Campus Conversations
Contact
Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship (IGC)Markim Hall, Third Floor 651-696-6655
651-696-6750 (fax)
igc@macalester.edu
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January 19-20, 2017
In his final book, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. drew on his message of hope to demand a better world. As we begin our spring semester on the heels of MLK Day, we aim to take pause and encourage dialogue and reflection about the state of our divided nation and world. The extended period of time provides multiple opportunities for long overdue conversations.
In this spirit, over the course of Thursday January 19 and Friday January 20, faculty, staff and students are offering open sessions based on their areas of interest and expertise. We invite members of our community to participate as they choose.
Classes ARE NOT cancelled. Students should attend their normally scheduled courses unless their faculty members have told them otherwise.
In addition to sessions during regular class times, there will be an Opening Program in the Chapel during Thursday’s community hour (11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m.), as well as sessions after classes are over in various locations on both Thursday and Friday. If you are interested in viewing the Presidential Inauguration with others, please see viewing information for Friday 11 a.m. on the below schedule.
Several departments have come together to organize this program, including American Studies, Art and Art History, Educational Studies, Environmental Studies, History, Political Science, and Religious Studies. Additional thanks to the Center for Religious and Spiritual Life, Civic Engagement Center, Department of Multicultural Life, DeWitt Wallace Library, Institute for Global Citizenship, President, Provost, and Office of Student Affairs for their support.
January 19 (Thursday) Schedule
| Time and Location | Description |
|---|---|
| 8:30-9:30 a.m. Art Commons | Climate action at the extreme local level (No class scheduled) Suzanne Savanick Hansen The work we are doing here with the campus’s climate neutrality by 2025 goal is even more important now. Have some coffee, learn about ways to connect to sustainability right here at Macalester and celebrate our Green Ribbon School Award from the Dept of Education. |
| 8:30-10:00 a.m. Olin-Rice 355 | Building Alliances Across Differences of Identity Joan Ostrove Building alliances across differences of identity: The importance of deep listening and emotional processing. This will be a space for connection and listening. |
| 9:40-10:20 a.m. Old Main 410 | WGSS senior seminar, first half-hour Sonita Sarker What are our shared values? How should we act for positive change? |
| 9:40-11:10 a.m. Art Commons 101 | Dissent: Art, Print Media and Social Change Ruthann Godollei Graphic art in the service of dissent and the role prints have played in protest movements. With a hands on component. |
| 9:40-11:10 a.m. Markim Hall lower level | Intro to Entrepreneurship Kate Ryan Reiling How to mobilize? This will be a workshop to help students move from idea to action. Co-faciliated with students from the fall Intro to Social Entrepreneurship course. |
| 9:40-11:10 a.m. Olin-Rice 370 | Boundaries of Political Community: Humans, Animals, and Cyborgs Althea Sircar Who and what are at the margins of our political communities? This course will be open to the campus (capacity enrolled+20) for the full class period. |
| 9:40-11:10 a.m. Neill 215 | Community Youth Development in Multicultural America Tina Kruse Where and when do people’s political self-identities begin? Peering into the identity formation process of youth helps us all understand a bit more about diverse perspectives and actions which counter our own. |
| 11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Weyerhaueser Chapel | Opening Program
With remarks from Rev. Kelly Stone, Chaplain; Aliya Vajid, Associate Chaplain; Donna Lee, Vice President for Student Affairs; Gabriella Gillespie ’17; Farah AlHaddad ’17; Julie Dolan, Professor, Political Science; Roopali Phadke, Professor, Environmental Studies; and Brian Rosenberg, President. |
| 1:20-1:50 p.m. Old Main 03 | Advanced Feminist/Queer Theories, first half-hour Sonita Sarker What are our shared values? How should we act for positive change? |
