From the Director

Ola everybody! Welcome back to an amazing semester. Three weeks into it, and having a ball. How about you? What was the most exciting moment of your summer? Reading Marx in preparation for your ISF 100A in the Fall?

Let me first give you an update on faculty activities, then tell you what we've planned for this Fall.

Prof Urs Cipolat taught, for the fourth consecutive time, his ISF 110 study abroad course on International Organizations and Global Challenges. A group of 25 UC Berkeley students and 14 students from other US campuses accompanied him to Geneva in Switzerland and Strasbourg in France, where they met with numerous diplomats and international civil servants. "An incredible experience," one of the participants wrote. "This course really opened my eyes to what's happening on the global political level!"

With a Professional Development Grant from UCB, Prof Avaren Ipsen attended an international conference on Feminism, Sexuality, and the Return of Religion at Syracuse University, NY, where outstanding feminist theorists such as Helene Cixous, Judith Butler, and Saba Mahmood were running the intellectual show. Prof Ipsen promptly integrated her expanded consciousness on these religious-feminist matters into her ISF 100B class, which she taught earlier this summer. No wonder that her evulations and reviews were completely off the chart. Her book on "Sex Working and the Bible," to be published by renowned London Equinox Press, is due out in January of 2008. You'll be invited to Avaren's book party soon!

Meanwhile, Prof Gary Wren told me that last fall, he happened to mention to some friends that he was thinking of proposing a new Summer Session course: studying the Greek classics in Greece. The idea was to take a group of students to the actual places where Agamemnon set forth for Troy, where the 300 Spartans died defending the pass, and where Socrates taught Plato. To his surprise, his friends said that they wanted to go. Hence they began preparing for this historical trip by meeting to discuss some of the longer classical works they wouldn't have time to read in Greece or Turkey, such as the Iliad. In May they flew to Istanbul, and over the next few weeks visited Troy, the coast of Turkey, some of the Greek islands, Athens, Mykene, and other points of interest. Every couple of days they would gather over dinner (and wine) to discuss the current work, whether Herodotus' account of the Persian wars, or a play by Euripides, or a Platonic dialogue. "It's always a pleasure - and a rare one at Cal - to discuss a great work in a small group," Gary told me. "And who knows? I may actually get around to doing that Summer Sessions course one day."

And what about me? I went to conferences of the International Gramsci Association in Rome and Cagliari, presented papers and enjoyed Italian cuisine, surrounded by lots of laughter and extraordinary discussions. I also had a chance to visit Palermo in Sicily for the first time, to explore the island's Muslim past as I presented papers on the philosophical foundations of human rights at the Law Faculty of Palermo University. Back in Berkeley, I resumed my research and much summer teaching. My ISF 100D course on technology was extraordinarily rewarding. Many students from overseas attended, and conducted formidable collective research projects on topics such as the use of the internet in the global trafficking of women and children.

What's up next?

This Fall, we resume our Film Series, this time on the topic of " For Sale: The Commodification of Body, Mind and Soul."Among the movies to be shown are 'Remote Sensing,' by Ursula Biemann, as well as 'Transplant Touris' and 'Chain of Love." Prominent guest speakers will comment and lead the discussion after each documentary, among them Prof Nancy Sheper-Hughes, founder of Organs Watch, an international organization that monitors organ trafficking, and Laura Agustin , whose latest book on "Sex at the Margins: Migration, Labour Markets, and the Rescue Industry" is now available at Palgrave/McMillan Publishers.

ISF will also have some more open houses (with free pizza!). Please bring your friends. Above all, check in with me or any other ISF faculty about the scholarship programs that are available to you, or research opportunities and funding, including funding for next summer.

Finally, please note that UC Berkeley offers a new minor in Poverty Studies, organized by Prof Ananya Roy . This is a perfect minor for ISF students. Check it out, and think about relating your thesis to it!

For today, let me say "Hasta la vista!" and wish you all a great semester. If you need me, please come see me Wednesday mornings between 8:30-11:30am.

Your Prof Renata