LACS Winter 2003 Events
LACS TALK
Thursday Feb.6, from 4-5pm International Institute/SSW
Building, Room 2609
John Collins (UM doctoral candidate in Anthropology and a Lecturer
in the Department of History at MSU)
"Melted Gold and National Bodies: People and Patrimony in Brazil's
'City of Women'"
Based on more than three years of fieldwork in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil,
this paper examines the making of a UNESCO cultural heritage zone out of the
Pelourinho neighborhood, a former red light zone and Brazil's most resonant
symbol of its African heritage and colonial history. It focuses on a number
of accounts of buried treasure and hidden skeletons told insistently as residents
are removed and their homes appropriated in the Pelourinho's 1992-present gentrification.
These alternative histories that both challenge and support official versions
of the past suggest that both state and citizen, like UNESCO, are currently
moving toward an equation of people and cultural property in defining national
patrimony in a neighborhood widely understood as the center of Brazil's slave
trade. The paper thus concludes by arguing that the particular types of cultivation
of the past spurred by cultural heritage programs today have come to play an
important role in shifting conceptualizations of personhood and race in Bahia.
Brown Bag
Tuesday, February
11, noon –1pm, International Institute/SSW bldg. Room 2609
Kenneth Y. Sims: "Colonial
Degradation or Post-Colonial Regeneration?: Developing Tumilaca After Two Political
Collapses."
This presentation examines the ensuing regeneration and reorientation
of political organizations and economic enterprises of post-colonial Moquegua
Valley communities in southern Peru. The Moquegua case study offers a unique
opportunity to examine how, in the wake of Wari and Tiwanaku Middle Horizon
colonial policies (AD 700-1000), polity regeneration is organized and particular
post-colony socio-political configurations develop (AD 950-1150). The post-colonial
or Tumilaca groups, traditionally interpreted as uniquely post-Tiwanaku, are
re-examined with archaeological data from
Valley regions located within the previously Wari-controlled domain. This affords
a complementary post-Wari viewpoint on a community commonly situated in post-Tiwanaku
discussions.
LACS Bate-Papo Series
Tuesday, February
11, 4:30-6:00 pm, International Institute/SSW bldg. Room 2609
The “Bate-Papo series,” is a series of informal meetings of students, scholars, and invited guests to discuss issues of broad contemporary interest. Conversations will be primarily in Portuguese, but accessible to beginning Portuguese students.
Jose Henrique de Faria is Professor of Economics and Business at the Universidade Federal do Parana - UFPR, Brazil. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan ILIR.
LACS Bate-Papo Series
Tuesday, February
18, 4:30-6:00 pm, International Institute/SSW bldg. Room 2609
The “Bate-Papo series,” is a series of informal meetings of students, scholars, and invited guests to discuss issues of broad contemporary interest. Conversations will be primarily in Portuguese, but accessible to beginning Portuguese students.
Maria Helena Machado is Professor of History at the University of São Paulo. Her areas of research include slavery and abolition; citizenship and race in post-abolition Brazil; and ethnicity and culture in contemporary social movements. Her publications include Diário Íntimo de Couto de Magalhães (ed.), 1998; O Plano e o Pânico: Movimentos Sociais na Década da Abolição. 1994; and Crime e Escravidão: Trabalho, Luta e Resistência nas Lavouras Paulistas 1830-1888, 1987.
Through a selection of visual documents, Coronil will compare clashing images of the state and the body politic in three turning points of contemporary Venezuelan history: the popular protests against austerity policies of February 1989 (the "Caracazo" or "Sacudón"), the march against President Hugo Chavez of April 11, 2002 ("Ni un paso atrás”), and the installation ceremony of the brief government of Pedro Carmona (April 12). Whereas during the 1989 popular demonstrations the portrayal of protesters as a barbarous mass served to justify their repression through indiscriminate state violence, in 2002 the representation of the government as savage served to legitimate the deployment of the force of "civil society" against a legitimate state. Contrasting images of the wounded citizen stood at the center of this clash between civilization and barbarism. The installation ceremony of Pedro Carmona made publicly visible the tension between democratic and legal claims, on the one hand, and exclusionary and illegal actions, on the other.
