The Roots of Contemporary Issues Event Series
Confronting today’s most pressing issues with clarity and purpose requires historical understanding. We invite students, faculty and staff across our campuses—as well as our communities—to engage in thoughtful conversation about how the past informs our present as local, national, and global citizens.
2025-2026 Series
During the 2025-2026 academic year the Roots of Contemporary Issues Event Series will be investigating the questions:
What are the long-term consequences of social and political conflict and upheaval, and how do societies that face such conflicts reorganize and reorient in the aftermath?
Through media, panels, talks and art this year’s series will consider moments that reveal the impacts of deeply divided societies on human history.
“The Rise of Right-Wing Politics in Europe”
On October 1, RCI and The Thomas S. Foley Institute hosted Dr. Olyvia Christley of WSU for a talk and discussion of the motivations, methods, and aspirations of far-right political parties in Europe over the last forty years. Dr. Christley spoke to both the RCI’s interest in the implications of periods of social and political conflict and the Foley Institute’s theme for 2025-2026 on the fragility of democracy.
The Innocent Voices
On October 22, @ 5:30pm in the Smith Center for Undergraduate Education (CUE) 203, RCI will host a showing with introduction and discussion of the 2005 Academy Award Winning film The Innocent Voices. The film is a powerful examination of a young boy trapped between childhood and adulthood in the midst of civil war in El Salvador. The discussion that follows will link the film with the history of refugee movements from Central America to the U.S. during the 1980s and into the 1990s.
1968 Around the World: A Panel Discussion
1968 was a critical year for thousands of voices around the world. The panel will be held February 26, 2025 @ 5:30pm at Neill Public Library. It brings together experts from WSU’s Department of History to discuss the ways that protest, resistance, and action impacted movements in Latin America, Europe, Africa, and the United States. Joining the panel are:
Student Voice 1970-1980
In April of 2026 the RCI Event Series will host an exhibit on student movements at WSU in the 1970s. In the 1970s WSU students actively engaged in the critical debates and political discussions that impacted them, their communities, and their country. Student Voices 1970-1980 is an exhibit of images and archival materials that capture this vibrant moment of student activism and engagement on campus. The exhibit will open with a talk and discussion of this critical moment in WSU History.
2024-2025 Series
The 2024-2025 event series asked questions about oral history: How do the shared stories impact the way we analyze and interpret the past?
The Roots of Contemporary Issue Time Capsule
The 2024-2025 series culminated with the Roots of Contemporary Issues Time Capsule. This event was a series of recording sessions that asked students, faculty, staff and the broader Pullman community to create an audio Time Capsule of this place and time. We asked participants to record their 5 minute responses to the questions:
- What brought you to Pullman?
- What does being here in this moment in time mean to you?
Testimony and History in the Digital Age
The Oral History Panel brought together three experts in oral history from the Department of History and WSU Libraries Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections to discuss the past, present, and future of oral history.
The panel took place on January 22, 2025 at 12:00pm in the Atrium of Terrell Library.
Panelists:
Marlene Gaynair
Marlene Gaynair is an Assistant Professor of History at WSU. She specializes in the social and cultural histories of the United States, Canada, and British Caribbean in the twentieth century. Her research covers popular culture, diasporas, immigration, and urban histories/spaces. She is the architect of “Islands of the North,” a digital exhibit which (re) creates Black cultural and spatial identities in Toronto. She engages in digital histories and humanities to explore other dimensions of historical scholarship and public engagement.
Will Gregg
Will Gregg is WSU’s Manuscripts Librarian and oversees archival collections related to the history of the region and the university including oral history collections. He is currently managing a cooperative agreement between WSU and the National Park Service to process and digitize key papers and photographs from the collections at Nez Perce National Historic Park and Big Hole National Battlefield. Will also works with colleagues to facilitate digital access to legacy media types and improve WSU’s capacity to collect and preserve digital records.
