The American Indian Studies Program presents a talk by acclaimed artist, poet, and playwright Dr. Velina Houston, USC School of Dramatic Arts and Board of Trustees Berklee College, Boston. This event celebrating Native American Heritage Month is open to the public.
A word from the special guest speaker: From weddings to college graduations and from prayers to painful fire-walking ceremonies, ritual is everywhere. At first glance, such activities might seem pointless. So why do we all engage in them? Anthropologists have long proposed that rituals persist because they convey certain benefits to their practitioners and their… Continue reading Why do we have rituals? Guest Speaker, Dimitris Xygalatas
Professor Williams will give a talk on “The Irei Project: A Buddhist-Inspired Monument to the WWII Japanese American Incarceration. In this talk, Duncan Ryuken Williams will first describe the history of monument-building by Japanese American internees and incarcerees confined in America’s concentration camps during WWII. Created under the leadership of Buddhist priests at Manzanar and… Continue reading “The Irei Project: A Buddhist-Inspired Monument to the WWII Japanese American Incarceration”