Brown Bag
Tuesday, March 18,
noon –1pm, International Institute/SSW bldg. Room 2609
Kirsten Carlson
In the past
fifteen years, Latin American countries, including Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela,
Brazil, and Paraguay, have enacted constitutional reforms, recognizing indigenous
rights. The recognition of indigenous rights is neither an entirely new phenomenon
nor the only way in which states constitutionally address demands for political
recognition and inclusion by excluded or marginalized groups. The state may
choose not to recognize the claims at all or could chose to integrate these
demands into the constitutional structure in other ways, such as through consociational
democracy, federalism, or equal protection provisions. Given the alternatives,
why do some states choose to recognize indigenous rights? What is the comparative
advantage in selecting rights recognitions over other ways to resolve problems
of political exclusion?
LACS Bate-Papo Series
Tuesday, March 18,
4:30-6:00 pm, International Institute/SSW bldg. Room 2609
John Monteiro (Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil)
The “Bate-Papo series” is a series of informal meetings of students, scholars, and invited guests to discuss issues of broad contemporary interest. Conversations will be primarily in Portuguese, but accessible to beginning Portuguese students.
LACS Bate-Papo Series
Tuesday, March 25,
4:30-6:00 pm, International Institute/SSW bldg. Room 2609
Tania Baibich (Federal University of Parana, Brazil)
The “Bate-Papo series” is a series of informal meetings of students, scholars, and invited guests to discuss issues of broad contemporary interest. Conversations will be primarily in Portuguese, but accessible to beginning Portuguese students.
There will be a free screening of the soon-to-be-released, award-winning film
MADAME SATAN by Brazilian-Algerian filmmaker Karim Ainouz, Sunday, March 30
at the Michigan Theater, at 1 p.m. The screening will be followed by a Q&A
with the director, who will be attending events on the U of M campus through
April 1st. This is the first feature-length film for Ainouz who has a degree
in Architecture from the University of Brasilia and studied filmmaking and film
theory in New York City. The film was produced by Walter Salles, who also spearheaded
the production of CITY OF GOD (CIDADE DE DEUS).
MADAME SATAN is a gripping biographical portrait of a black transvestite from the popular neighborhood of Lapa in Rio de Janeiro, who became famous for her traditional fighting skills and extravagant public performances using an alias borrowed from the eponymous Cecil B. DeMille film, MADAM SATAN.
This event is co-sponsored by the LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN STUDIES PROGRAM, the ATLANTIC STUDIES INITIATIVE, and the FILM AND VIDEO STUDIES PROGRAM.
The director of the award-winning film MADEME SATAN, Karin Ainouz, has a degree in Architecture from the University of Brasilia, Brazil, and studied filmmaking and film theory in New York City.
The “Bate-Papo series” is a series of informal meetings of students, scholars, and invited guests to discuss issues of broad contemporary interest. Conversations will be primarily in Portuguese, but accessible to beginning Portuguese students.
In collaboration with the UMS, LACS is proud to announce that there will be an interview and reception with Brazilian artist Daniela Mercury on Friday, April 11, 4 p.m., at the International Institute/ SSW building, in Room 1636. The interview is free and open to the public.
The University Musical Society's Afro-Brazilian Dance Party features one of Brazil's biggest pop stars, Daniela Mercury. The dance party will take place at the EMU Convocation Center (799 North Hewitt, Ypsilanti) on Saturday, April 12 at 9 p.m. Daniela Mercury has emerged as one of Latin America and Europe's most popular and accomplished pop artists. Having been a champion of the music and culture of her home state of Bahia, she has been labeled as the Queen of Axe (pronounced ah-SHAY), fusing samba, reggae, pop, funk, techno, and hip-hop. With dance music at the core of her performances, much of her work is underlined with displays of social consciousness.
