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DALLAS (SMU) – Mark your calendar now for a free two-day event, “The Art of Resilience: Latinx Public Witness in Troubled Times,” on September 20-21, 2019 at Perkins School of Theology and Meadows School of the Arts on the campus of ÃÛÌÒ½´Methodist University (SMU).  The program is presented by Perkins’ Center for the Study of Latino/a Christianity and Religions in collaboration with Meadows. 

The Art of Resilience will address the current social climate as well as public policies impacting Latino/a families and communities and how those policies test human rights commitments and the democratic process. The event will bring together the work of theologians, scholars, artists and community members.

It’s a free event and open to the public and will benefit anyone with an interest in issues affecting the Latinx community.

“In particular, it’s an excellent opportunity for students, academics, community activists, artists, members of churches and other faith communities who are concerned about rising nationalism and other troubling trends,” said Isabel Docampo, Director of The Center for the Study of Latino/a Christianity and Religions. “We’re inviting college instructors to schedule this into their fall curricula, and nonprofit leaders to consider incorporating it in their staff development programming.”

As part of the program, the Meadows School of the Arts will host an art exhibit and a performance by New York Latina playwright Jessica Carmona of her original work “Elvira: The Immigration Play.”

Participants may attend the entire two-day event, or segments of it, depending on their schedules and interests. The first day will focus on how current events on the U.S. - Mexico border impact women, and is led by Dr. Daisy Machado, Professor of Church History at Union Theological Seminary. The second day will focus on racism and the rising nativism in the U.S. as it’s shaping faith, culture, politics and economics and is led by Dr. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, James B. Duke Professor of Sociology at Duke University.  The Roy Barton Lecture features Dr. Fernando Segovia, Oberlin Graduate Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Vanderbilt Divinity School.

The experiential event invites participants to engage their senses, blending artistic expressions with scholarship. Interdisciplinary dialogues with panelists and the audience will follow each keynote address. Panelists include Bishop Minerva Carcaño of the United Methodist Church California-Nevada Conference; George Martinez, immigration specialist and Professor of Law at SMU; and Neil Foley, historian and the Robert H. and Nancy Dedman Chair in History at SMU; MariaJose Recinos, Director of the Oscar Romero Center for Community Health and Education; Maria Pilar Aquino, Professor Emerita of University of San Diego; and Mayra Picos-Lee, Senior Lecturer in Counseling at Palmer Theological Seminary.

The event concludes with a worship celebration. Bishop Carcaño will preach, and the service will be coordinated by Marcell Steuernagel, director of Perkins’ Master of Sacred Music program, and Hal Recinos, Professor of Church and Society.

“My hope is that this experiential event will help students and faculty to explore the Latinx reality within which we live and work in a more holistic way,” said Docampo. “In so doing, it may open avenues by which we may imagine and begin to work for a compassionate and flourishing future together, devoid of hate and fear.”

While the event is free, registration is required for planning purposes. College professors choosing to incorporate a lecture, an interdisciplinary dialogue panel, or an artistic event into their syllabi should instruct their students to individually register for each particular segment they plan to attend.

For more information and to register, please visit smu.edu/artofresilience

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, founded in 1911, is one of five official University-related schools of theology of . Degree programs include the Master of Divinity, Master of Sacred Music, Master of Theological Studies, Master of Arts in Ministry, Master of Theology, Doctor of Ministry, and Doctor of Pastoral Music as well as the Ph.D., in cooperation with  at SMU's  of Humanities and Sciences.