On Saturday, Oct. 29, the Pan-Afrikan Student Organization (PASO) will be hosting the annual Our Story Conference in Alumni Hall from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. The theme of this year’s conference is “What is African?”

Keynote Speaker Dr. Christopher diCarlo will be addressing the possible beginnings of human species on the continent of Africa and the social implications of this origin in present life with a question and answer session afterwards. The conference will also feature a performance from the social justice theater group I Am, We Are.

Hosted annually, the Our Story Conference features a different theme and speaker related to that theme every year. Topics in the past have dealt with interracial relationships and hate words pertaining to race.

“The theme of the conference is intended to target an issue that is current and affects our community here at Gustavus. The conference overall is intended to be more compact and simmered down than the Building Bridges conference and with a topic that students can relate to and understand,” Sophomore Valentina Muraleedharan, co-president of PASO, said.

“We are really excited to have I Am, We Are perform at the conference. All of their performances and short skits come from personal experience. It is extremely organic, personal and powerful,” Muraleedharan said.

The conference will feature diCarlo, a philosopher of science and ethics, whose interests in cognitive evolution have taken him into the natural and social sciences. His research focuses on how and why humans reason, think and act the way they do. An outspoken activist for free-thinking, humanism and secularism, diCarlo is also a past visiting research scholar at Harvard University in the department of anthropology.

His lecture is based off of an article named “We Are All African: Can the Proof of Scientific Commonality Save Us?” This was the original title of the theme decided upon by members of PASO.

“We decided on the theme first and then began doing some research to find an appropriate speaker. Eventually, we decided to recreate the name to keep the definition more open and to make the conference more open and accessible for people to attend the conference but build their own beliefs off of what they hear,” Muraleedharan said.

The lecture given by diCarlo will pose a different and somewhat controversial point of view pertaining to evolution: that all human beings originated in Africa. He will explore the implications of this and the effects this belief may have on humanity.

“The topic of Dr. diCarlo’s lecture coincides with Nobel theme relating to the brain and human behavior. It is a going to be an interesting perspective perhaps with clash of opinions over the topic of evolution versus the world being God’s creation,” said Junior Biology major Yeabsira Abebe, secretary of PASO and member of the Our Story Conference committee . “For him to show his perspective that the theory of evolution is human origin and that people would be more united if they accepted that is incredible.”

“We were super lucky to find Dr. diCarlo and for him to be able to attend. We especially felt it would be a good year to have him here following the theme of this year’s Nobel Conference which focused on the brain and biology of behavior—something Dr. diCarlo will focus on. He has travelled all around the world giving this talk. It is going to be very fascinating,” Muraleedharan said.

“Please come even if it is something you are defensive about or that you think you cannot relate to. It will be interesting and something great to hear. For people to coexist, we must acknowledge other opinions, so this will be a great opportunity to hear something from a different perspective,” Muraleedharan said.