In order to revive humanity’s understanding and value for diversity, Northwest Language Academy is holding “Fireside Chats” to engage participants in socially important issues. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 11, NWLA will discuss “Cultural Identity-Ethnic Conflict.”
Dr. Michael Seraphinoff and Peter Lippman will lead the fireside chat in conjunction with NWLA’s April 14 “Meet Macedonia” cultural event.
A donation of $15 to $25 is welcome for this presentation and panel discussion.
Seraphinoff and Lippman will discuss Balkan identity politics and their effect on cultural life, with a focus on Macedonia and Bosnia, the Balkan Conflict, and the ramifications of a lost “Yugoslav” identity.
Seraphinoff studied anthropology and archaeology at Michigan State University, later earned a doctorate in south Slavic languages and literature and was a college professor for a number of years. He is an organic farmer/gardener on Whidbey Island, he and his wife Susan’s home for some 30 years. He has authored several books and translated a number of others.
For more information, visit his website at www.macedonianlit.com.
During the war in Bosnia, Lippman organized a grassroots community group to sponsor a family of Bosnian Muslim refugees in Seattle, and afterwards lived in Bosnia for two years and did various jobs: translating for a media organization, volunteering with a relief agency and eventually doing research on grassroots human rights campaigns and writing about them for the Advocacy Project. He has traveled and lived in Bosnia numerous times since and is still writing.
See his work at http://balkanwitness.glypx.com/journal.htm
The event will be held at the NWLA Cultural Center, located at 5023 Langley Road in Langley. Overnight accommodations are available in the Cultural Center’s guesthouse.
Reserve early at 360-321-2101 or info@nwlanguage academy.com.
To learn more about NWLA and upcoming programs or classes, visit www.nwlanguageacademy.com.
NWLA is a not for profit organization that makes it possible for residents of the local community to become residents of the larger, global community through the study of cultural enrichment.
