The Humanities and Fine Arts Division of Chattanooga State Community College will host the fifth installment of its 2020-2021 virtual Chautauqua Lecture Series on Thursday, February 18 at 2 p.m. This is a fully virtual Zoom event, with pre-registration required. Sign up at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/137821223991

In 1874, people gathered on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in New York State to enjoy speakers, teachers, musicians, and specialists who entertained and educated members of the community, thus catalyzing an adult education movement that subsequently spread throughout rural America. Since 2014, Chattanooga State has hosted its own monthly Chautauqua to unite faculty, students, staff, and the larger Chattanooga community in exploring a wide array of topics within the Humanities.

This month’s virtual Chautauqua is titled “The Border: Motif, Metaphor, and Political Football” and features Dr. Katheryn Thompson. As our nation expanded west after the Civil War, the people found a land that was huge, grand, dry and wild, like they had never seen before. This landscape soon became a common theme of our national narrative and the border was frequently an aspect of that narrative. However, in the last forty years the border has come to dominate all narratives of the west. Join Dr. Thompson as she explores how, when, and why this cultural and historical transformation of the border occurred.

WHEN: 2-3 p.m. February 18, 2021  

WHERE: Virtual Zoom Event. Sign up at by going directly to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/137821223991 NOTE: Once registered, attendees will receive the Zoom event link shortly before the event occurs at the email address used for registration.  

COST: Free to all members of the public.  

FOR MORE INFORMATION: eventbrite.com/e/136468778791; Facebook.com/ChattStateChautauqua; keri.lamb@chattanoogastate.edu.