Wabash College is in the midst of a celebration of cultures — all cultures — and invites the public to participate in all of the events.
"We organized this panel to focus especially on the rapidly growing population of Hispanic immigrants in Central Indiana," said Wabash Philosophy Professor Cheryl Hughes, one of the organizers of the multicultural activities. "According to the Indianapolis Monthly (November 2006), for example, the Hispanic population of Indianapolis now ranks as the fifth-fastest-growing of all US metro areas with more than 50,000 Latinos living in Marion County. Current estimates are that 4% of all Indiana residents were born outside the U.S. (about 240,000 people), and almost half of those immigrants come from Mexico."
"I think this will be an interesting program for people in the larger Crawfordsville and Montgomery County community."
The following Monday, April 9, Nobel Peace Prize nominee Jorge Bustamante (photo left) will come to Wabash for a lecture on Immigration and Human Rights at 8:00 p.m., also in Lovell Lecture Room of Baxter Hall.
Bustamante is the Eugene P. and Helen Conley Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame. He is a native of Tijuana who earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from Notre Dame in 1970 and 1975 and he has been a member of the faculty there since 1986. He is author of numerous studies on Mexican-origin residents of the U.S. and the sociology of the border region, and he will be coming to Wabash from a semester in San Diego where he has been involved in research on U.S.- Mexico border issues.
In 2006, Mexico’s Congress nominated Bustamante for the Nobel Peace Prize for his advocacy of human and labor rights for immigrants. He has been hailed as a leading expert in the field of international migration. He has served as an advisor to the governments of Mexico, the United States, and Canada for the Border Environmental Cooperation Commission and the Joint Public Advisory Committee set up after the institution of NAFTA, and he currently serves as UN Special Rapporteur for the human rights of migrants.
Other events during the Multicultural Festival include:
A Visiting Artists Series event featuring Lucia Pulido in concert is set for Friday night, March 30 at 8:00 p.m. in Salter Hall of the Fine Arts Center. Wabash’s Unidos por Sangre organization will be serving carne asada before the concert outside the Fine Arts Center.
On Tuesday, April 3, Wabash’s various language clubs will be sponsoring a social hour that will feature ethnic foods from around the world. The tasting will be held in Detchon Center’s International Hall from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m.
Stephen Buckley, the managing editor of the St. Petersburg Times will give a talk entitled
"Sex, Lies, and Video: Public Discourse in the Age of the Internet" on Wednesday, April 4. Buckley has also worked for the Washington Post and has held bureau chief positions around the world. His talk will be held at 8:00 p.m. in Baxter Hall’s Lovell Lecture Room.
Buckley will also be visiting several classrooms.
One of the Festival’s high light events takes place on Friday, April 6, when Unidos por Sangre presents its annual Latin American Festival with a special performance by the Tango Dance group from Purdue and a salsa band from Chicago. The public is invited to the performances and to learn how to salsa dance. The event will be held at 7:30 p.m. in Salter Hall in the Fine Arts Center.
The Faculty Film Committee will screen Spike Lee’s film Do the Right Thing, on Tuesday, April 10. The film will be show in Hays Hall, room 104, at 7:30 p.m. with refreshments and discussion to follow.
Wabash’s international performing ensemble, Wamidan, will present a public concert on Wednesday, April 11 at 8:00 p.m. in Salter Concert Hall. Wamidan is made up of performers from around the world with dancers from our community and DePauw University.
Finally, on Friday, April 13, international recording artist Syud "Taz" Ahmed will give a recital on the tabla, a south Asian percussion instrument, at 5:00 p.m. in Salter Hall. Taz hails from Bangladesh, where he and his bandmates are rock stars with a hit CD topping the charts.