The Common Reading Program is hosting its final two live Zoom talks of the 2019-20 year on April 28 and 29, both addressing different perspectives on aspects of forced relocation.
On 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 28, Sina Sam, a statewide leader in Asian American and Pacific Islander Community, will be talking about the impacts of family separation and deportation on the AAPI community. She will specifically be talking about how mass incarceration and increased deportation Cambodian American refugees, who are also survivors of genocide in their home country.
At noon on Wednesday, April 29, Melissa Parkhurst from the WSU School of Music will present “To Sing in a Strange Land: Native American Youth Making Music in the Residential Schools.” Parkhurst will address how Native youth have used music to sustain themselves during their forced relocation to federal boarding schools, as well as how music has continued to have impact when they return home.
Both events will be available via Zoom. Visit CommonReading.wsu.edu/calendar/ for the links to these talks.
Sam and Parkhurst’s talks are the concluding presentations from a year-long slate of approximately 50 programs related to the 2019-20 Common Reading book, Refuge: Rethinking Refugee Policy in a Changing World.
Provost Slinker has selected Trevor Noah’s 2016 memoir Born a Crime as the 2020-21 Common Reading book. Faculty and staff interested in considering use of this book in courses or programs can request an e-copy of the book by visiting https://commonreading.wsu.edu/request-a-copy/