Latin
American & Caribbean StudiesLatin
American & Caribbean StudiesLACS kicked off its fall series with its twentieth anniversary party on Friday, September 24. This gathering brought together some of LACS's former directors and students, who spoke briefly on the role of Latin American Studies in the academy. All LACS affiliates, students, and friends were invited to join us for the party, which featured our usual Latin American cuisine and music.
Thursday, September 30, at 12 noon, in 2009 Ruthven (Museums). Alexis Mantha (Université de Montréal), "Late Prehispanic Settlement Patterns and Architectural Variability in the Rapayan Valley, Upper Marañón Drainage, Central Andes of Peru."
Friday, October 1, at 12 noon, in 418 West Hall. Eduardo Kohn (Anthropology and Society of Fellows), spoke on "Toward an Anthropology of Life: Dogs, People and their Biosocial Entanglements, or, less formally, How Dogs Dream." Eduardo Kohn has conducted extensive fieldwork in the Amazonian provinces of Ecuador.
Friday, October 1, at 2 pm, in 1014 Tisch Hall. A recent paper by Sergio Miguel Huarcaya (graduate candidate, Anthropology and History), “A Glorious but Fictional Past: The Limits of the Malleability of National History in Cacha, an Indigenous Jurisdiction in the Ecuadorian Andes," was discussed in the Anthropology and History Workshop.
**On Monday, October 4, LACS co-sponsored "MOLAS: Kuna Women’s Visions from Kuna Yala, Panamá, A Gallery Talk" by Cecilia Méndez (Director of Exhibitions at New Art Center, Newton, Massachusetts), at 4:30 pm in Lane Hall, Room 2239. Ms. Méndez spoke about the molas art exhibition, which was located through December 2004 in Lane Hall. Molas are the textiles made by the Kuna women of Kuna Yala, Panamá. These garments are rich in form and content, serving practical, symbolic, social, and economic functions. Content in the designs are reflective of both the physical environment and Kuna culture. A gallery reception followed the talk. This event was co-sponsored by The Women's Studies Program, The Institute for Research on Women and Gender, the School of Art and Design, and the Arts of Citizenship Program. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call (734) 764-9537.
Monday, October 4, at 2:30 pm, in West Hall 232C. The Circulo Andino presented Guillermo Salas (Ethnology Ph.D. Student), speaking on "Corporate Social Responsibility and promises of modernity: The first years of relations between Compañía Minera Antamina and the surrounding communities (San Marcos, Ancash, Peru)."
**On Tuesday, October 5, from 12:00-1:00 pm in 4701 Haven Hall, CAAS and LACS held a brownbag session, "Thinking it Through: The Bond Between Panamanian-West Indians and African-Americans," by Panamanian West Indian writer and professor Dr. Carlos Russell (Professor Emeritus, Brooklyn College, Department of Educational Services). At Brooklyn College Dr. Russel taught courses in African American Literature, Latin American and African Culture and Politics. He has also represented his country of birth, Panama, at the United Nations and at the Organization of American States as ambassador, in addition to having served as a special consultant to Martin Luther King Jr. in preparation for the now famous “Poor Peoples’ Campaign”, and working as a producer and playwright.
On Thursday, October 7, at 4 pm in 2609 School of Social Work Building, Mark Eisner (UM '95) screened and spoke with the audience about his new documentary, Pablo Neruda Presente (82 min., 2004). The documentary, narrated by Isabel Allende, features interviews with friends and acquaintances of the great poet. For more information about the film, see: http://www.redpoppy.net/pablo_neruda_aboutfilm.htm.
Friday, October 8, at 2 pm in 210 West Hall. The Círculo "Micaela Bastidas" for Andean Studies presented Xavier Ricard (director of the Revista Andina and director of the Colegio Andino in the Centro Bartolomé de Las Casas in Cuzco, Perú), who spoke "El sincretismo ritual de los pastores de Puna".
**On October 11, the Program in American Culture, the Latino/Latina Studies Program, the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, and LACS sponsored a talk by Dr. Jacqueline Jiménez Polanco (FLACSO, Santo Domingo) on "The LGBTQ Movement in the Dominican Republic: A Sociopolitical and Cultural Approach" at Haven Hall 3512.
Wednesday, October 13, at 7 pm, Natural Science Auditorium. Brewing Hope Fair Trade Coffee Speakers Jose Vasquez (President of Las Abejas Civil Society) and Macario Arias Gomez (President of Maya Vinic Coffee Cooperative) spoke on "Fair Trade and Indigenous Rights in the Mayan Highlands of Chiapas, Mexico." For more info on Brewing Hope, visit http://www.javaforjustice.com/brewinghope.asp.
