Associated Products
Latinindxd: Poetry Reading and Discussion (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Latinindxd: Poetry Reading and Discussion
Abstract: osé Olivarez, Program Director, Urban Word. José Olivarez is an award-winning, first-generation Chicano Poet from Calumet City, IL. His poems grapple with the idea of home and what it means to create home when eviction is always looming and ultimately investigate the personal small ways that home is created with people. Olivarez is the co-author of the book of poems Home Court and co-host of the poetry podcast The Poetry Gods. He is a graduate of Harvard University and the Program Director at Urban Word NYC. A winner of a 2016 Poets House Emerging Poet Fellowship and a 2015 Bronx Recognizes Its Own award from the Bronx Council on the Arts, his work has been published in The BreakBeat Poets, Vinyl Poetry and Prose, Specter Magazine, and Union Station Magazine, among other places. He currently lives in the Bronx.
This standing-room only event brought poetry to life from the urban streets of New York and Chicago to Westchester Community College. Students, faculty, administrators, and community members engaged in a lively reading and discussion.
Author: Jose Olivarez
Date: 10/04/2016
Location: Westchester Community College
Migration through the Lens of Art History (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Migration through the Lens of Art History
Abstract: osé Olivarez, Program Director, Urban Word. José Olivarez is an award-winning, first-generation Chicano Poet from Calumet City, IL. His poems grapple with the idea of home and what it means to create home when eviction is always looming and ultimately investigate the personal small ways that home is created with people. Olivarez is the co-author of the book of poems Home Court and co-host of the poetry podcast The Poetry Gods. He is a graduate of Harvard University and the Program Director at Urban Word NYC. A winner of a 2016 Poets House Emerging Poet Fellowship and a 2015 Bronx Recognizes Its Own award from the Bronx Council on the Arts, his work has been published in The BreakBeat Poets, Vinyl Poetry and Prose, Specter Magazine, and Union Station Magazine, among other places. He currently lives in the Bronx.
This standing-room only event brought poetry to life from the urban streets of New York and Chicago to Westchester Community College. Students, faculty, administrators, and community members engaged in a lively reading and discussion.
Author: Saloni Mathur
Date: 10/24/2016
Location: Westchester Community College
The Fashionable French Fishbowl: Immigrants Experiences as "Insiders" nd "Outsiders" in Parisian High Society in the 1860s (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: The Fashionable French Fishbowl: Immigrants Experiences as "Insiders" nd "Outsiders" in Parisian High Society in the 1860s
Abstract: The reign of Napoleon III, also known as the French Second Empire (1852-1870), boasts one of the wealthiest, most fashionable, and most decadent cultures in European history, with its glorious capital, Paris, as its imperial centerpiece. For those wanting to make their fortune, the lure of the glamorous “City of Lights” was powerful. When viewed through the experiences of two immigrants, the infamous English courtesan, Cora Pearl, and the great Russian novelist, Fyodor Dostoevsky, the extreme highs and lows of the immigrant experience emerge. Ironically, the same challenges—poverty, lack of connections, and foreignness— that Dostoevsky could not overcome did not prevent Cora Pearl from becoming one of the wealthiest and most popular courtesans of all time.
Author: Eugenia Amditis
Date: 11/15/2016
Location: Westchester Community College Humanities Institute
Practicing Disruptive Discourses: Deconstructing Language for Multicultural Learners (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Practicing Disruptive Discourses: Deconstructing Language for Multicultural Learners
Abstract: Speaker Max Rodriguez is Founder, Producer, Publisher of QBR Black Book Review, The Harlem Book Fair, “On Books,” and “The Tea” web series. His remarks about how narrative and language shift the representations of immigrant student learners—and possibly their experiences as well—framed many of the Humanities Institute’s dialogues throughout the year.
Author: Max Rodriguez
Date: 10/14/2016
Location: Westchester Community College Humanities Institute
Justifiable and Effective Deterrents? Understanding Family Detention Centers (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Justifiable and Effective Deterrents? Understanding Family Detention Centers
Abstract: Over the last two years, an unprecedented number of families have fled the Northern Triangle of Central America (Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador) for the United States, seeking asylum from extreme violence and insecurity in their home countries. In response to the wave of families entering the United States, the Obama Administration established special family detention centers to hold mothers and children that claim a fear of persecution if they return back to the Northern Triangle. Scattered throughout the US in remote locations and run by private-prison corporations, these centers have detained thousands of children as young as six months old. In this presentation, Vikki Rogers presented and discussed her experience representing these women and children as a pro bono lawyer at the detention center in Dilley, Texas.
