Humanities & Social Sciences

Esteemed speakers contributing their insights into human culture, behavior, and societal development

Angela May

Angela May

Angela May (she/her or they/them) is a mixed Japanese Canadian (gosei [fifth generation]) PhD Candidate in the Department of English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University studying under the supervision of Dr. Amber Dean. Originally from Vancouver, British Columbia, Angela has familial and community roots in the city’s Powell Street neighbourhood (Paueru Gai, “Powell Town”), the largest historic home of Japanese Canadians—which is also a central part of the present-day home of the Downtown Eastside community. Angela’s doctoral work thus focuses on the Japanese Canadian and Downtown Eastside communities, particularly as they overlap. Examining the last decades of the twentieth century, Angela interrogates established narratives in the Japanese Canadian community—about returning to Powell Street (1970s), about federal Japanese Canadian Redress (1980s), and about trauma, pain, and drug use (1990s)—to ask new questions about what it means to be a good neighbour in the Downtown Eastside today. Angela holds a BA in English (University of Victoria), an MA in the Socio-Cultural Studies of Health (Queen’s University), and a Creative Writing Certificate (Simon Fraser University, The Writer’s Studio Online). Her academic work has been published in the Urban History Review, the Annual Review of Interdisciplinary Justice Research, and Canadian Literature. For more, see www.angelamarianmay.com.

Angela May (she/her or they/them) is a mixed Japanese Canadian (gosei [fifth generation]) PhD Candidate in the Department of English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University studying under the supervision of Dr. Amber Dean. Originally from Vancouv... Show more

Isabelle Rotter

Isabelle Rotter

With a foundational background in psychology, Isabelle brings a unique perspective to the tech industry, where she specializes in human-centric issues. At her company, she's renowned for her expertise in enhancing team communication and serving as a transformative coach, translating complex code into understandable language for all stakeholders. Communication isn't just her job; it's her passion.

With a foundational background in psychology, Isabelle brings a unique perspective to the tech industry, where she specializes in human-centric issues. At her company, she's renowned for her expertise in enhancing team communication and serving as a ... Show more

Claudiu Forgaci

Claudiu Forgaci

I am an assistant professor of urban design and analytics at TU Delft, passionate about asking spatial and non-spatial questions with R. I co-initiated Rbanism, a community of R users that aims to empower urbanism researchers, students, educators and practitioners to use open-source software and related open-science practices effectively and with confidence. Currently, I focus on developing an open-source tool for urban river space analysis, and on text mining applied in urbanism education.

I am an assistant professor of urban design and analytics at TU Delft, passionate about asking spatial and non-spatial questions with R. I co-initiated Rbanism, a community of R users that aims to empower urbanism researchers, students, educators and... Show more

Kien Nghi Ha

Kien Nghi Ha

Researcher, writer, curator, public speaker and community activist in Asian Germany since the 1990s

Education
2009 Ph.D. Cultural Studies (summa cum laude), University of Bremen (Germany)
1998 Diploma Political Sciences, Free University of Berlin

Academic and Professional Appointments
2023 Curator Asian Presences in Colonial Metropolis Berlin, Sinema Transtopia Berlin
Since 2020 Postdoctoral Researcher, Asian-Orient-Institute, University of Tübingen
2014-2016 Co-speaker of the Association for Intercultural Welfare, Empowerment and Diversity
2015 Senior Research Fellowship an der Bayreuth Academy of Advanced Studies, University of Bayreuth
Since 2012 Associated Fellow of the Institute for Postcolonial and Transcultural Studies, University of Bremen
2012 Co-curator of the Asia-Pacific Weeks at the House of World Cultures (Berlin)
2011 Visiting Professor at the Asia-Orient-Institute, University of Tübingen
2010 Curator Vietnamese Diaspora and Beyond, Hebbel am Ufer Theater (Berlin)
since 2010 Member of korientation. Network for German-Asian Perspectives
2009-2010 Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe in a Global Context”, University of Heidelberg
2009 Visiting Scholar at Asian/Pacific/America-Institute, New York University
Since 2001 Independent researcher, writer and public speaker frequently invited to universities, museums, cultural and art institutions

