Cobb Peace Lecture: “No Story, No Peace” with Rowena Alegría
Rowena Alegría, who is the founder and director of the Denver Office of Storytelling, will share film clips and explore how Narrative Justice can be a force for peace. About her topic, Rowena shares, “Whose stories matter? And who gets to tell them? In an age of book banning and cancellation, when, for example, the brilliance of Toni Morrison and her depiction of the Black experience is deemed a threat by many, such questions become all the more pertinent. It’s not common for a municipal government to raise the questions, but in the five years since Denver launched the city’s Office of Storytelling, the process of preserving and sharing its history and culture primarily by creating films in the voices of residents has evolved to include the desire to inform decision-making at City Hall and to uplift community voices for conversation and engagement, particularly around issues of social justice. Why? Because so many of the stories, from drag queens to wheelchair activists and from Japanese Americans imprisoned by the U.S. government to Chicanos advocating for access to housing and education, are similar and maybe, just maybe, could be taken into account when formulating a more just and informed policy.”
The Cobb Peace Lecture is offered annually at Naropa and brings distinguished thinkers, practitioners, activists, artists and scholars from diverse backgrounds to campus to share their work, vision and insights with our students and the broader community. Conceived and endowed by John W. Cobb, former Naropa University president, and his wife, Bayard, in 2007, the Cobb Peace Lecture is designed to heighten awareness of peace-oriented philosophies and innovative conflict-resolution strategies, ranging from psychological perspectives, to religious themes, to socioeconomic activism, and more. Through the lecture, we hope to offer models for various forms of peace work that may inspire our engagement as we move into the world.
Past speakers include Motus Theatre, Boulder’s own social action theatre company; Charles Eisenstein, author and speaker; Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni, award-winning playwright and producer; and Dr. Fania Davis, restorative justice leader and civil rights attorney; and many more. We hope that you can attend this special event.
Zoom Link for Cobb Peace Lecture April 2024
https://naropa.zoom.us/j/97661708250
Please be sure to reserve your spot here.
