ABSTRACT. Dr. Parra and Dr. Wehling have spent most of their academic careers bridging diverse groups in South Georgia. Both have worked to empower students to think critically and to engage with those they do not know or understand. Dr. Parra uses a pedagogy based on Value Creating Education, through the Institute for Daisaku Ikeda Studies in Education, educators and researchers underline the relevance of topics such as human(istic) education, global citizenship, dialogue, and interconnectedness, among. The goal of education, as aim of the value creating education, is “to enhance this value of human character (Goulah, 2021). When people are empowered to realize the full scope of their possibilities willingly unite in solidarity to confront global issues. Then, the purpose in the classrooms is to create bridges toward an education that transforms how we feel about other cultures. Thus, from different perspectives, in this workshop, the purpose is to share ways to build bridges and cross those gaps among different cultures. Dr. Parra has taught mostly Latinx/Hispanic Literature and Hispanic Women Writers in the Spanish language courses. Among various examples, she will share two projects “Open Mic: Indigenous and Afro-Latinxs poets” and “GRASP projects” to encourage students to have asynchronous critical dialogues. These exercises encourage learners to engage in dialogues with their peers. These guided encounters happen asynchronously using the Voice Thread technology. In further research, she will consider including Artificial Intelligence (AI) since she believes technology should be to serve cultures to cross those gaps of discrimination, violence, economic and legal struggles. She has also worked hard to bridge the Black-Brown gap so prevalent in American culture by expanding the curriculum to other identities, for example Afro-Latinx and Indigenous Poets in the United States. Dr. Wehling has worked with the migrants, farmers, returned citizens, law enforcement and students to raise awareness about the perspectives group has to offer. In her SPAN 4980 Community Practicum and in core classes such as SPAN 1002, 2002 and in PERS 2799 Immigration and Incarceration, she combines field work, class visitors, and farm trips within the theoretical framework of the strength of weak ties, basically casual connections, that tie one to networks that are outside of one’s circle. They give you information and ideas that you otherwise would not have gotten and in his study were key to employment. (Granovetter, The Strength of Weak Ties, American Sociological Journal. 1973) Even short face to face interchanges can open an avenue to respect and understanding. Each partner in the interchange receives valuable insight not accessible otherwise. Students visit, work with and talk with people not part of the academic community. These experiences help create bonds of curiosity and trust and openness to others. Like Dr. Parra in all of her classes but particularly SPAN 3160, Civilization and Culture of Latin America, she prioritizes, the Afro and Indigenous experiences and contributions throughout history. We will discuss our experiences and ways to incorporate experiential learning in a myriad of ways. Thus, the purpose of inviting you to this workshop “Value Creating Education and The Strength of Weak Ties” is for participants to also engage in critical dialogues on how to shift Higher Education to be the space where learners could build bridges in their future professions.

ABSTRACT. This first day workshop brings together three phenomenal figures of Black feminist thought. Formatted as an inter-generational fireside chat, these scholars will explore their own scholarship and intellectual thought and the forces that compelled their work. Framed as a practice, this first day workshop will be informal and conversational with a focus on emerging insights that come through the processes of dialogue and engagement.

ABSTRACT. This workshop will focus on Munro Hendry’s contention that the constructs of public education and citizenship—part of a bigger effort to constitute a U.S. national identity as "white" —are inseparable from the simultaneous emergence in the circum-Caribbean and Gulf South of transatlantic constructs of what it means to be an educated citizen, ones that are both transnational and transracial. This radical egalitarian vision will be discussed through tracing the long history of education in Louisiana from an Afro-Franco-Spanish Creole protest tradition that emerged through/in the complex processes of creolization. Petra Munro Hendry will offer an overview of bringing the text into life followed by reflections, commentary, and discussion by four workshop discussants: Freyca Calderon-Berumen, Nichole Guillory, Erik Malewski, and Alexander Pratt. Informal dialogue across workshop participants will ensue.