5th Annual Ray Warren Multicultural Symposium (2008)

November 12-14, 2008

Art Exhibit, Stamm Dining Room, Templeton Campus Center

Curated by LC students Sara Caldwell-Kan, Natalie Paden, and Morgan Padgett, this art show featured work by LC students and artists from the Portland community. In these works, the artists shared their experiences with and personal feelings about diverse aspects of migration, including forced, free, and illegal immigration, religious and cultural migration, and the hardships suffered by refugees when moving between countries. We hope viewers left with a clearer idea of the impacts of migration on individuals from around the world. 

Student Co-Chairs: Myriah Heddens ’09, Callie Mae Riley ’10, and Maile Speakman ’10

Wednesday, November 12

Featured Event: Nowhere on the Map: A Landscape of Belonging to the Hmong

3:30-5:00 pm, Templeton Campus Center, Council Chamber

Kao Kalia Yang, author of The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir.

Introduced by Pauls Toutonghi, LC Assistant Professor of English

Born in Thailand’s Ban Vinai Refugee Camp in 1980, Kao Kalia Yang immigrated to Minnesota when she was six years old. A graduate of Carleton College and Columbia University, Yang is the co-founder of Words Wanted, an agency dedicated to helping immigrants with writing, translating, and business services. She has recently released The Place Where We Were Born, a film documenting the experiences of Hmong American refugees.

Keynote Lecture: Spirits in the Material World: Migrants and the Change they Bring

7:30 pm, Templeton Campus Center, Council Chamber

Rubén Martínez, Fletcher Jones Chair in Literature and Writing, Loyola Marymount University

Introduced by Maile Speakman, LC student and Symposium co-chair

Rubén Martínez is an award-winning journalist, author, and performer. His books include The New Americans (2004) and Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail (2002), and his essays and reporting have appeared in a wide range of publications. In addition, he has appeared as a commentator on numerous public programs, and he received an Emmy for his work on a PBS series. He has also performed and recorded with bands such as Concrete Blonde and the Roches, and he has been active in the spoken word and performance scenes for over 20 years.

 

Thursday, November 13

1:30-3:00 pm, Stamm, Templeton Center
Dislocated Selves: Refugees and Human Trafficking
Moderator: Tim Mechlinski, LC Assistant Professor of Sociology
Callie Mae Riley, LC student and Symposium co-chair, “Hmonglish, Jingle Bells, and the Negotiation of Bicultural Identity”
Scott Parsons, executive director, Daywalka Foundation, “Involuntary Migrations: Problems and Strategies in South Asia and Mexico”
Rana Muhammed, Iraqi refugee, instructor of Arabic at PSU

3:30-5:00 pm, Stamm, Templeton Center
Local Landscapes: Migrations to Oregon
Moderator: Elliott Young, LC Director of Ethnic Studies and Associate Professor of History
Kayse Jama, executive director, Center for Intercultural Organizing
Leopoldo Rodriguez, Associate Professor of International Studies and Economics, Portland State University
Lucilene Lira, labor organizer and activist in Brazil and the US, “Community Organizing in the Brazilian Amazon and in the Pacific Northwest: Experiences from a Brazilian Migrant”
Waddah Sofan, Palestinian immigrant and member of Muslim Educational Trust, “Barriers Immigrants and Refugees Face in Oregon” THIS PANELIST HAS WITHDRAWN FROM THE SESSION

Keynote Event: Race Monologues: Exploring Our Countless Footsteps

7:30 pm, Templeton Campus Center, Stamm Dining Room

In poetry and prose, Lewis & Clark students uncover faded footprints in the journey to understand race, ethnicity, and identity.

Featuring Lenida Bilanovic, Parasa Chanramy, Myles Creed, Nico Jose, Yollie Keeton, Keletso Maine, Norma Rodriguez, Brenda Salas Neves, and Susan Su.

Friday, November 14

11:45 am-1:15 pm, Thayer, Templeton Center
Brownbag Lunch: Occupational Awareness: Social Justice Careers
Join us for a conversation about career options addressing immigration and social justice.
Moderator: Andy Palmer, LC Civic Engagement Coordinator
Beth Poteet, organizer, Witness for Peace Northwest
Elizabeth Swager, director, SweatFree Northwest
Eliana Machuca, organizer, Portland Jobs with Justice
Romeo Sosa, executive director, Portland VOZ
Lizzie Fussell, LC alumna, Portland VOZ

1:30-3:00 pm, Stamm, Templeton Center
Ties That Bind, Ties That Break: Migration and Shifting Family Structures
Moderator: Myriah Heddens, LC student and Symposium co-chair
Juliet Stumpf, Associate Professor of Law, Lewis & Clark Law School, “Families at the Forefront of Immigration Enforcement: The Impact of Workplace Raids”
Marcela Mendoza, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Oregon, “Challenges of Raising Bilingual and Bicultural Latino Children in Oregon”
Tatiana Meléndez, Doctoral candidate, LC Graduate School of Counseling Psychology, Family Therapy Program, “Working with Latino Immigrant Families”
Amina Hussein, case manager, Refugee and Immigrant Family Strengthening Program (RIFS), Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO)

3:30-5:00 pm, Stamm, Templeton Center
Blending Tastes and Mixing Sounds: Journeys of Cuisine and Music
Moderator: Reiko Hillyer, Visiting Assistant Professor of History
Marie Sarita Gaytán, LC Mellon Post-doctoral Fellow in Latin American Studies, “Performing Authenticity: Ethnicity and Mexican Restaurants”
Andy Ricker, chef and owner, Pok Pok/Whiskey Soda Lounge
Franya Berkman, LC Assistant Professor of Music, “Mapping Musical Migrations: How Ethnomusicologists Study Diasporic Music Cultures”
Katelyn Hale, LC student, activist in Real Food Challenge

Keynote Lecture: Immigration and the Anxious Terrain of the American West: Revising the Not-So-Useful Distinction between Old-Timers and Newcomers

7:30 pm, Templeton Campus Center, Council Chamber

Patricia Nelson Limerick, Professor of History and director of the Center of the American West, University of Colorado at Boulder; author of The Legacy of Conquest

Introduced by Jane Hunter, LC Professor of History and Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences

 

Patricia Nelson Limerick has dedicated her career to bridging the gap between academics and the general public and to demonstrating the benefits of applying historical perspective to contemporary dilemmas and conflicts. An award-winning teacher and scholar, Limerick has written numerous works, but she is especially recognized for her pathbreaking book The Legacy of Conquest (1987), which transformed the field of Western American history. She is also a prolific essayist who has advised many documentary films and worked on many public projects through the Center of the American West, which she co-founded in 1986 and currently directs at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

9:00 pm-Midnight, Trail Room, Templeton Center
Join us in celebrating the end of this year’s symposium.
Live music by Ramsey y los Montunos

Sponsored by Associated Students of Lewis & Clark College and the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.