| 1:20-2:50 p.m. Olin-Rice 250 | Local News Media Institutions Michael Griffin Definitions of News: Discriminating Information Sources in the Contemporary Media Environment. (Open to all.) |
| 1:20-2:50 p.m. Olin-Rice 101 | The Politics of Fear and Hope: Africa from Colonial Times to the “Cheetah Generation” Lisa Mueller Citizen Action in Authoritarian Regimes |
| 1:20-2:50 p.m. Art Com 202 | Women in the Bible Susanna Drake (With Ailya Vajid) Theologies of Resistance and Religious Minorities in the Age of Trump |
| 1:20-2:50 p.m. Weyerhaeuser Chapel | Let’s Play Hunger Games! (No class scheduled) Karin Aguilar-San Juan and Devavani Chatterjea Let’s Play Hunger Games! With the help of yoga-based breathing and movement, we will build a feeling of abundance and shared community by brainstorming the Things We Know and the Things We Can Do that will help us to survive and thrive in an era that requires the fierce compassion of Katniss Everdeen, the soft strength of Peeta Mellark, and the strategic thinking of Gale Hawthorne. Costumes welcome, no violence allowed. Bring a big creative heart, caring words, and a good sense of humor! |
| 1:20-2:50 p.m. Carnegie 05 | Ethnographic Interviewing (first hour) Dianna Shandy Beyond Empathy: Intentional listening to understand the human experience as it is lived, felt, and known by its participants. |
| 1:20-2:50 p.m. Music 228 | Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly Mark Mazullo, Victoria Malawey, Kate Alexander Join Music Department faculty in a conversation about the most acclaimed recording of 2015. Participants will all be invited to share their perspectives on what makes this music so compelling and important in our current social-political climate. |
| 1:20-2:50 p.m. Olin-Rice 270 | Environmental Justice Erik Kojola Open class from 2-2:50 to discuss the implications of the Trump Administration for issues of environmental justice and environmental movements. How will marginalized communities nationally and internationally be impacted by Trump’s approaches to key environmental issues of climate change, pollution control, transportation and conservation? How can and are communities and social movements working to promote progressive and just environmental policies, and defending environmental justice? |
| 2-2:50 p.m. Carnegie 204 | Colonial Modernity and Identities in the Middle East (will change back to “Islam and the West”) Khaldoun Samman (Open class begins at 2 p.m. However, you’re welcome to join us at 1:20 if you’re considering taking the course.) Islamophobia is not owned by the right. Indeed, in Europe it now crosses left and right, creating a new racial structure that will take innovative ways to destroy. As with the far right in Europe, Trump will quickly learn to use progressive sounding discourses to address and pull in liberals. Given his present extremely sexist discourse it may seem absurd to make this argument. But for us who have followed European political shifts towards Islamophobia, his type of right wing populism – which is less institutionally invested in the old cultural wars – is in good position to redefine the cultural terms of the old liberal vs left discourses. Islam is going to be the magnetic pole through which Western racial discourse situates itself, and it will include liberal sentiments. How do we intervene to shift this move and keep liberals from being pulled in as they have been in Europe? |
| 2-2:45 p.m. Olin-Rice 273 | Research in Molecular Biology Mary Montgomery Open class teach-in begins at 2:00 pm. Lecture and discussion on how research is federally funded, how office-holders can affect levels of funding and block funding of specific ares of research, such as work on embryonic stem cells, or ear-mark other areas of research or specific institutions for special dedicated funding. We will examine levels and areas of research funded by different federal agencies, such as the Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation. Finally, we will cover a few examples of the impact of state agencies (e.g. California Institute for Regenerative Medicine), private foundations (Howard Hughes Medical Institute, foundations dedicated to the study, prevention, and treatment of specific medical diseases) and crowd-sourcing in expanding opportunities for funding of projects and labs, particularly those that are not eligible for federal funding due to political restrictions. |
