WVU Tech to host W.Va. photographer and humanitarian Paul Corbit Brown for photo lecture on global genocide
Brown will present and discuss his work documenting the aftereffects of genocide in Rwanda as part of the University's Death and Dying course.
The sociology class teaches students in health services administration, psychology, pre-med and nursing programs about how death is viewed and dealt with by various cultures. The class sees guest speakers from hospice, the State Medical Examiner's office and funeral homes to learn how people deal with death culturally and professionally.
Amanda McCarty, an assistant professor in the health services administration program at WVU Tech, says the course is a valuable resource for anyone in the health care industry.
"Anyone working in the medical field will inevitably encounter death in their work, and the majority are not prepared for it. Most doctors aren’t taught specifically how to deal with death. We learn all the ways to keep someone alive – but we don’t learn how to deal with and communicate about dying. So this course offers a chance for these students to examine what death means from a cultural standpoint, how death is addressed in the field and the rituals people use to address the subject," she said.
The lecture subject matter - not for the faint of heart - will cover Brown's journeys in those places where genocide has left an indelible mark on how people deal with dying and life after so much death.
In the introduction to his lecture, Brown says he wanted to examine the echoes left by these atrocities in places like Rwanda and other war-torn regions around the world.
"What happens afterwards? Surely people can’t just go on as if nothing happened. How do people heal? Can they heal? Given that we were then 10 years removed from the Genocide in Rwanda, I began a series of journeys there to try to find answers. Perhaps if we knew that genocide created generational pain, we would be more sincere and more committed when we used the words, 'Never again.'"
Brown's 30-year career in photography focuses on human rights, social justice and environmental responsibility. His drive to capture humanitarian issues has taken him throughout the United States, Mexico, Kenya, Jamaica, Russia, Israel, Laos Thailand, Rwanda, Indonesia, Haiti and Northern Iraq. He is President and Chair of the Keeper of the Mountain Foundation.
The event is free and open to the public. View Brown's work at paulcorbitbrown.com.