‘Shaping Inclusive Communities: Solidarity in Times of Othering’

“Freedom of Speech” by Maia Weinstein, a Bethlehem eighth-grader, is one of the artworks in the “Reimagining The Four Freedoms” created by New York State high school students in grades 9 to 12 enrolled in studio in art classes in Albany, Rensselaer, and Schenectady counties. Each work relates to a freedom most important to the individual student. The exhibit runs through April 14 at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. “This year is especially thrilling knowing that we are part of the anniversary celebration of Norman Rockwell’s original ‘Four Freedoms,’” notes Sheila Elario, a retired Guilderland teacher and a member of the Capital Area Art Supervisors, who organized the exhibition.

Vera Eccarius-Kelly, Ph.D., professor of comparative politics in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Siena College will present “Shaping Inclusive Communities: Solidarity in Times of Othering” at LibertyCon 2019 – Seeking Sanctuary: Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness as the opening address at the 18th annual Public History Conference organized by the Underground Railroad History Project, on Friday, March 29, at 7 p.m. at Snyder Hall in Siena College.

Eccarius-Kelly will discuss the fundamental social, cultural, political, and legal challenges immigrants and refugees encounter today when they make claims to human rights and asylum protections. She will offer particular insights into notions of identity and belonging, and explore community-based strategies that actively engage people in creating a more inclusive and just environment

Dr. Alan Singer of Hofstra University and Professor Darryl O. Freeman of California Sate University, Sacramento will offer responses to De. Eccarius-Kelly’s remarks.

Ecarius-Kelly teaches courses on social movements, comparative politics, and women and minorities in Latin American and the Middle East. Her research interests include ethno-national, cultural, and political dissent within Kurdish diaspora movements and transnational activism in Latin American indigenous communities.

She graduated with a master of arts degree in law and diplomacy and a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School at Tufts University in Boston in 2002. Eccarius-Kelly is chairs Siena College’s Fair Trade and Social Justice Committee and serves as the Scholars-at-Risk liaison on campus.

Eccarius-Kelly regularly takes students to Guatemala to familiarize them with women’s empowerment models in indigenous communities and to train students in ethnographic interviewing methodologies. Eccarius-Kelly collaborates with The Legal Project and has served as an expert witness for asylum cases in immigration court.

As part of her community outreach, Eccarius-Kelly also regularly participates in WAMC Northeast Public Radio’s Roundtable Panel and serves on the board of Mayan Hands, which is a fair-trade, not-for-profit organization dedicated to empowering Mayan women artisans.

“Incorporated in 2003, the Underground Railroad History Project annually conducts a public history conference that provides a venue for bringing forward new research on the Underground Railroad movement and relating Underground Railroad history to contemporary civil-rights issues, recognizing that in our increasingly polarized society, the symbol of the 19th-Century underground railroad movement and its abolition activists challenge us to publicly reflect and act upon the legacy of the institution of slavery in our contemporary times,” according to Paul Stewart who founded the Underground Railroad History Project with his wife, Mary Liz Stewart.

Details about LibertyCon 2019 are available by calling 518-432-4432 or by visiting www.UndergroundRailroadHistory.org/conference.

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