| 2-2:45 p.m. Neill 304 | Geography of Development and Underdevelopment Bill Moseley Open class in second half (2:05-2:50) (first half is for those in course, or considering the course). Lecture and discussion on Understanding Trump’s Nativism and Nationalism from a global perspective. While it is tempting to see resurgent nativism and nationalism in the US as a local phenomenon (and for liberals to retreat from the world to focus on problems at home), we should resist this myopic intellectual drift and seek to understand these policies and attitudes from a global and historical perspective. For example, the hallowing out of the US working class is strongly connected to neoliberal policies and trends at the global scale over the past 35 years. Furthermore, right wing and nativist movements across the global North (e.g., Brexit, Trump, Le Pen), not to mention the rise of religious fundamentalism, share the common appeal of easy answers and scapegoating for those whose livelihoods are unraveling in the face of globalization. |
| 3-3:30 p.m. Old Main 09 | Feminisms Then and Today, first half-hour Sonita Sarker
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| 3-4 p.m. Neill 226 | Populism and the Far-Right in France and the Francophone World Today Faculty of Department of French and Francophone Studies This informal round table will provide a forum for students to discuss the contemporary rise of populist movements and the far-right in France and elsewhere in the francophone world. Topics to be discussed may include differences between American and francophone populist movements and definitions; the 2017 French presidential elections and the rise of Marine Le Pen; French neoimperalism in Africa (la Françafrique); immigration and refugees; and the impact of the US elections on France, Europe, and the francophone world. The round table will be held in English. |
| 3-4:30 p.m. Carnegie 208 | Policymaking in the 4th Branch Julie Dolan An examination of the various policymaking tools utilized by the president and the executive branch more broadly. What can a president do in a separation of powers system? |
| 3-4:30 p.m. Neill 110 | U.S. Imperialism from the Philippines to Viet Nam Karin Aguilar-San Juan If you are in the course or would like to consider, please come at 3 pm. At 3:30 I will lecture and lead a discussion about the history of U.S. imperialism in Asia–from the Philippines (1898-1903) to Viet Nam (1945-1975)–and how this often neglected history relates to contemporary global racial formations, myths and stereotypes of U.S. Asian ethnic groups, and popular narratives about Asia and the Middle East today. |
| 3-4:30 p.m. Neill 215 | Bad Reporting + Inept Anaylsis = How the Media Got It So Incredibly Wrong Howard Sinker It took more than “fake news” for the media to miss the mark as badly as it did in November. Among other things, we’ll talk about what happens when journalists talk to (and write for) each other rather than for the rest of us. (In my News Reporting class last semester, for example, students put together all kinds of clues after the fact that you would have wanted journalists to discover before November 8.) We’ll look at the topic from a journalism perspective and from a consumer perspective — and look for ways to apply what we discuss to other issues. (No journalism experience required to attend and the traditional MCS 114 cookies will be served.) |
| 3-4:30 p.m. Carnegie 107 | Talking Across our Differences Political Science student Drew Gumlia A discussion of ideological diversity and how it benefits our education. |
| 4:45-6 p.m. Old Main 111 | After Aleppo Andy Overman The Syrian Refugee Crisis and our Response |
| 4:45-6:30 p.m. Olin-Rice Smail Gallery | Engaging in Dialogue with People You Don’t Agree With Demetrius Colvin With the changing demographics of the United States, the growing political power of historically marginalized social groups, and the multitude of diversity and inclusion issues that have come to light during the Presidential election, conflicting notions of such ideas as egalitarianism, assimilationism, meritocracy, and power/privilege have caused talking across difference in our society to become a sensitive, and oftentimes volatile, matter. This session will focus on 1) how our worldview assumptions can inhibit us from freely and consistently sharing our different experiences and learning from our different cultural viewpoints, and 2) strategies for talking across difference. |
