Stories this week at Wake Forest

Carribean Culture: Museum Looks at Garifuna

“Keeping Culture: A Rite of Passage Among the Garifuna of Roatan Island” will open at the Wake Forest University Museum of Anthropology Tuesday, March 3. At 7 p.m., the curator of the exhibit, anthropology graduate student Rebecca Benedum Mankowski, will lecture about the Garifuna’s nine-day rite of passage into death. The exhibit explores how performing the rite of passage helps the Garifuna hold onto key elements of their culture, said Mankowski, who researched and designed the exhibit as part of her master’s thesis. “These practices help to maintain and reaffirm Garifuna identity.” The Garifuna, a group of people of Native South American and African descent, live in the Central American countries of Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and Nicaragua.

Spring Break Means Service for Students

While many college students soak up sun on Florida’s beaches, more than 60 Wake Forest students will focus on community service at locations around the country. Wake Forest students represent the growing national trend among college students to volunteer during Spring Break. As part of Wake Alternative Break, teams of 10-12 students will teach children on a South Dakota Sioux reservation, work at a day-care center in inner-city Boston, help low-income AIDS patients in Washington, D.C., and serve at three other locations. Students depart Saturday, March 7 and return Sunday, March 15.