“Everything in dance is poetry. Every movement describes a story, a feeling. The dancer takes the audience into a world of fairy tales.” ~Farima Berenji
Imagining America’s 2026 National Gathering
Dr. Farima Berenji shares stories and research upon Iranian culture and diaspora. She also presents research appearing in her book Companions of the Sun during Imagining America’s National Gathering.
Imagining America 2026 National Gathering
The Imagining America (IA) National Gathering is an annual convening of public scholars, artists, designers, students, and cultural organizers who are addressing the most pressing issues of our time. The gathering offers participants a three-day immersive experience in which to connect, dialogue, learn, and strategize around the ways to build new knowledge and inspire collective imagination towards transformative education and action. Over 500 participants from the IA network and the University of California, Davis and Yolo Bioregion community (a geographic and cultural area that includes the cities of Davis, Woodland, Winters, West Sacramento, and surrounding areas) to engage in deep learning, collaboration, and transformative creativity on the theme of “Tides of Transition: Restoring Collective Spirit in Troubled Times.” We will activate spaces across the UC Davis campus, in the City of Davis, and at community-hosted site visits.
Reflecting on the importance of transitions – from political crises to global climate change, and personal identity to organizational transformation – this gathering invites participants to share stories, research, creative works, and community practices exploring the complex process of transitioning away from systems of fear and domination and towards restoring collective spirit. Read more…
Imagining America
The Imagining America consortium (IA) brings together scholars, artists, designers, humanists, and organizers to imagine, study, and enact a more just and liberatory ‘America’ and world. Working across institutional, disciplinary, and community divides, IA strengthens and promotes public scholarship, cultural organizing, and campus change that inspires collective imagination, knowledge-making, and civic action on pressing public issues. By dreaming and building together in public, IA creates the conditions to shift culture and transform inequitable institutional and societal structures. Read more…