| 7-8:30 p.m. Leonard Center Studio 1 | Breath and witness (No class scheduled) Devavani Chatterjea Breath and witness – 1.5 hour Vinyasa yoga-based movement practice to reflect on what we bring to the task ahead of us. The session will focus on how belonging, creativity, ego, love, truthfulness, intuition and connection are mapped in our bodies in yogic practice and how we can use these tools to create our intentional presence and practice in our daily lives. |
| 7-9 p.m. Turck Hall, Sounds of Blackness Lounge | Navigating 2016 and Beyond as an LGBTQ+-identified Person (No class scheduled) Wayne Glass Now that it is likely that the Trump Administration will strip all-or-most of [our] rights acquired over the past eight years, it is absolutely imperative that Queer and Trans folks band together to continue to ‘fight the good fight,’ as a community united. |
January 20 (Friday) Schedule
| Time and Location | Description |
|---|---|
| 8:30-10 a.m. Markim Hall, Davis Court | A Taste of Community Organizing (No class scheduled) Civic Engagement Center A Taste of Community Organizing: Get a taste of local community organizing from a seasoned local community organizer from a well-respected local community organization, Jewish Community Action. Learn some basic organizing skills and ways to get connected to local racial justice work. This session will be an intro for additional organizing workshops on campus during the spring term. |
| 9:40-10:40 a.m. Carnegie 208 | Progress and Identity: Race, Gender, and Social Movements Aisha Upton social movements in relation to difference and identity |
| 9:40-10:40 a.m. Carnegie 06 | Challenges to DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) Under a Trump Administration Michelle Rivero ’94 Ms. Rivero, the founder of Rivero Law Office, is an immigration rights lawyer who believes that the United States must remain a nation that welcomes all immigrants. Come hear her thoughts about the future of DACA and other legal changes that may result under a Trump administration.
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| 9:40-10:40 a.m. Olin-Rice 301 | Climate and Society Louisa Bradtmiller Professor Bradtmiller will be joined by Professor Roopali Phadke to discuss issues related to both the science and policy of climate change. What impacts might the incoming administration have on climate policy, or on the severity of climate impacts in the future? Bring your questions about climate science and policy and join us for a casual conversation with plenty of time for Q&A. |
| 10:50-11:30 a.m. Art Commons 102 | Media Interventions in Movement Building (No class scheduled) John Kim Media Interventions in Movement Building |
| 10:50-11:50 a.m. Carnegie 305 | American Philosophy Geoffrey Gorham Open discussion of Thoreau’s ‘Civil Disobedience’ (1849) and King’s ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’ (1963). Both texts readily available online. |
| 10:50-11:50 a.m. Theatre 03 (lower level THDA) | Rehearsing the Change We Desire (No class scheduled) Beth Cleary Theatre Games for Learning and Transformation (no experience necessary; wear easy clothes) |
| 10:50-11:50 a.m. Old Main 002 | Greek Myths Beth Severy-Hoven Myths of Greece: Ancient Mediterranean History in Modern Political Discourse. Stories are powerful. Invoking the authority of a revered but distant past is a common cultural move in identity formation, but the cultures that are revered and how they are used have changed over time. Greece, for example, didn’t become the ‘birthplace of western civilization’ until the 19th century. We’ll explore some uses and abuses of the past, including historical narratives that shape contemporary conversations about Europe and the Middle East, as well as the effects and goals of groups claiming affinity with specific ancient Mediterranean cultures. |
| 10:50-11:50 a.m. Neill 304 | Critical Issues in Urban Education Brian Lozenski The Bipartisan Attack on Public Education – While there are justifiable concerns about the education policy of the new administration, those who have been advocating for strong public schools have been contending with uniquely bipartisan policies over the past few decades. We will explore the policies that have undermined public education under the guise of equity and discuss ongoing efforts to resist the deterioration of public education in the next 10 years. |
| 10:50-11:50 a.m. Olin-Rice 150 | Principles of Physics II Sean Bartz The value of federally-funded science and discussion of the necessity of studying science in times of social change. |
