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Borders & Migrations Fall Series

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Join the Borders & Migrations Initiative (BMI) as it launches the fall 2023 season of events.

The series kicks off on Monday, September 25 with Filipino author Noel Alumit.  He will read from his new collection of short stories, Music Heard in Hi-Fi & Other Stories, published this month.  The event begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Library Learning Center.

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And mark your calendars now for the second event in the Borders and Migrations fall 2023 series, which takes place Monday, October 16 at 12:00 noon in the Library Learning Center.  The event, titled “Fleeting, Waiting, Hoping,” will feature a researchers from Xavier University, who will share their findings about life at the border as seen through the eyes of women and children asylum seekers, as they wait in Nogales, Mexico.  The panel discussion will be accompanied by an art exhibit, which will run in the library art gallery through November 15.

Submitted by: Richard D. Reitsma, PhD, associate professor of Spanish, Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, & Cultures

Final Spring Borders & Migrations Event

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Our final Borders & Migrations Event will be on March 22 at noon in the library.  There will be a virtual option (see poster above).
SILENCING, RESISTANCE, AND PRIVILEGE: NAVIGATING CULTURE/WARS, BORDERLANDS, AND QUEER PRECARITY

        Dr. Richard Reitsma will  talk about drawing parallels about anti-LGBTQIA+ & Racial Culture Wars from Buffalo to Bratislava, mass shootings, and the Ukraine War and the violence at the US Southern Border.

        Kinny Torre will talk about the plight of LGBTQIA+ Russians stuck in immigration limbo in Guam.  And Dr. Mark Congdon will discuss the role of service learning for cross border resolution through virtual community engaged pedagogy to reimagine the classroom “borders” to work in solidarity, with international organizations and communities to advance social change efforts and initiatives.

        Specifically, I’ll be discussing how students in my strategic communication, PR, and advertising courses partner with US-El Salvador Sister Cities and CRIPDES, virtually, to help advance community organizing and activists’ efforts in rural communities in El Salvador. I’ll share reflections on what we’re learning and strategies faculty and universities could think about if they’re interested in collaborating with organizations and communities outside the US and how to redefine the “borders” of a classroom leveraging technology. 
        I hope you will join us.
Submitted by: Richard D. Reitsma, PhD, Faculty Associate Dean, Inclusion and Engagement; Associate Professor, Department of Modern Languages, Literatures & Cultures

Spend a Summer on the Mexican Border

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If you are interested in working with migrants in accompaniment in a Jesuit setting, then you may want to consider participating in a one month internship/study abroad/service learning opportunity through the Spanish program and in partnership with the Kino Border Initiative.

Interested students must have intermediate levels of Spanish to participate.

Please contact RichardReitsma, PhD, at reitsmar@canisius.edu with any questions.

Submitted by: Dr. Richard D. Reitsma, Faculty Associate Dean Inclusion and Engagement, Associate Professor of Spanish, Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, & Cultures

PhilippinX Videographer Speaking on Campus

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Please join the Borders & Migrations Initiative for an interactive discussion with PhilippinX videographer Luce Lincoln on Wednesday, March 8 at 12:00 noon in the library.

Luce is a media artist, educator and activist who produces films and videos that empower immigrant and queer communities. They will share video work and pedagogical strategies for collaborative media-making. This talk is geared towards students, artists, storytellers, educators and organizers interested in working across boundaries.

Luce’s art practice explores ideas of queer and trans justice, non-binary embodiment, Philipinx history and identity and intersectional solidarity. Luce holds a BA in film and video from Antioch College and an MFA in film and media arts from Temple University.

Please contact Dr. Jean Gregorek:gregorej@canisius.edu

Submitted by: Dr. Richard D. Reitsma, Faculty Associate Dean Inclusion and Engagement, Associate Professor of Spanish, Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, & Cultures

Jesuit Values at the Border

The campus community is invited to learn about the college’s new hybrid study abroad/internship/service learning opportunity at the U.S. Mexico border during a presentation on Monday, February 27 at 7:00 p.m. in Science Hall.  The program, titled “Jesuit Values at the Border,” is being offered in partnership with Kino Border Initiative (KBI).  Canisius students Emma Marzec, Emma Radel and Julianna Falsone recently completed a summer project with KBI and will serve as presenters at this event.

Since 2009, the Kino Border Initiative has worked at fostering bi-national solidarity through humanitarian assistance, education and advocacy, on each side of the Mexico border in Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.

Click here to learn more about the program and the upcoming event.

Submitted by: Dr. Richard D. Reitsma, Associate Faculty Dean Inclusion and Engagement, Associate Professor of Spanish, Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, & Cultures