Academic Awards (selected)
2023 Conference grant from the Platform “Global Encounters” of the University of Tübingen, funded by Excellence Strategy of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research
2022 Project grant from “Promotion of Contemporary History and Remembrance Culture” of the Berlin Senate
2011 Augsburg Science Prize for Intercultural Studies – Main Award
2009 Publication grant from the FAZIT-Foundation of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
2007 Conference travel grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG)
2001-2004 Doctoral scholarship of the Heinrich Böll Foundation
2001 European Commission’s “Human Potential Programme”

German Publications - Books (peer-reviewed)
2010 Impure and Mixed. Postcolonial Border Crossings through the Cultural History of Hybridity and Colonial “Racial Bastards” (Postcolonial Studies, Vol. 6), Münster: transcript
2005 Hype about Hybridity. Cultural Consumption of Difference and Postmodern Techniques of Utilization in Late Capitalism (Cultural Studies, Vol. 11), Bielefeld: transcript
1999 Ethnicity and Migration (Introductions: Basic Concepts of Social Philosophy and Social Theory, Vol. 9), Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot

German Publications - Books (non peer-reviewed)
2025 Editor Anti-Asian Racism in Transatlantic Perspectives: History, Theory, Cultural Representations and Social Movements [in English in preparation]
2023 Editor Asian Presences in the Colonial Metropolis Berlin. Localizing Decolonialization. Berlin: Assoziation A [in print]
2012/2021 Editor Asian Germans [Extended]. Vietnamese Diaspora and Beyond. Berlin: Assoziation A
2014 Editor Asian Germany–Asian Diaspora in Germany.Heinrich Böll Foundation
2013 Leading guest editor of the special edition surfacing – Empowering Asian Germany, No. 21, April 2013, Transcultural magazine freitext
2007 Co-editor Re/visions. Postcolonial Perspectives of People of Color on Racism, Cultural Politics and Resistance in Germany. Münster: Unrast
2005 Vietnam Revisited. Berlin: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Berlin
2004 Ethnicity and Migration Reloaded. Identity, Difference and Hybridity in Postcolonial Discourse. Berlin: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Berlin

More than 60 Book Chapters and Articles in Academic Journals (translated)
In print: On the Colonial Matrix of Anti-Asian Racism: Yellow Danger, Invisibility and Exoticization. In: German Center for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM) (ed.): Racism Research: Racisms, Communities and Anti-Racist Movements, Vol. 2, Bielefeld: transcript
In print: The Pogrom in Rostock-Lichtenhagen as Institutionalized Racism. In: Gudrun Heinrich/David Jünger/Oliver Plessow/Cornelia Sylla (eds.): Perspectives from Science on 30 Years of Lichtenhagen 1992. Berlin: Neofelis
2023 Coloniality and Asian-German perspectives in Hito Steyerl's “The Empty Middle” (1998). In: Kien Nghi Ha (ed.): Asian presences in the colonial metropolis of Berlin. Berlin-Hamburg: Association A [in print]
2023 Chinese community in Berlin. In: Kien Nghi Ha (ed.): Asian presences in the colonial metropolis of Berlin. Berlin-Hamburg: Association A [in print]
2023 Interwoven Concealment: Coloniality, Anti-Semitism and Racism in Hito Steyerl's The Empty Middle (1998). In: Ömer Alkin/Alena Strohmaier (eds.): Racism and Film. Marburg: Schüren Verlag [in print]
2023 Human Rights: Multiple (State) Citizenships, Democracy, Anti-Racism and Decolonization. In: new German organizations (ed.): Citizenship Reloaded. Critical perspectives on citizenship in post-migrant society. Berlin, pp. 48-66.
2023 Anti-racist Alliances and Self-designations. A Critical Reflection on the BIPoC Approach. In: Birgit Jagusch/Yasmine Chehata (eds.): Empowerment and Power Sharing. Anchor Points – Positioning – Arenas. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa, 2023, pp. 156-177.
2022 On the Transnational Coloniality of Anti-Asian Racism: Yellow Peril and Anti-Chinese Migration Policy in the Pacific. In: Mechthild Leutner/Pan Lu/Kimiko Suda (eds.): Anti-Chinese and Anti-Asian Racism. Münster: LIT-Verlag, pp. 38-58.
2021 Hybridity and resistance. Constructions of identity and culture in the age of colonial globalization. In: Frank Eckardt/Hamidou Maurice Bouguerra (eds.): City and racism. Analyzes and perspectives for anti-racist urbanity. Münster: Unrast, 2021, pp. 27-42.
2021 Looking back and looking forward: Decentralized communities and transnational solidarities. In: Kien Nghi Ha (ed.): Asian German Extended. Vietnamese Diaspora and Beyond. Berlin-Hamburg: Association A, 2021, pp. 11-20.
2021 The arrival of the Vietnamese boat people. Conjunctures and anomalies of an exceptional refugee and integration policy. In: Kien Nghi Ha (ed.): Asian German Extended. Vietnamese Diaspora and Beyond. Berlin-Hamburg: Association A, 2021, pp. 132-139.
2021 Nguyễn Ngọc Châu and Đỗ Anh Lân († Hamburg 1980): No two-class society in cultural and remembrance politics!. In: Kien Nghi Ha (ed.): Asian German Extended. Vietnamese Diaspora and Beyond. Berlin-Hamburg: Association A, 2021, pp. 140-149.
2021 Rostock-Lichtenhagen – The return of the repressed. In: Kien Nghi Ha (ed.): Asian German Extended. Vietnamese Diaspora and Beyond. Berlin-Hamburg: Association A, 2021, pp. 150-166.
2021 Decolonial commemoration: The Peace Statue in honor of Asian defiant women. In: Kien Nghi Ha (ed.): Asian German Extended. Vietnamese Diaspora and Beyond. Berlin-Hamburg: Association A, 2021, pp. 364-369.
2021 Solidarity and critique of power relationsships within the movement? Anti-Asian Violence and Intercommunal Alliances. In: Kien Nghi Ha (ed.): Asian German Extended. Vietnamese Diaspora and Beyond. Berlin-Hamburg: Association A, 2021, pp. 418-459.
2021 History and conception of Asian-German presences. In: Overview: Quarterly magazine of the IDA-NRW. No. 2/2021. June 2021, pp.3-9.
Full listing: See https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/208381

