Step Afrika! kicks off November Values, Ideas and the Arts series at Manchester

Manchester University’s Values, Ideas and the Arts series has a robust schedule for November, starting with Step Afrika!

All presentations are at 11 a.m. in Cordier Auditorium on the North Manchester campus. They are free and open to the public. Masks and social distancing are required.

Some will be livestreamed at www.facebook.com/ManchesterUniv. Check the schedule at www.manchester.edu/academics/VIA for viewing updates.

• Nov. 1, Step Afrika! will blend percussive dance styles practiced at historically Black colleges; traditional African dances; and an array of contemporary dance and art forms.
• Nov. 8, the Rev. Steve Miller of the Truth & Reconciliation Oral History Project will speak about the power of spoken and documented words – our stories – to heal and create spiritual and social change.  
• Nov. 15, Professor of English Beate Gilliar will present an array of contemporary projects that pursue storytelling --
  in its verbal, visual and performative dimensions -- as a multi-layered endeavor to preserve and continue Native American Heritage.
• Nov. 22, Martin Garcia Chavez, a 2016 Manchester graduate, will speak about his experience at MU and how it has helped him refine and fulfill his dream as a chemist. He is a senior scientist I at Medicinal Chemistry AbbVie, a pharmaceutical company in Illinois.
• Nov. 29, Lucas Al-Zoughbi, a doctoral student and University Distinguished Fellow at Michigan State University, shares his own experiences and offers an introduction to the Palestinian struggle against Israeli settler-colonialism. He graduated from Manchester in 2017.
  
  The series wraps up for the semester on Dec. 6 with a presentation by Manchester University Archivist Jeanine Wine. Her presentation connects the stories of people such as Andrew Cordier, Esther Hamer, and Jean Childs Young to Manchester's mission and values.
  
  For the media
  
• Contact information for the Manchester University organizer for each event can be found at www.manchester.edu/academics/VIA
  
• More on Step Africa!
• More on the Rev. Steve Miller
  
• Information about the Mi'kmaq identity (MU presenter Chasity (Meuse) Lucio is featured at 1:45.)
  
• More about Lucas Al-Zoughbi
  
• Manchester’s mission and values
  
  About Manchester: With campuses in North Manchester and Fort Wayne, Ind., Manchester University provides vibrant and transformative student experiences at an affordable price. Learn more at www.manchester.edu/about-manchester
  
  October 2021