Social Justice Events 2017

4 pm, Jan. 15, Performing Arts Building, Room 101
“Reflections of a Holocaust Survivor,” will be presented by Norman Frajman. Frajman was born in the city of Warsaw, Poland, which was occupied by the Germans in 1939.  Norman was only 10 years old at that time. He experienced and witnessed the heroic Warsaw Ghetto uprising in 1943 and together with his mother, sister and other survivors, was taken to the extermination camp of Majdanek where his mother and only sister were murdered, along with extended family numbering more than 100 people.  From Majdanek, Norman was shipped to the Skarzysko Concentration Camp where he worked as a slave laborer in an ammunition factory. The next stop in his survival ordeal was the infamous extermination camp of Buchenwald. His suffering continued in the concentration camp Schlieben. As the Russians were getting closer, he was forced on a Death March. He was liberated at the age of 15 by the Russians and eventually was able to immigrate to the United States. After a long separation, Norman was reunited with his father who had survived the war for years in the Soviet Union. Lecture  free and open to the public. More info at 561-297-2979.

6 pm, January 19, Ritter Art Gallery
Community Justice: The Black Panther Party & Other Civil Rights Movements   - Exhibition and Opening Reception - This exhibition focuses on the evolution and coalition building of youth radical community activist movements that became prominent in the late 1960s and early 1970 through organizations such as the Black Panther Party, The Young Lords, and the American Indian Movement, among others, which exemplify the people’s vanguard for social change. The exhibition includes an extensive collection of underground newspapers, magazines, photographs, audio, films and other documents of these community activist organizations. Exhibition dates: January 20 – March 4, 2017.  More info at 561-297-2966 or  www.fau.edu/galleries .
Image: ©Stephen Shames,2017

4 pm, January 22, Performing Arts Building, PA 101
“The Longest Hated Renewed: Reflections on Today’s Antisemitism.” Alvin H. Rosenfeld, professor of English and Jewish Studies at Indiana University, holds the Irving M. Glazer Chair in Jewish Studies and is Director of the University’s Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. He founded Indiana University’s Borns Jewish Studies Program and served as its director for 30 years. His books include “Confronting the Holocaust: The Impact of Elie Wiesel,” “A Double Dying:  Reflections on Holocaust Literature,” “Imagining Hitler” and “The End of the Holocaust.” In recent years, he has also been writing about contemporary antisemitism, and some of his articles on this subject have evoked intense debate. Professor Rosenfeld has served as an editorial board member of various scholarly journals, including Holocaust and Genocide Studies, as well as a board member and scholarly consultant to various Jewish institutions and organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the Lilly Endowment, the Wexner Heritage Foundation, and the Koret Foundation. He held a five-year Presidential appointment on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council (2002-07) and presently serves on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Executive Committee. Free and open to the public. Free and open to the public. More info at 561-297-2979 .

6:30 pm, February 2, Schmidt Center Gallery
Sharon Daniel: Secret Injustices 2007-2016 - Exhibition and Opening Reception  -  Scholar and artist Sharon Daniel creates digital media art that engages the public in a critical dialogue about crime and punishment and challenges the assumption that imprisonment provides a solution to social problems. Ms. Daniel will introduce her work at the opening. Exhibition dates: February 3 – April 1, 2017.   More info at 561-297-2966 or  www.fau.edu/galleries

8 pm, February 2, University Theatre
Emergency by Daniel Beaty -   Award-winning actor, singer, writer and composer Daniel Beaty portrays a cast of 40 characters including a homeless man, a scientist, a republican business executive, a street vendor and an 11-year old boy from the projects who all respond to the unexpected phenomenon. A slave ship emerges in front of the Statue of Liberty sending New York into a whirlwind of emotion and exploration in this explosive solo tour de force featuring slam poetry, multi-character transformation and song. Daniel Beaty. Free and open to the public. More info at 561-297-3810 or  www.fau.edu/theatre

9:30 – 5 pm, February 5, University Theatre
Elie Wiesel Symposium: A Celebration of Wiesel’s Life and Work
Eight scholars from across the country who have worked with or written about Elie Wiesel will make presentations on everything from “Elie Wiesel and Jewish/Christian Relations” to “Moments of Grace: Remembering Elie Wiesel as a Teacher.” Free and open to the public. More info at 561-297-2979

7 pm, February 9, Ritter Art Gallery
Film Screening and Panel Discussion with Filmmakers Iris Morales and Andrew Padilla
Moderated by Chris Robé, PhD, Film and Media Studies/Literature, Florida Atlantic University. Iris Morales is a New York City filmmaker who came to documentary filmmaking after many years as a community activist, educator and attorney. Andrew Padilla is an Artist, Educator & Independent Journalist born and raised in East Harlem covering displacement in America. Free event. More info at 561-297-2966 or www.fau.edu/galleries

February 10-11, 2017
XI Florida Cervantes Symposium:
“Peace, Justice, and Human Rights in Cervantes’ Works and World”
Keynote speaker:  Friday, February 10, time & location TBA: Professor Steven Hutchinson from the University of Wisconsin Madison and President of the Cervantes Society of America. Professor Hutchinson (Ph. D. University of Chicago, Comparative Literature), is a specialist in early modern Spanish literature. His first book, Cervantine Journeys (1992), investigates the relations between writing and travel, while his second book, Economía Ética en Cervantes (2001), proposes a rethinking of ethics in literary studies. His presentation will deal with displacement, immigration, and exile.  More info at 561-297-3860 or ygamboa@fau.edu 

