Fairhaven College announces fall World Issues Forum slate

Items such as human rights in Honduras and the history of indigenous people in the United States will be discussed by activists, researchers, and scholars in the Fall World Issues Forum lecture series, organized by Western Washington University’s Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies.

The following forums are free and open to the campus community and general public. The forums are held from noon to 1:20 p.m. every Wednesday in the Fairhaven Auditorium, unless otherwise noted below.

Wednesday, Oct. 1: “The Thin Green Line”

Presenter: Eric de Place, policy director, researcher, writer, speaker, and policy analyst, is also known as an expert on strategies to reduce carbon pollution. Place writes about coal and oil exports and is regarded as an authority on many issues connected to fossil fuel transport. In his lecture, Place will discuss how the Pacific Northwest is positioned to become a carbon-export hub, leading to consequences on a global scale, along with new proposals and developments in the Northwest region, including coal terminals, oil pipelines, oil-by-rail facilities, and natural-gas pipelines.

Wednesday, Oct. 8: “Community Wellbeing: What Is It and How Can Research Help Produce More of It?”

Presenter: Thomas S. Weisner, emeritus professor of Anthropology at the University of California at Los Angeles, researches culture and human development, at risk families and children, and evidence-informed policy. In his lecture, he will discuss how researchers can improve community wellbeing through being “committed, fair witnesses.” Weisner’s examples will include poverty reduction, improving children’s wellbeing among working poor, improving family accommodation of children with autism in India, understanding self-identity and friendships in children with disabilities, and documentation status among immigrants in California.

Wednesday, Oct. 15: “Fueling the Fire Inside — Bridging the Rich Diversity of the World’s Indigenous Cultures Through Art”

Presenter: Anna Hoover, a Native American artist, community builder and daughter of carver John Hoover, has worked in various media, including photography and sculpture. She is passionate about the arts and community building and focuses on providing indigenous art workshops through the Bristol Bay Campus of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. In her lecture, Hoover will discuss how indigenous people must recognize the role their creative leaders play in interpreting and identifying history, embracing creative solutions to challenges, and creating artifacts that tell indigenous peoples’ stories.

Wednesday, Oct. 22: “Border Children — Why Are They Fleeing? Human Rights and U.S. Policy in Honduras and Central America”

Presenter: Dana Frank, professor of History at the University of California at Santa Cruz, will discuss human rights and United States policy in Honduras, along with grassroots efforts in the United States and Congress to influence policy in Central America. She will focus on post-coup Honduras, along with dynamics in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. Frank has published articles on human rights and United States policy in Honduras in the New York Times, Politico, Foreign Affairs.com, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, The Nation magazine, and more. She is also an author to three books, including “Bananeras: Women Transforming the Banana Unions of Latin America,” “Buy American: The Untold Story of Economic Nationalism,” and “Purchasing Power: Consumer Organizing, Gender, and the Seattle Labor Movement.” Frank will also present from 7-8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 22 at the Garden Street Methodist Church, Classroom B.

Wednesday, Oct. 29: “Another Politics: Talking Across Today’s Transformative Movements”

Presenter: Chris Dixon, writer and educator from Ottawa, Canada, is an anarchist organizer with a doctorate from the University of California at Santa Cruz. His writing has been published in many book collections and periodicals, and his new book is called “Another Politics: Talking Across Today’s Transformative Movements.” In his lecture, Dixon will discuss how “another politics” is being constructed from the convergence of anti-authoritarian radicalism and broader-based movements in the United States and Canada. In his lecture, Dixon draws on interviews with organizers across North America.

Wednesday, Nov. 5: “Broken Spanish: The Television Audience and the Struggle for Language and Identity”

Presenter: Christopher Chávez, assistant professor at University of Oregon’s School of Journalism, will share how mainstream networks are establishing upstart Spanish speaking networks of their own, due to United States latinos’ strong economic and cultural influences. Chávez is an author of several book chapters and has work published in several peer-reviewed journals. Chávez’s research and teaching interests are in the connection between globalization, media, and culture. In his lecture, Chávez will also discuss how Spanish-language networks traditionally allowed for various forms of cultural production, but the introduction of mainstream networks now poses risks.

Wednesday, Nov. 12: “Gaza Then and Now”

Craig and Cindy Corrie, advocates for human rights and peace with justice in Palestine and the Middle East, are the parents of human rights activist and observer Rachel Corrie, who was killed by an Israeli military bulldozer in Gaza as she tried to stop the demolition of a Palestinian family’s home in 2003. Since their daughter’s death, the Corries have continued to promote changes in the United States foreign policy in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Corries received a Human Rights Advocate of the Year Award from Seattle University’s Human Rights Network, a Pillar of Peace Award from the Pacific Northwest Region of the American Friends Service Committee, and the LennonOno Grant for Peace.

Wednesday, Nov. 19, from 2-3:30 p.m. in Fraser Hall: “An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States”

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, feminist, revolutionary, and historian, has been an active member of the international indigenous movement for more than 40 years and received her doctorate in History at the University of California at Los Angeles. She taught in the Native American Studies Program at California State University at Hayward and helped found the Ethnic Studies and Women’s Studies departments there. Although she is the author or editor of 10 books, her 1977 book “The Great Sioux Nation” was the fundamental document at the first international conference of America’s Indigenous People at the United Nations. In her lecture, Dunbar-Ortiz will discuss how the genocide of indigenous people in the United States is greatly omitted from history. Dunbar-Ortiz will discuss history, based on her book “An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States,” where she challenges the United States’ founding myth and reframes United States history. In her lecture, she will also discuss the connections between the United States’ aggressive militarism and foreign wars to early conquest wars and land theft from the nation’s indigenous people.

For more information on the World Issues Forum presented by Western’s Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies, contact Shirley Osterhaus at (360)-650-2309 or visit the World Issues Forum Website at http://www.wwu.edu/fairhaven/news/worldissuesforum/index.shtml.

WWU's Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies, established in 1967, is nationally recognized for innovation in teaching and learning, intensive advising, student-designed majors, narrative assessment, experiential and independent learning and a commitment to social justice.