Film Screening & Panel: The Value of Immigration

This panel follows our Welcoming Immigrants to America video competition from Spring 2019. Videos were submitted by UNC students, with their best arguments as to why the US should welcome refugees and immigrants. Winning films will be screened. The panel following will explore the value of immigration to society, both in the US and in Europe. Opening remarks will be given by Professor Rudi Colloredo-Mansfeld, UNC Senior Associate Dean for Social Sciences and Global Programs.

Winning students:

• Rianna Evans | European Studies & Geography ’21
• Kaitlin Harlow | Media and Journalism & Global Studies ’19
• Jackeline Lizama | Journalism ’19
• Kellan Robinson | European Studies & Global Studies ’20, minors in French & African American and Diaspora Studies
• Barbara Sostaita | PhD Student, Religious Studies
• Rachel Suh | Linguistics ’22, minor in Music

Panelists:

• Anita Botti (moderator) | Acting Executive Director, The Exodus Institute
• Christiane Lemke | Visiting Scholar, UNC-CH UNC-CH Center for European Studies& Political Science
  • Professor of Political Science and Director of International Relations and European Studies in the Institute of Political Science at Leibniz University Hannover
• Emil Keme | Associate Professor of Spanish
• Todd Ochoa | Associate Professor, UNC-CH Religious Studies

Cosponsored by the Exodus Institute, the UNC Center for European Studies, Carolina Latinx Center, the UNC Center for Global Initiatives, the UNC Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies, the UNC European Horizons Club, the UNC Institute for the Study of the Americas.

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Access flyer as PDF.

Student Films

About The Exodus Institute

Based in Washington, D.C., The Exodus Institute was founded in 2017 inspired by the spirit of the Exodus ship. The historic voyage of the Exodus vessel carried Jewish migrants from Europe to the Middle East in 1947, displaced after surviving the Holocaust. Today, more than 65 million people are displaced due to conflict, intolerance, economic disparity, and environmental disasters. These challenges continue to increase, driving forced migration and creating one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the century. As drivers of migration escalate, so too does negative sentiment.

A key component of our mission is to mobilize the private and international sectors to address the forced migration crisis. We aim to create a public awareness campaign, whereby we present the nation’s willingness and continued ability to absorb immigration as both necessary to and consistent with our democratic values. History has shown that immigration is our tradition; and it has defined and refined our democracy. Through an understanding of the economic, political, and social drivers of immigration in the past, we can create an understanding of how immigration today is a continuation of this long history.

Interested in interning with the Exodus Institute this summer? Contact Anne Gallagher, Associate Director at anne@theexodusinstitute.org.