‘All In. All Year’ Calendar Highlights Identity Year-Round

By JB Clark

University of Mississippi

The University of Mississippi Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement is seeking to be “All In. All Year” by representing a range of cultures and identities together under one big tent across the entire year.

The “All In. All Year” calendar brings campus communities together with events highlighting the diverse cultures of the university’s students, faculty and staff in a way that doesn’t restrict celebration of cultures to a single month.

This effort gives students, staff and faculty a chance to see how the many cultures and identities intersect, said Sarah Piñon, who curates the calendar for the Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement.

“We want to have opportunities for students, staff and faculty to see themselves represented throughout the year, and for people who aren’t a part of that identity to come learn about culture and identities different from their own,” she said. “And it’s a way to showcase the variety and different offices, departments and student organizations in the campus community doing identity-focused programs and talking about DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) here on our campus.”

November’s calendar includes a celebration of Native American History Month, hosted Nov. 15 by the Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement. It also features Department of Music’s Veterans Day Choral Concert and a Trans Citizenship lecture from Tre Wentling, which is hosted by the Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies, College of Liberal Arts, Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, and Department of Sociology and Anthropology.

The calendar gives Ole Miss faculty, staff and students a single place to highlight and promote diversity, equity, inclusion and identity-focused programs and events across departments and centers.

September’s Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month and LGBTQ+ History Month Celebration featured Gabby Rivera, a queer Latinx author. Piñon said the event was a perfect example of the center’s goals for the calendar because Rivera could speak to being a queer, Latinx, woman and how these identities intersect and show up in her work.

Afton Thomas, associate director for programs with the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, home to three institutes and the Southern studies academic program, said the calendar is a natural fit for publicizing center events. The center’s SouthTalks and other events span multiple departments and disciplines. 

The intersectional nature of the calendar creates opportunities for members of the campus community to see themselves represented and find common ground with other identity groups, Thomas also.

“In seeing themselves in the programming offered across campus, the hope is that our students, faculty and staff of different backgrounds and identities feel a sense of belonging and can draw connections between themselves and others through a variety of topics,” she said. 

“Maybe a student is taking a class on Latin America and they go to a Southern Foodways Alliance event or visit their website and watch a film featuring foods central to both Latin American culture and their own upbringing. This calendar finds connections.”

The calendar also serves a practical purpose of keeping the campus community connected.

“I can be in a bubble here at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture; the calendar helps me stay looped in on events happening across campus and reminds me of potential partners for future,” Thomas said.

Anyone interested in submitting an event to the “All In. All Year.” calendar can do so here.

The “All In. All Year.” calendar can be found on the Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement website and is updated weekly.