Student Sessions

Wednesday, October 28

9:00 – 10:15 am, Davis Court, Markim Hall

The End as Weapon, the End as Hope | Walter Sharkey Moore ‘27 (International Studies Major and Critical Theory Concentrator), and Cole Conklin ‘27 (International Studies and Religious Studies Major, Anthropology Minor)

This program examines apocalypse narratives from above and below, from dominator and dominated, to theorize contemporary suffering and the longing for transcendence. In an age saturated by terminal images, apocalypse names opposed but entangled desires. For the oppressed, it is not fantasy but recognition: the unveiling of a world organized by siege, abandonment, and massacre, and the cry for deliverance when ordinary political language fails. For the powerful, apocalypse becomes a project. Empire dreams of final war, while technofuturism and transhumanism imagine escape from mortality, dependence, and judgment. Reading these desires together, the program argues that apocalypse has become a privileged form through which suffering is lived and narrated in late modernity. It names both a structure of feeling and a moral division: from below, the hope that injustice will not be final; from above, the fantasy of administering the end itself. At stake is whether transcendence remains answerable to the afflicted.

10:30 am – 11:45 am, Davis Court, Markim Hall

Voices of Amani: Reimagining Peace in Exile | Makol Chuol ‘27 (Computer Science Major and Educational Studies Minor)

Voices of Amani is a peace education initiative that explores how conflict, displacement, memory, and belonging shape the lives of young people in communities affected by displacement. Rooted in Kakuma Refugee Camp, the project uses education, dialogue, and community leadership to open spaces where difficult histories can be acknowledged, trust can be rebuilt, and more peaceful futures imagined.
The session traces Voices of Amani’s approach to peace education and community-led dialogue with young people in Kakuma. It examines how the effects of violence and division become “hauntings” that persist across generations, shaping how communities remember the past and experience belonging in the present, while showing how education and collective action can open pathways toward reconciliation.
Through examples from the project and a guided discussion, participants will consider how communities confront difficult histories, rebuild trust, and actively create and sustain peace.

1:00 – 2:15 pm, Davis Court, Markim Hall

Hauntology and the Never Realized Palestinian State | Chris-Zephyr-Mango ‘28, (Psychology Major, and MESIC and Cognitive Science Concentrator), Nyx Hames ‘28 (Philosophy Major) and Eleanor Song’29 (American Studies Major and English and Creative Writing and Environmental Studies Minor and Human Rights and Humanitarianism Concentrator)

Generations of Palestinians are haunted by the Nakba, the forced displacement of more than 750,000 people in 1948. The continuation of this collective trauma has also witnessed the birth of an escapist, idealized version of pre-1948 Palestine: one of plentiful fruit souks (markets) in Jaffa, the laughter of chatting women in crafting circles, and hectares of sunny olive tree fields. A unified, singular, stable Palestine. And, simply put, one that never existed.  This cultural haunting is mirrored across the globe, across cultures and histories. This concept, dubbed “hauntology” by Jacques Derrida, may explain why some Palestinians struggle to let go of a past they never experienced. Come discuss this modern nostalgia for what never came to be and how Palestinians can ensure a brighter, ghost-free, and one-state future.

2:30 – 3:45 pm, Davis Court, Markim Hall

The Finders of Lost Souls: Hmong Shamanism | Calla Lee ‘26 (English and Creative Writing Major and Psychology Minor) and Rainie Lee ‘29

In the 1980s, more than 100 Hmong men in the United States suddenly passed away in their sleep. Called the “Sudden Unexpected Nocturnal Death Syndrome,” or SUNDS, researchers rushed to figure out the cause. The Hmong, however, believed it to be a sickness of the soul. Let’s use Hmong shamanism, folklore, and spirituality to analyze the horrors of the spirit world. 

Thursday, October 29

9:00 – 10:15 am,  Davis Court, Markim Hall

“Resistance Under Occupation: Building Sustainable Movements”| Ashton Rose ‘27 (English and Creative Writing Major, and Classics and Educational Studies Minor; Macalester Autism Collective; Disabled Mutual Aid Coordinator) and Mordecai Alba ’29 (Anthropology Major; Workers Unionwith United Auto Workers) Macalester Undergraduate . With guest speaker, Joshua Preston (National Lawyers Guild, R.I.S.E Coalition, Movement Lawyer, JD.)

