News & Events

UNC Asheville Hosts Second Annual Visualizing Human Rights Anti-Conference; Event Sponsored by Four North Carolina Universities

November 6, 2009

What do human rights abuses look like? How do they feel? What difference do they make to our lives? These and other questions will be examined at the Second Annual Visualizing Human Rights Anti-Conference from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, at UNC Asheville's Highsmith University Union. The event will bring together visual and performance artists to put a human face on human rights in an effort to reach beyond traditional academic approaches. The event is free and open to the public; lunch will be provided.

Events include a welcoming dance by UNC Asheville students; screenings of documentaries by Mel Chin; a performance by the local Spanish language theatrical group Teatro de Asheville; poetry by DeWayne Barton; music by Cantaria; a panel discussion by noted photographers; and more. 

The conference is sponsored by UNC Asheville's Amnesty International Student Chapter, UNC Chapel Hill's Center for Global Initiatives, Duke University's Human Rights Center and Elon University's Political Science Department.

Registration for the conference is suggested. To register in advance and to see complete schedule of events, click on www.unc.edu/vhr. Walk-up registration will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 14.

Two additional events associated with the conference are also scheduled.

UNC Asheville's Center for Jewish Studies will host "A Jerusalem Between Us," a one-man play written and performed by Aaron Davidman, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, at UNC Asheville's Lipinsky Auditorium. In the show, Davidman gives voice to characters from various places – from a socialist summer camp in New York to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. The play addresses recent controversies that are divisive to Americans and American Jews. The event is free and open to the public.

The Global Playback Theatre will perform "Human Rights: Stories of Resilience and Hope" at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15, in UNC Asheville's Alumni Hall, Highsmith University Union. The event is a participatory experience in which audience members share their personal stories about human insights. The actors then perform the stories on stage. Donations will be collected at the door.

For more information, call Mark Gibney, UNC Asheville Professor of Political Science and Belk Chair of Humanities, at 828/250-3870.