Memory and Memorial</h1> <article> <h1>Memory and Memorial</h1> <p>hhempste — Mon, 04 May 2020 18:16:54 +0000</p> <span>Memory and Memorial</span> <span><span>hhempste</span></span> <span><time datetime="2020-05-04T14:16:54-04:00" title="Monday, May 4, 2020 - 14:16">Mon, 05/04/2020 - 14:16</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>After Kent State University antiwar protestors were killed by members of the Ohio National Guard on May 4, 1970, 91ֱ�� responded by hosting ‘‘Kent State in Exile’’ and memorializing the tragedy with a performance of Mozart's Requiem at the National Cathedral.</p> <p>The <em>91ֱ�� Alumni Magazin</em>e revisits the events on the 50th anniversary in its next issue, and in <a href="https://new.oberlin.edu/oam/memory-and-memorial/" target="_blank">this online special feature</a> <span aria-hidden="true" class="fa fa-external-link"></span>.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2020-05-04T12:00:00Z">Mon, 05/04/2020 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Communications Staff</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2368">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2575">Activism</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2496">91ֱ�� History</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2410">Students</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">91ֱ�� College Archives</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Counternarratives Installation Examines Bias in the News Media</h1> <p>anagy — Tue, 23 Oct 2018 18:54:42 +0000</p> <span>Counternarratives Installation Examines Bias in the News Media</span> <span><span>anagy</span></span> <span><time datetime="2018-10-23T14:54:42-04:00" title="Tuesday, October 23, 2018 - 14:54">Tue, 10/23/2018 - 14:54</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>On October 29, visiting artist Alexandra Bell will begin mounting large-scale works on the exteriors of two campus buildings—Terrell Main Library and the Allen Memorial Art Museum—as part of her <em>Counternarratives</em> project, which calls attention to how issues around race and violence are reported in the <em>New York Times</em>.</p> <p>Since 2016, Bell has used walls in public locations to mount photo-based works that dissect news coverage, ranging from police violence to athletic competitions. The works reveal biases and assumptions about race, gender, and power. The Brooklyn-based artist, who holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University, urges viewers to think critically about the circulation and consumption of news and the politics of the narratives presented.</p> <p>A number of other campuses have hosted Bell’s <em>Counternarratives</em> project, including Bennington College in Vermont, Pomona College in California, and the University of Kansas.</p> <figure class="captioned-image"> <figcaption>Alexandra Bell. Credit: Béatrice de Géa</figcaption> </figure> <p>“Bell’s work is viscerally powerful, and I knew the first time I saw one of her <em>Counternarratives</em> that I wanted to bring her to 91ֱ��,” says Andrea Gyorody, Ellen Johnson ’33 Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. “What she’s doing, across the visual arts, journalism, and activism is timely and critically important. It’s difficult work that 91ֱ�� students are ready to engage on all levels, and I hope it sparks conversations in and outside of the classroom.”</p> <p>Bell’s 2017 work, <em>A Teenager With Promise</em>, will be installed on the façade of Mudd Center, which houses the Terrell Main Library. The work responds to news reporting of the 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri. A second work, <em>Charlottesville</em>, will be mounted on the Venturi Addition, which conjoins the Allen Memorial Art Museum and the Department of Art. This diptych deconstructs a front page <em>New York Times </em>report on an August 2017 march by torch-bearing white nationalists and the large counter protests that ensued. </p> <p><a href="http://www2.oberlin.edu/amam/Counternarratives.htm">Both installations</a> are on view from October 30 through December 21, 2018. </p> <p>Bell will discuss her project at <a href="https://calendar.oberlin.edu/event/counternarratives">5:30 p.m. Monday, October 29</a>, in the Hallock Auditorium of the Adam J. Lewis Center for Environmental Studies. The next day, Bell will facilitate a “Lunch and Learn” session with approximately 25 91ֱ�� College students and will discuss journalism, ethics, implicit bias, racism, privilege, and the critical reading of both texts and images (and how they interact with one another). </p> <p><em>Counternarratives</em> is presented by the Allen Memorial Art Museum and the 91ֱ�� College Libraries in conjunction with <a href="http://www2.oberlin.edu/amam/Radically%20Ordinary.html">Radically Ordinary: Scenes from Black Life in America Since 1968</a>, an exhibition curated by Gyorody.</p> <p>Coinciding with the exhibition, the museum will host “Creating Space: Curating Black Art Now,” a daylong symposium on Thursday, November 2. The keynote address of the symposium will take place during the museum’s First Thursday event at 5:45 p.m. on November 1. The keynote speaker will be Naima J. Keith, deputy director of the California African American Museum, Los Angeles. In addition, the Friends of the 91ֱ�� College Library will present a lecture by Maria Balinsky at 8 p.m. Saturday, November 3. Balinska is co-CEO and editor of the United States edition of <a href="https://theconversation.com/us"><em>The Conversation</em></a>, a nonprofit committed to transparency and credibility in news reporting.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2018-10-23T12:00:00Z">Tue, 10/23/2018 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Megan Harding</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Brooklyn-based artist Alexandra Bell will mount large-scale works on two campus buildings, prompting viewers to think critically about how race and violence are portrayed in the <em>New York Times.</em></p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2591">Art Installation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2378">Allen Memorial Art Museum</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2575">Activism</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/art" hreflang="und">Studio Art</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Artist Alexandra Bell’s Counternarratives exhibition at Pomona College in California.