Little Revolutions: Civil Disobedience and Ordinary People
On Wednesday evening, October 25, the Religious Studies Department held its first RS Conversation of the year, hosting social activist and Commonweal columnist Jo McGowan for pizza and casual conversation. McGowan is the founder and director of Latika, an NGO in northern India that provides education and specialized services for people with disabilities. Perhaps her less well-known (but nevertheless esteemed) claim to fame, however, is that she is the mother of the department’s own Prof. Cathleen Chopra-McGowan! Jo McGowan spoke about her long history as an activist, both in India and in the U.S., reflecting on her motivations, hopes, and struggles and encouraging the students who were present to engage in their own activist pursuits. The crowd was intimate and intergenerational–part of the intent of RS Conversations events–and the conversation was lively!