Latin American & Caribbean Studies

International Institute, University of Michigan

LACS Events - Winter 2004

MLK DAY EVENT
Monday, January 19th, 2004, 3:00pm, at The Michigan Theater
The Kalt Fund for African-American and African History, the Department of History, the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies, and the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program proudly present

"Little Senegal" By Rachid Bouchareb

From the island of Goree to Charleston and Little Senegal in New York, old Alioune makes a journey in search of the descendants of his ancestors who left Africa about two centuries ago and were sold on American plantations. On the traces of a family of runaway slaves from the Robinson plantation, Alioune reconstructs the genealogical tree and reaches Harlem where Ida Robinson, the last descendant lives. His great vision of a large African family will have to take into account the strong social tensions between African immigrants and the African American community in New York.
2001 Festival Cinema Africano (Milan) - Best Film
2001 Valladolid Film Festival - FIPRESCI Award for Best Director
2001 Berlin Film Festival - Nomination for Golden Berlin Bear

A panel discussion will follow the film. Members of the panel include:
Professor Rebecca Scott, History/Law, University of Michigan
Professor Paul Stoller, Anthropology/Sociology , West Chester University, West Chester, PA

With special thanks to the French Embassy in Washington D.C.
Free and open to the public.

FOOD SECURITY WORKSHOP AND SYMPOSIUM

Tuesday, January 20, 2004, 9:00am-5:00pm in 1636 School of Social Work Building

Workshop: 9:00-12:00 "Strengthening Our Community Connections Through Local Food Production"

Martin Heller will be the lead facilitator of the workshop, which will include local food producers, community-supported agriculture growers, Detroit urban gardens activists, food retailers, co-ops, Slow Foods group, Food Gatherers, agency representatives, and interested public. The goals of the workshop are to explore ways to stabilize food distribution networks. We hope to promote the prosperity of local food growers, to improve nutrition in our community, and to stabilize the local food marketing system to increase social justice in the food system. (Panelists include Peter DiLorenzo, Beth Ellis, Amanda Edmonds, Dale Lesser, Laura Meisner, Jeremy Moghtader, Mike Score, and Todd Wickstrom .)

Symposium: 1:00-5:00 "Food Security: Reforming Agriculture and Society to Guarantee a Fundamental Human Right"

Cecelia Rocha , Ryerson University, Toronto
"Urban Food Security: The Extraordinary Case of Belo Horizonte, Brazil "
Adriana Aranha, Ministry for Food Distribution, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
"The Hunger Zero Program, Belo Horizonte, Brazil"
Peter Rosset, Center for the Study of the Americas (CENSA)
"Food Sovereignty: Social Movements Put Forth a New Framework for Food and Agriculture in a Globalized World ." 

Commentary by Prof. Ken Dahlberg , Dept. Political Science, Western Michigan University, Prof. Mike Hamm (C.S. Mott Chair of Sustainable Agriculture, MSU); Prof. Edith Kieffer, from the University of Michigan School of Social Work, will discuss the role of research universities in food security issues, and engage audience participation and questions following the formal presentations.

Sponsored by the International Institute; Advanced Study Center; Program for Science, Technology, and Society; Latin American and Caribbean Studies; College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; School of Natural Resources and Environment, School of Social Work, People's Food Co-op; and the New World Agriculture and Ecology Group.

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND LACS GRADUATE MINI-CONFERENCE:

"Getting the documents to speak: Micro-histories in transnational perspective"

Saturday, February 7, 2004, 11:00am-4:15pm in 1014 Tisch Hall

Panel 1: 11:00-12:30 "Ethnicity, Law and Colonialism"

Victoria Castillo, “Indians, Litigation, and Loyalty: Legal Discourse in the Intendant Courts of Puno, Peru: 1812-1820”

Sergio Huarcaya, “Disciplining the Clergy: Unruly Priests, Ecclesiastical Immunity, and Royal Control in Colonial Peru,
1755-1785”

Heloise Finch, “What were the legal, political and human implications of attempts to apply British antislavery legislation in
Réunion Island, 1810-1814?”

