UCA partnered with the Conway restaurant The Rouge Roundabout on Oct. 30 in order to host a Talk Nerdy to Me discussion board about monsters in Arkansas, specifically Bigfoot.
The discussion board consisted of Dr. Vaughn Scribner, an Associate Professor of British American History at UCA, writer of three books including one titled “Merpeople: A Human History,” Bigfoot sceptic; Skeet Lewis, an Education Program Specialist at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and sceptic; Josha Smith, a former police officer and podcast host of the show “Mysteries Unknown” and and Robert Swain, a self proclaimed teacher of the gospel, believer and writer of a book titled “Arkansas Bigfoot: A Look at the Wild Man in the Natural State.”
The discussion board would be hosted by Dr. William Slaton, a Professor and Coordinator of Physics and Engineering.
Each of the individuals were called to offer their unique expertise and perspectives on the topic of Bigfoot in the Natural State.
The panelists would sit near the front of the restaurant where they would then be asked questions by Slaton and respond through their own lenses.
While Scribner would talk about the different cultural approaches to monsters and his need for proof, Lewis would address the problem from a nature preservation angle and the lack of belief on the subject, Swain would approach the angle specifically from the angle already stating that Bigfoot was real and while Smith would also speak from the angle of belief in Bigfoot, he also addressed it from the angle of others’ stories and how you can and cannot believe said stories.
Underlying the topic of Bigfoot was a greater question.
“I thought the panelists did a really great job, and part of the reason why the questions were the way they were, is to try to tease out what really constitutes evidence … in the different areas,” said Slaton. “There’s some interesting overlap. You know, I’m not a biologist, and so I wouldn’t … be able to speak to that way of, you know, deciding what is valid evidence or not valid evidence. But, I think if we had more time with the discussion, you know, the collection of hair samples and the DNA and the scat and all that kind of stuff is very much what the biologists do right when they’re doing their field work … so there’s still somehow a disconnect there between the practitioners that are looking for a Bigfoot versus … what a biologist … would consider evidence to support that claim, right? So there’s a tension there, and I think that that would be interesting to explore further.”
The Talk Nerdy to Me series was originally based off of an earlier series in which the panelists would discuss various topics; however, the Talk Nerdy to Me series was created by building off of where the previous series faltered.
“The Talk Nerdy to Me series is a re-imagining and bring back a series that we were doing several years ago,” Slaton explained, “but it involves more interaction with the public and meeting the more interaction with the public where they’re at with topics that intersect with science and technology and history and a lot of things that we teach at UCA. But what we try to do in these panels is bring together the people that have interests in perhaps things that may be just a little outside of that, and so then we can have a dialogue right between folks that are experts in different areas, and can approach a topic with different perspectives.”
While the next Talk Nerdy to Me event has not been scheduled, the subject will be over how Asian Pop Culture takes various forms and will be more heavily led by the students.