BOONE - How the life stories of colonized peoples reclaim and transform the Humanities today, and how they affect the multicultural landscape burgeoning in western North Carolina, is the topic of the Humanities Council at Appalachian State's Third Annual Humanities Symposium.
This year's symposium is entitled "Postcolonial Humanities: Crossing Borders, Making Connections," and will be held on October 9, 2015 from 9:00am-5:00pm in the Blue Ridge Ballroom at Appalachian State University. Registration for the symposium is free. To register visit http://humanitiescouncil.appstate.edu/
Invited speakers include:
- Deepika Bahri (Emory University), whose research focuses on postcolonial literature, culture, and theory. Her current work is on the representation of Anglo-Indians, Eurasians, and racial hybrids in postcolonial literature. She is author of Native Intelligence: Aesthetics, Politics, and Postcolonial Literature.
- Deborah Barndt (York University) photographer, popular educator and social justice activist, has collaborated on numerous projects involving Mexican migrant laborers in the tomato agribusiness, and is currently in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University. She has published ten books, included Tangled Routes: Women, Work and Globalization on the Tomato Trail.
- C. Sade Turnipseed is a public historian and cultural arts program director who has developed multiple projects in the Mississippi River Delta, particularly her work with Khafre, Inc. which brings Mississippi Delta Blues to festivals in Africa, the Caribbean and Northern Europe. She also works to empower sharecroppers and cotton farmers in the Mississippi Delta.
"In our age of global markets, the life stories of colonized peoples address very practical questions involving flows of money, people, goods, and jobs across borders," shared Nancy Love, Humanities Council Coordinator, "Our three plenary speakers provide interdisciplinary perspectives on these journeys through space and time, and from theory to practice."
The symposium will include an Appalachian State interdisciplinary faculty panel, "Why Postcolonial Humanities?" featuring Drs. Sushmita Chatterjee, James M. Ivory, Diane Mines, and William R. Schumann. Also, included in this year's symposium will be an art installation, opening October 5 in the Multicultural Center located in the Plemmons Student Union on the campus of Appalachian State University. Milagros for Migrants: Honouring Ontario's Migrant Farm Workers, features video artist Min Sook Lee, and invited speaker Deborah Barndt. The symposium will conclude with a roundtable discussion of future directions for the humanities in the context of crossing borders, and postcolonial cultural integration.
This event is for the community of Boone, Watauga County, and surrounding areas as much as it is for the university at large explained Neva Specht, Sr. Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences. According to Specht, "It's important that our students, faculty, staff and members of our community have an opportunity to listen, discuss, ponder and question the role that the humanities play daily in our current global society. It's our obligation as a university to be part of the ongoing discussions about our changing world."
This event is free and open to the public, and is made possible by funding from the North Carolina Humanities Council, a statewide nonprofit and affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Additional funding is provided by the College of Arts & Sciences, and the QEP at Appalachian State University.