Researcher, writer, curator, public speaker and community activist in Asian Germany since the 1990s Education 2009 Ph.D. Cultural Studies (summa cum laude), University of Bremen (Germany) 1998 Diploma Political Sciences, Free University of Berli... Show more

Yuria Celidwen PhD

Yuria Celidwen PhD

I am Indigenous Nahua and Maya from the highlands of ‎Chiapas, Mexico. I study self-transcendence in Indigenous contemplative traditions ‎and how it enhances prosocial behavior (ethics, compassion, ‎kindness, and a sense of awe, love, and sacredness).‎ My ‎approach intersects ‎Indigeneity, psychology, and contemplation for ‎epistemological equity, relational ‎well-being, and actions toward planetary flourishing. I co-chair the Indigenous Religions ‎Unit of the American Academy of ‎Religion, I'm on the Contemplative ‎Studies committee, and I'm contemplative ‎faculty and scholar at UC Berkeley.‎

I am Indigenous Nahua and Maya from the highlands of ‎Chiapas, Mexico. I study self-transcendence in Indigenous contemplative traditions ‎and how it enhances prosocial behavior (ethics, compassion, ‎kindness, and a sense of awe, love, and sacredness)... Show more

Leah Milne

Leah Milne

Leah Milne is the author of Novel Subjects: Authorship as Radical Self-Care in Multiethnic American Narratives https://linktr.ee/leahmilne

Leah Milne is the author of Novel Subjects: Authorship as Radical Self-Care in Multiethnic American Narratives https://linktr.ee/leahmilne Show more

Benalia Kaouther

Benalia Kaouther

-Clinical Psychology student
-Writer, Speaker, and Content maker

-Clinical Psychology student -Writer, Speaker, and Content maker Show more

Olga Afanaseva

Olga Afanaseva

I'm 34 y.o. and I live in Russia. I have university degree in Human Resources speciality. As many people in the world I'm worried a lot about what happens in our planet now. As a mother I couldn't stop thinking what future my child will have. As a human being I want to do anything possible for our human race to evolve with love and peace, because it is the only way we can help our planet and develop the other ones. For the last 2 years I've been writing my book, which I'd love to present you.

