Moving Subjects: Migration, Mobility and Immobility Week is a week-long series of events that showcases the cutting-edge research and creative work of Ohio State’s arts and humanities faculty, students and community partners. The week highlights the power of creative practices and humanities methods to address critical local and global challenges.
Moving Subjects Week will begin on Monday, October 14, with a celebration of Indigenous People's Day and continue throughout the week with music and dance performances, talks, book readings and a graduate and undergraduate forum. Moving Subjects Week will culminate with a community celebration for Day of the Dead on Saturday, October 19.
Becca Heller, founder and director of the International Refugee Assistance Project and MacArthur Genius Award recipient, will provide the keynote address on Thursday, October 17, in the Blackwell Ballroom (4 p.m. reception, 4:30-6 p.m. talk and Q&A).
This event is organized by the Migration, Mobility and Immobility Project of the Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme. Please direct questions to Faculty Fellow, Theodora Dragostinova (.1) and check back for updates and specific schedule information.
Event Schedule
Monday, October 14, 2:30-4 p.m.
Sullivant Hall Rotunda and Collaboratory
A Celebration of Indigenous Peoples' Day
Coordinated with the two recently launched GAHDT projects, Indigenous Ohio: Ohio State and Native Arts and Humanities Past and Present and K’acha Willaykuna: Andean and Amazonian Indigenous Arts and Humanities Collaboration, this event features a presentation on the art of Potawatami Basketry (as practiced by the Pokagon Band of the Potawatami Tribe) and the traveling national pop-up exhibit of Andean and Amazonian Cultural Artifacts. Contacts: Daniel Rivers (.91), Department of History and Michelle Wibbelsman (.1), Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
Tuesday, October 15, 4-5:30 p.m.
MLK Room, Hale Hall
Four Women: The Diasporic Art of Josette Bushell-Mingo
A musical and conversational evening with renowned Afro-British/Swedish artist, activist and cultural advocate Josette Bushell-Mingo, tracing her personal and professional journey as a black stage and film actor, director and vocalist in contemporary Europe. In addition to a public discussion of her diasporic life and work, the event will feature select performances from Bushell-Mingo’s solo stage play, Nina: A Story About Me and Nina Simone. Contact: Ryan Skinner (.176), Departments of Music and AAAS.
Wednesday, October 16, 4-5 p.m.
Sullivant Hall Rotunda and Collaboratory
Graduate Student Research and Creative Activity Forum and Reception
This poster presentation will feature the work of graduate students who are the recipients of the Migration, Mobility and Immobility Project’s Research and Creative Activity Grants. Contact: Yana Hashamova (.1), Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures.
Thursday, October 17; 4 p.m. reception; 4:30-6 p.m. talk
Blackwell Ballroom
Keynote address: Becca Heller, "Refugee Rights at a Crossroads"
Becca Heller is the co-founder and executive director of the International Refugee Assistance Project, which provides legal advocacy for refugees and displaced people through free direct legal representation, advocacy and litigation. In recognition of these efforts, the MacArthur Foundation named Heller a 2018 Genius Award Recipient for her work “to defend the rights of refugees and improve protection outcomes for many of the world’s most at-risk populations.”
In this keynote address, Heller will discuss her personal experiences and the work IRAP has done to explain how and why refugees and migrants seek safety in third countries, what processes and legal norms are available to them and how perceptions of “crisis” are being politicized to keep people out. Engaging the dominant narratives about who refugees are, this talk provides a vision for how to confront rising xenophobia around the world by providing pathways to safety for vulnerable people.
Friday, October 18, 12:30-2 p.m.
Sullivant Hall Collaboratory
Book reading and discussion: Kapka Kassabova, Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe
Award-winning author Kapka Kassabova leads the discussion of her haunting travelogue documenting the borderlands of Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria, where past injustices and current dilemmas powerfully converge to tell the story of human perseverance in the face of adversity – from wartime devastation to Cold War desperation to contemporary global crises — the border is a meeting places of many cultures and a venue of human sadness, longing and hope. Contact: Theodora Dragostinova (.1), Department of History.
Friday, October 18, 2:30-3:45 p.m.
Eisner Room 205, Sullivant Hall
Moving Subjects: The Travels of Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Observances
This roundtable conversation explores the cultural forms associated with migrations, placemaking, memorial practices and the local iterations of the Mexican celebration of the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). This day – rooted in pre-Hispanic cultures – has seen diverse interpretations and manifestations since colonial times. Our panel kicks off the two-day community event that showcases Latinx "muertos" traditions in the Midwest and beyond. Contact: Paloma Martinez-Cruz (.2), Department of Spanish and Portuguese; Joan Flores-Villalobos (.1), Department of History.
Saturday, October 19, 11 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Gateway Film Center and Sullivant Hall
Ya Vienen los Muertos (Here Come the Dead): Community Celebration of the Day of the Dead
Organized by the outreach team of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, this community event is particularly aimed at families as it features crafts, face painting, lunch and the screening of the film Coco (2017). Following a procession from the Gateway to the Ohio State campus, the celebration will continue with a dance performance, lecture-demonstration, pop-up exhibit and altar reception at Sullivant Hall. Contact: Paloma Martinez-Cruz (.2), Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
Saturday, October 19, 2:30-3 p.m.
Billy Ireland Cartoon Library Plaza, Sullivant Hall
How Movement Moves: Dancing Across Borders, from West Africa to the Americas
This event showcases an innovative community collaboration between Dance Brazil, an undergraduate student tour group at the Department of Dance that emphasizes dance migrations of the African diaspora within the Americas, and Suzan Bradford Kounta, artistic director of the Thiossane Institute and director of the Lincoln Theater who also teaches West African dance classes at Ohio State. Featuring an original musical score played live by Thiossane’s musicians and a lecture-demonstration explaining the dances and their contexts, this event will also reach out to members of Columbus’s African American community. Contact: Susan Hadley (.4), Department of Dance.
Saturday, October 19, 3-5 p.m.
Sullivant Hall
Reception with Altar and Pop-up Exhibit: Latinx Comics Past, Present and Future
Contact: Pamela Espinosa de los Monteros (1.), University Libraries (exhibit); Paloma Martinez-Cruz (.2), Department of Spanish and Portuguese (other events).
Organized by the Migration, Mobility and Immobility Project of the Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme
