Genocide Awareness Week Features Talk by Rwandan Survivor
(Posted March 30, 2015)
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HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- From April 5-10, Juniata College will host Genocide Awareness and Action Week, an interdisciplinary program originally organized by students to commemorate the 1994 Rwandan genocide in particular as well as other historical genocides. This year's events will focus on themes of Reconciliation and Survivorship.
All events listed are free and open to the public, except where noted. The week's activities are organized by Juniata students Olivia Millunzi, a junior from Frederick, Md., and Amberle Nickas, a senior from Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
The week's activities will begin at 7 p.m., Sunday, April 5, with the showing of an acclaimed movie, "Rabbit-Proof Fence," in Neff Lecture Hall in the von Liebig Center for Science. "Rabbit-Proof Fence" is a dramatic film starring Kenneth Branagh that depicts Australia's efforts to "assimilate" its aboriginal population into Australian society. Alison Fletcher, associate professor of history, and Polly Walker, assistant professor of peace and conflict studies, will lead the discussion after the film.
On Monday, April 6, at noon in Sill Boardroom in the von Liebig Center for Science, Polly Walker will speak on "Boarding Schools and Cultural Genocide: Testimonies of Native American Students." The talk will detail how boarding schools were used as part of a genocidal policy toward indigenous people in colonized countries. Walker will use testimony from Pennsylvania's Carlisle Indian School. This presentation is closed to the public.
Jeff Bach, director of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College, will speak on "Anabaptist Perspectives on Reconciliation and Healing in Times of Trauma" at 7 p.m., in Neff Lecture Hall in the von Liebig Center for Science. The talk will focus on the 2006 school shooting at West Nickel Mines School as well as how the Church of the Brethren reacted when its Nigerian headquarters was overrun by the terror group Boko Haram.
Tuesday, April 7, Celia Cook-Huffman, professor of conflict resolution at Juniata's Baker Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, will moderate a workshop on how the victims and perpetrators of a genocide can reconcile their differences to find peace, at noon in Sill Boardroom. In the evening, at 7 p.m., the film "Aghet" will be screened. "Aghet" is a German documentary detailing the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Turks during World War I. Historian Alison Fletcher will lead the discussion.
Wednesday, April 8, there will be a panel discussion with three Juniata students, Lucy Noble, a junior from Hanover, Pa., Mori Hitchcock, a junior from Chester, Pa., and Tommy Imbrogno, a junior from Johnsonburg, Pa., on their experiences traveling to Rwanda during the 2015 winter break as part of a Juniata study abroad program.
At 7 p.m. a public lecture by Eugenie Mukeshimana, educational outreach coordinator at the Center for the Study of Genocide at Rutgers University, and a Rwandan genocide survivor, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 8 in Neff Lecture Hall in the von Liebig Center for Science.
There are no public events Thursday, April 9.
James Borgardt, professor of physics, will speak on the use of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and current issues about nuclear weapon safety at 12:10 p.m., Friday, April 10, in Sill Boardroom. Later that day, the Juniata chapter of Hillel will hold its "Freedom Seder" at 6 p.m., in the ballroom of Ellis Hall. The seder dinner is free, but tickets are required for entry. Tickets are available at Unity House and at the information desk in Ellis Hall.
Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.