Scholars will discuss episodes of racial violence in Arkansas, southeastern Europe, and western Africa during a presentation Tuesday, Feb. 21, at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. 

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 11 a.m. in the the UA Little Rock Student Services Center Auditorium. Partners at UA Little Rock include the Joel E. Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity and the William H. Bowen School of Law.

“The Anderson Institute is delighted to host representatives from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as part of its ongoing efforts to connect UA Little Rock to local, regional, national, and international networks of people working on issues of race and ethnicity,” said Dr. John Kirk, director of the Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity.

The presentation, “Arkansas, Yugoslavia, and Sierra Leone: Race, Ethnicity, and Violence in a Global Perspective,” will feature talks by three scholars in regional race and violence, followed by a moderated discussion.

Scholars and their presentations include:

•   “Sundown Towns: Race and Violence in Arkansas” by Dr. Guy Lancaster, editor of the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture
•   “Ethnic Space and Genocide in Twentieth Century Southeastern Europe:  From the Balkan Wars of the 1910s to the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s” by Dr. Emil Kerenji, applied research scholar, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

•   “Framing in the Making: Race, Violence, and Sex in Sierra Leone” by Dr. Tusty ten Bensel, UA Little Rock assistant professor of criminal justice

Audience members can use a laptop, tablet, or smartphone to ask questions of the presenters, view documents, and give feedback during the talks by visiting the website.   

During the visit, museum representatives will meet with UA Little Rock Chancellor Andrew Rogerson and Interim Provost Deborah Baldwin to discuss the campus climate on race and ethnicity.

This program is part of the “Extrajudicial Violence and Questions of Complicity” series, made possible by the Campus Outreach Lecture Program of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies. Generous support was provided by Jack and Goldie Wolfe Miller and the Robert and Myra Kraft Family Foundation.

For more information, please contact Dr. John Kirk at jakirk@ualr.edu.