I'm 34 y.o. and I live in Russia. I have university degree in Human Resources speciality. As many people in the world I'm worried a lot about what happens in our planet now. As a mother I couldn't stop thinking what future my child will have. As a hu... Show more

Aaron Garth

Aaron Garth

Aaron Garth is CEO of Ultimate Youth Worker, a Melbourne-based social enterprise providing professional supervision, training and consulting to the Australian youth and community sector. He has worked in youth work since 2002 and founded Ultimate Youth Worker in 2012 to professionalise the sector through better training, structured supervision and clearer career pathways.

His work centres on supervision as a genuine space for critical reflection rather than administrative compliance, and on building the workforce capability frameworks that let organisations retain and develop frontline staff. He has designed and delivered accredited training across strengths-based youth work, AOD and dual diagnosis practice, and youth justice contexts, and consults to organisations on psychosocial risk, workforce structure and practice standards.

Aaron is also a PhD candidate at RMIT University researching fathering through a New Materialist theoretical lens, and speaks on the intersection of relational practice, professional identity and sector reform.

Aaron Garth is CEO of Ultimate Youth Worker, a Melbourne-based social enterprise providing professional supervision, training and consulting to the Australian youth and community sector. He has worked in youth work since 2002 and founded Ultimate You... Show more

Verena Honkomp-Wilkens

Verena Honkomp-Wilkens

Seit 2025 ist Verena Honkomp-Wilkens an der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg im Verbundprojekt Digitale Lehre Hub Niedersachsen (DLHN) tätig und gehört zum Team des Teilprojekts InnoTools. Das Projekt verfolgt das Ziel, systematisch ausgewählte und erprobte digitale Lehr-/Lerntools dauerhaft an niedersächsischen Hochschulen zu verankern. Zuvor war Verena Honkomp-Wilkens an den Universitäten Bremen und Vechta tätig. Ihren Schwerpunkt bilden geschlechter- und diversitätssensible Perspektiven in der Medienpädagogik.

Seit 2025 ist Verena Honkomp-Wilkens an der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg im Verbundprojekt Digitale Lehre Hub Niedersachsen (DLHN) tätig und gehört zum Team des Teilprojekts InnoTools. Das Projekt verfolgt das Ziel, systematisch ausgewähl... Show more

Julius Förster

Julius Förster

Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter der Akademie für wissenschaftliche Weiterbildung an der Technischen Hochschule Köln
B.A. Philosophie-Neurowissenschaften-Kognition
M.A. Philosophie (laufend)

Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter der Akademie für wissenschaftliche Weiterbildung an der Technischen Hochschule Köln B.A. Philosophie-Neurowissenschaften-Kognition M.A. Philosophie (laufend) Show more

Yasmine Kordjazy

Yasmine Kordjazy

Yasmine Kordjazy is a backend software engineer based in Berlin with a background in linguistics, education, and exam preparation. Before transitioning into tech, she spent years teaching English and training prospective teachers, developing a deep understanding of how people process, misunderstand, and internalize complex information.

Today, she works on backend systems and APIs in B2B environments, where clarity, structured thinking, and effective feedback are as critical as technical implementation. Her unconventional path into engineering shapes her perspective on communication, onboarding, and collaboration within technical teams.

Yasmine is passionate about bridging the gap between humanities and software engineering - and about helping career switchers recognize the hidden technical leverage in their non-CS backgrounds.

Yasmine Kordjazy is a backend software engineer based in Berlin with a background in linguistics, education, and exam preparation. Before transitioning into tech, she spent years teaching English and training prospective teachers, developing a deep u... Show more

Chidera Kanu

Chidera Kanu

Speaker Bio (Enhanced Professional Version)
Chidera Okpara is a passionate education leader, business administrator, marriage counselor, and transformational speaker dedicated to helping individuals and families build meaningful, successful lives. With a background in Economics and an MSc in Business Administration, she combines academic knowledge with practical life experience to deliver impactful insights.
As a school administrator and entrepreneur in Nigeria, Chidera has firsthand experience navigating the realities of education and leadership in underserved communities. Beyond her professional work, she is a committed marriage counselor who has mentored and guided many couples toward building strong, healthy, and successful marriages.
Through her speaking, Chidera shares powerful lessons on resilience, leadership, relationships, and personal growth—especially for women balancing career, family, and purpose. Her sessions are practical, relatable, and deeply inspiring, equipping audiences with actionable strategies they can immediately apply in their lives.
She is particularly passionate about leadership development, women empowerment, education transformation, work-life balance, and building thriving relationships and families.