This workshop weaves together the knowledge of three Minnesota-based changemakers in imagining ways to keep social and political movements sustainable. Inaccessible design, systemic burnout, and the constant fear of violence, oppression, and disappearance are real threats to important movements. Our activists will share their experiences and lessons and invite attendees to do the same. Together, we can generate tangible tools to promote sustainable movement design while haunted by painfully real ghosts. Come prepared to listen and engage in group dialogue. 

10:30 – 11:45 am, Davis Court, Markim Hall

Unlearning History: Co-creation of a Community Archive in the Ecuadorian Amazon | Maddie Salunga (Media and Cultural Studies and Psychology Major, Environmental Studies Minor)

Historically, archives work as tools to define power by sculpting the dominant understanding of history. Whoever controls the archive controls the narrative of a community or a people by deciding what is worth preserving, what should be left out, and who has access to the past. Often, the people in control of these decisions are not the community members themselves. “Community archives”, such as the one that will be discussed in this workshop, are reflexively imagined and designed, and are controlled and managed by the community and culture whose memory they narrate. 
In this workshop, we will share the process of cultural restoration through a community archive envisioned and enacted by the Puma Wasi Association in the Indigenous Kichwa speaking community of Mushullakta in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Using their methods, we will work together to unlearn the traditional archive as a colonial monster, and reimagine “the archive” as a collaborative and active process. 

1:30 – 2:45 pm, Davis Court, Markim Hall

Reframing Western Narratives of Haitian Vodou | Pacha Laplanche ‘29 (Sociology and Political Science Major)

Is Vodouism black magic? This session aims to deconstruct the ways in which Vodou, particularly the Haitian Vodou tradition, is perceived by the West. To ease us into the topic, participants will first share what are their preconceived notions of Vodou. We will then study Vodou by examining its history: What was the role of Vodouism during the Haitian Revolution and how does that translate to Haitian resistance today? Finally, we will discuss the language used by important Western political figures today when talking about Haiti, which further continues the representation of Vodouism as black magic. 

3:00 – 4:15 pm

Establishing International Solidarity: How to Recognize and Honor our Shared Humanity | Alexander Matthews ‘28 (Geography and Chinese Major, Urban Studies Minor), Guillermo Muñoz-Calanche ‘28 (American Studies Major), and guest Felipe Ribeiro.

Cuba has long been at the center of U.S. aggression and imperialism because of its status as the sole communist state in the Western Hemisphere. With a decades-long embargo continuing to block critical supplies and resources from reaching the island, we must ask the question: Are the Cuban people really deserving of this inhumanity? How do we see through difference, propaganda, and unfair narratives to recognize the truth and establish solidarity? This workshop extrapolates our experience visiting Cuba by deconstructing these beliefs, as well as hearing from voices on the ground on how to resist state-enforced marginalization and seek justice and liberation for all.

Friday, October 30

9:00 – 10:15 am, Davis Court, Markim Hall

Community, Not Conspiracy: Countering State Narratives of Monstrosity Against the MN-15 Anti-Ice Activists | Marco Lopez ‘27 (Anthropology, Latin America and Sociology Major), Rosangel Flores Rubio ‘28 (Anthropology Major and Spanish Minor), and Vi Danahy ‘27 (Sociology Major, English and Creative Writing Minor)

Through a student-led panel conversation with professor Erik Davis and one of his defense lawyers we intend to visualize the destructive and systematic violations of law enforcement in their attempt to frame community organizing as a political crime based in terrorism and conspiracy. Incorporating the lessons learned from the panel, students will then engage in a community art-build with the goal of producing posters and resource sharing in solidarity with MN-15.

10:30 – 11:45 am, Davis Court, Markim Hall

New Orleans? Would You Stay There? | Chloe Jones ‘29 (Sociology Major, Spanish Minor and Legal Studies Concentrator)

People love to visit New Orleans. They enjoy the stories of hoodoo, jazz, and survival in a sunken city. The question is, could you live there? The stories and spirits that haunt the city of New Orleans live amongst its citizens in the most flamboyant way. New Orleaneans live amongst the haunting, and what some will say, “dance with the devil”. How does New Orleans’ deep connection to its own spirituality make it bearable to stay despite ongoing political and racial tension, the dangers of climate change, and poor educational systems? How can people love a place and call it home when the spirits of the past and present continue to haunt it?

1:30 – 2:45 pm, Davis Court, Markim Hall

Food is Dirty: Deconstructing Separability Through Play | Stellah Marienthal-Le Gendre ‘ 27 (Biology Major, Educational Studies, Geography and Environmental Studies Minor and Food, Agriculture and Society Concentrator)