[447] MTSU Global Studies ‘Migration with Dignity’ exhibit honors Midstate diversity

Multimedia display runs April 17-27 at Heritage Center downtown

MURFREESBORO — MTSU’s Global Studies program is encouraging the Middle Tennessee community to attend a unique multimedia exhibit in Murfreesboro honoring the cultural diversity in the region through stories of migration.

Organized as a class project of Global Studies at Middle Tennessee State University, the “Migration with Dignity in Middle Tennessee” exhibit will be open April 17-27 at the Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County, 225 W. College St. in downtown Murfreesboro. A special opening reception will take place beginning at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 17. 

Free and open to the public, the exhibit includes 17 individual testimonies of migrants and their families from different countries of origin who now all call Tennessee their home. Several pieces of student artwork from MTSU professor Sisavanh Houghton’s painting class as well as video excerpts are included in the exhibit. The Heritage Center is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Friday.

Project sponsors are the Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County, MTSU Department of Art-Painting, MTSU Experiential Learning Scholars Program, MTSU Global Studies, Nashville Public Library and Southern Organizing of Latino Educators. 

           

Project organizers say part of the impetus of the project was to create a different public conversation about the migration experience that recognizes the shared humanity of all Tennesseans as well as an interdependent past, present, and future.

Student project participants such as Ashley McFarland, a Spanish major and Italian/global studies minor, have learned the value of this project firsthand.

“I come from a small town near Chattanooga, Tennessee, and I never really thought much about migration, about how people feel,” McFarland said. “My participation in this process, however, has been a life-changing experience because I now think about what it is like to migrate and live here.”

Murfreesboro native and MTSU history major and global studies minor Dalton Cantrell, echoed those sentiments.

“More than just a class project, Migration with Dignity fosters understanding about who we are and who we want to be as a community,” he said. “This project has encouraged people my age to actually step out of our comfort zones and view the world in a different way.”

For participant Mia Kozul, a global studies major and sociology minor, the project is very personal because of her family’s experience as refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“Coming to the United States has opened doors for us that were completely closed in our home country. We are blessed to be here,” she said. “ I am happy that our project seeks to honor these experiences.”

For more information about the Migration with Dignity exhibit, contact MTSU student and project co-coordinator Sam Hulsey at samuelkhulsey@gmail.com or 615-587-8559; or MTSU faculty adviser Dr. Antonio Vásquez at antonio.vasquez@mtsu.edu.