In this historical moment charged with humanitarian crises and xenophobic nationalism, the DLLC hosted a four-day symposium on ethics, engagement and human rights in April, 2017. The principal theme of the symposium was learning from the past to combat present and future atrocity. The event opened with a keynote address by activist and author Dr. Cornel West of Harvard University entitled, "Justice Matters: What Love Looks Like in Public." The provocative keynote was followed by a screening of the award-winning documentary Fire at Sea. Filmmaker Luca Giberti offered and introduction and commentary on the film about the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, a port of call for hundreds of thousands of African and Middle Eastern migrants. The next two days featured experts in the field of human rights, who fostered a lively dialogue between academics, the public, and the broader University community. Areas of focus were: Human Rights in Antiquity, Lessons from the Holocaust, A Middle East in Crisis and the Failure of Ethics, and Human Rights in Latin America.
Drs. Annette Giesecke, David Winkler, Gladys Ilarregui, and Ikram Masmoudi organized the event. Panelists included Drs. Benjamin Brey Rubin (archeologist and co-director of the Omrit Settlement Excavations in Northern Israel), Miriam Cooke (Duke University), Kai Draper (University of Delaware), Noura Erakat (George Mason University), Luca Giberti (Independent Filmmaker), Campbell A. Grey (University of Pennsylvania), Sandra Joshel (University of Washington, Emerita), Bernardita Llanos (Brooklyn College, CUNY), Silvia Tandeciarz (College of William and Mary), Emily Wilson (University of Pennsylvania), and Polly Zavadivker (University of Delaware).
The event was sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures in partnership with the Office of the President, the Office of the Provost, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of Philosophy, the Center for Global and Area Studies, Black American Studies, and Jewish Studies at the University of Delaware.
Additional details and photos of the event can be found on the Polyglot website: http://www.dllc.edu/ecce-homo-symposium-2/.
