Centennial Speaker Series Success

The first two events of the Centennial Speaker Series, “Open Wounds: A Century of Crimes against Humanity", which took part earlier this month drew a large audience to the campus. The first event, a presentation of his photojournalism by faculty member Kristian Skeie, was made even more powerful by the presence of some of the genocide survivors who feature in Skeie's work.

Julia Handschin, a Media Communications Major attending the event reflected, "The “Life After Genocide” event was a riveting and educational experience for me, because I learned that among the pain and misery following genocides, there’s a lot of strength and hope to draw from. Kristian Skeie’s project encapsulated what effective storytelling looks like: capturing heartfelt stories from humble encounters and bringing people to think and talk about them. However, the story that brought me to think about came from the guest speaker Révérien Rurangwa, a genocide survivor depicted in many of Skeie’s photographs who lost an eye, an arm and his entire family. He reminded me that no matter how grim a story is, it should be remembered so that tragedies are prevented from ever happening again."

The second event, a presentation and book signing by faculty member Vicken Cheterian about his latest publication, Open Wounds, Armenians, Turks, and a Century of Genocide, was also very well attended. The series will close on Friday, December 4, with the day long conference, “Why Genocide?: Realities, Responses and Ramifications”.

More details about the events can be found on Webster Today.