3) Niles Gallery Folk Music Series
The Niles Gallery (in the Fine Arts Library on the UK Campus) Appalachian Folk Music Series features a different artist each week. Peformance information available at www.uky.edu/FineArts/Music/Niles/appalachian.php. If you attend, you may write a short paper about how the music reflects the issues we have discussed regarding folk songs of various types (lyric songs, ballads, etc.). Papers are due within two weeks of the date of the performance.

4) Islamic Awareness Week

Monday, March 2: Diversity Dialogues, Islam in America (Sponsored with UK SAB)
WT Young Library Auditorium, 7:00 pm
A student panel consisting of Muslim students discuss their experience of practicing Islam in America. From the promise of freedom of religion, to the prejudices experienced after 9/11, the panelist will describe how the tenets of their faith have integrated into the American society. The event will conclude with a dialogue with the audience, and a chance to ask questions.
* Food and refreshments will be provided afterwards
 
Tuesday, March 3: Al-Jazeerah film Islam in America
Center Theater Student Center, 7:00 pm
Al-Jazeerah reporter Rageh looks at why Islam has come to be described by some people as a "very American faith."  He traces its history in the US and talks to American Muslims about how their belief is compatible with the principles of American democracy.  He learns that growing interest in and study of this early history is fostering a re-emerging sense of tolerance and acceptance, which extends to the nation's most recent immigrants.

Assignment: Attend one or both of these events. Then by March 23, write a short paper on the issues of Islam in America from the point of view of the issues we have discussed in class (clash of cultures, unity/meshing of cultures, issues of identity, etc.).

5) Evening with the Mountainkeepers

Thursday, April 9, 2009, 6-10 p.m.
UK Student Center Grand Ballroom

Consider how public writing and grassroots community action work together to ensure a healthy democracy. Learn about Appalachia's endangered culture and its uneasy relationship with coal. Experience how journalists, poets, artists, and musicians have combined creativity and activism.

Assignment: By April 26, submit a brief paper discussing how Appalachian identity and "mainstream" US identity have interacted from the point of view of these artists/writers.