Tuesday, October 19, at 3 pm, Observatory Library. Dr. Alexandra Stern (American Culture and History of Medicine) spoke about the activities of U.S. health officers, the Canal Zone as a leading laboratory for the birth of tropical medicine, and the broader context of early twentieth-century race relations and racial ideologies, colonialism, labor practices, and transnational health in the lecture “Engineering Health: The Panama Canal as Tropical Laboratory." Building the Panama Canal required the eradication of mosquitoes and the invention of new methods of disease surveillance. In the 1880s, the French attempt to construct a Central American isthmus flummoxed miserably, as thousands died of yellow fever and malaria. In 1904, recent discoveries about insects as disease vectors were dramatically changing sanitary campaigns and interventions.
Wednesday, October 20, at 4 pm, Haven Hall G634. American Culture and Latina/o Studies presented a photography exhibit and talk by Juan Javier Pescador (Ph.D, UM History, 1998; Associate Professor, Michigan State University), "Immigrants or Pilgrims? Religious Rituals in the Great Lakes Mexican / Chicano Barrios." The exhibit was open to the public, September 28 through October 22, from 8 am-5 pm, in G634 Haven Hall (ground floor).
**On October 21 (in 1636 SSWB at 4 pm), William H. Wannamaker Prof. Walter Mignolo of Duke University participated in the first part of a two-lecture series paying homage to the late Gloria Anzaldua in a talk entitled Anzaldua’s Borderland and Fanon's Skin: Shifting the Geo/biography of Reason. Professor Mignolo explored Anzaldua's and Fanon's contributions to the epistemic shift that the geo-graphy of reason and the bio-graphy of knowledge is undergoing in the 21st Century. In particular, he speculated on the ways their work supports a critical decolonization of la pensée complexe, the latest version of a system of epistemic belief and logical structure holding together the hegemony of modern (and corporate) thought.
**On October 22, LACS co-sponsored the conference "Empire and Knowledge: Subaltern Perspectives" with the Program in Anthropology and History, and the Center For South Asian Studies from 4:00- 6:00 p.m. in Room 1636 of the School of Social Work Building. This conference will be a dialogue with South Asian and Latin American scholars of postcolonialism about the production of critical knowledge under changing imperial conditions. Presenters will initiate the discussion with brief comments about topics central to their work, including matters of methods, theories, agendas, ethics, discipline, and power.
Friday, October 22, 4:30 pm, Burton Memorial Tower, Room 506. Professor Ana María Ochoa of Columbia University spoke about “Magical Realism in the Construction of Popular Music Discourse in Colombian Vallenato.” During the 1990s, vallenato became the most widespread Colombian musical genre both nationally and internationally. This presentation explores the relationship between the construction of discourses on folk and popular music surrounding vallenato and the rise of magical realism as an interpretive framework from which to read Colombian artistic creativity. More specifically, it explores the correlations between García Márquez’ writings in the 1940s, his novels (particularly One Hundred Years of Solitude) and recent recorded productions of vallenato that are framed in terms of magical realism. One of the questions Prof. Ochoa will explore is how the popular music discourses are determined through national histories and the placement of these histories within a global interpretive framework of circulation of literature and sounds.
Monday, October 25, at 12 noon in 520 Rackham (Osterman Common Room). nstıtute for the Humanıtıes Brown Bag: Hilda Sabato (History, University of Buenos Aires) spoke on “The Republican Experiment: Political Participation in the Americas of the Nineteenth Century.”
** On October 27, from 12:00-1:00 pm in Room 2609 SSWB, Suzanne Oboler presented "Citizenship in the New World Order: The Case of South American immigrants in the United States," a lecture co-sponsored with Latina/o Studies. Suzanne Oboler is an Associate Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is also founding Editor of the forthcoming academic journal, Latino Studies (Palgrave-Macmillan), and Co-Editor in Chief of the 4-volume Encyclopedia on Latinos in the United States (forthcoming, Fall 2004). Her research focuses on race, citizenship and national belonging in the Americas, on South American immigration in the post-war period, and on the transnational experience of Latinos/as in the United States. Her publications include: Ethnic Labels, Latino Lives: Identity and the Politics of Representation (University of Minnesota Press, 1995); The Meaning of Race and Blackness in the Americas: Contemporary Perspectives (co-edited with Anani Dzidzienyo, forthcoming); "The Politics of Labeling: Latino/a Cultural Identities of Self and Others" in C.Vélez-Ibáñez and A. Sampaio (eds).
