The Odyssey Project: The Journey Home – a series of three community dialogues that will use Homer’s Odyssey as the context for exploring current societal challenges – will begin at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 5 at UNC Asheville’s Sherrill Center, in the Ingles Mountain View Room. The dialogue series, which will continue at the same time and location on Feb. 27 and March 19, is free and open to everyone.
The issues tackled by these dialogues are ancient, but remain at the surface of contemporary society – they include the glorification of violence and war, and association of masculinity with violence. The Odyssey Project aims to offer a new framework for interpreting classical texts which reveals continuing aspects of their importance in illuminating human behavior, and which brings these texts to a new audience to deepen public appreciation for their continued pertinence, using the epic story as the context to engage the community in a journey of societal transformation.
Schedule for The Odyssey Project: The Journey Home
Wednesday, Feb. 5 – Part One – Setting Sail: Reframing the Odyssey
- Coranna Adams, executive director of the Odyssey School in Asheville discussing the Integral Model
- Sophie Mills, UNC Asheville professor of classics, discussing traditional readings of Homer’s Odyssey
- Pana Columbus, a teacher at the Odyssey School, discussing new interpretative frameworks.
Thursday, Feb. 27 – Part Two – Challenging the Glorification of Colonialism
- Jeremias Zunguze, UNC Asheville assistant professor of Africana and Lusophone Studies
- Trey Adcock, UNC Asheville assistant professor and director of American Indian and Indigenous Studies
- Wekesa Madzimoyo, co-founder and co-director, AYA Educational Institute
Thursday, March 19 – Part Three – Beyond the Seduction of Violence as Virtue
- Thomas Griggs, founder and principal of Griggs Leadership
- Gareth Higgins, writer and storyteller
- Avery Sosebee, RN, V.A. Medical Center, and former U.S. Army medic and platoon sergeant who served in Iraq and Afghanistan
This project is made possible in part by funding from the North Carolina Humanities Council, a statewide nonprofit and affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
For more information, please contact Sophie Mills, smills@unca.edu.
Visitor Parking on the UNC Asheville Campus – Visitors may park in faculty/staff and non-resident lots from 5:00 p.m. until 7:30 a.m., Monday through Friday, and on weekends, holidays, and campus breaks. Visitors are not permitted to park in resident student lots at any time.
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