Your inbox, filled with CEU event emails, confirms that week by week CEU life is busy, vibrant, and stimulating. October 5th to the 9th proved to be a particularly enlightening week, with the Cultural Heritage program’s “Sami Cultural Week” and HRSI “Coming Out Week”. Read our coverage below:
Sami Cultural Week “aims to raise awareness of endangered cultures and vanishing tangible and intangible heritage by presenting a threatened indigenous culture, the Sami, through various events” organized by students Mariam Ajapahyan, Gergő Paukovics, Michael Shamah, Sanijela Stulic, Nora Ujhelyi, and faculty members Dora Merai and Zsuzsanna Szalka.
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Sami Week Opening Ceremony, Octagon, Nador 9. Picture taken by Dora Merai |
As part of the course “Introduction to Heritage Management”, students were given minimal instructions on how to create and stage a cultural event, and through team cooperation landed on the idea of Sami Cultural Week.
Initially divided into groups the students proposed different event ideas, and eventually weaved together: “exhibition, performances (music or dance), and also a film screening. These were the three main ideas, combined into a cultural week” as Cultural Heritage student Gergő explained.
A highlight was the guest-lecture delivered by Sami scholar, Peter Sköld, from Umeå University in Sweden. The realization of this lecture reflects the students’ “structured ambition” as Merai explained since the idea to invite him came purely from student initiative. Initiative being key to the dynamic of the course, as the instructors led the various steps to a finished project, but it was in the hands of the students to provide the content.
With the week concluded, both students and instructors reflected that working on a large team, was one of the biggest challenges, but also the most satisfying element that brought the project to fruition.
Coming Out Week, presented by HRSI and volunteers, celebrated LGBT issues and emphasized visibility. The week began with a sticker competition, and included events like Coming Out as an Ally, Open Mic, a film screening of “God Loves Uganda”, a round table with LGBTQI NGOs, and ended with ‘queering’ t-shirts on Friday night!
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Faisal performing during Open Mic Picture taken by HRSI |
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Kiel performing during Open Mic Picture taken by HRSI |
Faisal Mohammed highlighted the Open Mic event saying, “I think it gives a voice for the voiceless . . . it enables people to come out.” Mohammed, from the Cultural Heritage program, performed a traditional Ghanaian dance praising women called Bamaaya, which originated in northern Ghana.
Kiel Ramos Suarez, a Gender Studies student, performed at Open Mic. Speaking of her experience of being LGBT in the Philippines, and the history of the movement there, she underlined how the performance was a milestone, all part of the process of coming out. The necessity of the event was evident in her words: “People [are] coming from countries which may have high stigmatization [and] their voices might have been silenced in those countries, so when they come here, there’s a space for them to talk about it.”
Inside a week at CEU shows that while our inboxes may be full, you don’t want to miss out on these events!
Camilo Montoya-Guevara, Cultural Heritage, Canada
Ali Wagner, Mundus Public Policy, Canada
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