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Claremont Colleges Library</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Traveling Exhibit Examines 91ֱ��’s Social Justice Legacy in World War II</h1> <p>tsloan — Fri, 02 Feb 2018 19:30:48 +0000</p> <span>Traveling Exhibit Examines 91ֱ��’s Social Justice Legacy in World War II</span> <span><span>tsloan</span></span> <span><time datetime="2018-02-02T14:30:48-05:00" title="Friday, February 2, 2018 - 14:30">Fri, 02/02/2018 - 14:30</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p dir="ltr">91ֱ��’s history of embodying leadership and empathy in times of political and social turmoil makes the title of the upcoming traveling exhibit, <em><a href="/events/special-events/courage-and-compassion?utm_source=go.oberlin.edu&utm_campaign=Special%20Events&utm_medium=Multiple%20Media&utm_content=Courage-and-Compassion">Courage and Compassion</a></em>, especially fitting. The show, which explores the lived experiences of Japanese Americans during World War II — including Pearl Harbor, removal and incarceration, life in internment camps, and Japanese American veterans’ post-war struggle for redress — opens Saturday, February 17 in the Richard D. Baron ’64 Art Gallery.</p> <p>The interactive exhibit has been touring since July 2017 and will eventually be displayed in 10 cities. Each pit stop was selected for the specific role it played in supporting Japanese people during the 1940s. Planned by the Go for Broke Foundation, organizers asked 91ֱ�� to participate because of the <a href="http://www2.oberlin.edu/alummag/fall2013/internmentstudents.html">school’s decision</a> to recruit and admit nearly 40 Japanese American students during the war, and for <em>Nisei</em> (second-generation Japanese American) students’ activism. The local iteration of <em>Courage and Compassion</em> features permanent fixtures from the national show interlaced with pieces of 91ֱ��-centric history.</p> <p>“This exhibit reminds us of a history that is extraordinarily relevant today,” says Renee Romano, the Robert. S. Danforth professor of history at 91ֱ�� College and project co-director. “It offers us stories of local people who rejected wartime hysteria about Japanese Americans and who insisted that the United States live up to its democratic ideals. Today, as the nation again debates issues of immigration, citizenship, and belonging, it is vital that we grapple with America’s checkered history of exclusion.”</p> <p>Romano is spearheading the project with Julie Min, an 91ֱ�� resident and former exhibit developer who previously worked on public history projects about Japanese American internment. The two have arranged for an <a href="/events/special-events/courage-and-compassion/programming-schedule">event series</a> consisting of academic lectures, documentary film screenings, a performance by San Jose Taiko, and talks by internment survivors, including Alice Takemoto ’47, to accompany the show. Alumni from the Network of 91ֱ�� Asian Alumni are also gathering to visit the exhibit on March 10.</p> <p>“We thought about 91ֱ��’s particular history, both in its activism and its engagement with political issues of the day, but also its history of offering sanctuary to people who are vulnerable,” Romano says of how she and Min approached the exhibit. “It’s not like everyone at the time agreed or that these students came here and didn’t face any issues, but they did find that most people at both the college and in the town supported them, which is what makes this place very powerful. People stand up for each other in very interesting ways.”</p> <p>Romano has prioritized making the exhibit accessible not just to the college community, but to local schools. All of 91ֱ��’s eighth graders will take field trips to the exhibit, and thanks to careful coordination and grant funding, each of the 18 fifth-grade classes from Lorain County will visit as well. Since there are so many classes coming from Lorain, these students will split into smaller groups upon arrival with one class spending an hour at Courage and Compassion and the other going to the Allen Memorial Art Museum, then vice versa. Afterward, the classes will congregate for lunch at <a href="/studioc">StudiOC</a>, where they will buddy up with 91ֱ�� students to learn more about college life.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It's been a point for us to make the field trip engaging,” says Ava Prince ’18, the exhibit’s field trip coordinator. “We’re doing an activity where students have to ‘pack a bag’ according to the restrictions placed on incarcerated Japanese Americans — no pets, no cameras, and so on. With the 91ֱ�� students, I think it will be especially interesting to see our community portion of the exhibit, and for them to have a geographic connection to the past and take pride in their community.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The first event associated with Courage and Compassion will take place Monday, February 12, when professors from the classics, comparative American studies, history, and Africana studies departments host the panel, “What is Sanctuary? From International Historical Concept to 91ֱ��’s Present.” Transforming the project’s lofty vision into a reality also required dedicated assistance from student researchers, faculty members from several academic departments, the deans offices, the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs, the 91ֱ�� College Library, the Office of Communications, 91ֱ�� College Taiko, the 91ֱ�� Heritage Center, and 91ֱ�� Shansi.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2018-02-02T12:00:00Z">Fri, 02/02/2018 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Tyler Sloan '17</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p><em>Courage and Compassion: Our Shared Story of the Japanese American World War II Experience</em> explores 91ֱ��’s role in providing sanctuary for Japanese American students during a tumultuous period of United States history.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2575">Activism</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2578">Art Exhibition</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2354">Campus Life</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2398">Community Education</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2366">Guest Artists & Speakers</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25381">History</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25336">East Asian Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/history" hreflang="und">History</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/east-asian-studies" hreflang="und">East Asian Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/comparative-american-studies" hreflang="und">Comparative American Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Kenji Okuda (back row, second from left), a University of Washington student who arrived here from an incarceration camp, was elected student body president of 91ֱ�� in 1943.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Courtesy of 91ֱ�� College Archives</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> </main></body></html>