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Library Mini-Conference: Peace, Love & Happiness: Suggested Topics

The Fall 2021 Library Mini-Conference theme is "Peace, Love & Happiness." This LibGuide will give you information on the Call for Proposals and suggestions on presentation topics.

Robert Indiana (1967)

Smiley Face - Icon of the 70s

Suggested Topics (to get you thinking)

Fall 2021 Library Mini-Conference “Peace, Love & Happiness” -- suggested topics

Peace movements throughout history

Annual "Happiness" international survey

Rights movements (e.g. Civil Rights, Suffrage, Gay Rights Movement, Disability Rights -- the ADA, Native Hawaiian Renaissance of the 1970s ...)

From 50’s housewife to bra-burning feminist: the women’s liberation movement

The Stonewall riots

The Wounded Knee Occupation (1973)

Constitutions around the world

U.S. Constitution: the Preamble -- its meaning when written in 1787; its meaning today

The music of the 1960s

The art of the Flower Power movement

The Black Panthers

The Silver age of Comics (1956 to circa 1970) 

Television shows of the 60s/70s

Blaxploitation movies

Star Trek (technology sci-fi to tech reality; social issues explored in the 1960s series)

Commercials/advertising of the 60s/70s

Religious movements of the 60s/70s

The current state of organized religion (such as church attendance) and what this says about society

The Environmental Movement - its origin, its influence

Earth Day

Rachel Carson and the publication of Silent Spring

The development of vaccines during the 1950s-70s and their impact on society

The development of The Pill

Influential authors/literary works of the 60s/70s

The development of the interstate highway system in America

The role of the automobile in the American lifestyle post World War II

The Green Book

Car designs of the 50s/60s/70s

Fashion of the 60s/70s

The rise of commercial airlines (e.g Pan Am)

The rise of the “burbs” (suburbs) … and the decline of inner-cities  (e.g “white flight”)

The American economy following World War II -- the promise of the American Dream (who was left out?)

Finding peace in the middle of an internal war: Psychological tips for de-stressing and coping

The science of Happiness (ex. work of Sonja Lyubomirsky at UC Riverside)

PTSD in veterans from Vietnam and military families

Choosing love in the middle of hate: how to have conversations with people you disagree with

Flowers in gun barrels: a history of gun and flower imagery

The Purpose of nonviolence in the Civil Rights Movement

The Business of Happiness

The Pursuit of Happiness

An economic overview of the happiest vs richest people in the world

The re-emergence of “Van Life” and living without steady pay

Woodstock and the beginning of festivals

Protests & Peace

Protest literature in pursuit of peace

What does it mean to love one another?: Biblical interpretation of loving your neighbor

Fandom: The Beatles phenomena and what it means to “love” a band

I left my home to join the ARMY: perspectives on getting drafted or enlisting during Vietnam

Cultural appropriation in 60’s & 70’s hippie movement

How Title IX impacted school sports

The celebration of the U.S. Bicentennial and the inclusion/exclusion of marginalized segments of the population

Peace Studies programs (i.e. academic programs in higher education)

How children’s literature has evolved since the 60s/70s

The stigma of mental illness: Progress we have made since the mid-20th century (and challenges still faced)

The Space Race (e.g. Sputnik, Hidden Figures, medical advances due to space exploration)

The Cold War