Glocal Voices Podcast

Latinos in Iowa: Planting Seeds of Prosperity, Power and Progress

​PART OF THE HUMANITIES IOWA - GLOCAL CONNECTIONS ACROSS IOWA '23 - '24 PROGRAM SERIES
In honor of this year's Hispanic Heritage Month theme, Elizabeth Bernal, Marcela Hurtado, and Paola Jaramillo will speak to the progress Latinos and Hispanics have made over the last fifteen years in the Iowa City Area their personal experience as Latinas in Iowa, organizing wins, and recent work empowering Latinos through entrepreneurship and the power of social capital.
Thank you to Iowa City City Channel 4 for the recording and to the Iowa City Public Library for hosting this event.
 

Surviving a Dictator, A Dictator Surviving

PART OF THE HUMANITIES IOWA - GLOCAL CONNECTIONS ACROSS IOWA '23 - '24 PROGRAM SERIES
During the 2016 elections, refugees coming from Syria to the States were a topic that brought Syria back to the front page. But after that, it slowly faded into the background.
That does not mean that all is quiet on that front. Living conditions have deteriorated poorly while the regime behind all the tragedies is still in power. We will learn how Assad survived this, including becoming one of the world's top manufacturers and distributors of the drug Captagon.
Eyad came to Louisiana from Syria in August 2012 as a graduate student. He earned his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Louisiana State in 2018. A husband and a father of two, they all moved to Cedar Rapids, where he joined Mount Mercy University as an Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Statistics. He is now a Software Engineer at Collins Aerospace in Cedar Rapids.​*This program is supported by Humanities Iowa. The views and opinions expressed by this program do not necessarily reflect those of Humanities Iowa.
 
Thank you to Iowa City City Channel 4 for the recording and to the Iowa City Public Library for hosting this event.
 

Border Imperialism: Control of Land and Bodies Through Colonial Violence

PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CITY OF IOWA CITY HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
We note that the colonization of lands and Indigenous Peoples worldwide has resulted in the placement of foreign borders upon territories Indigenous peoples have inhabited since time immemorial.
The results of these impositions adversely affect the nationhood and identity of Indigenous peoples everywhere. Colonial border-policy enforcement, coupled with settler-state immigration laws, are some critical factors in eroding Indigenous Peoples's customs, traditions, and national identities through displacement, restriction of traditional movement, and ongoing encroachment on Indigenous territories.
Sikowis Nobiss is Plains Cree/Saulteaux of the George Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada, and grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and is the founder and Executive Director of Great Plains Action Society. She has a Master’s Degree in Religious Studies and Graduate Minor in Native Studies from the University of Iowa. In 2021, she received the Impact Through Advocacy Award from the Iowa Environmental Council. In June 2022, her dedication to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community earned GPAS the OneIowa Community Partnership Award. In March 2023, her work earned Great Plains Action Society recognition for being a women-led organization doing excellent work in the realm of sustainability from the Johnson County United Nations Association Chapter. Sikowis is also a commissioner on the Iowa City Truth and Reconciliation Commission. She also sits on the Midwest Environmental Justice Grant Advisory Committee, the Centering Equity in the Sustainable Building Sector Governance Team, and the Just Transition Power Force as a guest expert working to reduce harmful practices in corporate procurement processes.
Thank you to Iowa City City Channel 4 for the recording and to the Iowa City Public Library for hosting this event.

Quality Education for All: UN Sustainable Development Goal #4

2023 marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On UN Day this year we are honoring that historic agreement by emphasizing the rights of youth, especially the right to quality education. We will be joined by UNA Global Goals Ambassador Virgil Parker speaking about the importance of SDG #4, Quality Education.
Virgil is a U.S. Fulbright Alum, community advocate, and Howard University graduate with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Afro-American studies. Virgil served as a White House HBCU Competitiveness Scholar for the White House Initiative on HBCUs.
Virgil Parker is a U.S. Fulbright Alum, community advocate, and Howard University graduate with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Afro-American studies. Virgil served as a White House HBCU Competitiveness Scholar for the White House Initiative on HBCUs. Currently, Mr. Parker is a television producer for News10NBC (WHEC-TV). Mr. Parker has moderated and participated in national and regional conversations regarding various topics such as The Future of HBCUs in the COVID-19 Era, Philanthropic Equity for Minority Serving Institutions, and Bringing Local Governments And HBCUs Together and more. Most recently, he executive produced two projects commemorating the 45th Anniversary of Education and Sharing Day and the 60th Anniversary of The Equal Pay Act of 1963. His work has been included in media outlets such as Forbes, The Hill, iHeartRadio, Blavity, HBCU Buzz, and Diverse Issues In Higher Education.
 
