Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, November 16, 2011, Page 3, Image 3

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    sportiani» (Observer
N o ve m b e r 16, 2011
IN S ID E
inis page
Sponsored by
Page 3
Fred Meyer
5>
C areer ^ E ducation
Takahiro Yakamoto interprets
the social vulnerabilities o f
maleness in his 15-minute
performance at Lewis and
Clark College's art exhibition,
Multiculturalism: Defined.
H ealth
S ustainability
pages 10-11
pages 13
Rap on Multiculturalism
Lewis & Clark
explores
meaning
C ari H achmann
T he P ortland O bserver
by
ENItUIAINMtNI
pages 14-17
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N ovember C alendar page 23
F o o d
“ M ulticulturalism is d ead ,” a
recent statem ent m ade by G e r­
man C hancellor A ngela M erkell,
prom pted a debate at Lew is and
C lark C o lle g e ’s eighth annual
Ray W arren M ulticultural S ym ­
posium, where experts from Port­
land and beyond considered the
th e m e , the M ise d u c a tio n o f
M ulticulturalism .
T h e w e ek e n d sy m p o siu m
opened with an art exhibition.
M ulticulturalism : D efined, fea­
turing various w orks by artists
w h o r e f le c te d o n w h a t
m ulticulturalism m eans and lend
an understanding o f culture that
transcends sem antics and in ­
terp retatio n s.
“ W e realized that to u n d er­
s ta n d h o w w e h a v e b e e n
‘m ise d u ca te d ,’ w e m ust first
achieve a fundam ental u n d er­
s ta n d in g
of
w hat
m ulticulturalism really m eans,”
read a statem ent by Lew is and
C lark art curators M egan Sadler
and Kyle Y oshioka.
T oo often, m ulticulturalism is
connoted exclusively w ith race and
ethnicity, w hen really the concept
can encom pass far m ore, including
issues o f class, religion, sexual o ri­
entation, and m any others, they said.
A rtists challenged the notion o f
m u ltic u ltu ralism w ith d raw in g s,
photographs, m usic, creative dis­
plays, perform ance, and m ore.
Sokhun Keo expressed the m eld­
ing and evolution o f culture w ith a
crate o f C am bodian album s and an
A m erican record player for p artici­
pants to play. A cco rd in g to his
artist’s statem ent, Keo d o e sn ’t
identify h im self as distin ctly as
C am bodian, A m erican o r even
C am bodian-A m erican.
“C am bodian-A m erican c u l­
ture does not exist. Instead a
m ulti-culture or hybrid culture
e x ists,” he said. “T o say that I
am C am bodian-A m erican m ust
m ean that 1 am authentically
C am bodian and A m erican si­
m ultaneously, w hich is im pos-
B sible.”
I
W hile som e artists’ w ork re-
■ vealed the complexities of mul-
K tiple identities and ethnic ori-
I gins, others expressed what it's
B like to grow up solely with U.S.
|
traditions,
|
In h e r a rtw o rk , C a m ille
1 S h u m an n c o n v ey s a lack or
B w eakening o f A m erican culture
A self-portrait o f student artist
Camille Shumann at Lewis and Clark
College's Multiculturalism Sympo­
sium is a composition o f her cultural
travels.
that has im pelled her to explore
and absorb o th er cultures.
In S e lf P ortrait: R am blin,
continued
on page 20