October at the Columbia Global Paris Center
In October, the Columbia Global Paris Center hosted events emphasizing our commitment to civic engagement, while initiating conversations on journalism and its current challenges.
In our podcast Atelier, we spoke with Assa Traoré from Génération Leaders, for the first ever episode in French. We also had conversations on journalism with Laurent Richard, founder of Forbidden Stories and Elvire Camus, founder and editor-in-chief of Le Monde in English.
Learn more about our October activities below, and stay tuned for the upcoming celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Helen Rogers Reid’s gift of Reid Hall to Columbia University.
Conversations on Journalism
The Paris Global Center has hosted several events on journalism in the past months and is deeply engaged in supporting stories that matter. To keep our community informed about these efforts, including upcoming public events, we’ve launched the Voices in Journalism mailing list. If you’re interested in staying up-to-date, we encourage you to sign up.
On October 9th, In partnership with Forbidden Stories, we hosted an impactful discussion on the perils of war reporting in Gaza. Journalists Laurent Richard and Léa Peruchon of Forbidden Stories and Asia Balluffier, from Le Monde, shared insights into The Gaza Project, a four-month investigation into the targeting and deaths of over 100 journalists, primarily Palestinian, amid the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict. The speakers highlighted how collaboration among journalists and newsrooms globally is critical to exposing truths in high-risk zones, where satellite imagery, remote interviews, and on-the-ground accounts reveal the realities and dangers journalists face daily.
On October 24th, the Paris Global Center hosted a thought-provoking panel on the emotional and intellectual demands of climate reporting, featuring Nabil Wakim of Le Monde, Paloma Moritz of Blast, and Juliana Ruhfus of Dart Centre Europe. The discussion explored how journalists confront eco-anxiety and the challenges of delivering science-based narratives on climate change. Panelists shared strategies to balance impactful storytelling with reader well-being, addressing news avoidance and the emotional toll inherent to the climate beat.
A New Wave of Encres de l’Atlantique
The Paris Global Center also hosted the start of a new season for Les Encres de l’Atlantique, following the six events organized in the previous academic year. These events, led by 2023 – 2024 Institute for Ideas & Imagination Fellow Maboula Soumahoro, are a deep dive into Black histories and cultures and aim to explore the lives of Afrodiasporic speakers.
The first session of this season's Encres de l'Atlantique literary series took place on October 19, and featured acclaimed writer, screenwriter, and director Faïza Guène. Known for her novels Kiffe kiffe demain and Du rêve pour les oufs, as well as her work on the series Oussekine and the film La Pampa by Antoine Chevrollier, Guène presented and discussed her latest novel, Kiffe kiffe hier?, published by Fayard this year. The novel revisits Doria, first introduced as the protagonist in Kiffe kiffe demain. Now thirty-five, she navigates life with her young son and complex family relationships, including her racist ex-in-laws. With humor and resilience, Doria reflects on whether to look to the past or future, capturing the struggles and hope needed to move forward in uncertain times.
Ongoing Collaboration with the 1991 Project
In collaboration with the Paris Global Center and the Institute for Ideas & Imagination, the 1991 Project hosted a chamber music concert featuring contemporary Ukrainian works for harpsichord. Led by last year’s Displaced Artists Initiative resident Anna Stavychenko, this non-profit aims to safeguard and promote Ukrainian music, by helping Ukrainian musicians preserve their artistic skills in France and in the Western world.
This evening’s program included pieces by notable composers such as Yurii Ishchenko, Svyatoslav Krutykov, Svyatoslav Lunyov, and Zoltan Almashi, showcasing a range of compositions specifically for the harpsichord. The concert featured performances by acclaimed Ukrainian musicians Olena Zhukova and Yulia Vash.
This event was part of the "Ukrainian Resonance" concert series, which highlights the contributions of Ukrainian musicians affected by war, while promoting the rich cultural connections of Ukrainian music within the broader European context.
New Episodes from Atelier
This month, the Paris Global Center’s Atelier podcast released three new interviews, including the first in French. A teaser of our next special series has also been released.
Assa Traoré talked about solidarity, justice and leadership, as the founder of Génération Leaders, a program created to train a new generation of leaders committed to justice, equality, and the fight against all forms of discrimination. She evokes her own personal story and the fight she leads since her brother’s death, in 2016, while he was in police custody. The episode is available in French (Spotify, Apple Podcasts) and English (Spotify, Apple Podcasts).
"Chacun à son endroit peut faire évoluer les choses, chacun à son endroit sera un acteur pour faire changer la société et pouvoir accompagner d’autres personnes. [...] Le but c’est qu’il y ait des porte-paroles et des leaders forts, puissants, intelligents, équipés, armés, partout où ils sont."
- Atelier, "Assa Traoré sur la solidarité, la justice et le leadership"
Laurent Richard, founder and executive director of Forbidden Stories, shared the origins of this global network of journalists committed to continuing the work of their colleagues who face threats, imprisonment, or have been murdered. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms.
“I was working for a production company in 2015 that had its offices in the same building, on the same floor as Charlie Hebdo. On that day, I arrived two minutes after the terrorists escaped the building and with all my colleagues, we were the first to enter Charlie Hebdo’s newsroom and to help people [...]. From that day, I really decided to find answers to a question: What can I do as a journalist to keep the stories alive? To continue the work of journalists who have been killed?”
- Atelier, "On the Frontlines of the Free Press with Forbidden Stories’ Laurent Richard"
Elvire Camus, founder and editor-in-chief of Le Monde in English, shared insights on the translation process of France’s leading newspaper—from selecting key stories to preserving nuance and cultural context, to the unique challenges of multimedia reporting. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms.
“We don’t spend time on trying to rework our stories “à l’américaine” for instance. [...] French journalism is much more literary, there are much more metaphors and images and it’s a lot less, as an American journalist told us at Reid Hall a few years back: American journalism is much more ‘time is money’, French journalism can take a little bit more time to set the scene...”
- Atelier, "Translating Le Monde, France's Leading Newspaper with Elvire Camus"
Additionally, a teaser of our next special series “Women of Reid Hall” has been revealed, in anticipation of its upcoming launch. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms.
A Month of Celebrations Ahead
Reid Hall is now gearing up to celebrate the 60th anniversary of its donation to Columbia University. Several events will be held throughout November, culminating in an evening celebrating the history of this unique building, on November 26.