Fall/Winter 2003-04
New, Nifty & Noteworthy
- Patterning America
- Coming attraction... Coexistence
- Taking it to the streets
- It's alive! The WBAQ celebrates
- Building community through education
Patterning America
Photo by Terry Faust
What comes to mind when you picture a mosaic? A random mix of media? An artfully constructed multi-colored pattern? To three University researchers, "mosaic" describes American society, a society made up of culturally distinct groups and individuals.
Sociology professors Douglas Hartmann, Penny Edgell, and Joe Gerteis are the primary investigators for the American Mosaic Project, a three-year research endeavor that looks at prejudice, discrimination, diversity, solidarity, and identity through the lens of race and religion in the United States.
The project, sponsored by the David Edelstein Family Foundation, includes a national phone survey, in-depth interviews, and field work in selected locations throughout the country. The survey poses questions about how Americans understand the nature and consequences of racial and religious diversity in their own lives and for society as a whole. The fieldwork will include research on local organizations and groups to identify how these groups experience and deal with issues related to race and religion.
Each researcher brought to the project his or her own area of expertise: Hartmann focuses on race, Edgell on religion, and Gerteis on social class. The joining of these three minds has produced something none imagined possible. "It's been satisfying to learn from two colleagues who know a lot about issues I care about but have not had a lot of time to learn about," says Edgell. Hartmann agrees, saying that this project has been an "opportunity that pushed him to think in new ways."
Although the project is far from finished, the researchers are confident that this data will be of major importance to the understanding of what Americans think defines an "American."
"If you want to understand inequality in this society, if you want to understand debates about affirmative action, racism, and povertyand how Americans think about these things, I think you'll want to take a look at this project," says Edgell.
"These are topics that everyone cares about listen to the radio," say Gerteis. "Whether you're listening to 'Talk of the Nation' or Rush Limbaugh, whatever the political outlook, issues of diversity and national solidarity are what people want to talk about."
Katie Anderson, a senior in English and journalism, is an intern in the CLA Office of External Relations.
Coming attraction... Coexistence
In May and June, with support from the Regis Foundation and Allianz Insurance Company and in partnership with the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, CLA is hosting Coexistence, a worldwide traveling exhibition originating in Museum on the Seam, Jerusalem, Israel the result of an international juried competition. Large posters will be displayed outdoors in both Twin Cities. The exhibition has appeared in Berlin, Zurich, Copenhagen and other European cities as well as in U.S. cities. Related events will be held on campus. FFI: www.chgs.umn.edu.
Taking it to the streets
Photo by Kathy Easthagen
"Listen to the voice of the affected": That's what Kathleen Ganley tells the students in her service learning class. And it's become the class's motto.
A few years ago, Ganley, a teaching specialist, decided she wanted to do something about the problems facing the Twin Cities Latino community.
"I could see that [the Latino population] was growing and I saw a lot of needs. I also saw that our students didn't have much access to this community and didn't have much understanding. I really thought mutual teaching and understanding could benefit them both," she says.
So Ganley developed an experimental class, Spanish 3401: Service Learning in the Latino Community. From one section, the class has burgeoned to three, and today, demand is so high that students must apply to get in.
In the classroom, Ganley leads students in discussions of such issues as immigration, racism, economic discrimination, and global politics. Then students take their classroom learning to their service-learning sites.
Some students affiliate with social service agencies, such as Centro, tutoring Spanish-speaking pre-school children, working in women's programs, helping with job programs, and working in medical clinics. Others work at local elementary schools, such as Aurora, a charter school for mostly Latino children. Many teach English through such local organizations as the Resource Center for the Americas; others teach computer skills at Aprendamos Computacion.
"It is very important to look at [issues facing immigrants] from the academic point of view," says Ganley. "But if you really want to learn about this community, if you really want to learn about discrimination and what it is like to live in this country not knowing the language, you need to talk to the people who are affected by those things."
It's alive! The WBAQ celebrates
Photo by Terry Faust
The West Bank Arts Quarter (WBAQ) and the new Regis Center for Art celebrated their grand opening October 10-12 with a series of spectacular public events.
On Friday, the Arts Quarter Collective held its third annual fall arts festival this year called "Scribble This!" in homage to the edgy new Arts Quarter logo.
Embracing the spirit of collaboration among the arts, the students created a mix of pieces that combined dance and video, dance and visual art, an art installation with a parade of spaceships made out of post-consumer waste, and much more. An end-of-evening iron pour, "Crosspollination," lit up the sky and brought together dancers and iron sculptors.
On Saturday, the new Regis Center for Art opened with a gala party. Many old friends alumni and colleagues joined donors, faculty, and staff to enjoy hearty hors d'oeuvres and take in the "Art Moves" faculty exhibition in the new Katherine Nash Gallery, dance performances by U students, and music by the School of Music steel drum band and jazz and string ensembles.
The weekend was capped by a Sunday open house throughout the arts quarter. Students, staff, and faculty came together to showcase arts quarter offerings with dance performances in the Barker Center, opera and piano performance in Ferguson Hall, "Shakespeare Games" by B.F.A. students in Rarig Center, and video showings and architect-guided building tours in the Regis Center.
There's lots more to come! Coming attractions include: the 4th Minnesota Print Biennial, Nash Gallery, Regis Center for Art (through Feb. 19); University Theatre's Macbeth, at Rarig Center (Jan. 29-Feb. 8); Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Art (Feb. 19-22); and "On the Edge VI," an exploration of the collaborative realms of dance and theatre (Feb. 26-28).
For more information about arts quarter events, go to http://artsquarter.umn.edu.
Building community through education
Photo by Diana Watters
Jennifer Pierce knows what it takes to build a solid community: communication, compassion, and reciprocity. Raised in a southwest steel mill town, where working-class Latinos mixed with wealthy WASPs, Pierce says she always felt a sense of community.
The Twin Cities is a different story. Immigrants from Somalia, Laos, Cambodia, Ecuador, Uruguay, and elsewhere have formed thriving Twin Cities communities but these communities tend to be isolated from each other and from the larger community. Pierce, professor of American studies and director of the Center for Advanced Feminist Studies (CAFS), wants to see Minnesota communities become more like the one she grew up in. So with colleagues Catherine Ceniza-Choy and Rod Ferguson (American studies), Erika Lee (American studies and history), and Helga Leitner (geography) she is leading an initiative titled Gender, Migration, and Global Change.
The initiative was conceived during a brainstorm of faculty and community members in summer 2002. Its objective is to engage faculty members, community leaders, and activists to address, and educate the public on, issues that beset immigrant communities. It also will work to influence public policy on issues that affect immigrant communities and support development of literacy, citizenship, and health resources.
"There's a part of this country that celebrates us all as immigrants, and then there's another that shows distrust and hostility of immigrants," Pierce says. "What makes this country strong is its diversity. At the same time, with diversity comes violence, racism, and resentment."
The prevailing perception that immigrant groups "aren't working, or are on welfare" makes University-facilitated conversations among communities all the more important, says Pierce. Indeed, she believes the University is mandated to make these conversations happen.
"I believe in the land grant mission of giving back to the community and serving the public," she says. "The importance of education is to take that first step in understanding and respecting others. We live in a global community. Beyond the states, other countries have cultures, too."
Rowena Vergara is a CLA intern.