performance space on the ground floor of the Hodson Hall Commons. Bring hard sole shoes and lots of passion.

Monday, October 10, at 5 p.m. in Hynson Lounge, Carlos Jauregui, associate professor of Latin American literature and Romance languages at the University of Notre Dame, will lecture on “Ethnography as Exorcism: Cabeza de Vaca,” focusing on the Spanish explorer who wrote the first major narrative of exploration of North America after traveling through what today is Florida, Louisiana, and Texas.

Sponsored by the Department of Modern Languages and the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the events are free and open to the public. Hodson Hall and Hodson Hall Commons are located on the College’s main campus, 300 Washington Avenue. For more information: www.washcoll.edu.

Photo: The first event marking Hispanic Heritage Month on campus, a Peruvian Crafts Fair held September 14 in Hodson Hall Commons, offered clothing and gifts from Inka Yuka, a Baltimore-based supplier of arts and handcrafts.

Lecture Examines How Protestant-Catholic Conflicts Impacted Early Exploration in America

CHESTERTOWN—Dr. Andrea Frisch, Director of Graduate Studies in French at the University of Maryland, will lecture Monday, March 21 at 5 p.m. in the Sophie Kerr Room of Miller Library on the Washington College campus. Her talk, entitled "Multicultural Encounters: How European Religious Disputes Shaped Early Modern Images of Amerindians," will explore the role played by religious differences between Catholics and Protestants during the early stages of the exploration of the Americas.

A specialist in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Frisch received her Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures from the University of California at Berkeley. She researched law and literature for the 2004 book The Invention of the Eyewitness: Witnessing and Testimony in Early Modern France (University of North Carolina Press, 2004) and recently completed a book about the impact of the civil wars of the sixteenth century on the literature and aesthetics of seventeenth-century France.

Her work has appeared in Representations, Romanic Review, Discourse, Esprit Créateur and Modern Language Quarterly. Frisch has received fellowships from the Newberry Library, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the National Endowment for the Humanities and, most recently, from the National Humanities Center.

Sponsored by the College’s Institute for Religion, Politics, and Culture, the Department of Modern Languages, and the Department of Art and Art History, the lecture is free and open to the public.

Love without Borders: 'Platanos & Collard Greens' Comes to Washington College

Chestertown, MD — The trials and tribulations of a cross-cultural couple are explored with insightful wit and heartfelt sentiment when "Platanos & Collard Greens," the smash-hit play visiting campuses nationwide, comes to Washington College's Norman James Theatre on Monday, October 13, at 6:30 p.m.

"Platanos & Collard Greens" is a romantic comedy that tells the story of Freeman, an African-American man, and Angelita, a Latina woman, who are both forced to confront and overcome cultural and racial prejudices, while defending their bond from family and friends.

With humor and hip-hop, the play tactfully addresses stereotypes, prejudices and urban myths that exist between African-Americans and Latinos.

"Platanos & Collard Greens" has enchanted audiences of over 40,000, both off-Broadway in New York City and at over 100 colleges and universities around the country.

The New York Times hailed it as "a modern-day 'West Side Story' ... it has developed a huge following among people who come to see it again and again."

The October 13 performance of "Platanos & Collard Greens" at Washington College is presented by the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Department of Drama, the Department of Modern Languages, the Student Affairs Office and the Student Events Board, in honor of Latino Latina Heritage Month.

Admission is free and open to the public.

October 1, 2008

Washington College Celebrates French Week with Variety of Offerings

Chestertown, MD — The Washington College Department of Foreign Languages, in celebration of National French Week, is sponsoring a series of Gallic-themed events.

The film "Indigènes" will be shown in Litrenta Lecture Hall on Tuesday, November 6, at 8 p.m. The movie tells the story of the North African Colonial Soldiers' involvement in World War II as part of the Free French forces that liberated France. Pamela Pears, Chair of the Foreign Languages Department, will give a brief introduction prior to the film.