Author: Vikki Rogers
Date: 11/01/2016
Location: Westchester Community College Humanities Institute
Writer-In-Residence: Workshops and Conferences (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Writer-In-Residence: Workshops and Conferences
Abstract: This poetry reading and discussion was part of the Writer-In-Residence series. Xánath Caraza is a traveler, educator, poet and short story writer. Her most recent book of poetry, Sílabas de viento/ Syllables of Wind, received the 2015 International Book Award for Poetry.
Xánath Caraza teaches at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She is the Writer-in-Residence at Westchester Community College, New York. Caraza is the recipient of the 2014 Beca Nebrija para Creadores, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares in Spain. She writes for La Bloga, Periódico de Poesía, Revista Literaria Monolito, The Smithsonian Latino Center, and Revista Zona de Ocio. Her book of poetry Syllables of Wind / Sílabas de viento received the 2015 International Book Award for Poetry. Her books Ocelocíhuatl and Syllables of Wind received Honorable Mention for best book of Poetry in Spanish in the 2016 and 2015 International Latino Book Awards. Her book of verse Conjuro and her book of short fiction What the Tide Brings / Lo que trae la marea have won national and international recognition. Her other books of poetry are Donde la luz es violeta / Where the Light is Violet (upcoming), Tinta negra: Black Ink, Noche de colibríes, and Corazón pintado. She was named number one of the 2013 Top Ten “New” Latino Authors to Watch (and Read) by LatinoStories.com.
Author: Xanath Caraza
Date: 10/11/2016
Location: Westchester Community College Humanities Institute
Writer-In-Residence: Workshops and Conferences (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Writer-In-Residence: Workshops and Conferences
Abstract: This poetry reading and discussion was part of the Writer-In-Residence series. Xánath Caraza is a traveler, educator, poet and short story writer. Her most recent book of poetry, Sílabas de viento/ Syllables of Wind, received the 2015 International Book Award for Poetry.
Xánath Caraza teaches at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She is the Writer-in-Residence at Westchester Community College, New York. Caraza is the recipient of the 2014 Beca Nebrija para Creadores, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares in Spain. She writes for La Bloga, Periódico de Poesía, Revista Literaria Monolito, The Smithsonian Latino Center, and Revista Zona de Ocio. Her book of poetry Syllables of Wind / Sílabas de viento received the 2015 International Book Award for Poetry. Her books Ocelocíhuatl and Syllables of Wind received Honorable Mention for best book of Poetry in Spanish in the 2016 and 2015 International Latino Book Awards. Her book of verse Conjuro and her book of short fiction What the Tide Brings / Lo que trae la marea have won national and international recognition. Her other books of poetry are Donde la luz es violeta / Where the Light is Violet (upcoming), Tinta negra: Black Ink, Noche de colibríes, and Corazón pintado. She was named number one of the 2013 Top Ten “New” Latino Authors to Watch (and Read) by LatinoStories.com.
Author: Xánath Caraza
Date: 03/28/2017
Location: Westchester Community College Humanities Institute
Writer-In-Residence: Workshops and Conferences (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Writer-In-Residence: Workshops and Conferences
Abstract: This poetry reading and discussion was part of the Writer-In-Residence series. Xánath Caraza is a traveler, educator, poet and short story writer. Her most recent book of poetry, Sílabas de viento/ Syllables of Wind, received the 2015 International Book Award for Poetry.
Xánath Caraza teaches at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She is the Writer-in-Residence at Westchester Community College, New York. Caraza is the recipient of the 2014 Beca Nebrija para Creadores, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares in Spain. She writes for La Bloga, Periódico de Poesía, Revista Literaria Monolito, The Smithsonian Latino Center, and Revista Zona de Ocio. Her book of poetry Syllables of Wind / Sílabas de viento received the 2015 International Book Award for Poetry. Her books Ocelocíhuatl and Syllables of Wind received Honorable Mention for best book of Poetry in Spanish in the 2016 and 2015 International Latino Book Awards. Her book of verse Conjuro and her book of short fiction What the Tide Brings / Lo que trae la marea have won national and international recognition. Her other books of poetry are Donde la luz es violeta / Where the Light is Violet (upcoming), Tinta negra: Black Ink, Noche de colibríes, and Corazón pintado. She was named number one of the 2013 Top Ten “New” Latino Authors to Watch (and Read) by LatinoStories.com.
Author: Xánath Caraza
Date: 04/18/2017
Location: Westchester Community College Humanities Institute
The Crisis in Black Education: Student (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: The Crisis in Black Education: Student
Abstract: This year, the Humanities Institute co-sponsored a two-day (2/24-25) student and faculty trip to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, as part of its continued exploration of diaspora and the effects on generations of American immigrants. The trip was co-sponsored with the Black History Month Committee, the Black Student Union, and the African Renaissance Club on campus. In the past, the Humanities Institute has co-sponsored very successful events with the Black Student Union, and this opportunity provided further strength to our mutual interests and connection.
