Dr. Janice Willis, a professor emerita of religion at Wesleyan University, will speak at a Humanities Council symposium Oct. 7. Photo courtesy of Janice Willis
BOONE—The Humanities Council at Appalachian State University will present a symposium called “Intersectionality, Pedagogy, and the Humanities: Rethinking Knowledge” from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Oct. 7 in the Blue Ridge Ballroom of Appalachian’s Plemmons Student Union (PSU). Admission is free, but attendees are asked to RSVP at the Humanities Council’s website at http://humanitiescouncil.appstate.edu.
The symposium will feature two plenary speakers: Dr. Christopher Teuton, who chairs the American Indian Studies department at the University of Washington; and Dr. Janice Willis, a professor emerita of religion at Wesleyan University. Teuton’s talk is titled “Knowing Through Story: Cherokee Language, Art, and the Role of Perspective.” Willis will speak on “For the Welfare of the Many: Buddhism, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Social Activism.”
The symposium will also feature Appalachian faculty and staff in “Rediscovering Our Pasts: Specters of Memory,” a panel discussion. Among the panelists will be Dr. Willie Fleming, Dr. Thomas Pegelow Kaplan, Dr. Cary Fraser and Dr. Alice Wright.
Dr. Christopher Teuton, who chairs the American Indian Studies department at the University of Washington, will speak at a Humanities Council symposium Oct. 7. Photo courtesy of Christopher Teuton
Fleming has been Appalachian’s chief diversity officer since May. Pengelow Kaplan holds the Leon Levine Distinguished Professorship in Judaic, Holocaust and Peace Studies, and he directs Appalachian’s Center for Judaic, Holocaust and Peace Studies. Wright is an assistant professor of anthropology. Fraser is an associate professor of political science in the Department of Government & Justice Studies.
The symposium will be complemented by “The North Exposed,” an exhibit of sculptures and soapstone carvings from the Inuit art collection of Appalachian’s Turchin Center for the Visual Arts. The exhibit will be on view Oct. 3-¬10 in the PSU’s International Hallway. Prints from the Inuit collection will be on view at the symposium as well.
The exhibit’s contents were part of a gift to the university’s permanent art collection by Dr. H.G. Jones, an Appalachian alumnus who has been traveling to the Arctic to study, collect and write about the culture and art of its native people, the Inuit, since 1971. Jones is now the Thomas W. Davis Research Historian at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Since 2005, he has gifted over 114 Inuit art objects to the center, including 42 prints and 72 sculptures.
About the Humanities Council
The Humanities Council has expanded to provide many interdisciplinary opportunities and events throughout the year, promoting the importance of the humanities in relationship to other fields.
About the Turchin Center for the Arts
Located on West King Street at the crossroads of campus and community, the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts at Appalachian State University engages visitors in dynamic and accessible exhibition, education, outreach and collection programs. These programs inspire and support a lifelong engagement with the visual arts and create opportunities for participants to learn more about themselves and the world around them.
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.
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