This performance is co-sponsored by Sesi Lincoln Mercury and is presented with support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Media sponsors WEMU 89.1 FM and Metro Times.
For more information, or
to order tickets, call the UMS Ticket Office at 734-764-2538 (toll-free outside
the 734 area code at 800-221-1229).
Tickets and information are also available through the UMS website at http://www.ums.org
.
LACS Winter 2003 Cosponsored Events
Wednesday, January 22, from 4-6pm, International Institute/SSW bldg. Room 1636
Book Signing to follow the event.
Poet, activist, and scholar Lillian Allen moved from Spanish Town, Jamaica, to North America in 1969 and emerged as a major influential figure on Canada's cultural landscape. The winner of two Juno awards, she is an internationally acclaimed poet who is recognized as a key originator and leading exponent of dub poetry. In addition, she writes for children and young people and is a writer of plays and short fiction.
Her political themes and depths of vision are woven in an enchanting and unique blend of orality and the written word. Her poetic voice has spread beyond international poetry circles and music scenes into corners of the African Diaspora and across the spectrum of society.
Lillian Allen lives in Toronto and teaches creative writing at the Ontario College of Art and Design. She is the author of Psychic Unrest (Insomiac Press, 1999), Women Do This Everyday: Selected Poems (Women's Press, 1993), Nothing but a Hero (Poetry for Children and Young People), and Why Me?, a childrens book (Women's Press, 1991)). Her recordings include Conditions Critical (Verse to Vinyl, 1988), Freedom and Dance (CD), Nothing but a Hero (Redwood Cultural Work, 1992, tape for children and young people), and Revolutionary Tea Party (Verse to Vinyl, 1986).
Friday, February 21, Michigan League Ballroom
8:15 doors open
8:30-10:00pm Raízes Baianas show
10:15-1:00am Silvana Magda and Katende Band
The Tribo Afro Bahiana Capoeira Angola Tradicional wants to bring the same atmosphere of Bahia Carnaval to the University of Michigan. The group is dedicated to promoting, performing and teaching the African-Brazilian dance of Capoeira Angola and African-Brazilian and Brazilian arts and culture. Capoeira Angola is an African-Brazilian dance-defense that is over 500 years old and was developed in Brazil by Africans fleeing persecution of slavery. The Carnaval Bahia Brazil 2003 will represent more than just Carnaval but a demonstration of the strong cultural roots of Bahia. The Carnaval will open with 1.5 hour performance of the “Raizes da Bahia”(Roots of Bahia). This performance includes an opening into Candomblé, African-Brazilian religion with live music and dance of the Orixás. The show will be choreographed by Mestre Caboquinho. The group is planning to bring drummers skilled in drumming the rhythms of the music of Candomblé and then dancers will dance the different orixás. After Candomblé, there will be a performance on Maculelê, which is a traditional dance of Bahia representing the escape for freedom from the sugar cane plantation. Maculelê is a dance done with sticks and machetes. It is a beautiful performance that is famous representation of Afro-Brazilian culture. The final part of the performance will be a Capoeira Angola Roda, where members of our group will put on a Capoeira Angola performance. The roda will include live music and dancing traditional to the art of Capoeira Angola. After the Roots of Bahia show, there will be a live Samba band traditional to Salvador Bahia. The performance will include live music, samba dancers and participation of the audience in the dances of Bahia with the band.
26 Annual Meting of the Midwest Conference on Mesoamerican Archaeology and Ethnohistory
Saturday, March 15, Michigan League
This meeting, held annually since the late 1970s, rotates around academic institutions througout the Midwest. It typically brings together about 60 scholars, both graduate students and faculty, from a couple dozen insitutitons. The emphasis is on current research, and each of the informal presentations is about a half hour in length. The presenters are about half graduate students and half faculty. UM has hosted this meeting several times in the past, along with the Midwest Conference on Andean and Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory, which LACS co-sponsored in 2001.
