The Institute for Comparative Modernities is pleased to announce the 2025 Spring Events Series, a range of engaging hosted events featuring film screenings, co-sponsored seminars and talks; conversations from Cornell faculty members and guest speakers about recent publications, and lectures about ongoing critical research and practice.
This spring semester, ICM is hosting a lecture and graduate seminar by editor and historian of Iranian modern history. Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, new conversations with Cornell faculty members Michell Chresfield and Irina Troconis, a lecture by the Palestinian scholar Samera Esmier, and a screening of two films by Pinar Öğrenci, followed by discussion with ICM member Esra Akcan, whose book, Open Architecture, inspired the film Gurbet is a Home Now.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27-FRIDAY FEBRUARY 28: ICM LECTURE AND SEMINAR MOHAMAD TAVAKOLI-TARGHI (Inaugural Director, Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studies, University of Toronto) “Iranian Matriotism and Curative Modernity”| Goldwin Smith G22 | 4:45 pm—6:15 pm
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28 ICM GRADUATE SEMINAR with MOHAMAD TAVAKOLI-TARGHI
Toboggan Lodge, 38 Forest Home Drive
10 am—12:00 pm | Registration required. Contact icm@cornell.edu to register for the seminar.
Both events co-sponsored with Near Eastern Studies
MONDAY, MARCH 17: ICM NEW CONVERSATIONS SERIES MICHELL CHRESFIELD (Assistant Professor, Africana Studies & Research Center) “Crafting Recognition: Anthropology and the Racial Politics of Native Identity” | Goldwin Smith Hall G22 | 4:45 pm—6:15 pm
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26: ICM LECTURE SERIES SAMERA ESMEIR (Associate Professor, Department of Rhetoric, University of California, Berkeley) “Territorial Imperatives, Revolutionary Leanings: Thinking with the Palestinian Revolution” | Goldwin Smith, Kaufmann Auditorium| 4:45 pm—6:15 pm
MONDAY, APRIL 14: ICM FILM SCREENING AND DISCUSSION GURBET IS A HOME NOW (2020) Produced in collaboration with Esra Akcan and Heide Moldenhauer and based on Akcan’s book, Open Architecture AŞÍT (2022). Followed by conversation with filmmaker PINAR ÖĞRENCİ and ESRA AKCAN (Cornell University, ICM). Moderated by IFTIKHAR DADI (Cornell University, ICM). Abby and Howard Milstein Auditorium | 4:45 pm—7:45 pm
MONDAY, APRIL 21: ICM NEW BOOKS SERIES IRINA TROCONIS (Associate Professor, Department of Romance Studies, Cornell University) "The Necromantic State: Spectral Remains in the Afterglow of Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution "Goldwin Smith G22 |4:45 pm—6:15 pm