| 11:20-11:50 a.m. Neill 216 | Introduction to US Latina/o Studies Alicia Muñoz Students interested in taking the course should arrive by 10:50am. The second half of the class period (11:20-11:50am) is open and will be conducted in English. Throughout his campaign for the presidency, Trump described the US Mexico border as a site of insidious, one-directional transgression, in desperate need of fortification against the Other. We will engage alternative perspectives and avenues for resistance through a discussion of contemporary academic and artistic conceptualizations of the border. |
| 11 a.m.-12 p.m. Campus Center, Large Room on 2nd Floor | Inaugural Viewing Julie Dolan, Lesley Lavery, Roopali Phadke, and Michael Zis
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| 12-1 p.m. Campus Center, Large Room on 2nd Floor | Now What? Processing the Inauguration (No class scheduled) Julie Dolan, Lesley Lavery, Roopali Phadke, and Michael Zis
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| 12-1 p.m. Carnegie 304 | Trumponomics: The Economics of Trump’s Proposed Policies (No class scheduled) Sarah West
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| 12-1 p.m. DeWitt Wallace Library, Harmon Room | How a Drop of Water Becomes a Tsunami: field notes from Standing Rock (No class scheduled) Wang Ping, Eric Caroll, Ruthann Godollei Stand with Standing Rock: a visual presentation with prayer flags from the camp |
| 12-1 p.m. Old Main 4th Floor | “This I Believe” panel discussion AND “Stone Soup” lunch (No class scheduled) History Department “This I Believe” is adapted from the format of the Cold War era radio series hosted by Edward Murrow. Presentations by History Department faculty and staff, followed by informal discussion among those assembled. And food, of course. “Stone Soup” is based on a children’s story about cooperation. Everyone welcome – this will be a television-free space. |
| 1:10-2:10 p.m. Carnegie 204 | Urban Politics Lesley Lavery Sanctuary Cities |
| 1:10-2:10 p.m. DeWitt Wallace Library, Harmon Room | From Breaking News to Broken News Research & Instruction Librarians When a news item breaks, there can be a maelstrom of contradictory information. As details emerge, how do you know what is real or not? Over time, who controls the narrative? It’s hard to know who to trust. In this session, participants will have the opportunity to talk about the strategies they use to verify news stories and learn a few new tricks. |
| 1:10-2:10 p.m. Carnegie 105 | Refugees in America Under the 45th President (No class scheduled) Dianna Shandy
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| 1:10-2:10 p.m. Carnegie 208 | Chuck Green Civic Engagement Fellowship Patrick Schmidt Service to Society and Civic Engagement: What drives us? What are our responsibilities? This session will raise the big picture questions that surround our responses to Macalester’s mission call for “service to society”. Though we may agree on that goal, we encounter many ethical and practical challenges. What are our motivations for service? Who do we serve? If we are serving, are we also leading? To whom are we responsible? |
| 1:10-2:10 p.m. Carnegie 305 | Global Political Economy Charmaine Chua Trump has frequently promised that he will “make America great again” by bringing jobs back to the US from the places that have apparently ‘stolen’ them. What visions and imaginations of the global economy are entailed in such a promise? What do they fail to understand? Is such a project to nationalize the economy possible? Desirable? How do we understand our own position in the global political economy, and can we participate in democratic contestation to economic systems so vast and seemingly out of reach? |
| 2:20-3:20 p.m. Neill 304 | Environmental Politics and Policy Roopali Phadke Are the Paris Climate Accords dead? This session will discuss how climate diplomacy will continue despite federal inaction. |
| 2:20-3:20 p.m. Olin-Rice 175 | Environmental Geology Kelly MacGregor Glaciers, Ice Sheets and Climate Change. This session will touch broadly on glacier and ice sheet responses to climate change in the past century, and predictions for the future (including sea level rise). |
