Sunday, May 29 from 11 am to 12 pm
Congress 2016, Main Expo Event Space
Light refreshments provided
For countries like Canada, Namibia, Rwanda, and Palestine, the ravages of colonialism represent unresolved trauma that has been passed from generation to generation. The effects of such inter-generational trauma are often difficult to identify and broach in conversation, and raise more questions than answers.
Come and join moderator Marcello Di Cintio and our panelists as they discuss the experiences of genocide from around the world and attempt to answer some of these questions. Peter Midgley looks back at the Namibian genocide and the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which served as a model for the Canadian TRC, while Juliane Okot Bitek discusses her work remembering the Rwanda genocide. Ghada Ageel speaks about Palestine and whether what is happening there can be considered genocide. Richard Van Camp will raise the same question in a Canadian context, where these issues have gained renewed relevance since the TRC presented its report to Ottawa in 2015. The commission and its report were meant to give voice to those Aboriginal peoples who were victimized by the government-imposed residential school system.
While these examples cannot encompass all of the legacies of colonialism, they represent a starting point for a larger conversation. By revealing the truths and the histories behind colonialism, we can gain a mutual, multifaceted understanding of the present. Only then will we be able to continue the process of reconciliation.
Join Marcello Di Cintio, author of Walls: Travels Along the Barricades; Richard Van Camp, author of The Lesser Blessed: A Novel; Ghada Ageel, editor of Apartheid in Palestine: Hard Laws and Harder Experiences; Juliane Okot Bitek, author of 100 Days; and Peter Midgley, author of Counting Teeth: A Namibian Story on Sunday, May 29 from 11 am to 12 pm at The wounded ones: Conversations about the multiple legacies of colonialism as they delve deeper into the issue of colonization and its various manifestations.