Thank you to Iowa City City Channel 4 for the recording and to the Iowa City Public Library for hosting this event.

Writing Across the Sinosphere: an IWP-CAPS-ICFRC Collaboration

The UI International Writing Program and the Center for Asian Pacific Studies hosts a bilingual reading featuring 2023 UI Fall residents Kevin Chen (Taiwan), Tammy Lai-Ming Ho and Wong Yi Eva (Hong Kong), Li Kotomi (Taiwan & Japan), Shi Yifeng, Suo Er, and Wang Zhanhei (PRC), moderated by translator and poet Jennifer Feeley.
Thank you to Iowa City City Channel 4 for the recording and to the Iowa City Public Library for hosting this event.

Peoples Science: Community response to Public Health Crises in Lagos, Nigeria

PART OF THE HUMANITIES IOWA - GLOCAL CONNECTIONS ACROSS IOWA '23 - '24 PROGRAM SERIES
Malaria is a significant health concern in Nigeria, with the country having the highest infection and death rates globally, particularly affecting marginalized communities in "malaria high transmission areas."
Speaker Ebenezer Adeyemi discusses historical and current factors contributing to these disparities while explaining how communities creatively address malaria through locally-made mosquito nets, waste disposal systems, and makeshift hospitals.
Adeyemi advocates for recognizing and integrating these community approaches, drawing on "peoples' science," into global health strategies and discussions.
Ebenezer Olamiposi Adeyemi is a PhD Candidate in the department of anthropology at the University of Iowa (UI), under the advisement of Professor Ted Powers. Ebenezer holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology and a Master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies--both from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. He also received a Master’s degree in Anthropology from the University of Iowa in May 2021. Ebenezer’s broad research interests center around medical anthropology, infrastructure, the intersection of urban landscape and public health, African studies, and survival strategies in marginalized urban communities. For his ongoing doctoral research, Ebenezer is exploring the strategies that residents of Makoko, a large informal settlement characterized by inadequate public infrastructure, including waste disposal systems, public hospital, in Lagos State, Nigeria, use to access healthcare to treat malaria, the most prominent public health issue in their community. Different statistics show that malaria is the main public health issue in Nigeria, where it accounts for more causes of death than any other country in the world. However, people who live in marginalized communities, which the WHO calls ‘malaria high transmission areas,’ are more susceptible to malaria infection and death due to government marginalization and inadequate public infrastructure, including public hospitals. Adeyemi will explore the concept of “community-developed infrastructure” to explain several ingenious approaches, including the production of locally-made mosquito nets and coils, construction of makeshift waste disposal systems and hospitals, that residents of Makoko employ to reduce their exposure to malaria-causing mosquitos and to treat the disease whenever they are infected. *This program is supported by Humanities Iowa. The views and opinions expressed by this program do not necessarily reflect those of Humanities Iowa.
 
Thank you to Iowa City City Channel 4 for the recording and to the Iowa City Public Library for hosting this event.