The vision of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History is to be the premier Black Heritage learned society with a strong network of national and international branches and partners. The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) is headquartered in Washington, D.C., temporarily on the campus of Howard University. The Association operates as local, state, and international branches promoting greater knowledge of African American history through a program of education, research, and publishing.
On their trip, students and faculty attended a luncheon and author event, and for many of the students, this was their first visit to Washington, DC. The effects of this opportunity continue to unfold.
Author: Association for the Study of African American Life and History
Date: 02/24/2017
Location: Westchester Community College Humanities Institute & Association for the Study of African American Life and History
Poetry Reading & Discussion: Three or Four Myths from Three or Four Angles (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Poetry Reading & Discussion: Three or Four Myths from Three or Four Angles
Abstract: Rachel Hadas is the author of more than a dozen books of poetry, essays, memoir, and translations. Rachel Hadas's honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Academy-Institute of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, and the O.B. Harrison Award. She is Board of Governors Professor of English at the Rutgers University-Newark, and has also taught writing ta Columbia, Princeton, the Sewanee Writers Conference, the West Chester Poetry Conference, and the 92nd St. Y
Author: Rachel Hadas
Date: 03/02/2017
Location: Westchester Community College Humanities Institute
Presentation and Discussion: Hiding in the Open: A Holocaust Story (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Presentation and Discussion: Hiding in the Open: A Holocaust Story
Abstract: As a Jewish child, Paulette Barrett lived openly with her Jewish-Polish parents in a small French city during the Occupation of France by Germany in World War II. During that time, and well aware of the extreme daily dangers posed by German soldiers, she believed her family was Catholic. Barrett’s narrative about her movement from Paris to New York, and from hiding in plain view opened a rich discussion about reckoning a family’s—and an individual’s—true identity after immigrating to the United States.
Author: Paulette Barrett
Date: 03/30/2017
Location: Westchester Community College Humanities Institute
Food Demonstrations and Poetry: Adobo Fish Sauce (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Food Demonstrations and Poetry: Adobo Fish Sauce
Abstract: As part of Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month, the Humanities Institute partnered with the Office of Student Involvement and the Pacific-American Heritage Month Committee to bring two spoken word artists to campus. The program, called Adobo Fish Sauce, facilitated engaging discussions about marginalization and microaggressions through poetry and food. Delivered via food demonstrations and poetry workshops, Adobo Fish Sauce brought the experiences of first-generation immigrants to the center of student-driven discussions. This was a particularly successful and engaging program, enthusiastically received by student participants.
Author: Student Poets
Author: Anthony Febo and Ricky Orng
Date: 04/20/2017
Location: Westchester Community College Humanities Institute
Reframing the Lens: the Fiction of Junot Diaz (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Reframing the Lens: the Fiction of Junot Diaz
Abstract: The annual Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the United States conference, which was held at MIT this spring, provides multiple opportunities to network and enrich the Humanities Institute. Director Heather Ostman attended and presented a paper that extended the work on her latest book, Reframing the Lens: the Fiction of Junot Díaz. Additionally, she connected with several scholars from across the United States, who will be coming to the Humanities Institute this fall.
Author: Heather Ostman
Date: 4/27/2017
Location: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Fiction of Junot Diaz: Reframing the Lens (Book)Title: The Fiction of Junot Diaz: Reframing the Lens
Author: Heather Ostman
Abstract: The influence of Latin American writers—as well as other immigrant writers and their first-generation peers—has reframed the literary lens to include multiple views and codify the shift away from the tradition of white male writers who formed the core of the American literary canon for generations. Junot Díaz is one of the most prominent and influential writers in contemporary American literature. A first-generation Dominican American, the New Jersey native is at the forefront of a literary renaissance, portraying the significant demographic shifts taking place in the United States.
Year: 2016
Primary URL:
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442272460/The-Fiction-of-Junot-D%C3%ADaz-Reframing-the-LensAccess Model: Hardcover; Ebook
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 978-1-4422-724
Copy sent to NEH?: No
Transcultural Topographies: 19th Century Pilgrimige Maps of Mount Wutai (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Transcultural Topographies: 19th Century Pilgrimige Maps of Mount Wutai
Abstract: The Buddhist mountain range of Wutai on China’s northern frontier emerged as a unique site of shared religious devotion among the diverse constituents of a multicultural and multilingual Qing empire (1644-1912). Manchus, Mongols, Tibetans, and Han-Chinese all venerated the mountain and imbued it with their own sense of divinity. This lecture examines several widely circulated panoramic maps of the mountain range that were created during this period, demonstrating how the maps actively asserted a pluralistic vision of Mount Wutai and participating in the creation of a dynamic pilgrimage culture.