Conference
Technologies of Memory: The CircumAtlantic World in Early Modernity
Friday and Saturday, March 21-22, International institute/SSW room 1636
This is the third ASI major
symposium on the CircumAtlantic World, exploring representations and memories
of what Joseph Roach has termed the American Holocaust--European conquest of
America's indigenous peoples and lands; slavery; the Atlantic slave trade.
Participants include:
Jerome Branche (Latin American Literature, University of Pittsburgh), Nicholas
Canny (History, National University of Ireland, Galway), Tom Conley (Romance
Languages and Literatures, Harvard University), Carl B. Estabrook (History,
Dartmouth College), Doris Garraway (French and Italian, Northwestern University),
Kim Hall (English, Fordham University), Margo Hendricks (Provost, Adlai E. Stevenson
College, University of California, Santa Cruz), Walter Mignolo (Romance Studies,
Duke University), John Manuel Monteiro (Visiting Scholar in History, Harvard
University), William O'Reilly (History, National University of Ireland, Galway),
and Patricia Seed (History, Rice University).
The Labor of Reform: Employment, Workers' Rights, and Labor Law in China
Friday and Saturday, March 21-22, SSW Conference Center
"The Labor of Reform: Employment,
Workers'
The conference
will bring together university, government, labor and company experts to explore
the labor force situation in China as it faces the promises and challenges of
a changing economic and social environment. The conference will begin with an
introduction to the broad changes in China's labor force. It will then consider
the Chinese legal structure for labor protection, trade unions, and occupational
health and safety. It will continue with an exploration of the challenges facing
the implementation of this legal structure and the realities experienced in
the day-to-day life of Chinese workers. This conference has been planned in
collaboration with Advanced Studies Center, Institute for Labor and Industrial
Relations and faculty of the Center for Chinese Studies.
A Mexican scholar from the Universidad Autonoma de Puebla, Huberto Juarez Nunez, will participate in a comparative analysis of the situation in China with that of other developing countries including Mexico.
Friday and Saturday, April 11-12
Immigrants are unique in a sense that they are exposed to dual world-views, cultural practices and beliefs. So far, the psychological treatment of immigrants focuses mostly on acculturation. Immigrant psychology explores psychological experience of immigrants at the intersection race, class and gender. Rather than simply applying cultural psychology of a “home” culture to understand immigrants, we need to rethink cultural psychology in a way that is sensitive to the sociocultural context of immigrants' lives. The conference aims at promoting an interdisciplinary dialog about immigrant psychology using an intersectionality perspective.
Scholars from the field of psychology, sociology and anthropology agreed to participate in this conference. The conference format will be a series of panels with invited papers that use an intersectionality perspective to discuss the cultural psychology of immigrants. Each participant will send a paper in advance. The presenters will briefly present their papers followed by the comments by the discussant. Since the papers will be read in advance, there will be enough time for discussion. Graduate students are part of the organizing committee as well present their work in a separate round table format with a discussant for each table.
The conference will provide
an excellent opportunity for a stimulating exchange of ideas about immigration
and culture at the intersections of race, class and gender.
LACS Outreach
Thursdays, March 6 and March 20, RESA, 33500 Van Born Road, Wayne, Michigan
Many of our events in our series combine a scholarly audience with the general public, but we also make specific efforts at community outreach by making LACS resources available to regional K-12 teachers and students. Through a collaborative effort between LACS, other International Institute centers, and Wayne RESA Middle School Social Studies Teacher Network, educational professionals and content area experts will provide sustained professional development directly related to what middle school social studies teachers do every day in their classrooms. Nerea Llamas (Latin American Librarian), Isabel Cordova (Ph. D. student in history), and Jose Amador (doctoral candidate in history) will represent LACS at the workshop that will take place in March.
For more information on events as they draw nearer call LACS at 763-0553
or e-mail at lacs@umich.edu
This page updated March 26, 2003 by Bebete Martins
Copyright 2002, Regents of the University of Michigan