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Middlebury’s Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs presents its annual international and interdisciplinary conference March 8-10.

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – Middlebury’s Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs will present its sixth annual international and interdisciplinary conference from March 8-10. Scholars from more than a dozen colleges and universities, including Middlebury, will present papers related to the year that “changed modern history.”

The conference begins Thursday, March 8, with a welcome from Director of the Rohatyn Center Tamar Mayer at 4:30 p.m., followed by the keynote address by Todd Gitlin, a professor of journalism and sociology and chair of the PhD program in communications at Columbia University. Gitlin will speak on “The Ambiguous Consequences of Failed Revolutions.”

Later on Thursday, two Middlebury faculty members, Stephen Donadio and Linus Owens, will give presentations at the Robert A. Jones House Conference Room (RAJ). Donadio, the Fulton Professor of Humanities and director of the Program in Literary Studies, will speak on the subject of “Black Power at Columbia, 1968.” In 1968, Donadio was an instructor at Columbia, where he witnessed first-hand the developments that brought the university to a standstill, and at that time published personal interviews with leaders representing principal groups involved in the general protest.

Owens, associate professor of sociology, studies political protest, including urban squatting movements and student activism. His presentation looks at what the protests at Columbia and San Francisco State College in 1968 may suggest about today’s student protests.

On Friday, March 9, the conference resumes with three sessions beginning at 12:15 in RAJ. In the first session, four scholars will speak on topics related to the theme of “Icons, Identity, and Liberation.” The second session explores “Acting Out the Struggle” and features three different speakers. Wrapping up the day’s presentations on Friday is “Mexico City! Scripts of Resistance” with two presentations.

On Saturday, March 10, the final presentation session begins at 9 a.m. in RAJ, themed around the idea of “Revolutionary Fatigue.” The conference summary will take place at 11 a.m.

For details and presentation abstracts, visit the conference website here.