10 am, February 16, Schmidt Center Gallery
Faculty Panel and Roundtable on the Sharon Daniels Project - Panel will include Wendy Hinshaw, Julie Ward, Becka McKay, Camila Afanador Llach, Jeff Galin, and graduate students. More info at 561-297-3838 or  whinshaw@fau.edu

5:30-6:45 pm, February 23, University Theatre Lobby
Social Justice Exchange - Featuring community organizers, service practitioners and social activists along with FAU organizations and student clubs. The goal is to provide community partners and university members a meeting place that encourages dialogue, the exchange of diverse ideas, and the opportunity to develop mutually beneficially and socially impactful connections and collaborations. This event is free and open to the public. Co-sponsored by the Agora Project. More info at 561-297-4946 or www.fau.edu/pjhr

7 pm, February 23, University Theatre
Angela Davis - Angela Davis is currently the Distinguished Professor Emerita of History of Consciousness and of Feminist Studies at the University of California Santa Cruz. She is also a founding member of Critical Resistance, a national organization dedicated to the dismantling of the “prison industrial complex,” a term which she helped to popularize. She is most concerned with the range of social problems associated with incarceration and the generalized criminalization of those communities that are most affected by poverty and racial discrimination. Her recent books include Abolition Democracy and Are Prisons Obsolete? , a new edition of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass , and a collection of essays titled The Meaning of Freedom . Tickets $10 at www.fauevents.com. Free for FAU Faculty, Staff, Students & Alumni. More info at 561-297-6124.

February 24, Culture and Society Building, RM 301 
Humanities and Social Justice Graduate Symposium
Our 2017 Comparative Studies Student Association Symposium will focus on the intersection of the humanities and social justice, and will take place in conjunction with the visit of distinguished professor emerita and renowned activist Angela Davis to our campus. Continuing our program’s tradition of interdisciplinarity, and taking into consideration the many ways in which the humanities can speak to our current cultural climate, our symposium will address the convergence of various aspects of society, including, but not limited to, the following topics: The Prison Industrial Complex/Marginalized Groups/Civil Rights and Activism/History/Media and Communication/Race Studies/ Social work/Religion/Theology/ Theater/ Art/Dance/Public Health/Environmental Studies/Sociology and Anthropology/Education/Psychology/ Entertainment/Gender Studies/Queer Theory/ Disability Studies/Monstrosity/Game Studies/Popular Culture/ Linguistics/Business/Film/Affect Theory/ Journalism /Memoir and Testimony/Photography/ Mythology and Myth-Making/Folk and Oral Narratives/Speculative Fictions/Science Fiction & Fantasy/Horror/Genre Studies/Global Studies/International Affairs. More info at 561-297-3863 or horswell@fau.edu  

4 pm, March 12, University Theatre
Annual Shemin Trialogue: Listening to or Silencing the Other: A Contemporary Challenge to the Abrahamic Trialogue -  Yossi Klein Halevi of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem; The Reverand Mario Milian of the Diocese of Southeast Florida; and Haroon Moghul, Ph.D. Candidate at Columbia University participate in this annual forum. Free and open to the public. More info at 561-297-2979

2:30 pm, March 26, Electrical Engineering Building, RM 106
Reflecting on an old-new relationship: New documents in Jewish-Catholic Dialogue - Lecture by Rabbi David Fox Sandmel, Director of Interfaith Affairs for the Anti-Defamation League.  From 1998-2001, he was the Jewish Scholar at the Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies in Baltimore.  He coordinated the publication of Dabru Emet: A Jewish Statement on Christians and Christianity . A groundbreaking event that generated international attention in the interfaith community and wide media coverage. Among his books is Irreconcilable Differences? A Learning Resource for Jews and Christians.  Rabbi Sandmel is also involved in Jewish-Muslim dialogue and in the tri-lateral dialogue between Jews, Christians, and Muslims. He received his Doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania. Free event. More information at 561-297-2979 .

March 30 - April 2, 2017
“Affect and Social Justice”
philoSOPHIA: Society for Continental Feminism, 11th Annual Meeting
Florida Atlantic University (FAU), Boca Raton, Florida
Keynote address open to public:  Dr. Sara Ahmed, author of groundbreaking books such as Queer Phenomenology (2006) and The Promise of Happiness ( 2010) will speak on the conference theme of “Affect and Social Justice.”  This year’s theme honors the legacy of Teresa Brennan, who was Schmidt Distinguished Professor of Humanities at FAU—and founder of a groundbreaking PhD for Public Intellectuals—before her untimely death early in 2003. Brennan’s early work, bridging psychodynamics with physics, theorized oppression through the lens of energetics and ‘social pressure’; later, she would extend this to the ‘exhaustion’ of global capitalism, especially to its draining force on people and places marked as ‘resources’ in the global ‘South.’ 561-297-3868;  lguilmette@fau.edu