Shihab Moral

TEDx, in its various forms, has long been a platform for students of all backgrounds to share dynamic and impactful stories with the goal of expanding our understanding of difficult topics. Bowdoin’s second annual TEDx program was titled “Paths to Dialogue,” in response to the current political and social climate at the College and in the United States. Organizer Victor Ferreira Souza ’26 centered the creation of this year’s theme on the notion of bringing hope by exploring the role of dialogue in all its different dimensions.

“We were trying to give people a little bit of hope. We felt like there was a lot going on in the world,… and we saw how much people are stressing. So we wanted to understand what happens after dialogue,” Souza said. “I think that’s one of the things that we were trying to home in on from the beginning. What are the actionable steps that can be taken after dialogue, and what happens when dialogue fails?”

The TEDx event returned to Bowdoin in the 2023-2024 academic year after a four-year hiatus. This year’s event consisted of three students, three professors and three alumni.

The first of the talks was by Professor of Social Sciences Emeriti Nancy Riley. She described food as a gateway to create bonds and meaningful connections with others and highlighted how sharing food is a way to explore history, power and social and environmental issues.

Assistant Professor of English Zahir Janmohamed centered his talk on the question of who certain dialogue serves and who it hurts.

“If someone asks me to engage in dialogue, I usually run the other way, because I have found that it means that an institution does not want to do the labor or to ask uncomfortable questions about power imbalances,” Janmohamed said. “We are witnessing profoundly lopsided violence in Palestine, and yet despite the inequities of the war, we are hearing calls for dialogue. I wanted to interrogate why.”

Each speaker’s talk revolved around the theme in a unique way.

Chayma Charifi ’25, one of the student speakers, utilized her past experience of psychosis to discuss how self-examination and introspection can be a means of turning a mental breakdown into a breakthrough. Charifi used storytelling, psychology and humor to explore how breakdowns occur and how honest introspection can bring one back together.

Avery Park ’28, drew upon the common mistranslations of ancient poems and stories to address how different interpretations of these texts are at their core, in her view, biased readings. Park highlighted how translations have a huge impact on how these pieces of literature are received and considered by the public.

“They’re not supposed to be performing some kind of opinion, because they’re fictional stories about heroes and myths. If they perpetuate something that’s not accurate to the original author, then the implications of that affect the broader audience,” Park said.

The third student speaker, Yaerin Wallenberger ’25, spoke on challenges of our current societal systems in addressing mental health related needs. Wallenberger presented a multi-tier model in order to highlight how everyone can positively influence the future of mental health.

Following the submissions from student speakers, the organizers picked a theme from the program lineup. This was intended to keep the talks as diverse as possible.

“We try usually, not to tell people what the talks are going to be, just because it allows them to be creative with it. It allowed [people to talk] about things like translations to mental health to architecture,” Souza said. “What happens is that once we have most of the talks, we come up with a theme.”

Alumni speaker Jay Greene ’13 used architecture to discuss conflict and how disagreements can open up the door to growth and understanding, while the second alumni to speak, Dominique Johnson ’11, focused on the idea of resilience and how to rest and rebuild oneself in our current climate. Finally, Jeffery Mao ’92 drew on his personal experiences to relay the importance of storytelling and shared experiences as points of connection in the world.

Associate Professor of Africana Studies Judith Casselberry, the last speaker in the program, centered her talk on the idea of constructive conversation, exploring when exactly dialogue is a healthy exchange. Casselberry wrote her talk amid the social and political landscape following the Trump inauguration.

“I was actually really digging into writing it in January. So much was happening politically, and things were just really getting haywire. I was really inspired by just the rapidly shifting sands,” Casselberry said. “Everybody was really like, ‘Things are shifting too much,’ but I also felt like I was in very familiar territory. So I wanted to communicate that.”

Chayma Charifi ’25 is a member of the Bowdoin Orient.