On Wednesday, November 7, at 4:30 p.m., Dr. Colin Dickson, Professor Emeritus of French at Washington College, will present a lecture titled "William Smith's Design for Early America's Colleges and the Teaching of Foreign Languages in the New Nation" in the Sophie Kerr Room at Miller Library. The lecture is part of an ongoing series of talks by Dr. Dickson that explore the teaching of language in the time of Washington College's founding.

A celebration of French culture would be incomplete without a celebration of French cuisine, so the Washington College Dining Hall will be offering a "Night in Provence" dinner On Wednesday, November 7, from 5-8 p.m. The menu includes foods popular in Southern France as well as well-known French standards: crêpes, omelets and cheeses.

Both the film and lecture are free and open to the public. The dinner will be free for students on the meal plan; the cost for faculty/staff is $5.75. The cost for the general public is $7.75.

November 6, 2007

Tropicante Brings Latin Beats to Washington College

Chestertown, MD — The rich musical traditions of Latin America will come alive when Tropicante performs in Washington College's Martha Washington Square on Thursday, October 4, at 8 p.m. The performance is presented in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.

Tropicante gets the audience swinging and clapping to the Colombian cumbia, the Dominican merengue, the Venezuelantambor, the Brazilian samba and other popular Latin beats. The ensemble's lively concerts are sprinkled with first-rate musicianship, anecdotes and humor.

Tropicante's appearance at Washington College is presented by the Office of Multicultural Affairs; the Office of Student Activities; the Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures; and the Department of Music. Admission is free and open to the public; in the event of inclement weather, the concert will be held in Hodson Hall.

September 27, 2007

Lost Culture: Scholar to Examine the Middle East in Two Lectures, November 8

Chestertown, MD, October 30, 2006 — Washington College's Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, the Department of Art, the Campus Events and Visitors Committee, and the Arabic/Middle East Club present two lectures by Dr. Hashim Al-Tawil, Professor of Art History at Henry Ford Community College, November 8, in the College's Hynson Lounge. Both talks are free and open to the public.

"Lost Culture of Iraq: The Looting of Iraqi Antiquities, Artworks, and other Cultural Materials" will be presented Wednesday, November 8, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., in the College's Hynson Lounge. The lecture will address the looting of Iraqi culture after the 2003 invasion, including the damage inflicted on and to museums, libraries, galleries, art collections, public monuments, and other cultural institutions.

"The Arab People and the Middle East: History, Art, and Culture of the Lands and the People," will be presented Wednesday, November 8, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., in the College's Hynson Lounge. Dr. Hashim Al-Tawil will trace the history of the Arab people in the region of the Middle East from its earliest records to the present, with close connection to the civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, through the Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic civilizations. Additionally, his lecture will explore the characteristics of the Arab people through examination of their diverse ethnic groups, religions, and cultures from the pre-Islamic time to the present time.

Hashim Al-Tawil, Professor of Art History at Henry Ford Community College, specializes in the research of the history of Arab and Islamic art and culture. He was on the faculty of the University of Baghdad and active in the Iraqi art scene during the 1970's and 1980's. He is also a lecturer at the University of Michigan and the Detroit Institute of Art and is a frequent guest speaker at local and national universities in the United States and abroad.

Making Sense of Immigration Reform and Its Local Impact, Panel April 6

Chestertown, MD, March 29, 2006 — Washington College's Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, the Goldstein Program in Public Affairs, the Sigma Zeta Chapter of Sigma Delta Pi, the Washington College Spanish Club, and the Campus Events and Visitors Committee present the panel discussion "Making Sense of Immigration Reform: Law, Politics, and the Eastern Shore," Thursday, April 6, at 7 p.m. in the College's Wingate Lecture Hall, Goldstein 100. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

Panelists Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, Timothy Dunn, and Neda Biggs will discuss immigration reform, from current legislative proposals to the implications of changes in the law for the Eastern Shore's immigrant communities. Bringing academic, policy, and legal backgrounds to this forum, as well as integrating national, regional, and local perspectives, the panelists will shed light on the competing interests, proposed legislative solutions, and the stakes for local communities that are involved in this contentious and timely issue.

Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia is a Senior Policy Associate/Counsel with the National Immigration Forum and an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Washington College of Law at American University, Washington, DC. Tim Dunn is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the Fulton School of Liberal Arts, Salisbury University. Neda Biggs is an attorney, counselor, mediator, and interpreter who serves as the director of the Latino Crime Victim Advocacy program at the Latin American Community Center in Wilmington, Delaware, and is founder and coordinator of the Latino Immigrant Victim Subcommittee of Delaware's Victims' Rights Task Force.

Chaos and Creation: Scholar Offers New Perspectives on Renaissance Art, November 18

Chestertown, MD, November 4, 2005 — Washington College's Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, the French Club, the Department of Art, the Sophie Kerr Committee, and the Campus Events and Visitors Committee present "Chaos and Continuous Creation in Renaissance Art and Literature," a lecture by Michel Jeanneret, Distinguished Professor, University of Geneva and the Johns Hopkins University, Friday, November 18, at 3:30 p.m. in the Casey Academic Center Forum. The event is free, and the public is invited to attend.

While Renaissance art is typically perceived as balanced, harmonious, and motionless, Jeanneret will explore its stranger side in the representation of all things as mobile and unstable. By drawing upon examples such as the Italian gardens, Leonardo da Vinci's sketches, and the masterpieces of Michelangelo and Montaigne, Jeanneret's lecture will emphasize a common fascination with the primitive and a general attraction for mobile shapes and unfinished objects.

A Distinguished Visiting Professor at Johns Hopkins, Jeanneret has taught at the University of Geneva, the College de France, the University of Paris-Sorbonne, and Paris 7-Denis Diderot, the Universities of Beijing and Kyoto, and the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. He specializes in the literature and culture of the Renaissance

The New Yorker's Alistair Reid On Translating Neruda And Borges, March 16

Chestertown, MD, March 7, 2005 — Washington College's Sophie Kerr Committee and Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures present “Lost in Translation: Neruda and Borges,” a lecture by poet and essayist Alistair Reid, Wednesday, March 16, at 4:30 p.m. in the Sophie Kerr Room, Miller Library. The talk is free and open to the public.

Jorge Luis Borges and Pablo Neruda are two of the most significant voices in 20th century Spanish American letters. Born in Buenos Aires in 1899, Borges was blind through most of his adult life, yet achieved worldwide fame for his poetry, short stories and essays. His works in all genres are noted for their concision and intellectualism, and many of his most popular stories concern the nature of time, infinity, identity and literature itself. Such images as the mirror, the double, the library and the labyrinth are used to explore the nature of the universe and humanity's place in it.

Pablo Neruda, the Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet (1971), was born Neftalí Recardo Reyes Basoalto in 1904 in the town of Parral. He adopted his pen name, Pablo Neruda in memory of the 19th century Czech poet, Jan Neruda. He served in several diplomatic posts during his youth and, near the end of his life, was Chile's Ambassador to France during the presidency of Salvador Allende. Neruda died in September 1973, shortly after the coup d'etat that overthrew Allende. Neruda's poetry celebrates life, love, the sea and nature in all its manifestations. While Borges was often viewed as living and writing in the proverbial “ivory tower,” Neruda deeply believed that poetry could and should be used as a weapon in the struggle for human dignity and justice. Perhaps that view is most dramatically expressed in the epic sweep of his work The Heights of Macchu Picchu.

Alistair Reid—poet, essayist, translator and author of children's books—came to the United States from his native Scotland in the 1950s following service in the Royal Navy and graduation from St. Andrews University. A staff writer with The New Yorker magazine since 1959, he has also been a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, for which he has written a number of essays related to Latin American literature. A personal friend of both Neruda and Borges, he is also the author of highly acclaimed translations of their major works. Along with Gregory Rabassa, he was awarded the PEN Kolovakos Award for Translation in 2001.

