The Welcoming Congregation Committee (IN-PERSON OUTDOORS AT UU FALMOUTH & ZOOM)

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An anthropological lens of inquiry has been instrumental in helping me as a teacher, scholar and activist to deconstruct some of the most pressing issues of our time and act to foster social change. What I believe are my most important contributions include a course I taught on War, Peace, and Culture; and my books on the Oklahoma Choctaw Nation and Provincetown, MA. I will share my work to show how and what we can learn from the ‘puzzle of life’ to be effective agents of both consciousness-raising and activism. Dr. Faiman-Silva, a Falmouth social justice activist, is Professor Emerita (Anthropology) at Bridgewater State University. She has published two books, Choctaws at the Crossroads, an analysis of Oklahoma Choctaw Nation’s political economy; and The Courage to Connect, which details how diverse communities can come together to build community across the divide of difference. She received NPFH-Falmouth’s 2022 MLK Civic Leadership Award and the Barnstable County Human Rights Advisory Commission 2021 Tim McCarthy Human Rights Champion Award. Her work, rooted in social justice themes, offers lessons on how we can become agents of social change to address pressing antagonisms and conflicts today. This will be the subject of her discussion this morning.