Richard Beardsworth gave a paper entitled “The Return of Religion, World Politics and Psychoanalysis” in the AUP research seminar Art, Philosophy and Psychoanalysis, on March 29th. He responded to Gianfranco Poggi’s “The role of law in state-making: the European experience” on April 26th (Social Science Working Papers) and gave a paper entitled “Reflections on Cosmopolitanis” in the NYU in France research group Politics and Culture on April 27th.  He appeared twice on French television this month discussing religion, politics, and communitarianism. He has signed a contract with Polity Press for his book Cosmopolitanism and International Relations. His book Derrida and the Political (Routledge: 1996) is being translated into Spanish.

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Jim Bittermann and Pat Thompson organized a tribute to legendary American humorist Art Buchwald, who died January 17.  Proceeds from the event, which included anecdotes and remarks by Mr. Buchwald's son, and eight other old friends and acquaintances, will go to the Center for the Study of International Communications where an AUP scholarship is being established in Mr. Buchwald's name.

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Cheryl Caesar spoke on "The Dance of Time and Space: Chronotopes and Their Potential Uses in Culture Studies" at the annual conference of the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research (SIETAR) Europa, in Sofia, Bulgaria. She attended the entire conference, which ran from 24 through 29 April.

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William Dow presented his paper "The Continuum of Class" at the conference Class Matters: Representing Class in American Culture, Literature, and Film held at The University of  Valenciennes on April 6.

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Ali Fatemi has been invited to a three-day conference (April 18-20) at Aspen Institute in Berlin. He will give a lecture on "Economics of Sanctions: Why have they proven ineffective?"

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Jérôme Game’s edited book, Porous Boundaries: Texts and Images in 20th Century French Culture, appeared last month with Peter Lang Publishers. Contributors include key authors in the field such as Jacques Rancière, Raymond Bellour, and Marie-Claire Ropars. Professor Game’s article for this volume is titled “Genealogies of the Porous: the Text/Image Relationship from Representation to Differentiation.” On 6 April, Jérôme Game organized an international symposium in Film Studies at AUP entitled ‘Image of the Body/Body of the image in contemporary cinema’ at which he delivered the research paper “Images-without-Organs/Narratives-without-Telos: Van Sant and Reygadas.” Scholars from France, Mexico, Canada, and the UK took part in this successful and stimulating event which will lead to opportunities for establishing links between Parisian institutions and AUP in Film Studies.

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Hall Gardner has been invited to the 7th Doha Democracy, Development and Free Trade Conference (April 23-26). He was interviewed twice by VOA-China on US-Chinese-Russian relations. He introduced Iraqi filmmaker Layth Abdulamir, who showed his latest film, "Iraq, the song of the missing men" to AUP students on April 17.

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On April 10, Isabel Gardner organized and sponsored the conference on Ethical Fashion or Eco-chic: "Green is the new black." Aesthetics and engaged consuming now go together: the old clichés of ethical fashion have disappeared for good. Fashion is opening up to a new economy, a new philosophy for a society which is proud to consume respectfully, whilst savouring the luxury of the unique and desirable.

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Geoff Gilbert has been invited to give a paper entitled "The Meaning of Contemporary Realism: The amortissement of idiom in Daewoo", to the Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, London. The paper is the second part of an ongoing project on contemporary fiction, idiom, and political economy; the first part, in the form of a paper called "In a lover's idiom (I do not know what women know)," was presented last year to the Department of English at Berkeley.

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Marielle Gorissen-van Eenige published an article on the measurement of mental effort in neuropsychological assessment in psychiatry, in the mental health journal PsychoPraxis, 9(2). On April 14 she gave a presentation on “Autism and Research” at the conference of the Dutch Society of Autism (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Autisme, NVA). The NVA conference, in which speakers spoke about different topics on autism, was a repetition of the conference in November 2006, which was repeated due to overwhelming interest.

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On March 19, Professor Martin Grandes was featured in the Argentinean newspaper La Nacion, (http://www.lanacion.com.ar/economia/nota.asp?nota_id=892627) after a research study he directed in cooperation with the Centro de Estudios para la Estabilidad Financiera (CEF) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, funded by The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. On March 27 and 28, Professor Grandes was invited to present his paper “The Cost of Equity beyond CAPM: Evidence from Latin American Stocks” in the international conference Opening and Innovation on Financial Emerging Markets in Beijing China. More information on this conference can be found at: http://www.univ-cefi.fr/article.php3?id_article=1362. Also in Beijing, he met with officials from the Service de Coopération et d'Action Culturelle from the French Embassy, as well as with several professors of Beijing University and the Central University of Economics and Finance to discuss academic cooperation and student exchange. On March 30 and 31, Professor Grandes was in Greece where he had numerous meetings with professors of the University of Athens, Pantheion University, University of Piraeus and Dikemes to discuss possible academic cooperation with other graduate programs on public policy or economics, student exchange, dual degrees and cooperation for a Summer Research Institute. He gave a talk to students and professors from several universities about the new MPA in Strategic Public Policy. Professor Grandes was featured in Le Point on April 5th as one of the 100 young personalities in France: http://www.aup.fr/news/downloads/Grandes_LePoint_apr2007.pdf

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Peter Hägel published an article on "La polémique sur le 'lobby pro-israélien' aux Etats-Unis" in La Vie des Idées n° 21 (April 2007, co-authored with Pauline Peretz, http://www.repid.com).