Speaker Bio (Enhanced Professional Version) Chidera Okpara is a passionate education leader, business administrator, marriage counselor, and transformational speaker dedicated to helping individuals and families build meaningful, successful lives. W... Show more

Joshua Garcia

Joshua Garcia

Joshua Rumbaoa Jerome Garcia is a Ph.D. candidate at The Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley studying Asian American theologies and religions, specializing in hermeneutics. His dissertation project, entitled "Peril! In the House of Omri: The Asiatic Racial Form and Biblical Hermeneutics," engages critical theory from Asian American literary criticism and cultural studies, to rearticulate an Asian American theology that allies with the material, political, and intellectual commitments of ethnic studies.

Joshua holds master’s degrees in religion and theology from Yale University and Boston University, respectively, as well as dual bachelor’s degrees in psychology and biblical studies from George Fox University.

Joshua Rumbaoa Jerome Garcia is a Ph.D. candidate at The Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley studying Asian American theologies and religions, specializing in hermeneutics. His dissertation project, entitled "Peril! In the House of Omri: The Asiat... Show more

Hinako Ishikawa

Hinako Ishikawa

Hinako Ishikawa is a second-year graduate student in the Department of Sociology & Sexuality Studies at San Francisco State University and has been studying racial fetishization of Asian/Japanese women and the ways of reclaiming their sexuality. Hinako is currently working as a Teaching Assistant for Asian American Sexuality course at SFSU. She won Queer Ethnic Studies Endowed Graduate Student Scholarship and Grant A. Larsen Scholarship at SFSU in recognition of her research on Japanese women’s sexuality and the Japanese queer community. As an international student from Japan, Hinako utilizes her own experiences of facing yellow fever and racial fetishization as well as her connections with Japanese queer and feminist communities. Utilizing her multicultural experiences and multilingual ability, Hinako analyzes Japanese erotic comics and animations that are consumed by Western male audience, where she finds out the perpetuation of the traditional Japanese women's stereotype such as geisha and maiko tropes. Hinako presented “Intersectionality in Japanese LGBTQ Community” at the Annual Research Week 2020 at the Akita International University as the only undergraduate student presenter. She is part of a local LGBTQ organization in Akita, Japan, where she helped organize the first pride parade in Akita. She also works as a lecturer who delivers information on gender, sexuality, and feminism-related issues in Japan. She also co-organized the first comprehensive sexual education event at Akita International University in 2020. Utilizing her professional experiences and these community activism, Hinako examines and explores racial objectification of Asian/Japanese women and the ways to reimagine their sexuality.

Hinako Ishikawa is a second-year graduate student in the Department of Sociology & Sexuality Studies at San Francisco State University and has been studying racial fetishization of Asian/Japanese women and the ways of reclaiming their sexuality. Hina... Show more

Noreen Naseem Rodríguez

Noreen Naseem Rodríguez

Noreen Naseem Rodríguez is an Associate Professor of Elementary Education and Educational Justice in the Department of Teacher Education and core faculty in the Asian Pacific American Studies and Muslim Studies Programs at Michigan State University. Her current research, funded by the Spencer Foundation, examines the implementation of Asian American Studies in K-12 classrooms across the U.S. She has published over fifty peer-reviewed book chapters and articles in scholarly and practitioner journals such as Harvard Educational Review, Curriculum Inquiry, and Journal of Children's Literature, and is co-author of Social Studies for a Better World: An Anti-Oppressive Approach for Elementary Educators with Katy Swalwell and Teaching Asian America in Elementary Classrooms with Sohyun An and Esther Kim. Before becoming an award-winning researcher and teacher educator, Noreen was a bilingual elementary teacher in Austin, Texas for nine years.