Thursday, October 28, at 12 noon, in 2009 Ruthven Museum. Archaeology Brown Bag: Elizabeth Arkush (UCLA) spoke on "Fortifications and Regional Politics in the Northern Lake Titicaca Basin, Peru."
**On October 29, we welcomed Emma Pérez, a historian from the University of Colorado at Boulder, friend and colleague of Gloria Anzaldúa, to provide the keynote address in the second part of our lecture series honoring Gloria Anzaldua. Chairing this event was Ruth Behar (U-M, Anthropology); panel participants were Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes (U-M, American Culture/Romance Languages) and Maria Cotera(American Culture/Women's Studies). This event took place in Angell Hall, Aud. B at 3:00 pm. It was made possible by the Program in American Culture-Latina/o Studies, LACS, Institute for Research on Women and Gender, Dept. of English, Women's Studies Program and the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Affairs.
Monday, November 1, at 2 pm, in 209 West Hall. The Andeanist Circulo "Micaela Bastidas" presented archaeologist Alexis Mantha with a presentation on "Late Prehispanic and colonial occupations of the Rapayan Valley, Upper Marañón Drainage, Peru." The presentation is the result of a 320 km2 survey conducted in 2001 and 2002 in the relatively isolated region of Rapayán, which is located on the western side of the upper Marañón River in the Department of Ancash. The sites pertaining to the ultimate periods of Peruvian prehistory (LIP/LH) in that area are characterized by an exceptional conservation of its architectural features. After describing the settlements’ architectural variability, Mantha discussed aspects of cultural identity and some of the major events that occurred at Rapayán.
Friday, November 5, at 10 am, in 418 West Hall. The Andeanist Círculo presented a meeting with Peruvian Truth Commission members Julissa Mantilla (lawyer) and Félix Reategui (sociologist), who spoke and took questions about the process of Truth and Reconciliation in Peru today.
Friday, November 5, at 12 noon, in 418 West Hall. Anthropology Department Colloquium: Professor Paul C. Johnson (CAAS, LACS) spoke about "Joining the African Diaspora: Dynamics of Migration and Urban Religion." The paper asks how the consciousness of being a member of the African diaspora appears in the discourse and practice of specific religious communities. The question is anchored in a case study of the Garífuna ("Black Caribs") of the Central America's Caribbean coast.
Tuesday, November 9, at 4 pm in the Rackham Amphitheater. The College of LS&A presented a public lecture by Professor Joyce Marcus, "The Co-Evolution of War and Society in Ancient Mexico." Joyce Marcus is the Elman R. Service Professor of Cultural Evolution, Professor of Anthropology, and Curator of Latin American Archaeology at UM.
Wednesday, November 10, at 7 pm in the Dana Auditorium. Films from the Chiapas Media Project were screened by a UM student organization. The Chiapas Media Project has been operating since 1998 as a bi-national partnership to provide video and computer equipment and training to indigenous and campesino communities in the states of Chiapas and Guerrero, Mexico.
Thursday, November 11, at noon in 2009 Ruthven Museum. Elizabeth Arkush (UCLA) gave a Museum of Archaeology brownbag on “Fortifications and Regional Politics in the Northern Lake Titicaca Basin, Peru.”
**We resumed our Bate-Papo series in November. First, Paul Christopher Johnson led one entitled "Duas lógicas de espaço nos 'ritos de passagem' no Candomblé" on November 16, from 12:00-1:00 pm in 2609 SSWB. *The Bate-Papo 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.
Thursday, November 18, at 4 pm , Michigan Room, Michigan League. Pedro Pérez-Sarduy (Trinity College) spoke on “Afro-Cuba, Afro-Cubans, and Afro-Cubanía: How Black is Cuba Becoming?” as part of the Global Literature public lectures by the Program in Comparative Literature.
**The Atlantic Studies Initiative presented, as part of its “Memory, Records, and Archives” series, together with the LACS, CAAS and American Culture Departments: In, Around & Beyond Haile Gerima’s Sankofa (1992): An Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Spaces, Places, and Images of Slavery in the Circumatlantic, featuring a screening of Sankofa, dir. Haile Gerima (1992) on Thursday, November 18th at 7 p.m. in 3512 Haven Hall, and a panel, A Sancocho of Meditations and Interventions on Friday, November 19th at 3 - 5 p.m., 1636 SSWB, with the participation of:
Friday, November 19, at 3 pm, Koessler Room of the Michigan League. El Salvadoran labor organizer and workers' rights advocate Gilberto Garcia spoke about the conditions in factories producing University of Michigan apparel. He visited the University of Michigan as part of a national tour to discuss the realities of sweatshop labor in Central America and provide an alternative to these exploitative practices. Garcia was representing the workers of Just Garments, the only unionized apparel factory in El Salvador, and talked about the workers' struggle to organize in order to improve working conditions.