Jamaica: Holdin’ a Vibe in a Textured Landscape

PART OF THE HUMANITIES IOWA - GLOCAL CONNECTIONS ACROSS IOWA '23 - '24 PROGRAM SERIES
From Lorna Goodison’s third world woman as mystic healer to Reggae and Dancehall pulsing through Kingston nights, Jamaica moves to its own drum beat, making a dance out of its troubles. It is a textured land with its own struggles, secrets and yet an almost inexplicable capacity for lifting the spirit. Get into the vibe with this talk as we pull up the dance and take a closer look at Jamaica’s dualities.
Yashika Graham won the 2019 Mervyn Morris Prize for Poetry from the University of the West Indies, Mona, where she read for a Bachelors degree in Literatures in English.
Yashika Graham [Poetry, fiction and nonfiction writer, visual artist, radio broadcaster; Jamaica] won the 2019 Mervyn Morris Prize for Poetry from the University of the West Indies, Mona, where she read for a Bachelors degree in Literatures in English and twice won the Poetry Clash Competition. An executive member of the Poetry Society of Jamaica, she has been awarded a Centrum Writer’s Residency and has been featured on stages including the Dodge Poetry Festival (USA), Bristol Festival of Literature (UK), the World Festival of Poetry (Venezuela) and the Port Townsend Writers Conference (USA), where she has also delivered craft talks and taught cross-genre workshops.​Her poetry, prose and literary criticism have been published internationally including in Spillway Magazine, Magma, Cordite Review, PREE Lit, Bookmarked, Jamaica Journal, The Caribbean Journal of Social Work and others. Short films for her poems “Directions from the Border” and “Time Travel” – for which she won a gold medal and the Noteworthy Writer award from the Jamaica Creative Writing Competition - premiered in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Her debut collection Some of Us Can Go Back Home is forthcoming from Blouse & Skirt Books.​*This program is supported by Humanities Iowa. The views and opinions expressed by this program do not necessarily reflect those of Humanities Iowa.
 
Thank you to Iowa City City Channel 4 for the recording and to the Iowa City Public Library for hosting this event.

Is Brazil at a Tipping Point? Democracy and Climate Change

As an old saying has long held that, "Brazil is the country of the future -- and it always will be." But what future? Join Dr. Smith, an expert on both democracy and the environment in Brazil, to discuss Brazilians’ hard work to control deforestation and shore up the country’s democracy, before it's too late.
From forest fires in the Amazon to a mob storming the presidential palace, scholars warn Brazil could be at a tipping point. Dr. Smith discusses these threats, but also Brazil's hopeful future.
Amy Erica Smith is an associate professor of political science, as well as a Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean’s Professor at Iowa State University. She is also currently an Andrew Carnegie Fellow. Professor Smith’s research examines how ordinary people understand and engage in politics: from Latin America to Kenya to Oman. She is the author of three books and numerous articles, and her research has been recognized with awards including from Fulbright, the Luce Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the National Science Foundation.
 
Thank you to Iowa City City Channel 4 for the recording and to the Iowa City Public Library for hosting this event.
 

What Does it Mean to Be a Good Citizen? A University-Community Collaboration in Rural Iowa

Meet members of the West Liberty Citizenship program. Carolyn Colvin an Associate Professor of English Education at the University of Iowa, Dan Stevenson is an 8th grade social studies teacher and Erica Jennings is a high school English teacher. Nancy Gardner is a retired elementary principal in West Liberty and Jan Koellner is a retired West Liberty elementary reading teacher. Join us and also meet two naturalized citizens who participated in the program.
This event was cohosted by Better Together 2030 in conjunction with Welcoming Week 2023, of which ICFRC is a proud organizing committee member.
Thank you to Iowa City City Channel 4 for the recording and to the Iowa City Public Library for hosting this event.

Cholera in Lebanon: An Old Disease with a New Comeback

Cholera has been a global public health problem that resulted in 7 pandemics since 1961. The first cholera case was reported in North Lebanon on October 4, 2022 in an informal settlement followed by spread across the country; this is the first cholera outbreak in the country since 1993.
Despite the confinement of cases in North Lebanon early during the pandemic, the economic crisis in Lebanon and the weakened healthcare infrastructure exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic played a significant role in the emergence of the cholera outbreak.
Dr. Nada M. Melhem is a tenured Professor of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology (Virology and Immunology) at the Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut. Melhem is currently the Director of the Division of Health Professions and the Chair of the Medical Laboratory Sciences Program at the Faculty of Health Sciences. 
With a unique background and training in virology, immunology and epidemiology, Melhem developed at AUB a transdisciplinary and translational research program focusing on viral immunopathogenesis and the epidemiology of viruses, and their impact on global human health. Melhem’s research program focuses on human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), viral diarrheal diseases specifically noroviruses and COVID-19. Melhem is currently leading the SARS-CoV-2 National Surveillance Genomic Program for healthcare workers and hospitalized patients.
This talk is one of three public events made possible by a Major Projects Award from UI International Programs. Funding for the Major Projects Award provided by the generous support of the Stanley-University of Iowa Foundation Support Organization and UI International Programs.
Thank you to Iowa City City Channel 4 for the recording and to the Iowa City Public Library for hosting this event.