SIUE College of Arts and Sciences to Host “Thinking about Community” Colloquium
The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) will host a “Thinking about Community” Colloquium from 10 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 1 in the Maple-Dogwood Room in the Morris University Center on campus.
The 11th annual event brings together faculty and staff from across the SIUE community, and experts from the region, to share their scholarship and research. It is free to the community, and will coincide with Arts & Issues, and the Greater St. Louis Humanities Festival, an event in which SIUE is one of the founding members.
“Our theme this year is particularly important considering the state of our metropolitan area, for example the happenings, tensions and racial relations in Ferguson, Mo.,” said Larry LaFond, associate professor of English Language and Literature at SIUE. “Presentations will also include a broader global focus, which is fitting to SIUE as we emphasize internationalization.
“This colloquium gives us the opportunity to showcase our faculty and the research that’s being done here, and to think deeply together about a theme,” he added. “It allows us to come together and communicate academically across disciplines.”
A special event at the colloquium will be a screening of the film “Aqui y Alla (Here and There).” Amy Hunter, director of racial justice, YWCA Metropolitan St. Louis, will provide the keynote address: “Creating Community Post Ferguson: Fear and Fictive Kinship.”
