Articles by Kevin Matthews
Malcolm Kerr's Middle East
The family of a famous Bruin peacemaker, assassinated 25 years ago while serving as president of the American University of Beirut, has remembered him by seeking truth about his killers and reconciliation between nations.
Published on: 3/30/2009
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Toward a Pan-American School of Things Korean
Now in its third year, the Korean Studies in the Americas program brings students to UCLA from four Latin American countries, supports collaboration among faculty, and sends American Koreanist scholars north and south for lectures. Funded by the Seoul-based Academy of Korean Studies, the UCLA-administered program has begun to snowball, attracting interest in the form of travel grants for Latin American students and faculty members visiting Korea and the United States.
Published on: 3/18/2009
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Historian Looks Back on Fall of Communism 20 Years Ago
Visiting professor Jurgen Kocka, a modern social historian at the Free University of Berlin, gave a lecture that kicks off more than a year of talks, conferences and film screenings organized by the Center for European and Eurasian Studies. An international conference about 1989's events and a film series are set for November.
Published on: 3/13/2009
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Whose Buddhism and Which Science?
Donald S. Lopez Jr. of the University of Michigan seeks to explain why some Buddhists and some scientists have been so eager, for a century and a half, to assert the compatibility of two very different ways of seeking knowledge.
Published on: 2/25/2009
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State Department Official Provides African Security Briefing
In a public talk Louis Mazel, director of the U.S. Department of State Office of African Regional and Security Affairs, discusses current and potential security issues across the continent, including the uncertain future of South Sudan.
Published on: 2/12/2009
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Bumpy Road Ahead for US-China Relations
Several speakers at a conference on U.S.-China relations, cosponsored by the UCLA Center for Chinese Studies and the Burkle Center, observed that economic interdependence underlies good diplomatic relations between the two powers and argued that new U.S. trade restrictions on China would be counterproductive.
Published on: 2/3/2009
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UCLA Peacemaker to Speak on Global Conflicts, Everyday Choices
At a free public lecture on Saturday in Santa Monica, Burkle Center Deputy Director Anna Spain, a lawyer and mediator specializing in cross-cultural conflict resolution, will discuss how citizens can contribute to the spread of peace around the world.
Published on: 1/27/2009
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10 Questions for Sarah Abrevaya Stein
Ostrich feathers for women's hats were worth nearly as much as diamonds by weight just prior to World War I, when the bubble burst. In "Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global Commerce" (Yale University Press), a book that resonates with the current financial crisis, UCLA historian Sarah Abrevaya Stein describes a European and American vogue for African feathers from the 1880s and recounts sad tales of a global market crash that struck particularly hard at Jewish merchants.
Published on: 1/9/2009
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Outgoing US Cultural Affairs Official Touts Social Networking Website
At a lecture cosponsored by the Burkle Center and student groups, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Goli Ameri introduces ExchangesConnect, a social networking website intended to bring a "new generation of digital natives" into conversation around the globe. Her bureau will also fund Indonesian dance performances on campus in spring.
Published on: 1/7/2009
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UCLA Advanced Degrees Put to Work for Education in Afghanistan
Born in Kabul and brought up in Orange County, UCLA Islamic Studies alumna Parisa Popalzai says that war-torn Afghanistan needs the help of those who had to leave it. She applies skills learned at the Anderson School and the International Institute to two issues: giving Afghan kids with special needs a chance and training managers for a new economy.
Published on: 12/23/2008
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