** The second of our Bate-Papo series, led by Karla Bessa, entitled "Festival Mix (glbt) de Cinema: Estética e Sociabilidade Homoerótica na Última Década do Século XX" followed on November 30 from 12:00-1:00 pm in 2609 SSWB.
Wednesday, December 1, at 5 pm, Auditorium 3, MLB. A screening of "Senorita Extraviada: Missing Young Woman," the recent film by award winning filmmaker Lourdes Portillo. Sponsored by The Penny Stamps Visiting Artist Program of the School of Art and Design and Women's Studies Program. Free and open to the public. (See Dec. 2)
** On Thursday, December 2, hosted a 'Meet and Greet' entitled "Marcos Cueto and History of Health in
Thursday, December 2, from 4 to 7 pm, in the Hussey Room of the Michigan League. The Sounds of the Black Atlantic: Contemporary Music of Latin America and the Caribbean: a series of talks on Cuban Jazz and youth music and culture in Cuba, Brazil, and the US. Participants were Hilario Duran, one of Cuba 's premier exponents of Latin Jazz; Lesley Feracho (Department of Spanish and Institute for African-American Studies, University of Georgia) on Cuban Hip-Hop; Livio Sansone (FEDERAL University of Bahia) on Ethnicity, Music, and Identity in Brazil; Maria Elena Cepeda (Hispanic and Latin American Studies, Macalester College) on the Latin Music Explosion and Latino Identity. Discussants: Robin Wilson (Dance Department, School of Music); and Roland Vazquez, of Jazz and Improvisational Studies, in the School of Music, and Mary Catherine Smith (host of "Brasilian Sol" on WEMU). Ifeoma C.K. Nwankwo (Department of English and Center for Afroamerican and African Studies) chaired the talks.
Thursday, December 2, at 5 pm, Michigan Theater, Liberty St., Ann Arbor. An open session with the director of Señorita Extraviada (see Dec. 1). Mexico-born and Chicana identified, writer director and filmmaker Lourdes Portillo creates work focused on the search for Latino identity. She has worked in a richly varied range of forms, from television documentary to satirical video-film collage. Her other films include: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, La Ofrenda: The Days of the Dead, Columbus on Trial, and most recently, The Devil Never Sleeps.
Friday, December 3, at 2 pm, 1014 Tisch Hall. Professor James Holston (Anthropology, University of California-San Diego) presented "Restricting Access to Landed Property: Land, Law, and Labor in the Formulation of Brazilian Citizenship." Professor Holston’s current research focuses on the uncertainties of citizenship and democratic change in the Americas, especially Brazil, and related transformations in the social and spatial organization of cities. He is also conducting research on the emergence of urban citizenship among recent immigrants in Southern California and has organized a civic initiative there focused on public space, markets, and micro enterprises.
Friday, December 3, at 2 pm, 418 West Hall. The Rackham Interdisciplinary Workshop "Círculo Micaela Bastidas," the Office of the Senior Vice Provost, the King-Chavéz-Parks Visiting Professors Program, the International Institute, Latin American & Caribbean Studies, and the Department of Anthropology presented a panel on "Present and Future of the Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement" with Luis Macas, founder of Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) and Ecuador's first indigenous Minister of Agriculture, and Marisol de la Cadena (Associate Professor, Anthropology, UC Davis), author of Indigenous Mestizos (Duke University Press, 2000).
Monday, December 6, at 12 noon in 520 Rackham (Osterman Common Room). Instıtute for the Humanıtıes Brown Bag: Acclaimed Jamaican poet and UM professor of English Lorna Goodison presented “To Us, All Flowers Are Roses: Lorna Goodison Reads and Talks about Her Poetry.”
**Paul Johnson will speak on Friday, December 17, on Theorizing Diasporic Religions: Space, Memory, Transmission, as part of a series of Anthropology and History Workshops. This is a work-in-progress. Paul C. Johnson is a new faculty member in the Department of History and CAAS, and a LACS faculty affiliate. He is the author of Secrets, Gossip and Gods: The Transformation of Brazilian Candomblé (Oxford University Press, 2002). The Workshop is organized on the principle that the paper will be read in advance. Paul and a discussant will open the discussion.
For more information on events as they draw nearer call LACS
at 763-0553
or e-mail at lacs.office @ umich.edu
Last updated December 14, 2004 by Bebete Martins. Copyright 2004, Regents of the University of Michigan