Vietnamese And Algerian Francophone Literature Topic Of Washington College Professor's New Book

Chestertown, MD, December 3, 2004 — Pamela Pears, assistant professor of French at Washington College, has just released her new work, Remnants of Empire in Algeria and Vietnam: Women, Words, and War, published by Lexington Books this November. InRemnants of Empire, Pears proposes a new approach to francophone studies that employs postcolonial theory, along with gender and feminist inquiries, to emphasize the connections between two geographically and culturally-separated postcolonial francophone literatures.

“The purpose of this book is to introduce those who may not be aware of it to francophone literature from Algeria and Vietnam, especially that written by women,” Pears said. “I also wanted to demonstrate the links between the two former French colonies to show how, ultimately, they are powerful reminders of a shared colonial heritage. Based on my research, I've found that we can gain a much greater understanding of the feminine postcolonial subject through a comparative approach such as this.”

Pears studied four novels—Yamina Mechakra's La Grotte éclatée, Ly Thu Ho's Le Mirage de la paix, Malika Mokeddem's L'Interdite, and Kim Lefèvre's Retour la saison des pluies—that illustrate the profound transformation of women's roles in Algeria and Vietnam during and following the presence of French colonialism. These four authors never attempt to unfold a clear and single definition of the postcolonial female subject, but, instead, explore the various subjective possibilities, expand on them, and ultimately place them in question. Although the differences between Algeria and Vietnam are striking, it is through their connections to one another that we can foreground postcolonial gender issues, according to Pears. Whereas geographical boundaries and official nationalities serve as divisive classifications, the links between the works lead us to a much more engaging dialogue and understanding of postcolonial Francophone literature.

“Pamela Pears has written a compelling study,” said Mildred Mortimer, professor of French and Francophone Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. “She argues convincingly that the experience of French colonialism, the changing role of women in society, and the narrative technique of fragmentation link the writings of Algerian novelists, Yamina Mechakra and Malika Mokeddem to Vietnamese writers Ly Thu Ho and Kim Lefèvre. As Pears aptly notes, women, words, and war are the vestiges of the colonial empire that France secured in the nineteenth century and lost in the twentieth. Cultural influences survive political and military struggles.”

A graduate of Millersville University of Pennsylvania, Pears holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh and has taught French language and literature at Washington College since 2001.

Lexington Books, a division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, publishes specialized scholarship that contributes to the most current debates in the humanities and social sciences. From political theory, history, international studies, and philosophy to innovative journals and book series in fields such as comparative political theory, practical philosophy, and Japanese studies, Lexington provides a forum for important new work by emerging and established scholars.

Lives Of Three Legendary Latin American Women Theme Of October 18th Musical Theatre Performance

Chestertown, MD, October 11, 2004 — Washington College's Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures presents a performance of Tres Vidas (Three Lives), a chamber music theatre work conceived and performed in English and Spanish and depicting the lives of three legendary and diverse Latin American women: Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, Salvadoran peace activist Rufina Amaya, and Argentine poet Alfonsina Storni. The free performance is open to the public and will be held Monday, October 18, at 7:30 p.m. in the College's Tawes Theatre.

Chamber music theatre, melding such performance genres as dramatic narrative, song and dance, has become an important focus of the Core Ensemble repertoire as it seeks to broaden the definition of chamber music and engage more audiences through this musical form. Tres Vidas has become one of its most popular pieces. Joined by actress Georgina Corbo portraying the lives of Kahlo, Amaya, and Storni through song and performance, the Core Ensemble's accompanying music ranges from popular and folk songs from the Mexican, Salvadoran and Argentinean cultures, to transcriptions of works by Astor Piazzolla, to new music written especially for the Core Ensemble by composers Osvaldo Golijov, Orlando Garcia, Pablo Ortiz and Michael DeMurga.

Tres Vidas was written by Marjorie Agosin, one of the leading voices of Latin American feminism in the United States. Agosin is the author of twenty books of poetry, fiction, and literary criticism, and she has won several distinguished prizes including the Letras de Oro Prize for Poetry, the Latino Literature Prize, and the Morgan Institute Prize for Achievement in Human Rights. Scholastics Magazine chose Agosin as the 1998 Latino Mentor of the Year. She is currently a Professor of Spanish at Wellesley College and was recently named a Fellow of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University.

