Last Thursday, a yellow and orange lion danced on the mall. Polish, Modern Greek, Tibetan, and French songs carried on the springtime winds last Friday afternoon. And in the last two days, Brazilian dancing, sushi, and samurai have been seen in the Fine Arts Center. Whence these overseas affairs? Did Crawfordsville transform into a cultural epicenter overnight, one hundred years too late fulfilling Professor Pound’s flighty ambitions?
Well, probably not. Not yet. Last Thursday, though, the second annual Multicultural Festival began.
“It’s an opportunity for those who recognize our multicultural reality,” said Catalog Librarian Brian McCafferty, “to celebrate that by coming together to experience and discuss cultural expressions that we may not see much of in our day-to-day lives.”
Along with professor of Spanish Dr. Gomez, Mr. McCafferty serves as co-chair of the Multicultural Concerns Committee, which serves, said Assistant Director of the MXIBS Amina Mcintyre, “to facilitate dialog […] on the topic of diversity, which includes race, gender, sexuality, religions, region, and ethnicity.”
“The Festival is a time for the campus to revel and embrace in this identity,” said Mcintyre, “as well as support events we may not ordinarily attend.”
Dean of Students Tom Bambrey thought the Festival beneficial to a Wabash education.
“The festival allows us all to engage with cultures with which we are unfamiliar and so helps us understand better the world in which we live,” he said.
On Thursday, March 27th, the Asian’ Student’s Society presented a traditional, costumed “Lion Dance” followed by a cookout sponsored by Unidos por Sangre and the International Student’s Association.
The MXIBS hosted a fish fry and banana split night Thursday evening.
The Malcolm X Institute was alive Friday afternoon in a polyphonic array of songs and poems performed in foreign tongues at the first “Multicultural Palate” event, organized by professor of English Dr. Szczeszak-Brewer. Students Michal Opieczonek ‘09, Kunga Choden ‘09, Lijie Ding ’11, Bernard Meyer ‘08, Derrin Slack ’10, Steve Hernandez ’09, and Darryl Dedelow ’11 and Professors Joseph Day, Szczeszak-Brewer, Jaen-Portillo, Brouwer, and Mikek performed at the afternoon event. Dr. Stella Sabina also performed. Last year, Professor Szczeszak-Brewer heard of a native tongue day hosted at Purdue and thought to bring it to the Wabash campus.
“When at the end of the program,” she said, “two Wabash students who hadn’t planned to participate came over to me and asked if they could present some poetry, too, I knew that the event as a success.”
In the last three days, the campus has celebrated Polish Day with two student presentations and a screened film, seen the opening of the permanent installation of African art at the MXIBS, listened to keynote speaker Dr. Benson Onyeji of Manchester College at the African buffet dinner, watched the Brazilian Capoeira Group perform, and taken sushi with samurai at the Asian Students Society’s screening of “Seven Samurai.”
Barry Ooi ‘10, president of the Asian Students Society, thinks the Multicultural Festival needed on campus and relevant to the Wabash community.
“I think international cultural diversity has been under-represented at Wabash,” said Ooi. “What the Multicultural Festival is doing is exposing all that amazing culture to those who have been insulated from globalization, and also allowing those who appreciate diversity to have fun.”
Student Body President Juan Carlos Venis ’08 echoed Mr. Ooi’s thoughts, as well as highlighting a possible social function of the fortnight-long Festival.
“As Student Body President, I am frequently presented with student concerns. Some of them relate to issues of misunderstanding or blatant disrespect. My hope is that fun and educational events like those put together by the Multicultural Concerns Committee and student organizations can lessen these problems in the future.”
“I know a lot of people don’t like to label or separate society or our campus community into groups,” he added, “but I think it’s cool to realize that though our backgrounds are quite different, we may think similarly or have similar values.”
The Festival will last until Thursday, April 10th. Tonight, the MXIBS will host a talk by the daughter of Malcolm X, Ilyasah Shabazz, in the College Chapel. Tuesday, April 8th, Unidos por Sangre will be screening “Maria Full of Grace” in Hays 104. Wamidan will perform in concert on Wednesday, April 9th, and “Lust, Caution,” a Chinese film directed by Aung Lee, will show in Hays 104 on Thursday, April 10th. The International Students Association dinner will mark the final event of the Festival on Saturday, April 12th.