Noreen Naseem Rodríguez is an Associate Professor of Elementary Education and Educational Justice in the Department of Teacher Education and core faculty in the Asian Pacific American Studies and Muslim Studies Programs at Michigan State University. ... Show more

Azra Dizdarevic

Azra Dizdarevic

I am a PhD researcher at the University of Graz (Centre for Southeast European Studies) working at the intersection of security, political violence, and governance. My doctoral research examines genocide recognition, political silence, and security discourse in Bosnia and Herzegovina, drawing on Critical Security Studies, discourse analysis, and political theory.

Before returning to academia, I spent over a decade working in international organizations and public institutions on security sector reform, governance, and results-based management, with a regional focus on Southeast Europe and post-conflict contexts. This professional background continues to shape my research interests, particularly my focus on how political authority, legitimacy, and knowledge are produced and contested in practice.

Alongside my doctoral work, I am increasingly interested in questions of epistemic and cognitive security, including misinformation, disinformation, and the governance of emerging technologies such as AI in peripheral and post-conflict settings. I aim to contribute research that bridges critical theory and policy-relevant debates, engaging both academic and practitioner audiences.

I am a PhD researcher at the University of Graz (Centre for Southeast European Studies) working at the intersection of security, political violence, and governance. My doctoral research examines genocide recognition, political silence, and security d... Show more

Jinah Kim

Jinah Kim

Jinah Kim's research focuses on the American Century in Asia, decolonizing Korea, and legacies of US militarism in the Asia-Pacific. She is the recipient of the 2020-2021 National Endowment for the Humanities Award and the 2020 California Civil Liberties Grant.

Jinah Kim's research focuses on the American Century in Asia, decolonizing Korea, and legacies of US militarism in the Asia-Pacific. She is the recipient of the 2020-2021 National Endowment for the Humanities Award and the 2020 California Civil Liber... Show more

Janah Esplana Balane

Janah Esplana Balane

Janah Esplana Balane is a first-generation college graduate who aspires to contribute to the preservation and expansion of Filipino American history through the arts and education.

Janah attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), where she earned both a B.A in English with a minor in Asian and Asian American Studies and her M.A in English Literature. She currently teaches first-year English Rhetoric and Writing to UNLV undergraduate students. Her scholarly scope includes twentieth-century Asian American literature, Filipinx/a/o-American diaspora, post-colonialism, musical theatre, and performance studies.

Janah believes that every story deserves to be told, and these stories are at the root of who we are. She aspires to draw on her expertise in arts, culture, and leadership to further develop scholarship as well as advocate for the AAPI community.

Janah Esplana Balane is a first-generation college graduate who aspires to contribute to the preservation and expansion of Filipino American history through the arts and education. Janah attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), where ... Show more

Yvonne Cha

Yvonne Cha

PhD candidate, English Literature

PhD candidate, English Literature Show more

Roy Vu

Roy Vu

Roy Vũ earned his Ph.D. (2006) in history at the University of Houston. He is now a history professor at Dallas College - North Lake Campus. He is also an advisory board member for Foodways Texas and Keep Irving Beautiful, where he is the 2018 recipient of the Sadie Ray Graff Education Award. His new book, Farm-to-Freedom: Vietnamese Americans and Their Food Gardens, was released in September 2024 by Texas A&M University Press. He and his wife, Ngọc, live in Irving, Texas.

Roy Vũ earned his Ph.D. (2006) in history at the University of Houston. He is now a history professor at Dallas College - North Lake Campus. He is also an advisory board member for Foodways Texas and Keep Irving Beautiful, where he is the 2018 reci... Show more

Jessica Tjiu

Jessica Tjiu

Jessica Tjiu (She/They) is an Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of San Diego. Her research interests focus on sex work, human/sex trafficking, and (im)migration.