Andrea J. Dewey Richards, “The Manila Chinese Uprising of 1603”

Comment: Professor Neil Safier, Department of History and Michigan Society of Fellows

Panel 2: 1:15-2:30 "Writing War and Revolution"

Monica Kim, “Crafting a Private Narrative of Resistance: The Development of Silvain van Praet’s War Diaries during the
German Occupation of Ostend, Belgium”

Ji Li, “Writing in the Chaos: Literacy, Family, and the Revolution”

Comment: Professor Jean Hébrard, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris

2:30-2:45: Coffee break.

Panel 3: 2:45-4:15 "States, Subjects, and Social Justice"

Sherri Harper, “The Fruits of Service: African American Women and the Spanish American War Pension, 1898-1944”

Isabel Córdova, “Social Work, Development and Family Crisis in Post WWII Puerto Rico, 1950-1970”

Andrea Knittel, “Dr. Myron Wegman and the Pan American Health Organization: A case study of the public health
interface between the U.S. and Latin America from 1945-1955”

Nathan Connolly, “’By Eminent Domain’: Black Communities, White Authority, and the Making of an ‘American’ South
Florida, 1945-1970”

Comment: Professor Sueann Caulfield, Department of History and Residential College

2004 DISTINGUISHED UNIVERSITY PROFESSORSHIP LECTURE SERIES

Tuesday, February 10, 2004, 4:00 pm at the Rackham Amphitheater

Rebecca Scott, a Charles Gibson Distinguished University Professor of History, Professor of Law on "Degrees of Freedom: Building Citizenship in the Shadow of Slavery"

LATIN AMERICAN SPEAKER SERIES

Wednesday, February 11, 2004, 4:30pm-6:00pm, at the University of Michigan Business School

The University of Michigan Business School cordially invites you to attend:

"Brazil: A New Global Leader"

Please join us in understanding Brazil's changing role in the global arena as its businesses have become more competitive.
We'll be discussing the future of the Brazilian economy and learning more about the country that is taking a leading role in the negotiations with President Bush for the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas).

Featured panelists are:

- Albert Fishlow - Director of the Center of Brazilian Studies at Columbia University

- Nelson Silva - Global Commercial Director - Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD)

- Horacio Forjaz - Executive Vice President of Communications - Embraer

We look forward to having your presence at this major Brazilian event in Michigan.

PUBLIC LECTURE

Thursday, February 12, 4:00pm-5:30pm, in 1636 School of Social Work

Juan Mendez on "Achieving justice while seeking peace: Human rights violations and social change"

Juan E. Mendez is director of the Center for Civil and Human Rights at the Notre Dame Law School. A native of Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Mendez has dedicated his legal career to the defense of human rights and has a long and distinguished record of human-rights advocacy throughout the Americas. As a result of his involvement in representing political prisoners, the Argentinian military dictatorship arrested him and subjected him to torture and administrative detention for a year and a half. During this time, Amnesty International adopted him as a "Prisoner of Conscience". For 15 years, Mendez worked with Human Rights Watch, concentrating his efforts on human-rights issues in the western hemisphere, and helping to build the organization into one of the most widely respected human-rights non-governmental organizations in the world. In 1994, he became general counsel of Human Rights Watch, with world-wide duties in support of the organization's mission and with responsibility for the organization's litigation and standard-setting activities.

ANTHRO-HISTORY CONFERENCE

Friday and Saturday, February 13-14, in the Kuenzel Room at the Michigan Union

"Trans/formations of the Disciplines: Evaluating the Project of Anthropology and History"

The doctoral program in Anthropology and History (DPAH) marks its fifteenth year with a two-day conference, Trans/Formations of the Disciplines , to reflect on the Program's accomplishments and to help shape its future directions. Among the panelists will be a number of current and former LACS grad students, including: John Collins, Isabel Cordova, Laurent Dubois, Paul Eiss, Juliet Erazo, Lessie Jo Frazier, Sergio Miguel Huarcaya, Charo Montoya, Ed Murphy, and David Pedersen.

