Growing New Roots

at BMAC September 18th 12pm
Dafa Puppet Theatre (Jordan/Czech Republic)
Patty Whalen (local judge)

This panel discusses how war threatens our roots and what we take with us or sacrifice in exile. How do we address the effects of war through the lens of art and of international law? If History is a record of significant events, how are we, as members of our communities, impacted and transformed by those events?

Panelists:

Husam Abed is a Palestinian Jordanian theatre director, puppeteer, musician and producer, lives in the Czech Republic. He is undertaking a PhD study at Bath Spa University in the UK researching objects for refugees’ visibility. He holds a Master of Directing for Alternative and Puppet Theatre at DAMU, Czech Republic. He is a co-founder of Dafa Puppet Theatre/Czech Republic. He is performing and leading theater and puppetry projects for children and youth in many countries. He is directing theater performances, collaborating with artists from many nations. His performances took part at international festivals in Europe, Arab world, Hong Kong and Macao. He is a co-founder of Hazaart and LIV’in festival in the city of Prague, a member of

Amman Theatre Lab., a board member of Sawiyan, a curator of IDEA (International Dance Encounter Amman), a member of Karama Film Festival for Human Rights in Jordan.

Hon. Patricia Whalen has been a local and international judge for more than 20 years, having presided over proceedings in Vermont as a family Magistrate Judge and serving for five years (2007 -2012) as an international judge in the War Crimes Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She is the founding member of the Afghan Judicial Education Program, facilitating cross-cultural judicial learning in both the U.S. and Afghanistan. Whalen was an official expert representative of the International Association of Women Judges at The Hague Conference on Private International Law. She holds specializations in areas including human rights, war crimes, gender violence in conflict, genocide and crimes against humanity, as well as family law.
Judge Whalen served as a Special Advisor to the Court in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2012-2014), focusing on judicial education in international law, judicial management systems, trial management, designing judicial education programs, hybrid legal systems, judicial trial skills particularly regarding war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity and gender-based violence. She currently serves as a consultant and advisor to the Center for Peacebuilding in Sanski Most, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Cohen Center for Genocide and Holocaust Studies in Keene, New Hampshire. In 2019, The Cohen Center awarded her the Susan J. Herman Award for Leadership in Holocaust and Genocide Awareness. Judge Whalen received the Vermont Law School Distinguished Alumni Award in June 2019. Judge Whalen lives in Westminster West, Vermont.