Nadya Tolokonnikova is a conceptual artist and political activist from Russia and the founder of the art collective Pussy Riot, which has been the world’s most prominent art group in recent years and a global symbol of activism. In a 2012 protest that attracted international attention, Nadya was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment following an anti-Putin performance by Pussy Riot. A LennonOno Grant for Peace recipient, Nadya leveraged the attention since her release to advocate for human rights and the freedom of creative expression around the world. She has spoken before the U.S. Congress, British Parliament and European Parliament and given honorary lectures at Harvard, Cambridge, the Glastonbury music festival and universities and events around the world.

Martin Luther’s intemperate writings and unabashed public statements caused a whirlwind of religious and political turmoil that has reverberated across centuries. How has Luther been portrayed and employed at critical times of revolt and revolution in German history and culture, including National-Socialist Germany? How is Luther being received in German politics today? Martinson, the author of Between Luther and Münzer: The Peasant Revolt in German Drama and Thought, will speak as part of a year-long series of special events at the University of Arizona commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation: reformation.arizona.edu.

The three refuges – the Buddha, the Dharma (Buddhist teaching), and the Sangha (Buddhist community) – mark the pivotal transformation in Buddhism and official commitment to embarking on the Buddhist path. But what does this path entail? How is refuge understood when you are of the world and seeking to transcend its limitations at the same time? While the Buddhist quest has been accommodated across Asian cultures, it is also dependent by social and political realities and the cultural conditions of where refuge is sought. Explore some of the ways seeking refuge and finding refuge has manifested itself in history.

Shifting ideologies over the history of the Roman Empire exposed different religious minorities to violence and repression. This panel will explore the range of expressions of resistance and resilience in Judaism and early Christianity in the face of that trauma. After the Romans destroyed the Jerusalem Temple that had served as the center of worship for centuries, Jews and Christians responded with apocalyptic visions of God’s imminent intervention to deliver His people and to judge the world. Nearly three centuries later, in a striking historical reversal, the Emperor Julian announced his intention to rebuild the Jewish Temple, apparently as a reaction against recently ascendant and increasingly intolerant Constantinian Christianity.

Martin Luther’s intemperate writings and unabashed public statements caused a whirlwind of religious and political turmoil that has reverberated across centuries. How has Luther been portrayed and employed at critical times of revolt and revolution in German history and culture, including National-Socialist Germany? How is Luther being received in German politics today? Martinson, the author of Between Luther and Münzer: The Peasant Revolt in German Drama and Thought, will speak as part of a year-long series of special events at the University of Arizona commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation: reformation.arizona.edu.