Join us as we welcome author Roman. R. Williams one of the authors of the book and founder of Interfaith Photovoice, which "combines amateur photography and structured dialogue" to promote interfaith understanding. About the BookSacred Snaps tells the story of a new approach to interfaith engagement. It is an invitation to see and engage religion, diversity, and inclusion through the lens of the mobile phone camera. These days, just about everyone owns a camera equipped smartphone. What if we recruited these cameras for the common good? When religion shows up in everyday life—at work, school, the mall, or the beach—often it is not welcome. At a time when so much of the public discourse is around equity, diversity, and inclusion, religion seems peripheral to important conversations about belief and belonging. Many embrace the wisdom that our workplaces, schools, and communities are enhanced when people can bring their whole selves into every aspect of their daily lives. But religion and spirituality are not gaining the same ground as other aspects of diversity such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and ability. To be more fully included in the cultural conversation about human flourishing, religion needs to be seen and heard in new ways. The old paradigm of interreligious dialogue is no longer adequate. A new paradigm focused on building relationships at the grass roots of daily life is emerging.About Roman R. Williams, PhDRoman Williams is the founder of Interfaith Photovoice, an organization that combines photography and sociology for intergroup and interfaith engagement. He holds a Ph.D. in the sociology of religion from Boston University and a Th.M. focused on global religions from Gordon-Conwell Seminary. Roman was a tenured associate professor of sociology at Calvin University (2012–2020) and served as the executive officer of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (2016–2021). His academic publications combine his interests in lived religion and participatory visual methodologies, which come together in his edited volume, Seeing Religion (Routledge, 2015). During his years in higher education, Roman experienced a shift in his personal and professional interests, one that led him into community-based participatory action research. The pandemic gave him the opportunity to step out of higher education and into his own consulting practice focused on belief, belonging, and human flourishing. Today, he fancies the idea that he is helping to make the world a better and more inclusive place one photo at a time.Roman Williams will be introduced by Chad Meister, an Ansari Institute faculty affiliate who is a scholar of global religion and is currently writing a volume on interfaith dialogue. Food and refreshments will be available following the formal portion of the event program. This is a free event and advanced registration is not required. Originally published at ansari.nd.edu.

As the Russian invasion begins, a team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting the war's atrocities. Get Tickets This screening is co-hosted with Tetyana Shlikhar, teaching professor of Russian and a Nanovic Institute faculty fellow.This is a free but ticketed event. Tickets will be available for pick-up at the Ticket Office one hour prior to the performance. To guarantee your seat, please pick up your tickets at least 15 minutes prior to the show. In the event of a sell-out, unclaimed tickets will be used to seat patrons waiting on standby. Originally published at nanovic.nd.edu.

In her new book Schoolishness: Alienated Education and the Quest for Authentic, Joyful Learning, published by Cornell University Press, Kellogg faculty fellow Susan D. Blum presents a a theory-based phenomenology of institutional education. She defines "schoolishness" as educational practices that emphasize packaged "learning," unimaginative teaching, uniformity, constant evaluation by others, arbitrary forms, predetermined time, and artificial boundaries, resulting in personal and educational alienation, dependence, and dread. Drawing on critical, progressive, and feminist pedagogy in conversation with the anthropology of learning, and building on the insights of her two previous books, Blum proposes less-schoolish ways of learning in ten dimensions, to lessen the mismatch between learning in school and learning in the wild. Join the Kellogg Institute for a book launch conversation between the author and special guests Jean Lave and Rev. Hugh R. Page, Jr. A reception will follow and books will be available for purchase and signing. Co-presented with the Department of Anthropology, with co-sponsorship by the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts and the Center for Educational Research and Action.   More information here. 

A genre-bending, quasi-documentary about the true story of Spencer Reinhard, Warren Lipka, Eric Borsuk and Chas Allen, who were four friends living an ordinary existence in Kentucky. After a visit to Transylvania University, Lipka comes up with the idea to steal the rarest and most valuable books from the school's library. As one of the most audacious art heists in U.S. history starts to unfold, the men question whether their attempts to inject excitement and purpose into their lives are simply misguided attempts at achieving the American dream. GET TICKETS!  

A breathtaking fusion of poetry, ethnography, and cinema, Sergei Parajanov's masterwork overflows with unforgettable images and sounds. In a series of tableaux that blend the tactile with the abstract, The Color of Pomegranates revives the splendors of Armenian culture through the story of the eighteenth-century troubadour Sayat-Nova, charting his intellectual, artistic, and spiritual growth through iconographic compositions rather than traditional narrative. The film's tapestry of folklore and metaphor departed from the realism that dominated the Soviet cinema of its era, leading authorities to block its distribution, with rare underground screenings presenting it in a restructured form. This edition features the cut closest to Parajanov's original vision, in a restoration that brings new life to one of cinema's most enigmatic meditations on art and beauty. GET TICKETS!  

Join us for an engaging panel discussion as experts unpack the results of the 2024 U.S. election.   Welcoming remarks will be made by Notre Dame President, Rev. Robert A Dowd, C.S.C.  Moderated by David Campbell, director, Notre Dame Democracy Initiative, this event features insights from leading scholars Derek Muller, professor of law, Geoffrey Layman, chair of the Department of Political Science, and Laura Gamboa, assistant professor of democracy and global affairs, Keough School of Global Affairs.  The panel will analyze the election's key outcomes, voter behavior, ongoing contention and certification processes, and the broader implications for American democracy. A light lunch will be served from 12:30 - 1:00 pm before the panel begins.  The event is free and open to the public. Don’t miss this chance to hear from top experts about what just happened and what it means for the future of U.S. politics. This event is sponsored by the Notre Dame Democracy Initiative, and co-sponsored by the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, the Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy, and Notre Dame Student Government. Originally published at rooneycenter.nd.edu.