Veritas Forum: Extending Mercy in an Unforgiving Age

What does it mean to extend mercy to others in an unforgiving age?  This question has special poignancy in our politically and socially polarized time. As we look out at our social and political landscape, calls to “cancel” others who do not share our views, combined with a pervasive lack of charity toward those with whom we may disagree, seem to be on the rise. Might mercy provide a valuable framework to rethink how we relate to others, whomever they might be? How might the ability to extend mercy to those we find most disagreeable be a strength of character, and not a sign of weakness?
Guests: Dr. Angel Adams Parham, UVA, Dr. Gena E. Chandler, VT, moderated by Dr. Laura Belmonte, Dean of the VT College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
We have two incredibly gifted guest speakers joining us this year. Get to know them below!
Dr. Angel Adams Parham
Angel Adams Parham is Associate Professor of Sociology and Associate Director for the major in Political and Social Thought at the University of Virginia. Through her research in historical sociology, she engages in inquiry that examines the past in order to better understand how to live well in the present and envision wisely for the future. Her first book, American Routes: Racial Palimpsests and the Transformation of Race (Oxford, 2017), received several awards. Her latest book, co-authored with Anika Prather, was published in 2022 and is entitled The Black Intellectual Tradition: Reading Freedom in Classical Literature. Parham has published articles on the intersection of Black writers and classical liberal education in popular outlets including theWashington Post, Wall Street Journal, Public Discourse, Comment Magazine, The Hedgehog Review, and Common Good Magazine. Her work finds expression in the community in her capacity as the co-founder and executive director of Nyansa Classical Community, an educational organization which provides curricula and programming designed to connect with students from diverse backgrounds, inviting them to take part in the Great Conversation, cultivate the moral imagination, and pursue truth, goodness, and beauty. She received her bachelor’s degree from Yale University and completed her doctoral work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dr. Gena E. Chandler
Gena E. Chandler, PhD is an Associate Professor and Associate Chair of the Department of English at Virginia Tech. She is a university award-winning teacher earning the 2022 William E. Wine Award for Career Teaching Excellence, the 2022 & 2015 Virginia Tech Certificate of Teaching Excellence Award, the 2015 College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences Carroll B. Shannon Excellence in Teaching Award, and the 2007 Diggs Teaching Scholar Award for teaching excellence. Dr. Chandler’s research interests include African American literature, American literature, postcolonial literature, pedagogy, and critical literary theory. She has published articles on the work of Charles Johnson, including a piece in Texas Studies in Literature and Language and a piece in the edited collectionCharles Johnson: The Novelist as Philosopher (2007). Her recent publications include an article in the journal Pedagogy (“Threat Assessment: Women of Color Teaching Ideological Critique in the Neoliberal Classroom”) and her book, The Wanderer in African American Literature, published in 2020 by The University of Tennessee Press.
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Date

Feb 20 2025

Time

7:30 pm - 9:00 pm

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Location

Colonial Hall
Squires Student Center