| 2:20-3:20 p.m. Art Commons 102 | Teaching Towards Freedom: Black Intellectual Thought in Education Brian Lozenski Revisiting King’s “Where Do We Go From Here?” – How can Martin Luther King’s final book be used to understand our current political landscape? We will discuss exerpts from the book and consider the unique lens King had at the end of his life about the fundamental shortcomings of the grand experiment in US-style democracy. We will work together to think through various theories of change and how they can be enacted based upon our sociopolitical and sociocultural positions in the US. |
| 2:20-3:20 p.m. Carnegie 06A | Looking at Race @ Mac through the Lens of the Post-Election/Inauguration Political Science students Heidi Affi, Gabriella Gillespie, Christopher Mendoza, Tre Nowaczynski Panel Discussion on white shock, white feminism and allyship |
| 2:20-3:20 p.m. Neill 216 | A Change Is Gonna Come: African American Music for Times Such as These Crystal Moten Throughout African American history, people of African descent in the United States have always utilized the tools at their disposal to resist oppression. This includes music. Music heals, empowers, and exposes–joy, pain, love, anger, happiness, suffering and hope. Join Professor Moten as we listen to, reflect on and discuss African American music over the years–from spirituals to hip hop, from Bessie Smith to Queen Latifah and Beyoncé; from NWA to Jay Z; and from Sam Cooke and Marvin Gaye to Prince and John Legend.
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| 3:30-4:30 p.m. Art Commons 102 | Political Dissent in Putin’s Russia and Trump’s America: From Protest to Power (No class scheduled) Christie Manning, Julia Chadaga, Michael Zis
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| 3:30-4:30 p.m. Olin-Rice 100 | The Future of Renewable Energy (No class scheduled) Jim Doyle
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| 4:45-6:30 p.m. Weyerhaeuser Boardroom | Unlearning Oppression: The Psychology of Collusion Demetrius Colvin Oppression has limited all our ability to be our full and empathetic selves. Inequality depends upon this limited capacity, and the divisiveness and competition it engenders, to perpetuate by coercing people to collude with their own oppression. This session will focus upon the impact that internalized domination and subordination has upon our concepts of right/wrong, sameness/difference, us/them and will explore the behaviors and habits of mind needed to unlearn these socialized dynamics. |
| 4:45-6:30 p.m. Neill 309 | Decolonizing Immigrant Rights Discourse (No class scheduled) Cárol Mejía Decolonizing Immigrant Rights Discourse |
Day-Long Events
| Time and Location | Description |
|---|---|
| Thursday All day Olin-Rice 355 Psychology student lounge | Psychology student lounge open for reflection/hanging out
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| Thursday All day Old Main 218 English student lounge | English dept student lounge open for reflection/hanging out
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| Thursday 1-4 p.m. Health & Wellness Center | Counseling Drop-ins Counseling Services Counselors are available to students who wish to debrief events or explore related thoughts and feelings in a private one-on-one safe space environment. Please let us know the reason for your visit (Campus Conversations) and feel welcome to express a preference in terms of counselor identity. |
| Friday 1-4 p.m. Health & Wellness Center | Counseling Drop-ins Counseling Services Counselors are available to students who wish to debrief events or explore related thoughts and feelings in a private one-on-one safe space environment. Please let us know the reason for your visit (Campus Conversations) and feel welcome to express a preference in terms of counselor identity. |
| Friday 1-4 p.m. Markim Hall, lower level | Outside Looking In: Experiencing the Elections While Abroad Center for Study Away This drop-in event offers space for study away returnees to share their experiences and perceptions of the U.S. elections. There will be multiple ways for students to share their stories – mini-videos, drawing, and art projects, as well as space for shared conversation over snacks.
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Teaching Resources
These resources have been shared by members of the Macalester Community:
Resources for understanding, hope, and action after the 2016 election (curated by Christie Manning)
Classroom Climate Teaching Resources (from UM) shared by Suzanne Hansen
Teaching After the Election of Trump (from Zinn Education Project) shared by Roopali Phadke