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October 15, 2018Dr. Felipe Fernández-Armesto of the University of Notre Dame visited Cabrini High School on Thursday, October 11 to present to Spanish and Social Studies students. He was in New Orleans as part of The Historic New Orleans Collection’s sponsorship of the Francisco Bouligny Lecture.
Dr. Fernández-Armesto spoke about the evolution of human culture since the migration of peoples out of Africa. Dr. Fernández-Armesto used the word “divergence” in describing the past diaspora of cultures to all corners of the world. He used the word “convergence”, however, to indicate how much we have become a globally interconnected society.
Fernández-Armesto is the William P. Reynolds Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame. His honors include Spain’s national prizes for research in geography and food writing, the Caird and John Carter Brown medals, as well as the 2017 World History Association Book Prize. During his visit to New Orleans, Fernández-Armesto agreed to give a presentation to a local school.
Cabrini High School was chosen for this special lecture by Dr. Alfred Lemmon, Director of the Williams Research Center of The Historic New Orleans Collection. Lemmon was impressed by Cabrini’s Assistant Principal for Curriculum, Instruction and Professional Development and Foreign Language Chairperson Vivian Coutin and her involvement in promoting Spanish heritage. Lemmon thought hearing from such a distinguished scholar could be an incredible experience for the students of Cabrini High School.
Said Coutin on Fernández-Armesto’s visit to Cabrini High School, “This has been a great honor for our students and for our school. I know that listening to such a distinguished scholar was a life changing and an unforgettable academic experience for our students.”
Following his lecture at Cabrini, in the evening Fernández-Armesto presented “The Spanish Monarchy in North America in the Eighteenth Century” at the Francisco Bouligny Lecture, a lecture series established by the Bouligny Foundation to examine Louisiana’s Spanish influences and honors Francisco Bouligny (1736-1800), a military and political figure in Spanish colonial Louisiana
Cabrini was honored to have Dr. Felipe open his evening Francisco Bouligny Lecture by mentioning Cabrini High School and how impressed he was with the behavior of its students and their inquisitive minds.
