This week we'll hear from Sarah Vause, Instructor, Co-Director of The National Undergraduate Literature Conference at Weber State University on The Language of Humanity: Literature of the Oppressed as Testimony to Truth.
About the Presenter:
Sarah Vause is an instructor of English at Weber State University and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English from WSU, a Master’s Degree in American Studies from Utah State University, and is currently working to complete a PhD at Idaho State University.
She is the co-director of the National Undergraduate Literature Conference held yearly at WSU. She has worked as an editorial-fellow for both Western American Literature and for the Middle East Policy Council in Washington DC.
About the Presentation:
Never has there been a more important time to be sincere, to recognize that everyone has a story that guides their actions, and that we can choose kindness, empathy, and solidarity over sarcasm, mockery, and ignorance to guide the dialogue of our own narratives.
Literature written by oppressed people has the unique ability to humanize individuals, who otherwise become lost in the sea of numbers. It is one thing to read that over four million people of color were enslaved in the United States, but it is quite another to read the narrative of an individual who experienced the brutality of enslavement themselves.
It’s time to reflect on how words, ideas, and perspectives can lead to lasting change and compassionate unity. Every person is so much more than what is visible outwardly and each has a story to tell.