March 2024 newsletter

March 2024

Greetings,

Spring is in the air and we have some exciting and engaging programs to look forward to. Last month was filled with exceptional events. We screened the film Merchants of Doubt, welcomed Dr. Simon Serfaty, Dr. Corey Basch and RADM Tim Gallaudet (ret.) who all delivered informative lectures. We also partnered with St. Mary's County Historical Society for a celebration of Fr. Francis Michael Walsh's newly published book, The Story of the St. Inigoes Mission 1634-1994. You can order a copy here.

Please review our newsletter for information regarding our upcoming programs. For more information on our programs or for information regarding the Center for the Study of Democracy, please visit our website or send us an email.

I also encourage you to follow the Center on Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube.

Warm regards,

Antonio Ugues Jr., PhD

Director, Center for the Study of Democracy

UPCOMING EVENTS

March 6

Kivu Ruhorahoza

Grey Matter Film Screening

Cole Cinema, 7:30-9:00 pm

March 21

Voter Registration Training

Blackistone Room,

Anne Arundel Hall North,

11:00 am-1:00 pm

March 27

Esther Mujawayo

Lecture and Reception

Daugherty-Palmer Commons,

6:30-9:00 pm

April 10 or 11 (TBD)

Americas Dialogue Series

Public Lecture

Cole Cinema

April 11

Primary Election

Candidate Forum

Lexington Park Library,

5:00 pm

April 13

National Civics Bee Competition

Cole Cinema,

10:00 am-2:00 pm

The Africa Series Presents: "Remembering Rwanda:

30 years after the Genocide against the Tutsi."

A screening of the

film Grey Matter

by Kivu Ruhorahoza

Born in 1982 in Kigali, Rwanda, Kivu Ruhorahoza is an award-winning filmmaker whose work has appeared in festivals throughout Africa, Europe, and the United States. The New Yorker called his 2022 film Father's Day "one of the highlights" of the New Directors/ New Films festival at Lincoln Center. His films have received awards from the Tribeca, Warsaw, and Venice film festivals.

In addition to visiting classes and interacting with students, Mr. Ruhorahoza will be presenting his acclaimed film Grey Matter (2011) in which two siblings in Rwanda, a brother and sister, struggle to rebuild their lives following the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.

Learn more here.

Lecture by Rwandan human rights

advocate, author

and psychotherapist

Esther Mujawayo

Born in Rwanda in 1958, Esther Mujawayo is the author of Survivors: Rwanda, Ten Years after Genocide (2004) (published originally in French as Survivantes. Rwanda, dix ans après le génocide) and Stephanie’s Flower: Rwanda between Reconciliation and Denial (2006). One of the founders of the Association of Widows of the Rwandan Genocide (AVEGA) in 1994, she has appeared at international conferences, including the United Nations General Assembly, to speak on behalf of Tutsi genocide survivors. She currently lives in Germany where she is a practicing psychotherapist. Her talk will focus on her work as an advocate for survivors of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda as well as on our own roles and responsibilities towards victims of violence.

Learn more here.