University of Guam President Dr. Robert A. Underwood presents the first Presidential Lecture of 2015 featuring Marshallese poet and spoken word artist Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner on Wednesday, March 18 at 7:00 p.m. in the College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences (CLASS) Lecture Hall on the UOG Campus. Her lecture is entitled: “Iep Jeltok: A Basket of Poetry and Activism.”
Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner is a Marshallese poet and spoken word artist whose work focuses on raising awareness surrounding the issues and threats faced by her people - militarism and the nuclear legacy, climate change and climate justice, and adaptation and racism in America are just a few topics her work touches upon.
She received her Master’s degree from the Center for Pacific Island Studies at University of Hawai'i Manoa, with a focus on the history of Marshallese oral traditions and the transition into textual productions from Marshallese authors.
This past September, she performed at the opening of the United Nations Climate Summit in New York, following the speeches of Al Gore, Leonardo DiCaprio, and the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, and has since been thrust into global conversations on climate change. She currently teaches at the College of the Marshall Islands.
Source: www.uog.edu
