OCH News: September 2007

NEH Grant Helps Kick-off "Borders and Boundaries" Programming

Thanks to a generous $91,000 "We the People" grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, OCH will explore the theme of "Borders and Boundaries" through much of its programming over the next two years.

We at OCH selected this theme in order to explore the complex issues of globalization, nationalism, identity, and community. Borders and Boundaries programs--including specific Oregon Chautauqua presentations, Teacher Institutes, Commonplace Lectures, and issues of Oregon Humanities--will give Oregonians many opportunities to converse about and reflect on the notions of nation and state, race and class, identity and community.

Our first Borders and Boundaries event takes place this fall when we welcome Mark Trahant, editorial page editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and a member of the Shoshone Bannock tribe of Idaho, who will discuss the challenges faced by urban Indians in the Fall 2007 Commonplace Lecture on October 26, 2007, in Portland.

This lecture is also occasion to celebrate the publication of the second edition of The First Oregonians, an anthology about the history and contemporary culture of Oregon's first peoples. Members of Oregon's nine federally recognized tribes, as well as notable Northwest scholars, contributed to the volume, which is edited by Laura Berg, published by OCH, and distributed by Oregon State University Press. Watch our website for more information about this book, which will be available in October 2007.

This event is only the first of many to explore the theme of Borders and Boundaries in the coming year. The three 2007-08 Commonplace Lectures will be delivered by native scholars who will explore issues important to both native and non-native communities in the state. In addition, the Spring 2008 issue of Oregon Humanities and the summer 2008 Teacher Institute will both focus on questions of mobility and class. Also, specific Oregon Chautauqua presentations will be earmarked as Borders and Boundaries programs, including Respecting an Establishment of Religion; Innovator's and Traders: The Indigenous People of the Columbia River; and Sojourners, Settlers, and New Immigrants: Mexicanos in Oregon.

Summer Education Programs Wrap Up

Teenagers and high school teachers immerse themselves in the humanities.

Through two teacher institutes, an honors symposium, and the Young Scholars Grants program, more than one hundred teenagers and fifty high school teachers participated in OCH education programs this summer.

The first Teacher Institute took place one weekend in June on the Reed College campus in Portland and focused on the challenges and opportunities for engaging young people in civic life in the twenty-first century. The second institute, which considered science and the human experience, took place from August 6 to 10 at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande. More than fifty high school teachers from across the state read historical and contemporary works, watched films, and participated in lectures, panels, and group discussions, all designed to enrich their curricula as well as their minds.

Teenagers who participated in OCH's Young Scholars program or honors symposium received a similar dose of humanities-infused enrichment. For the twelve 2007 Young Scholars, three months of research, thinking, and writing came to fruition during an end-of-summer symposium at Catlin Gabel School in Portland. Each scholar presented a project and basked in the congratulations of family, teachers, and friends, and will return to their respective communities to offer public presentations.

And the one hundred teenagers who attended the 2007 Honors Symposium (pictured) at Liberty High School in Hillsboro spent two intensive days exploring the political and cultural histories of different generations and the ways in which generations define themselves and are defined by history. Through workshops and reading discussions, participating teenagers considered the notions of heroism, rebellion, and the ways that generational differences are reflected in arts and entertainment.

Oregon Chautauqua Fall Season Underway

The Oregon Chautauqua 2007-08 season begins this month in nearly every corner of Oregon, from Clatsop County on the north coast to Union County in Eastern Oregon. As OCH's flagship program, Oregon Chautauqua gives organizations across the state the opportunity to provide lively and provocative humanities-based lectures and discussions to their constituents. OCH pays for presenters' honoraria, mileage, and meals, while the hosting organization arranges for the presenters lodging when necessary.

Between September 1 and December 31, OCH will serve twenty-three of Oregon's thirty-six counties with fifty-two programs offered through forty-four different organizations. Ten presentations are new to the catalog this year, including Obsidian: History through the Volcanic Glass Window by Dennis Jenkins (pictured). Visit the OCH calendar to find what programs are being offered in your county.

Message from the Executive Director

In gearing up for an exciting new fiscal year, we at OCH are asking questions about how to best serve Oregonians statewide, increase visibility, and develop programs that are more deeply relevant. In the process, we are exploring the meaning and value of the humanities and beginning a line of questioning that provides the opportunity for board and staff to engage in humanities-based inquiry. So far, this has been both an enlightening and disorienting experience. After all, as an organization that supports engagement with hard issues and that encourages deep reflection about human thought and knowledge, we must also be prepared to confront assumptions and beliefs that may make us uncomfortable.

As noted above, OCH recently received an NEH grant that paves the way for taking these types of conversations to the public sphere, to explore the borders and boundaries that not only divide us, but also define our shared human experience. Though these conversations cannot, and maybe should not, eliminate the spaces between us, we should ensure that they are permeable so that our fellow citizens--with their attendant ideas, beliefs, and desires--can travel across them.

Sincerely,