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Former prisoner of conscience to speak at the law school
Dr. Ma Thida, a Burmese doctor and former Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, will visit the campus on Monday, Nov. 21.
Titled "Health and Human Rights in Burma," Thida's talk will begin at 2:10 p.m. in Rm. 120 in the Sterling Law Buildings, 127 Wall St. Sponsored by the Schell Center and the Health Law and Human Rights Lecture Series, the talk is free and open to the public.
In 1993 Thida was sentenced to a 20-year prison term for the peaceful expression of her beliefs and her association with the National League for Democracy (NLD), a nonviolent political party campaigning for basic human rights that was founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
When Thida was a medical student, Burma's military junta, the State Law and Order Restoration Council, shut down the country's universities -- a move that prompted her to join the NLD. When Kyi was placed under house arrest in 1989, Thida resumed her studies but remained an active member of the NLD.
After completing medical school in 1991, she worked as a surgeon at the Muslim Free Clinic, one of the few private hospitals in Burma providing free treatment for the poor.
In addition to her medical work, Thida published more than 60 short stories, many containing veiled criticism of and insight into the Burmese government. Her writings were censored and frequently banned, and she was blacklisted by the authorities and banned from publishing her work.
In 1993, Thida and several other NLD members were arrested for distributing political leaflets and campaigning for democratic reforms. Thida was found guilty at a secret trial. She was released from prison after six years on humanitarian grounds.
Iris H.W. Engstrand, professor of history at the University of San Diego, will give the fifth annual Betts Lecture on Thursday, Dec. 1.
Engstrand's talk, titled "Spanish Naturalists Explore the Americas, 1785-1803," will begin at 4:30 p.m. in Rm. 101, Linsly-Chittenden Hall, 63 High St. Sponsored by the Howard R. Lamar Center for the Study of Frontiers and Borders, the talk is free and open to the public. For more information, e-mail lamar.center@yale.edu or call (203) 432-2328.
Engstrand's illustrated lecture will explore the major scientific efforts launched by Spain during this period. She will also discuss the reasons why these results remained unpublished until recent times and were overshadowed by the work of the British and French.
During the late 18th-century Age of Enlightenment, Spanish scientists were instructed to survey Spain's possessions in the Americas and identify, classify and reproduce in specimens or drawings the fauna and flora of these vast territories. Spanish naturalists believed that their studies would yield beneficial products and unlock secrets to improving human existence.
Engstrand is the author of 21 books and numerous articles on Spain, California and the West, including "Noticias de Nutka: An Account of Nootka Sound in 1792" and "Spanish Scientists in the New World."
This lecture series honors Roland W. Betts II, an alumni fellow of the Yale Corporation, for his support of the Howard R. Lamar Center.
Reiner Stach, a renowned writer, editor and scholar, will give the Woodward Lecture on Thursday, Dec. 1
Stach will discuss his recently published book, "Kafka: The Decisive Years," at 5:30 p.m. in Rm. 309, William L. Harkness Hall, 100 Wall St. The talk is free and open to the public.
"Kafka: The Decisive Years" is the first of a three-volume biography of Kafka. Stach devoted more than a decade of research and writing to the book, which is the most comprehensive portrait of the writer to date. It focuses on the years leading up to World War I and explores the intersections of Kafka's life with the creation of his seminal works "The Metamorphosis," "Amerika," "The Judgement" and "The Trial."
In this volume of the series, Stach recreates the Prague where Kafka lived and worked in the years between 1910 and 1915. Stach researched more than 4,000 pages of journal entries, letters and literary fragments to create this portrait of a man whose stories have haunted readers for over 100 years.
Calhoun College will host a master's tea with Timothy Tyson, professor of Afro-American studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, on Thursday, Dec. 1.
The tea will begin at 4:30 p.m. in the Calhoun College master's house, 434 College St. It is free and open to the public.
Tyson teaches and writes about the history of African-American freedom movements in the 20th-century South. His most recent book, "Blood Done Sign My Name," tells the story of a racial murder and black uprising in Tyson's hometown of Oxford, North Carolina, when he was 11.
His first book, "Democracy Betrayed: The Wilmington Race Riot of 1898 and its Legacy," co-edited with David S. Cecelski, won the 1999 Outstanding Book Award from The Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America. His second book, "Radio Free Dixie: Robert F. Williams and the Roots of Black Power," won the James Rawley Prize and the Frederick Jackson Turner Award from the Organization of American Historians.
"Freedom Ride 2001: Sites and Sounds of the Freedom Struggle," a summer school course that he designed and taught in collaboration with Craig Werner and Steve Kantrowitz, won the Best Summer School Course from the National Association of Summer School Sessions. The course combined classroom work on the history and culture of the Freedom Movement with a two-week bus trip that took 35 students through the historically resonant landscape of the American South.
The next talk in the Edward Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy lecture series will be given by Ben Lummis, director of public policy for Massachusetts 2020, on Friday, Dec. 2.
Lummis will discuss "Prisoners of Time No Longer: The Promise of Extended Time Schools" at 11:30 a.m. in Rm. 116, William L. Harkness Hall, 100 Wall St. The event is free and open to the public. For further information, e-mail sandra.bishop@yale.edu or call (203) 432-9935.
Massachusetts 2020's mission is to expand educational and economic opportunities for children and families across Massachusetts. The organization was founded in 2000 and its initial efforts have focused on expanding after-school and summer learning opportunities for children across the Commonwealth. Massachusetts 2020 has been a lead partner in launching several major initiatives, including Boston's After-School for All Partnership, the largest public-private partnership dedicated to children in Boston's history.
At Massachusetts 2020, Lummis is leading the development of a comprehensive public policy for creating a longer school day. This work focuses on developing a detailed policy for how to implement and finance a longer school day in Massachusetts and working directly with the legislature and other state leaders to enact the policy and gain funding for it.
Prior to joining Massachusetts 2020, Lummis worked at the Center for Collaborative Education where he was the director of Turning Points, the nationally recognized middle school improvement model.
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T H I S
Betts Lecture will focus on Spain's scientific efforts
Author of biography of Kafka to give Woodward Lecture
Scholar of freedom movements to be featured at master's tea
Zigler Center Talk will examine extended time schools
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