Northwestern Events Calendar

Feb
28
2019

Nations of Migrants: Panel and Conversation

When: Thursday, February 28, 2019
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM CT

Where: Block Museum of Art, Mary and Leigh, 40 Arts Circle Drive , Evanston, IL 60208 map it

Audience: Faculty/Staff - Student - Public - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students

Cost: Free and open to all

Contact: Lindsay Bosch   (847) 467-4602

Group: Block Museum of Art

Category: Global & Civic Engagement

Description:

As explored in the Block Museum exhibitions Caravans of Gold and The Leopard (Western Union: Small Boats), nations around the world have long been shaped by migration. This program will examine urgent issues of migration in our current moment and their connections to our place in the US, Chicago, and Evanston. Drawing upon a range of perspectives, we will consider issues such as the ethics of witnessing, self-reliance and resilience, and responsibility in a time of refugee crisis. Through this discussion, we interrogate the legal, social, political, and human implications of our histories as nations of migrants.


Galya Ben-Arieh will contextualize the US as a “nation of migrants,” and speak to the range of paths by which people come here (including religious persecution, political asylum, economic opportunity, etc). Within this, she will bring to bear her experience as an immigration attorney, organizer and scholar, including founding and directing the Center for Forced Migration Studies at Northwestern (2011-18) and working currently on the development of the Refugee Knowledge Hub.

Seemi Choudry, in her role as Director of the Office of New Americans (ONA) for the City of Chicago’s Mayor’s Office, will focus on what Chicago is like as for resettlement—how the government and community provide different opportunities to immigrants, and how our structures and systems challenge and serve.

Mirabel Womila (Wiryen), will speak from her own experience, and represent the work of United African Organization (UAO), a coalition of African community-based organizations that promotes social and economic justice, civic participation, and empowerment of African immigrants and refugees in Illinois.

Given the recent family separation issues at the U.S. Mexico border and hard line stance on unaccompanied minors and families seeking asylum, Raia Stoicheva, Staff Attorney for Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights, will apply her unique perspective to address what is happening to children, both at the U.S./Mexico border and here in Chicago.

This program is co-presented by The Block Museum, the Program of African Studies, and Refugee Knowledge Hub, a community-based partnership providing leadership, knowledge, and support for refugees and asylees in our community.

Register Add to Calendar

Add Event To My Group:

Please sign-in