Author of Book on North Korean Refugees in China to Deliver Chautauqua Lecture

The author of a book chronicling an underground railroad that has helped hundreds of thousands of North Koreans to flee to China will address the topic at Eastern Kentucky University on Thursday, Jan. 24.

Mike Kim’s lecture, at 7:30 p.m. in O’Donnell Hall of the Student Success Building, is part of the University’s year-long Chautauqua series titled “Crossroads.” The event, sponsored by the EKU Cultural Center and The Office of Student Life, is free and open to the public.

Escaping North Korea,” published in 2010, is a first-of-its-kind look into the hidden world of North Koreans. Kim, who worked with refugees on the Chinese border for four years, recounts their experiences of enduring famine, sex-trafficking and torture, as well as the inspirational stories of those who overcame adversity to escape their homeland and make new lives.

“There are many heroes in Mr. Kim’s book,” wrote the Wall Street Journal, “not least the author himself.”

In his EKU lecture, Kim will tell the story of how he left his financial planning business in Chicago, moved to near the China-North Korean border, and began to operate undercover as a student of North Korean taekwondo, training and competing under two famous North Korean masters while leading North Korean refugees to safety via a 6,000-mile underground railroad that led from Pyongyang to Bangkok. Upon his return to the U.S., Kim founded Crossing Borders, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing humanitarian assistance to North Korean refugees.

Kim has shared his story with audiences on five continents and is a frequent guest on television programs, including The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and CNN’s Anderson Cooper 300. A team of producers and writers are currently developing a motion picture script built around Kim’s book. He resides in Washington, D.C., where he is a consultant and a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

To see the complete schedule of the 2012-13 EKU Chautauqua Lectures, visit www.chautauqua.eku.edu.

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ENMU Hosting Lecture on Minority Assimilation in France

Date: 1/10/2013
Contact: Wendel Sloan at 575.562.2253

PORTALES–The Department of Anthropology and Applied Archaeology at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales is hosting a guest lecture on "National and Minority Cultures in 21st Century France: North African and Pied-Noir Cultural Associations" by Victoria M. Phaneuf at 5 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 21, in Room 110 of the Art and Anthropology Building.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Many nations are currently experiencing increased instances of social conflict and unrest arising from internal tensions among multicultural populations. France offers a particularly clear example of these processes. Despite structural and social impediments, minorities are encouraged to integrate into the national mainstream and to avoid communitarian and community-building practices. Two groups at the heart of recent debates are the Pied-Noir and North African populations.

This lecture examines how minorities use cultural associations, or social clubs, to assert their right to membership in the French nation while retaining their cultural difference. Specifically, they use performances of minority culture, history, and national membership to draw audiences and open discussions on their role in France. In the process, individuals redefine themselves both as members of a minority community and as active citizens in the French nation.

Phaneuf received her Ph.D. in socio-cultural anthropology from the School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher with the Bureau of Applied Anthropology on a project investigating the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on communities in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

For more information, contact the ENMU Department of Anthropology and Applied Archaeology at 575.562.2206 or email ENMU.Anthropology@enmu.edu.

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ENMU Hosting Lecture on Chaco Culture

Date: 1/22/2013
Contact: Andrea McDowell at 575.562.2696

PORTALES–The annual Cynthia Irwin Williams Lecture will be from 7-9 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 8, in Buchanan Hall in the Music Building at Eastern New Mexico University. It is free and open to the public.

The guest speaker will be Catherine Cameron, professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Colorado. She works in the northern part of the American Southwest focusing especially on the Chaco and post-Chaco eras (A.D. 900-1300).

Her research interests include prehistoric migration, the evolution of complex societies through the study of regional social and political systems, methodology of defining social boundaries in the past, and prehistoric architecture.

She works in southeastern Utah at the Bluff Great House, a Chacoan site and in nearby Comb Wash, and published a monograph on this research in 2009 ("Chaco and After" in the Northern San Juan, University of Arizona Press). She also studies captives in prehistory, especially their role in cultural transmission.

She published an edited volume on this topic in 2008 (Invisible Citizens, Captives and Their Consequences, University of Utah Press). She has been co-editor of the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory since 2000.

For more information, call Andrea McDowell at 575-562-2696.

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Chautauqua Lecture by Dawson Cancelled

A scheduled Chautauqua lecture by Michael Dawson at Eastern Kentucky University on Thursday, Feb. 7, has been canceled, because of the speaker’s illness.

The event, which also was to serve as the keynote address for the University’s celebration of Black History Month, has not yet been re-scheduled.

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