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Yudhishthir Raj Isar’s co-edited book Conflicts and Tensions, the first volume in the new Cultures and Globalization Series (SAGE Publications) was formally launched in Los Angeles on April 17 at a cultural evening held in the Founders Room of the Walt Disney Concert Hall; the event was co-organized by the UCLA School of Public Affairs and the Music Center of Disney Hall.  The  Keynote Address was given by Eric Garcetti, President of the Los Angeles City Council.  On April 18, Isar also presented the work at a launch symposium in the Broad Arts Center at UCLA, co-organized by the School of Public Affairs and the School of the Arts and Architecture; other speakers included co-editor Helmut Anheier, Barbara Nelson, Dean of the School of Public Affairs, and various contributors to the volume including Nathan Gardels of the Los Angeles Times and academics from UCLA and UC Berkeley.  On April 17, Isar also gave a class at UCLA entitled ‘Cultural Policy: A Floating Signifier?’ that was organized in the framework of the School of Public Policy’s new seminar entitled ‘Issues in Cultural Policy’.

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Christian Joppke (Graduate School of Government) had his article, “Transformation of Immigrant Integration in Western Europe,” published in the first 2007 issue of World Politics. In April he started a collaborative project with John Torpey (CUNY, Graduate Center) on the institutional accommodation of Islam in North America and Western Europe, which is supported by a two-year, 100,000€ grant by the Swiss Foundation for Population, Migration and Environment and the International Metropolis Project.

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Lissa Lincoln gave an invited lecture at the Ecole Normale de la Magistrature in Paris on April 4. She also delivered a paper at the Association for the Study of Law, Culture and the Humanities at Georgetown Law School in Washington, DC on March 23-24. Her paper was entitled "Law's Genealogy of Guilt."

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Ann Mott presented a paper at the annual Conference for College professors of Composition and Communication (the 4Cs) held in New York March 21-24.  Her paper was entitled "Writing Identities in the Pluricultural Classroom."

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In April, Terence Murphy had a second essay on the French presidential elections appear in International Political Economy entitled "The French Presidential Elections: Yet another surprise."

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Anne-Marie Picard-Drillien recently gave two papers: the first one, where she presented abstracts from her forthcoming book on reading, writing, and psychoanalysis, was given at the invitation of the Association of Psychoanalysis (ECART) in the Psychiatric Hospital Esquirol in the Paris region and was entitled: “L’Ecriture matricide;”  the second, “Le Féminin impossible,” was given during a colloquium of the Graduate School at the University of Paris VII (Jussieu) and addressed psychoanalysts’ fascination for Marguerite Duras’ women characters. She also made the closing remarks summarizing this year’s stimulating Transdisciplinary Seminar Series in the Humanities ARTS/PHILOSOPHY/PSYCHOANALYSIS, and announced the continuation of the series in 2007-2008.

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David Pike was invited by Holland America Line to give two talks aboard the Prinsendam on its voyage in the Aegean (April 9-19).  He spoke on "The Olympic Spirit: Then and Now," and "The War in the Mediterranean, 1940-1943."

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A panel of expert reviewers of the European Commission commented on the work done by AUP's team lead by Claudia Roda on the Atgentive project as having achieved "good to impressive results." Funding to AUP of about 250,000 euros was confirmed, and additional funds were allocated in recognition of AUP's contribution to the project.

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Last month, Bob Swaim gave a Master Class at Warsaw's prestigious Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing working with Wajda himself and award winning Polish director Wojciech Marczewski, and 12 young filmmakers selected from the European Union. This month Swaim will be a member of the jury for the François Chalais Prize at the Cannes International Film Festival.

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Kathleen Wilson-Chevalier has contributed two entries, one on Claude de France and another on Diane de Poitiers, to the Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance. Italy, France, and England, edited by Diana Robin, Anne R. Larsen, and Carole Levin (ABC Clio, Santa Barbara, Denver and Oxford England, 2007). She recently participated in the Renaissance Society of America's Annual Meeting in Miami. On March 22 she chaired a session organized by graduate students from Rutgers, Yale, and Princeton, entitled Transforming the Past: Classical and Medieval Topoi in Renaissance France. On March 24, she gave a paper, "Visualizing the Invisible Leonora of Austria -- especially in France," in one of the sessions organized by Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann under the rubric The Habsburgs: Images and Portraits, for which Sheila Ffolliott was the respondent.

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Douglas Yates published a chapter on “Chinese oil interests in Africa” in Garth le Pere (ed.) China in Africa: Mercantilist Predator, or Partner in Development? (Johannesburg: Institute for Global Dialogue/South African Institute of International Affairs, 2006).  CNBC television invited Yates on April 10th to speak about the effects of the French presidential elections on the future of Franco-American relations. On 17 April France 24 invited Professor Yates to participate in a television debate on the right to keep and bear arms in the United States.

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