49th ABS Annual Conference: Full Schedule

9:00am MDT

Cultivating Racial Unity in Education: Insights from the Bahá’í Writings and Roots ConnectED

Saturday August 2, 2025 9:00am - 10:15am MDT

How can the Bahá’í Writings inspire efforts to advance racial equity in education? This session explores how Roots ConnectED applies principles of unity and justice to foster inclusive learning environments. By integrating spiritual and intellectual insights into professional development, we support educators in building equitable schools. We will share lessons from our work, highlighting engagement in discourse, collaboration with scholars, and contributions to systemic change. Participants will reflect on their role in fostering unity and explore how Bahá’í teachings can inform efforts to create learning spaces that honor diversity and nurture belonging.

Speakers

Sahba Rohani

Executive Director, Roots ConnectED

Sahba Rohani is the Executive Director of Roots ConnectED, which she co-founded in 2017 to transform schools and workplaces. With decades of experience in education and community development, she is dedicated to building community across lines of difference. Sahba speaks nationally... Read More →

Saturday August 2, 2025 9:00am - 10:15am MDT
TBA

Race Unity, Breakout

9:00am MDT

From the Mind of the Conqueror to the Mind of the Humble Servant: An Examination of our “Call to Serve"

Saturday August 2, 2025 9:00am - 10:15am MDT

TBA

Enrique Dussel argues that conquest and domination are foundational to Western thought and praxis. Dussel questions the widely held view that Western metaphysics begins with Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am”, proposing instead that the basis of Western metaphysics is the act of conquest - where one’s subjectivity is established through acts of domination. This panel will examine this “metaphysics of conquest” in the discourses on carceral logics and religious propagation. It will then explore responses to these themes within the Writings of the Bahá’í Faith, offering a view on how to move from domination to humility and service.

Speakers

Rolando Aguilera

Legal Counsel

Rolando Aguilera is Legal Counsel with the British Columbia Public Service. He previously worked in the Indigenous Justice Division, Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General where he assisted the division in its efforts to ameliorate Crown-Indigenous relations with respect to the... Read More →

Maral Moradipour

Maral Aguilera-Moradipour is an assistant professor in Asian refugee literatures and cultures. After completing her PhD at the University of Western Ontario in English Literature and a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Toronto Scarborough, she joined Simon Fraser... Read More →

Saturday August 2, 2025 9:00am - 10:15am MDT
TBA

Race Unity, Breakout

49th ABS Annual Conference

9:00am MDT

Sahba Rohani

9:00am MDT

Rolando Aguilera

Maral Moradipour

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