Events
The department hosts a variety of events throughout the year, including scholarly lectures, musical and theatrical performances, and film series, both on and off campus.
Upcoming Events
Imagine Europe presents: Elusive Water - The Life and Death of Central Asia's Aral Sea
Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026
9.30 - 10.45 a.m.
Location: BSCI Gold Auditorium
About the talk
In 2017, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the disappearance of Central Asia's Aral Sea, "probably the biggest ecological catastrophe of our time." Centering the people who lived around the sea and their stories, this talk examines the causes and consequences of the disaster. Rather than framing the Aral case as a uniquely Soviet story, it also considers what we can learn from it as we confront similar cases of shrinking bodies of water around the globe.
About the speaker
Sarah Cameron, Associate Professor of History, University of Maryland, College Park
Sarah Cameron's work explores how greater attention to the Soviet Union's eastern periphery can challenge conventional understandings of the Soviet field. Her award-winning book, The Hungry Steppe: Famine, Violence, and the Making of Soviet Kazakhstan (Cornell University Press, 2018), examines the Kazakh famine of the 1930s. She is currently working on a new book about the causes and consequences of the demise of Central Asia's Aral Sea. In 2022, she was named a Carnegie Fellow.
Sponsored by the European Studies Program with CAL IRA funds, the Department of Comparative International Studies, and the Department of History.
Professional Pathways: Using Language in Your Profession
Thursday, Oct. 22
11:00 a.m.
Location: Engineering Building, Room 427
Speak another language? Find out where it can take you.
- Peace Corps
- Graduate School
- Transnational Scholarship
Featuring:
Sarah Cameron, Associate Professor of History, University of Maryland, College Park
A historian of Russia, the Soviet Union, and Central Asia, Cameron studies genocide, environmental history, and the Kazakh famine of the 1930s, the subject of her award-winning book The Hungry Steppe (Cornell, 2018).
Sponsored by CAL IRA funds for the European Studies Program and the Department of Comparative International Studies.
Archives
A Conversation with the Consul General of Azerbaijan
Vugar Gurbanov, Consul General of Azerbaijan
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
From Village to Vanguard: Recasting the Peasant in Russian Art
Katya Kudryavtseva, Ph.D.
Thursday, April 30, 2026
Film Screening and Discussion: “Intercepted”
Oksana Karpovych, Director
Wednesday, April 29, 2026
From CINTS to to the Real World: Preparing for a Career in Finance
Stephanie Boice, CINTS alumna
Friday, April 10, 2026
From CINTS to Global Careers: NGOs, Grad School & International Futures
Sarah Karver, CINTS alumna
Friday, April 10, 2026
Journalism & Environmental Justice in Tajikistan
Sher Khashimov, Activist and Journalist
Thursday, April 9, 2026
From SDSU to International Service: Language Study, Fellowships & Foreign Policy
Maveen Mallah, SDSU alumna
Friday, March 27, 2026
From CINTS to Community Impact: A Career in Humanitarian Services
Cecily Ma, CINTS alum
Friday, March 27, 2026
Book Presentation by Zamira Abman
“Coerced Liberation: Muslim Women of Soviet Tajikistan”
Tuesday, March 17, 2026
From CINTS to Taiwan: Graduate Study & Global Careers
Samuel Straw, CINTS alum
Friday, March 6, 2026
Imagine Europe presents: “Tigers Between Empires”
Jonathan C. Slaght, Regional Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Temperate Asia Program
Thursday, Feb 26, 2026
Sports in the Borderlands, the Borderlands of Sports - A Case From Skateboarding
Andrea Buchetti, Ph.D.
Thursday, December 4, 2025
Haunting Presences: Alessandro de’ Medici and Politics of (Forgotten) Memory
Angelica Pesarini, Ph.D.
Thursday, November 13, 2025
Estonian Comic Artist: Joonas Sildre
Joonas Sildre, Estonian comic artist, illustrator, and graphic designer
Wednesday, September 17, 2025
A Gelato Love Story: The amazing journey through time, science, and taste
Paola Richard
Thursday, March 13, 2025
Image Europe presents: Fighting Words – How Language Matters in the Russo-Ukrainian War
Laada Bilaniuk, Ph.D.
Thursday, April 24, 2025
Imagine Europe presents: Reckoning with Colonial History in German Theater
Katrin Sieg, Ph.D.
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Film Screening: "We Were Here: The Untold Story of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe"
Fred Kudjo Kuwornu, Award-Winning Filmmaker
Tuesday, February 18, 2025
Film Screening: “Primadonna” (The Girl from Tomorrow)
Marta Savina, Director
Film Introduction by Antonio Iannotta, Artistic Director of the San Diego Italian Film Festival
Thursday, May 2, 2024
SDSU Russian Program presents: Igor Ponochevny
Igor Ponochevny, Russian Artist
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
Imagine Europe presents: Human Trafficking Recruitment during Russia's War in Ukraine
Laura Dean, Ph.D.
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Imagine Europe presents: How Memories Cross Borders in Contemporary German and Francophone Literature
Michel Mallet, Ph.D.
Thursday, March 21, 2024
Ukraine at the Crossroads: Assessing Two Years of War and Current Trends
Zamira Abman, Ph.D. and Ibrahim Al-Marashi, Ph.D.
Wednesday, March 13, 2024
SDSU Russian Program presents: Dmitry Bykov
Dmitry Bykov, Russian Writer and Poet
Monday, March 11, 2024
Food Justice and Sustainable Farming: Slow Food in Italy, Europe, and Beyond
Ilaria Tabusso Marcyan
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
The Cultural Roots of Slow Food: Traditional Food Cultures, Grassroots Movements, and Sustainability in Italy
Ilaria Tabusso Marcyan
Tuesday, March 5, 2024
Albertine Cinematheque at SDSU
November 1, 8, 9, 15, 16, 17, 2023
Book Reading and Discussion: “Beyond the Blue Border” (Jenseits der blauen Grenze)
Dorit Linke, Author
Tuesday, November 7, 2023
“This Is What I Live For: An Afro-Italian Hip-Hop Memoir”
Amir Issa, Author and Hip-Hop Artist
Tuesday, October 31, 2023
Imagine Europe presents: Europe Between Vengeance and Virtue - America’s Treatment of Enemies During and After WWII
Zachary Shore, Ph.D.
Tuesday, May 2, 2023
Albertine Cinematheque at SDSU
April 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, 28, May 3, 2023
Imagine Europe presents: Crossing the Borders and Challenging the Boundaries of White Feminism in Italy
Loredana Di Martino, Ph.D.
Thursday, March 23, 2023
Imagine Europe presents: Black Italians and Cultural Entrepreneurship in Film, Fiction, Music, and Social Media
Antonio Dikele Distefano, Italian writer, producer, and filmmaker and Fred Kudjo KuwornuI, Italian filmmaker and producer
Tuesday, February 7, 2023
Imagine Europe presents: National Precarity in Post-Soviet Eurasian Comics
Jose Alaniz, Ph.D.
Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022
Imagine Europe and Humanities in Action presents: A reading and discussion with German novelist Bernhard Schlink
Bernhard Schlink, Author
Monday, Oct. 24, 2022
Imagine Europe presents: EmbarRACEments - African Diaspora and Afrophobia in Italy
Dr. Kossi A. Komla-Ebri, Surgeon and Award-Winning Writer
Thursday, September 29, 2022
On Marginalization and the Limits of European Belonging
Sunnie Rucker-Chang, Ph.D.
Tuesday, September 27, 2022