BOOK RECEPTION FOR LACS GRADUATES

Friday, February 13, 2004, 5:00pm at Shaman Drum.

Please join us as we celebrate the publication of four new books produced by graduates of the Doctoral Program in Anthropology and History at the University of Michigan.  As part of the weekend conference "Trans/Formations of the Disciplines", the reception offers an opportunity to consider recent work created at the intersections of Anthropology and History.  The authors will be present to sign copies of the following books:

Partha Chatterjee and Anjan Ghosh, eds.  History and the Present. (Delhi and London: Permanent Black, 2002).

Laurent Dubois.  Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution (Boston: Belknap/Harvard Press, 2004).

Rosario Montoya, Lessie Jo Frazier and Janise Hurtig, eds.  Gender's Place: Feminist Anthropologies of Latin America.  (New York: PalgraveMacmillan, 2002).

Anupama Rao, ed.  Gender and Caste: Contemporary Issues in Indian Feminism. (New Delhi: Kali for Women, 2003).

LECTURES & SLIDE SHOWS

The Detroit Institute of Arts and the Area Studies Centers of the International Institute are pleased to present two more events this semester:

Monday, March 22, 2004 at 12pm in Room 1636 School of Social Work Building (please bring your brown bag lunch).

"American Attitude: Whistler and His Followers" by Barbara Wojcik.

&

Monday, April 5, 2004 at 12pm in Room 1636 School of Social Work Building (please bring your brown bag lunch).

"Queens, Goddesses & Divas" by Diane Willard, DIA Speakers Bureau.

Free and open to the public. Please join us.

SYMPOSIUM

Friday, March 5th, 2004 from 2:00pm to 4:00pm at 00540 Rackham Building.

"The Law in Slavery & Freedom:Perspectives from the United States and Brazil"

Chair: Prof. Rebecca Scott, Department of History, Law School

"Arming Afro-America: Getting a Gun License in Antebellum Baltimore" - Prof. Martha Jones, Dept. of History, Center for Afroamerican and African Studies.

"The Right to a Written Name: Law and the Everyday Writing of Slavery in Salvador, Bahia" - Prof. Jean Hebrard, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris.

"Speaking about Violence: Narratives of Race, Gender and Sexual Coercion in Post-Emancipation South"- Prof. Hannah Rosen, Program in American Culture/Women's Studies Program.

Comment: Prof. Sidney Chalhoub, State University of Campinas, Brazil; visiting professor, UM.

A reception will follow the symposium at 4:00 pm. The public is cordially invited.

FILM PRESENTATION

Monday, March 15th, 2004 at 6:00pm in room 1636, School of Social Work Building.

"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"

DIRECTED AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY
KIM BARTLEY AND DONNACHA O'BRIAIN
IRELAND, 2003
74 MINUTES
IN SPANISH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES

A film presentation followed by comments and a discussion led by Sharon Lean ( University of California, Irvine); Chaired by David Frye (University of Michigan)

This controversial documentary depicts the events that took place on April 11-13, 2002, when Venezuelan president HUGO CHAVEZ was forcibly removed from office, only to be returned to power two days later. From inside the presidential palace, filmmakers Kim Bartley and Donnacha O'Briain create a gripping visual interpretation of Venezuela's short-lived coup d'état and an extraordinary portrait of the man The Wall Street Journal credits with making Venezuela "Washington's biggest Latin American headache."

By presenting this film, LACS and The Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice hope to contribute to discussion on the coup and its aftermath in Venezuela, and on how Chavez's presidency has been interpreted in and outside of Venezuela.

LECTURE

Friday, March 19, 2004 at 2:00pm, in 418 West Hall.

