The Oregon Humanities Conversation Project series will begin with the first presentation set for June 8th, from 6:00 pm to 7:30pm, at the Coos History Museum. The Oregon Humanities Conversation Project brings Oregonians together to talk across differences, beliefs, and backgrounds about important issues and ideas. Guest speaker Manuel Padilla will present the program, entitled “The Space Between Us: Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon” on Friday – June 8, at 6:00 pm. Global displacement is on the rise, thanks to intractable conflicts, economics, and climate change. Oregonians have and will continue to see the results of international migration in our neighborhoods. In this conversation, Manuel Padilla, who has worked with refugees in Haiti, Chad, and Washington D.C., asks participants to consider questions of uprootedness, hospitality, identity, perception, and integration and how we might build more informed, responsive, resilient, and vibrant communities. Manuel Padilla is the executive director of Portland Meet Portland and teaches in the areas of dialogue, conflict transformation, social change, and international aid and development. He has a BA in philosophy from PSU; an MA in peace, conflict, and development studies from the UNESCO Chair for the Philosophy of Peace; and has done peace building and human rights work domestically and internationally.