Jessica Tjiu (She/They) is an Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of San Diego. Her research interests focus on sex work, human/sex trafficking, and (im)migration. Show more

Ala Kuzniatsova

Ala Kuzniatsova

Agilist, feminist, humanist

Agilist, feminist, humanist Show more

Anthony Julian Tamburri

Anthony Julian Tamburri

ANTHONY JULIAN TAMBURRI is Dean of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute and Distinguished Professor of European Languages and Literatures. He is co-founder and co-director of Bordighera Press, with Fred Gardaphé and Paolo Giordano, which is now an official entity of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute. Tamburri served as president of the Italian American Studies Association and o fthe American Association of Teachers of Italian.
Concentrating on semiotics, the literature and cinema of Italy and its diaspora, and interpretation theory, he has authored twenty-two books, long and short, in both English and Italian, and more than 140 peer-reviewed essays and book chapters. Some of his books of the past thirty-five years include Of Saltimbanchi and Incendiari: Aldo Palazzeschi and Avant-Gardism in Italy. (1990); To Hyphenate or not to Hyphenate: the Italian/American Writer: Or, An Other American? (1991); A Semiotic of Ethnicity: In (Re)cognition of the Italian/American Writer (1998); Italian/American Short Films & Music Videos: A Semiotic Reading (2002); Una semiotica della ri-lettura: Guido Gozzano, Aldo Palazzeschi, e Italo Calvino (2003); Narrare altrove: diverse segnalature letterarie (2007); Re-reading Italian Americana: Generalities and Specificities on Literature and Criticism (2014); Un biculturalismo negato: La letteratura “italiana” negli Stati Uniti (2018); The Columbus Affair: Imperatives for an Italian/American Agenda (2021); Signing Italian/American Cinema: A More Focused Look (2021); A Politics of [Self-]Omission: The Italian/American Challenge in A Post-George Floyd Age (2022); Expanding Diasporic Identity: A Multi-directional Path to the New Italian Writer (2025); and Knowledge, What Is It Good For? Italian/American Leadership in the Twenty-first Century (2025).
Tamburri has been acknowledged by several organizations over the years for his work; some recognitions include Distinguished Alumnus of the Year. Southern Connecticut State University (2000); Cavaliere dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (2010); “Frank Stella Person of the Year Award,” ILICA (2010); “The Lehman-LaGuardia Award for Civic Achievement,” OSDIA & B’nai B'rith International (2012); AATI Award for Distinguished Service for Colleges and Universities (2013); The Joseph Coccia Jr. Heritage, Language and Culture Award (2016); Italian American Leadership Award, Italian Charities (2023). In 2025 the A Colorni-Hershman International Institute published a selection of his essays in Italian in its series “Culture Mediterranee,” entitled Gli americani italiani: cultura e società, Nicoletta Stame and Sabrina Vellucci, eds.
When not directing two book series (one in English, “Italian Series” [Fairleigh Dickinson University Press]; the other in Italian, “Americana” [Franco Cesati Editore]), he is executive producer and host of the Calandra Institute’s TV program, Italics.
Tamburri’s degrees are from Southern Connecticut State University (B.S., Italian), Middlebury College (M.A., Italian), and University of California, Berkeley (Ph.D., Italian & Spanish). In addition to teaching at Smith College, Middlebury College, and Auburn University, he spent thirteen years at Purdue University before moving to Florida Atlantic where, from 2000 to 2006, he served as Chair of Languages and Linguistics and, subsequently, Associate Dean for Research, Graduate, and Interdisciplinary Studies, as well as director of the Ph.D. in Comparative Studies.

ANTHONY JULIAN TAMBURRI is Dean of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute and Distinguished Professor of European Languages and Literatures. He is co-founder and co-director of Bordighera Press, with Fred Gardaphé and Paolo Giordano, which i... Show more

Abbie Marono

Abbie Marono

Dr. Abbie Maroño is an internationally recognized behavioral and social scientist, acknowledged by the U.S. Department of State as a top 1% expert. She has delivered behavioral analysis training to representatives from 29 U.S. federal agencies, including the U.S. Secret Service, FBI, and Department of Homeland Security, as well as to senior leadership at INTERPOL. Dr. Abbie is the creator of The Upper Hand, a proprietary framework for understanding human decision-making and influence. After delivering this training, the U.S. Secret Service recognized her expertise with an award for outstanding contribution to their forensic services. ​

​Earning her PhD in Psychology, Abbie became a Professor of Psychology at 23 and now specializes in behavior analysis. She contributes regularly to Forbes, Court TV, and Apple News and has been featured on BBC News, Fox News, WIRED, Reuters, Forbes Breaking News, and many more. Dr. Abbie is also a highly sought-after expert witness, retained for high-profile cases, including lawsuits involving A-list celebrities.

