Symposiums organized by the International Politics and Economics (IPE) Department and the Juntos Migrant Outreach student group open this week. The IPE department symposium, held Friday, Sept. 21, will address the transformation of China over the past 30 years and the implications and challenges of this transformation. "MyAmerica?," the Middlebury College Activites Board (MCAB) Fall Symposium, will explore the topic of immigration through a variety of events and programming.
Daniel Loehr '13.5, one of the student organizers of "myAmerica?," hopes that the relevancy of the topic will draw in participants.
"Immigration is the issue of our generation," said Loehr. "It's an issue important for everyone in the U.S. – whether people are worried about the economy, social integration, education, etc., this issue is never going to go away."
The myAmerica? symposium opened Wednesday with Hip Hop Theater – a performance starring Paul Flores, an artist specializing in hip hop and bilingual performance and an adjunct professor of theater at the University of San Francisco.
MyAmerica? continues today with speakers and workshops. At 12:30 p.m. in Carr Hall, there will be a spoken word workshop. Dr. Robyn Rodriguez, scholar and international migration specialist, will give a talk at 4:30 p.m. in the Orchard room of the Franklin Environmental Center at Hillcrest. Roriguez's talk is entitled "Neorealism and the Rescaling of American Citizenship." At 8 p.m. in Dana Auditorium, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Sonia Nazario will speak about her book, Enrique's Journey, and America's immigration dilemma.
Hannah Postel '13, another student organizer, explained that Nazario's talk will have direct connections to her audience.
"Apart from speaking about her life and what she has done, [Nazario] will talk about how to get involved," said Postel.
On Friday, there will be an art exhibit titled "Invisible Odysseys" on display from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. in the M Gallery of the Old Stone Mill. The symposium concludes Saturday with a panel of immigration lawyers who will discuss "Human Rights Practices & Defending Immigrants." The discussion will begin at 12:30 p.m. in the Hillcrest Orchard.
On Friday Sept. 21, the International Politics and Economics (IPE) department will host a symposium entitled "From Deng to Dollars: the Political Economy of China's Rise." Talks and panel discussions will take place in the McCullough Student Center Social Space.
This is the IPE department's first annual symposium. Participants were chosen by a committee of faculty from the political science and economics departments.
"We wanted to draw the campus's attention to the importance of international political economy in the contemporary era," said Professor of Political Science and IPE Department Chair Erik Bleich.
The symposium opens at 12 p.m., after a buffet lunch in the McCullough Gallery. The first panel, which begins at 12:15 p.m., will feature Harvard University Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences Emeritus Ezra Vogel, who will speak about Deng Xiaoping's reforms. The second speaker, Yasheng Huang, an international program professor in Chinese economy and business at the MIT Sloan School of Management, will speak at 2 p.m. regarding China's economic model. The third panelist, Scott Rozelle, is a Helen F. Farnsworth senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. At 3:45 p.m., Rozelle will discuss the plausibility of painting China as a threat.
After breaking for dinner, the IPE symposium will conclude with a roundtable discussion featuring all three guest speakers at 7:15 p.m. in McCardell Bicentennial Hall Room 216.
The IPE symposium will also feature College faculty and student moderators.
China, Immigration Symposia Open on Campus
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