Warren Wilson College offers a lecture series during October and November

PRESS RELEASE FROM WARREN WILSON COLLEGE:

Academic leaders at Warren Wilson College launch a free lecture series Tuesday, Oct. 4, covering U.S. and global affairs. Topics will include a historical look at the first women to run for U.S. president and an in-depth conversation about the lasting impact of National Socialism on multiple generations of non-Jewish German women.

“As academics, we attempt to see the past’s impact on the future and help our fellow citizens understand those implications,” said President Steve Solnick. “Warren Wilson College is fortunate to have many scholars who can provide the community with insight into a variety of topics, and we are happy to offer a lecture series that gives them a platform to discuss issues that have national and global significance.”

Solnick, the former coordinator of Russian Studies at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute, launches the “Politics Then and Now” series with a conversation about Russia. Solnick draws upon his experience as a Fulbright Scholar in Russia and as a 6-year Ford Foundation representative in Moscow to lead a discussion about the latest developments in Russian politics and U.S.-Russia relations.

Solnick presents “Russia and the Elections of 2016” Tuesday, Oct. 4.

Christine Nugent, director of the College’s Pew Learning Center and Ellison Library, is the series’ next presenter. A native German, Nugent received an Appalachian College Association fellowship to return to her home country and interview two generations of non-Jewish German women—mothers and daughters—about National Socialism. Nugent’s presentation reveals the seniors’ memories of World War II and the Holocaust. She also uncovers the younger generation’s thoughts on their mothers’ lives in the Third Reich. Ultimately, Nugent seeks to answer one question: how do these women live with this historical legacy?

Nugent’s lecture, “Remembering, Reflecting, Reckoning: German Women and the Long Shadow of National Socialism,” is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 18.

Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College Paula Garrett, a published scholar in 19th-century American studies, is the next to take center stage as she reviews the history of women in the American political process. In a nod to her research, Garrett pays particular attention to 19th-century women, including Victoria Woodhull and the 1873 presidential campaign. The conversation also explores the suffrage and temperance movements and female journalists’ influence on politics.

Garrett presents “Hillary’s Foremothers: 19th-century American Women in Politics” Tuesday, Nov. 1.

Nugent returns to and concludes the series with a multimedia presentation that serves as a companion to her first lecture. Through interviews with 20- and 30-year-old German women who emigrated from Poland, the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and Africa, Nugent explores the intersection between Germany’s National Socialist past and current refugee policies.

Nugent’s second lecture, “Impressions from Germany: Immigrant Women and the Legacy of National Socialism, a Welcoming Culture for Refugees and the Anti-Refugee Movement PEGIDA,” ends the series Tuesday, Nov. 29.

All lectures are open to the public and begin at 7 p.m. in the third-floor lecture hall of Jensen Humanities and Social Science Center on the Warren Wilson College campus. There is no admission fee to attend these lectures.

For more information about the “Politics Then and Now” fall lecture series at Warren Wilson College, call (828) 771-3758.