As an active member of internationally recognized research groups, Abbie was honored as Reviewer of the Year for her significant contribution to the academic community. Additionally, she is an author, expert consultant, coach, and a TEDx speaker.

Dr. Abbie Maroño is an internationally recognized behavioral and social scientist, acknowledged by the U.S. Department of State as a top 1% expert. She has delivered behavioral analysis training to representatives from 29 U.S. federal agencies, inclu... Show more

Lena Chen

Lena Chen

Lena Chen (she/her) is an artist and Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley in the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies. Her scholarship examines the figure of the Asian America woman as (Tiger) Mother and Whore. Her work appears in the edited volumes Curating as Feminist Organizing (Routledge, 2022), Sex Work Now (NYU Press, forthcoming), and To Be Named (Routledge, forthcoming). She has taught classes on feminist theory, performance art, and socially engaged art. As an artist, she has exhibited, performed, and screened her work internationally. She has been awarded grants and residencies from Mozilla Foundation, Sundance Institute, Millay Colony for the Arts, Center for Cultural Power, Burning Man Global Arts Fund, Office of Public Art, and others. Currently, she is hosting community workshops on AAPI sexuality to devise a collective performance as part of her practice-based research.

She is a co-founder of JADED, the largest AAPI arts and cultural platform in Western Pennsylvania, and a founding member of MATERNAL FANTASIES, an interdisciplinary collective of mothers/artists and their children. She coordinates the Performing Asian American and Diasporic Sexualities working group at UC Berkeley’s Center for Race & Gender.

Lena Chen (she/her) is an artist and Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley in the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies. Her scholarship examines the figure of the Asian America woman as (Tiger) Mother and Whore. Her... Show more

Guido Thys

Guido Thys

Guido Thys (b. 1956) studied General, Psycho- and Neurolinguistics and the Philosophy of Language in Antwerp (B), Leuven (B), Brussels (B) and Salzburg (AT). As a Lecturer in Strategy, Marketing and Database Management at a Business School, he (co-)authored 20 books & dozens of articles on these subjects and has presented over 2,600 times to business audiences. Wrote the (dBase-II) code for his first database in 1985 and has been at the forefront of database use ever since.
He is an avid collector of books (printed in Antwerp) and vice-president of the Antwerp Bibliophile Society.

Guido Thys (b. 1956) studied General, Psycho- and Neurolinguistics and the Philosophy of Language in Antwerp (B), Leuven (B), Brussels (B) and Salzburg (AT). As a Lecturer in Strategy, Marketing and Database Management at a Business School, he (co-)a... Show more

Dr. Fanny Jimenez

Dr. Fanny Jimenez

Dr. Fanny Jimenez specializes in the psychology of personality, social relationships and organizational behavior. She is VP Performance & Collaboration at the newly formed PREMIUM-GRUPPE (Politico, WELT, Business Insider) after having worked as the head of the Career & Science Department as well as the head of the Audio Department at Business Insider Germany. Fanny studied psychology and neuroscience in Berlin and the USA before completing her doctorate at the International Max Planck Research School/Humboldt University in Berlin. She is hosting the weekly psychology podcast "Never Mind – Psychologie in 15 Minuten".

Dr. Fanny Jimenez specializes in the psychology of personality, social relationships and organizational behavior. She is VP Performance & Collaboration at the newly formed PREMIUM-GRUPPE (Politico, WELT, Business Insider) after having worked as the h... Show more

Nine Abad

Nine Abad

Maarten Smakman

Maarten Smakman

Maarten is a polymath trying to make sense of the exponential times we are living in.

He is doing so by is creating an art-collection mirroring our times and opening up expositions around these artworks, with the Project Copernicus collective.

The art is also the foundation in creating Your Guide into the Exponential Age, a set of theoretical frameworks that support us in consciously applying exponential technologies.

Maarten is a polymath trying to make sense of the exponential times we are living in. He is doing so by is creating an art-collection mirroring our times and opening up expositions around these artworks, with the Project Copernicus collective. ... Show more

Please note that Sessionize is not responsible for the accuracy or validity of the data provided by speakers.

Join Speakers Directory

Join our Speakers Directory today and amplify your reach! Showcase your expertise to a global audience hungry for your insights. Let your voice be heard!

Create Profile