As an array of national flags hung on Davis Field, the Intercultural Center (IC) launched the fifteenth annual World Culture Festival with a blast of Latino rock. Students and faculty gathered around a feast of globally sourced cultural dishes, performances and games.
The festival, which was held on Friday, Oct. 4 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., was organized by the IC with a mission to showcase the diversity of cultures that enrich the Wake Forest campus.
“This day is celebratory for what makes up the Wake Forest community as a whole that isn’t always amplified in a lot of spaces,” Jalen Shell, the assistant director of the IC, said. “This is a day to showcase that you belong here.”
The festival featured many campus organizations, including the Lam Museum of Anthropology and the University Counseling Center, alongside student clubs and organizations like the World Tea Association, Asian American Identity Group, Organization of Latin American Students, Wake Forest Culturality and more.
Stormy Harrell, the Lam Museum’s collection manager, detailed this year’s selection of North Carolina indigenous artifacts: Native American rain sticks from Mexico, stone tools resembling arrowheads discovered in North Carolina by local archaeologists in the ‘30s and ’60s and a collection of East Asian children’s books, including Japanese comics.
“We tend to bring different stuff out every year, representative of every culture,” Harrell said.
Senior Ugo Okoli from Seattle paused at the Lam Museum table to flip through a comic book. After sampling some Spanish card games that were new to him, he shared his joy at the cultural diversity he found.
“I think the more diverse and inclusive, the better,” Okoli said. “Every place could use more of that.”
While the festival is intended to bring new experiences to students, it also provides a sense of belonging. Christos Koumpotis, a graduate student from Greece, organized the Greek culture table all by himself. The university doesn’t have a Greek club, but Koumpotis enlisted a couple of German friends from his program for support. He served Greek-style coffee and displayed sheets with simple Greek words that conveyed richer cultural meanings.
“As an international student with no one from my country here, it’s great to share my culture,” Koumpotis said. “Being Greek is a state of mind. It’s about valuing family, friendship [and] love and being grateful for what you have while appreciating your neighbor and fellow human.”
Food has been the main attraction of the festival, as shown by the lines of students weaving across the lawn for the various ethnic cuisines set up at the catered tables. The IC staff curates a global spread of tastes found here in Winston-Salem: crispy falafel skewers from the Mediterranean, savory Chinese fried noodles and dumplings and El Salvadorian stuffed corn cakes known as pupusas, to name a few.
“[Seeing] so many people coming for foods they might cook at home, dishes their parents usually prepare but that they rarely see on campus, just makes me really happy,” sophomore Alex Janvier, a student intern at the IC who helped select the food, said.
Students also watched a diverse lineup of performances, including the lively Deacon Dhamaal, an Indian dance club, the infectious rhythms from the Charlotte African Drum and Dance Collective and the graceful performances by the elders at the Wenhua Chinese School.
“There’s a lot to do at Wake Forest, a lot to learn, and many people from whom you can learn,” Shell said. “There are numerous opportunities to gather small insights that contribute to something bigger.”