Drew Gamboa
Drew Gamboa is a PhD graduate student in the Department of History at WSU who researches the history of the Chicano/a community in the Pacific Northwest and plans to spend some time focusing on bicultural, bilingual education. He works with the Queer Archives at WSU, where he coordinates oral history interviews with folks that are part of the queer community in the Palouse region, and recently interned with the Manhattan Project Historical National Park in the Tri-Cities, where he collaborated and experimented with bridging storytelling, curation, and digital technology.
Older Than the Crown
In October of 2024 the series hosted a viewing of the documentary Older Than the Crown. The documentary highlighted the way in which oral traditions aided Sinixt Ceremonial Hunter Rick Desautel, in his landmark trial for charges of illegal hunting on ancestral lands. To the Sinixt, hunting on ancestral land is an aboriginal right gifted to them by Creator. However, they have been legally denied this right since 1956, when the Canadian government unjustly declared the tribe extinct.
Schedule of Past Events
2025-2026 Events
“The Rise of Right Wing Politics in Europe”
When: October 1, 2025 @ 12:00pm
Where: Foley Institute Speakers Room, Bryan Hall 316
RCI and The Thomas S. Foley Institute hosted Dr. Olyvia Christley of WSU for a talk and discussion of the motivations, methods, and aspirations of far-right political parties in Europe over the last forty years. Dr. Christley spoke to both the RCI’s interest in the implications of periods of social and political conflict and the Foley Institute’s theme for 2025-2026 on the fragility of democracy.
The Innocent Voices
Film Presentation and Discussion
When: October 22, 2025 @ 5:30pm
Where: The Smith Center for Undergraduate Education (CUE) 203
On October 22, @ 5:30pm in the Smith Center for Undergraduate Education (CUE) 203, RCI will host a showing with introduction and discussion of the 2005 Academy Award Winning film The Innocent Voices. The film is a powerful examination of a young boy trapped between childhood and adulthood in the midst of civil war in El Salvador. The discussion that follows will link the film with the history of refugee movements from Central America to the U.S. during the 1980s and into the 1990s.
1968 Around the World: A Panel Discussion
When: February 26, 2026 @ 6:00pm
Where: Neill Public Library
1968 was a critical year for thousands of voices around the world. This panel brings together experts from WSU’s Department of History to discuss the ways that protest, resistance, and action impacted movements in Latin America, Europe, Africa, and the United States. Joining the panel are:
- Dr. Julian Dodson, Latin America
- Dr. Clif Stratton, The United States
- Dr. Brenna Miller, Europe
- Dr. Jodi Marshall, Africa
Student Voices 1970-1980
When: April 2026
Where: TBD
In the 1970s WSU students actively engaged in the critical debates and political discussions that impacted them, their communities, and their country. Student Voices 1970-1980 is an exhibit of images and archival materials that capture this vibrant moment of student activism and engagement on campus. The exhibit will open with a talk and discussion of this critical moment in WSU History.
2024-2025 Events
The Roots of Contemporary Issues Time Capsule
The 2024-2025 series culminated with the Roots of Contemporary Issues Time Capsule. This event was a series of recording sessions that asked students, faculty, staff and the broader Pullman community to create an audio Time Capsule of this place and time. We asked participants to record their 5 minute responses to the questions:
- What brought you to Pullman?
- What does being here in this moment in time mean to you?
Testimony and History in the Digital Age: The Past, Present, and Future of Oral History, A Roundtable
Event took place on January 22, 2025 at 12:00 pm.
Presenters included:
- Marlene Gaynair, WSU Department of History
- Will Gregg, WSU Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC)
- Drew Gamoa, WSU Department of History and MASC
Older Than the Crown
Older than the crown documents the landmark trial of Sinixt Ceremonial Hunter Rick Desautel, who in 2010 was charged with illegal hunting on ancestral lands. To the Sinixt, hunting on ancestral land is an aboriginal right gifted to them by Creator. However, they have been legally denied this right since 1956, when the Canadian government unjustly declared the tribe extinct. The Sinixt’s courageous fight and legal victory becomes a pivotal precedent for other Native tribes struggling for reconciliation with their homelands, as well as an emotional recognition of a people’s right to exist.