Wen-shing Chou is an assistant professor of art history at Hunter College, City University of New York. She received her B.A. from the University of Chicago, M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in the visual and material culture of Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. Chou's articles have appeared in the Art Bulletin, the Journal of Asian Studies, and the Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies. Her most recent work will appear in the forthcoming issue of the Archives of Asian Art. Chou is currently a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ.
Author: Dr. Wen-Shing Chou
Date: 09/24/2015
Location: Valhalla, New York
Multi-Migrations, Multi-Identities (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Multi-Migrations, Multi-Identities
Abstract: Sonya Chung is the author of the novels Long for This World (Scribner, 2010) and the forthcoming The Loved Ones (fall 2016). She is a staff writer for The Millions, where she writes regular essays and reviews, and founding editor of Bloom, a literary site that highlights the work of authors who published later in life. Currently she is an Assistant Professor at Skidmore College.
Author: Sonya Cheng
Date: 10/22/2015
Location: Valhalla, NY
Immigration, Racism, and State Violence in La Haine (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Immigration, Racism, and State Violence in La Haine
Abstract: Join Dr. Donald Anderson for a screening and discussion of La Haine (1995). When a young Arab is arrested and beaten unconscious by police, a riot erupts in the notoriously violent suburbs outside of Paris. Three of the victim's peers, Vinz (Vincent Cassel), Said (Said Taghmaoui) and Hubert (Hubert Koundé), wander aimlessly about their home turf in the aftermath of the violence as they try to come to grips with their outrage over the brutal incident. After one of the men finds a police officer's discarded weapon, their night seems poised to take a bleak turn.
Dr. Donald Anderson is an instructor in the English Department at Westchester Community College where he teaches courses in writing and literature. His research focuses on horror, exploitation, and cult cinema with a specific interest in the history of Italian horror cinema. His publications can be found in the journals Horror Studies, Rhizomes, and Gothic Studies.
Author: Dr. Donald Anderson
Date: 03/22/2016
Location: Valhalla, NY
Lara’s Story: A Personal Look at the Civil War in Syria (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Lara’s Story: A Personal Look at the Civil War in Syria
Abstract: In 2010 Dr. Gary Klein left the Middle East after conducting a plethora of interviews to help bring a more vivid picture of the region back to his classroom. One of those interviews was with Lara Tabsi, a young woman from Aleppo, Syria who had felt that her country was the “safest place on earth.” To the shock of nearly every observer, civil war broke out in Syria a few months later. Recently, Dr. Klein interviewed Lara a second time to discuss what went so tragically wrong in a place so dear to her. Join us for a video screening and discussion with Dr. Klein of this remarkable interview. Dr. Gary Klein is a history professor at Westchester Community College.
Author: Dr. Gary Klein
Date: 10/4/2018
Location: Valhalla, NY
“Walk a Mile in Our Shoes”: Why We Read (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: “Walk a Mile in Our Shoes”: Why We Read
Abstract: Why should we still read fiction with all that’s going on in the real world? In these divisive and troubled times, reading fiction is often depicted as an impractical luxury or outdated distraction. In this talk, Nadine Knight makes that case that reading—and especially reading fiction—is more important than ever. Engaging with literature hones your imagination and empathy; in short, it could make you a better person, one more adept at interacting with the world and working for justice. This talk will share some of the current research into reading practices and offer examples of how fiction can be used productively to help us understand some of the tensions at stake in current American popular and political discourse.
Dr. Nadine M. Knight is an associate professor of English at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. Her teaching and research interests include African American literature, the American Civil War, and American popular culture. She is currently working on an article about Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad.
Author: Dr. Nadine Knight
Date: 10/5/2017
Location: Valhalla, NY
A Reading and Discussion of The Patriots (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: A Reading and Discussion of The Patriots
Abstract: Sana Krasikov was born in 1979 in Ukraine and grew up in the former Soviet republic of Georgia and in New York. In 2017 She was named one of Granta's Best Young American Novelists. Krasikov’s debut story collection, One More Year, was a finalist for the 2009 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award and the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award. It received a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 award and won the 2009 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. Her stories have appeared in The New Yorker and The Atlantic, among other publications. She lives in Hastings-on-Hudson with her husband, Gregory Warner, a radio journalist, and their two children.
Author: Sana Krasikov
Date: 12/5/2017
Location: Valhalla, NY