For more information on upcoming concerts and events at Washington College, visithttp://calendar.washcoll.edu.

Lecture Explores "Paris, Hollywood, And France's Memories Of World War II"

Chestertown, MD, October 1, 2004 — The Goldstein Program of Public Affairs, Campus Events and Visitors, and the Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures present “Paris, Hollywood, and France's Memories of World War II," a lecture by Philip Watts, Professor of French and Chair of the Department of French and Italian at the University of Pittsburgh. The lecture will be held on Thursday, Nov. 4 at 4:30 pm in the CAC Forum. The event is free and open to the public.

Sixty years have passed since D-Day and the liberation of Europe, but France's role during World War II remains as contentious as ever. As the nation was divided in two, split between an occupied and a non-occupied zone, the French population found itself caught in a struggle between Charles De Gaulle and the Resistance and Philippe Petain's government of collaboration. Since 1945, films about the war in France have grappled with these divisions and ambivalences, from the epic "Is Paris Burning?" whose all-star cast celebrated the struggle of the Resistance to the documentary "The Sorrow and the Pity" which revealed how ordinary Frenchmen collaborated with the Nazis.

Dr. Watts will present some of the more significant films about World War II in France, beginning with the immediate postwar years, examining differences between how French filmmakers and Hollywood directors represented the war, and ending with a look at how more recent films, such as Jean-Paul Rappeneau's "Bon Voyage," reveal a continuing equivocation about this moment in history.

A preeminent scholar in French studies, Dr. Watts received the prestigious Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for French and Francophone Literary Studies in 2000 for his book Allegories of the Purge: How Literature Responded to the Postwar Trials of Writers and Intellectuals in France (Stanford University Press, 1998) and has published articles and reviews in "French Forum" "South Atlantic Quarterly" and "Esprit."

In conjunction with Dr. Watts' visit, there will be a free public screening of the film “Bon Voyage” by Jean-Paul Rappeneau (Cyrano de Bergerac, Le Hussard sur le toit) on Wednesday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. in the CAC Forum. The French Club will provide snacks. Contact Katherine Maynard at kmaynard2@washcoll.edu for more information.

Zen Master at Washington College March 23

Chestertown, MD — The Zen principles of mental tranquillity, fearlessness, and spontaneity will be clarified by Reverend Keido Fukushima, chief abbot of Tofukuji Monastery in Kyoto, Japan, at Washington College on March 23. His lecture, "What is Zen?" takes place at 7:30 p.m. in the Hynson Lounge. At 4:30 p.m., Reverend Fukushima will give a demonstration of calligraphy in the O'Neill Literary House. Both events are free and open to the public.

Reverend Fukushima is well known as a Zen Master of special depth and insight as well as a calligrapher of rare discipline and adeptness. His calligraphy is highly prized in Japan as well as the United States, where it has been exhibited to great acclaim in New York and San Francisco. While touring America recently, Reverend Fukushima gave a calligraphy demonstration at Columbia University. Kay Larson, an art critic who also practices Zen, wrote for The New York Times that Reverend Fukushima "chatted freely with the audience. Suddenly he stopped talking. He mediated for a few moments, seeming to reach deep within himself. Then he picked up a thick, chunky brush and paused. Strike! The deed was done: a dense black circle. He gave it away."

Born in Kobe, Reverend Fukushima joined the Rinzai Zen school of Buddhism in 1947. After graduate studies at Otani University in Kyoto, he joined the monastery of Nanzenji in 1961. In 1971 he became the vice abbot at Hofukuji temple in Okayama prefecture. He came to Tofukuji as the leading Zen Master in 1980 and was appointed the head abbott of the Rinzai school of Buddhism in 1991. He has given lectures at 20 universities in the United States, including Harvard, Columbia and Bucknell.

Reverend Fukushima's appearance at Washington College is sponsored by the Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures and the Campus Events and Visitors Committee.