Workshop 01
“Co-Creating a New Future: Harnessing the Collective Imagination”
Conducted by:
Dr. Shoshannah Bryn Jones Square,
Ph.D., Oxford, Activist, and Interdisciplinary Instructor
Canada
In his “Preface to Lyrical Ballads,” British Romantic poet William Wordsworth maintains that the purpose of poetry is to “produce excitement in co-existence.” This is what Dr. Shoshannah hopes to achieve through this workshop, in which participants will work together to envision a better future through collective thinking and imagining. As cognitive scientist Jim Davies writes in Imagination: The Science of Your Mind’s Greatest Power (2019), human beings have the unique ability to “imagine complex possible futures.” This gives us agency; we have a say in what kind of world we want to live in, and we have the power to create it if we work together. Dr. Shoshannah will discuss the climate crisis, COVID-19, system racism, police brutality, prison reform, restorative, social, and environmental justice, mental health, empathy and compassion, activism, the arts and sciences, and more from a diversity of perspectives.
Workshop 02
“Finding Your Passion”
Conducted by:
Calvin Tiu,
Rapper/Songwriter/Producer,
Academic Advisor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University,
Canada.
Workshop 03
“The Path from Academia to Activism: Moving the Health Humanities from Theory to Practice”
Conducted by:
Dr. Carol‑Ann Farkas,
Professor of English, Director of Writing Programs,
School of Arts and Sciences, MCPHS University
United States.
In what ways are the health humanities political? Not nearly enough; in this workshop, Dr. Farkas invites participants to share strategies for changing that.
How do scholars become activists? In this workshop, she will briefly survey some contemporary examples of scholar-activists such as Angela Davis, Michelle Alexander, Bryan Stevenson, and Gail Bradbrook, who have taken their political commitment from the scholarly page, from the classroom, and put it into practice. What inspiration can we draw from these examples? What strategies can we employ to turn our theories and critique into action – with the risks to our privilege that such moves would entail?
Dr. Farkas encourage participation from health humanities scholars and students, as well as those in the arts and public health. This session is for those with a commitment to social justice broadly construed, though her particular concern is with the intersection of the health humanities and the climate emergency as health emergency. The goal for the workshop will be to invite discussion and brainstorming so that participants leave with concrete next steps to take in their own health humanities activism in the classroom and beyond it.
DIGITAL SOLO ART SHOW
ART IN THE TIME OF CORONA
The United Nations celebrates and raises awareness for a green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. A sustainable green recovery plan from the pandemic necessitates understanding the links between climate change, health, and inequality; and implementing ambitious climate change policies, which align with the Paris agreement. The digital art shows by Selva Ozelli, These art shows contain paintings that were acknowledged in numerous United Nations art competitions.
By Selva Ozelli
International Tax Expert and environmentalist,
USA.
