September 15, 2014 - 09:05
As you will all have heard by now (and I know that some of you have been involved in these conversations for the past week or so), Bryn Mawr's campus is offering us another "local" opportunity to work on identity matters, and questions of representation ("what's the sign? what's it signify?"). Two students in Radnor dorm have been displaying a confederate flag there -- first in the hallway, then, after efforts to seek its removal, from their window -- as well as a line of duct tape labeled "Mason-Dixon Line" leading to their room.
This evening at 7 pm in the Campus Center, the group that met last week to discuss Ferguson and its implications is meeting again, and now intends to use the occasion for dialogue about this concern in Radnor: what it means, the many narratives it generates and interacts with, and what it calls for by way of response, continued dialogue and learning. So here's another occasion to think and write about the local ramifications of the questions we've been exploring in class: What happens when you start identity work with place? What role does environment play in the construction of identity? How might we work together in this particular contact zone?