WSCC Opens Year-Long Multi-Event Series on the Middle East

West Shore Community College embarks on its 2018-2019 Humankind series with a lecture by Wayne State University lecturer Saeed Khan, “Making Sense of the ‘Muslim’ Travel Ban: Its Impact on Refugees, Citizens, and Immigration Law” on Sept. 20, at 12:30 p.m., in the campus Arts & Science Center and at 7 p.m. at Ludington Center for the Arts.

Year two of the Humankind series focuses on cultural, social and political parallels between the Middle East and the U.S. This series of lectures, exhibits, activities and performances will provide diverse perspectives on a region of our world that sparks many debates and controversies.

Khan, a contributor to NPR, Voice of America, and a consultant on Islamic and Middle East affairs for the BBC and CBC, will discuss how the travel ban has been challenged and upheld by the United States Supreme Court. He will examine the consequences of the ban beyond judicial implications by looking at how the ban has “affected real lives, including those of families of U.S. citizens and legal immigrants as well as those of refugees.”

Also a part of this year’s opening of the Humankind series is the exhibit, “What We Carried: Fragments & Memories from Iraq & Syria.”

Artist Jim Lommasson has photographed objects brought by Iraqi and Syrian refugees when they fled to the United States to reveal the human side of refugee life and rebuilding home somewhere else.

On Tues., Sept. 25, from 12:30 – 2 p.m., Lommasson will speak with students and the community on his photography project in the college’s Center Stage Theater. Lommasson will speak again at 7 p.m. at Ludington Area Center for the Arts.

The photographs are on loan from the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, MI, and represent a small portion of the over 100 images in the collection.

The exhibit is open until October 26. The Manierre Dawson Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and Friday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. or evenings and weekends during scheduled events at the Center Stage Theater.

One Oct.15, Mohja Kahf, author of the novel “The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf,” will deliver a presentation about the book at 7 p.m. in the Administrative & Conference Building. This will be followed by a community discussion of Kahf’s book, led by WSCC Professor Sean Henne, at 7 p.m. at Luciano’s Ristoranti, Ludington.

Through connections with the cultures and peoples of the Middle East, Humankind offers an opportunity to explore similarities and differences between our lives here in the U.S. and lives half a world away.

For information about the entire series, contact humankind@westshore.edu or call 845.6211. All Humankind events are free and open to the public.