Library Lecture Series

Terri LeGrand, Executive Director of the Piedmont Environmental Alliance (PEA), will discuss the work that the PEA is doing to make a more sustainable community.

The mission of Piedmont Environmental Alliance is to make our community more sustainable by educating and informing the public about sustainable choices that they have and by motivating them to take action. A brief comparison will be made between Winston-Salem and a city of comparable size that has successfully addressed issues of energy use in transportation and the built environment. The Executive Director of this grassroots, all-volunteer staffed organization will also share ideas for individual action at home as well as at school and at work.

Join Dr. Rian Bowie and Dr. Erica Still for a discussion of Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God." Special Collections Librarian, Megan Mulder, will introduce the Harlem Renaissance authors exhibit in the Rare Books Reading Room at the Z. Smith Reynolds Library. "Their Eyes Were Watching God" is the selected text for the 2009 Big Read, an NEA grant funded community reading program also co-sponsored by the Z. Smith Reynolds Library and the Forsyth County Public Library.

The Z. Smith Reynolds Library will host a book launch for Getting Immigration Right: What Every American Needs to Know edited by Dr. David Coates and Dr. Peter M. Siavelis. Commentary on this book will be provided by Drs. Coates and Siavelis. The book of essays written by immigration scholars and policy experts was published as a result of Wake Forest University's Immigration: Recasting the Debate conference which was held in 2007 as part of the Voices of Our Time guest speaker series. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing.

Join Dr. Ulrike Wiethaus for a conversation with Sami playwright Harriet Nordlund about Sami oral traditions and their revitalization in contemporary Sami theatre. Ms. Nordlund is head of the Cultural Department of Jokkmokk, Sweden, the Center for the Native Sami people of Lule Valley, and former Artistic Director of Beavvais Sami Teahter.

As a panel, Professors Ian Taplin, Clay Hipp, and Terry Baker will discuss economic and cultural aspects of North Carolina's wine industry as well as their experiences and research in this area.

Ian M. Taplin is Professor of Sociology and International Studies (WFU) and Visiting Research Professor, Bordeaux Ecole de Management. He has published articles of the NC wine industry and is the author of the forthcoming book, From Moonshine to Fine Wine: Networks and the Social Construction of Markets in the North Carolina Wine Industry. Clay Hipp is Senior Lecturer in Wake Forest University's Schools of Business as well as a grower of grapes/winemaker/oenophile. Terry Baker is Associate Professor of Accountancy in the Wake Forest University Schools of Business. He regularly teaches undergraduate courses abroad, including one in Bordeaux, France that focuses on management issues in the wine industry.

Dr. Sarah K. Lischer of the Political Science Department will speak on her research and experiences in African refugee camps during Spring 2009.

Recently, the Rwandan genocide of 1994 has captured popular attention through books and movies that movingly depict the horrors of mass killing, population displacement, rape, and torture. Yet 15 years ago, during the 100 days of genocide, America and other Western nations displayed a conspicuous lack of attention to events in Rwanda. After the fact, with hundreds of thousands of Tutsi murdered and millions of refugees displaced in fetid, disease-ridden camps, Rwandans and outside observers expressed bewilderment at how a human being could mercilessly kill a neighbor or friend or student or spouse. Genocide survivors also wondered how the rest of the world could have ignored their desperate plight.

During Dr. Lischer's recent field research in Rwanda, she explored these ethical puzzles by talking with humanitarian aid workers, religious leaders, scholars, and numerous traumatized Rwandan citizens. In her lecture, she will share some of the surprising responses she received to her questions. Sadly, despite its many exceptional characteristics, the Rwandan genocide is not a unique case of massive human rights atrocities. Drawing on the lessons of Rwanda, Dr. Lischer will discuss the current suffering in Darfur, the Congo, Zimbabwe, and war zones around the world.