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How can artists and scholars help the nation contend with the peril in which we find ourselves?ÌýThe 2020 US presidential race was one of the most politically and ideologically divisive and contentious races that we’ve ever seen. And as the events of January 6, 2021 have illustrated, the nation remains divided to the point where political leaders at the highest level are challenging election results without any evidence or basis in reality and a largely white group of insurrectionists tried to overthrow the US government. Our humanities centers, located in three different states that also have a history of divided state government, have brought together three artist-scholars to reflect on the cultural, social, and political fall-out from the 2020 election—a fall-out that we will undoubtedly continue to feel the ramifications of long after the January 6, 2021Ìýinauguration—and to imagine paths forward.

On Wednesday, January 27th at 3:30 MT (4:30 CT/5:30 ET), the Center for Humanities & the Arts participatedÌýin a joint collaboration among Carolina Public Humanities (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies (University of Iowa) to feature humanities scholars discussing the state of culture, politics, and society in the aftermath of a tumultuous 2020.Ìý

The featured speakers wereÌýRuth Ellen Kocher from ²ÊÃñ±¦µä,ÌýMalinda Maynor Lowery from UNC Chapel Hill, andÌýChristopher Merrill from the University of Iowa.Ìý

This event will took place over Zoom. .

Ruth Ellen KocherÌýisÌýSenior Associate Dean of Program Initiatives at ²ÊÃñ±¦µä ²¹²Ô»åÌýthe author ofÌýdomina Un/bluedÌý(Tupelo Press 2013),ÌýOne Girl BabylonÌý(New Issues Press 2003),ÌýWhen the Moon Knows You’re Wandering, winner of the Green Rose Prize in Poetry (New Issues Press 2002), ²¹²Ô»åÌýDesdemona’s Fire,Ìýwinner of the Naomi Long Madget Award for African American Poets (Lotus Press 1999). Her poems have been translated into Persian in the Iranian literary magazine,Ìý³§³ó±ð’r,Ìýand have appeared or are forthcoming in various anthologies including, Angles of Ascent: A Norton Anthology of Contemporary African American Poets, Black Nature, From the Fishouse: An Anthology of Poems that Sing, Rhyme, Resound, Syncopate, Alliterate, and Just Plain Sound Great, An Anthology for Creative Writers: The Garden of ForkingPaths, IOU: New Writing On Money, New Bones: Contemporary Black Writing in America. She has taught poetry writing for the University of Missouri, Southern Illinois University, the New England College Low Residency MFA program, the Indiana Summer Writer’s workshop, and Washington University’s Summer Writing program.

Malinda Maynor Lowery is a Professor of History at UNC-Chapel Hill and Director of the Center for the Study of the American South. She is a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. Her second book,ÌýThe Lumbee Indians: An American Struggle, was published by UNC Press in September 2018. The book is a survey of Lumbee history from the eighteenth century to the present, written for a general audience. Her first book,ÌýLumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South: Race, Identity, and the Making of a NationÌý(UNC Press, 2010), won several awards, including Best First Book of 2010 in Native American and Indigenous Studies and the Labriola American Indian Center National Book Prize from Arizona State University. She has written over fifteen book chapters or articles, on topics including American Indian migration and identity, school desegregation, federal recognition, religious music, and foodways, and has published essays in the New York Times, Oxford American, The North Star, and Scalawag Magazine. She has won fellowships and grants from the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Sundance Institute, the Ford Foundation, and others. She has produced documentary films, including the Peabody Award-winningÌýA Chef’s LifeÌý(5 seasons on PBS), the Emmy-nominatedÌýPrivate ViolenceÌý(broadcast on HBO in 2014),ÌýIn the Light of ReverenceÌý(broadcast on PBS in 2001), and two short films,ÌýReal IndianÌý(1996), ²¹²Ô»åÌýSounds of FaithÌý(1997), both of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

Christopher Merrill has published six collections of poetry, includingÌýWatch Fire, for which he received the Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets; many edited volumes and books of translations; and five works of nonfiction, among them,ÌýOnly the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan WarsÌý²¹²Ô»åÌýThings of the Hidden God: Journey to the Holy Mountain.ÌýHis latest prose book,ÌýThe Tree of the Doves: Ceremony, Expedition, War, chronicles travels in Malaysia, China and Mongolia, and the Middle East. His writings have been translated into twenty-five languages; his journalism appears widely; his honors include a Chevalier from the French government in the Order of Arts and Letters. As director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, Merrill has conducted cultural diplomacy missions to over forty countries. He serves on the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO, and in April 2012 President Obama appointed him to the National Council on the Humanities.

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