Humanities symposium held Oct. 9 at Appalachian

Posted Sept. 9, 2015 at 5:08 p.m.

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 Third Annual Humanities Symposium Oct. 9 at Appalachian State University.

This year’s symposium titled “Postcolonial Humanities: Crossing Borders, Making Connections” will be held from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. in Plemmons Student Union’s Blue Ridge Ballroom on campus. Registration for the symposium is free. To register, visit http://humanitiescouncil.appstate.edu.

This event, sponsored by the university’s Humanities Council, 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 and Sciences, and the Quality Enhancement Program (QEP) at Appalachian.

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. She 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 10 books, including “Tangled Routes: Women, Work and Globalization on the Tomato Trail.”
C. Sade Turnipseed, a public historian and cultural arts program director. She has developed multiple projects in the Mississippi River Delta, particularly 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,” said Nancy Love, Humanities Council coordinator and a professor in the Department of Government and Justice Studies. “Our three plenary speakers provide interdisciplinary perspectives on these journeys through space and time, and from theory to practice.”

The symposium also will include an 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 Oct. 5 in Plemmons Student Union’s Multicultural Center. The exhibit “Milagros for Migrants: Honoring 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, senior associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “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,” she said. “It’s our obligation as a university to be part of the ongoing discussions about our changing world.”

About Appalachian State University

As a premier public institution, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives. App State is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System, with a national reputation for innovative teaching and opening access to a high-quality, cost-effective education. The university enrolls more than 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and 80 graduate majors at its Boone and Hickory campuses and through App State Online. Learn more at https://www.appstate.edu.