Marisol de la Cadena (Department of Anthropology, University of California-Davis) on "The Production of Other Knowledges and its Tensions: From Andean Anthropology to Interculturalidad?"

LECTURE

Friday, March 26, 2004 at 3:00pm, in the Pond Room of the Michigan Union.

Marino Cordoba, Afro-Colombian Human Rights Activist, Founder and former President of the National Association of Displaced Afro-Colombians on: "Afro-Colombians and the Colombian Civil War: A personal account."

Marino Cordoba is a well known community advocate and Afro-American leader from Colombia. Forcibly displaced from his home as a result of illegal paramilitary actions against the populations in Chocó in 1996, Marino Cordoba finally had to flee Colombia in January 2002 due to numerous attempts on his life. He received political asylum in the United States, however his wife and children remain in Colombia.

Appetizers will be served.

ROUND-TABLE

Friday, April 2, 2-4 PM, at the International Institute, Room 1636.

"Comparative Perspectives on Race & Citizenship:Slavery and Post-Emancipation Societies in Brazil, Santo Domingo, and the United States."

Sidney Chalhoub, “Slavery, Race, and Citizenship in Brazil.”Department of History,State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil.

Richard Turits, “Race beyond the Plantation:  Histories of Slavery and Freedom in Santo Domingo.”Associate Professor of History and Afroamerican and African Studies, UM.

Ellen Katz, “Race, the Political Process, and the Supreme Court: 1874-1887.” Law School, UM.

For more information or for copies of the papers, please contact Elizabeth Martins (bmartins @ umich.edu).

BATE-PAPO

Wednesday, April 21, 1-2 PM, at the International Institute, Room 1636.

"Na 'Galeria dos Condenados', o aprendizado de un photographo" by Sandra Sofia Machado Koutsoukos.

This study analyzes photographic techniques used in the portraits of prisoners who appear in two albums from the “Gallery of the Condemned,” a ward in the Rio de Janeiro prison in the 1870s. The photographer, himself a prisoner in the “Gallery,” had to learn to use the complex equipment available at this time through trial and error, producing in the process many unsatisfactory photographs. In 1876, after the albums were put together, they were sent together with other products of the prison to the World Fair in Philadelphia, USA. There they served to showcase Brazil’s use of technological representation of “the other” as a means of disciplining the condemned, as was appropriate for a “civilized” nation.

Visiting researcher Sandra Koutsoukos is completing bibliographical research on the history of photography with a research fellowship from the State of São Paulo Research Foundation. Ms. Koutsoukos is a doctoral candidate in Art History at the State University of Campinas, Brazil. Her dissertation project is titled “In the Photography Studio: A Study of the (Self-) Representation of Slaves and Free Blacks in Brazil in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century.”

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.

LACS GRADUATION CELEBRATION

Thursday, April 22, 12:30-3:00 PM, at the International Institute, Room 1636.

Latin American & Caribbean Studies has the pleasure of inviting you to its year-end celebration for graduating seniors.

Graduating LACS seniors Moira Birss, Holly Flynn, Amy Isaacson, and Cara Locklin will present their research projects.

Moderator: David Frye

A reception and music will precede the presentations. Please join us in celebrating our students academic success!

SLIDE SHOW

Thursday, May 13, 2:00-4:00 PM, at the International Institute, Room 2609.

Caving in Conan Doyle's Lost World: Exploring Roraima Through Time and Space

In this presentation, Maria Perez* will share images of her recent travels to Venezuela's Roraima Plateau as part of her ethnographic work for her dissertation on the history and practice of cave exploration in Venezuela. The purpose of the trip was to explore and document a cave known to exist there by the Venezuelan Speleological Society. It is also the setting of Conan Doyle's "The Lost World," making it a popular object of European fascination for New World discovery and adventure.

With insights from history, literature, and ethnography, Ms. Perez invites us to join her on another path of exploration, one that highlights the complexity of the natural, the imaginary, and the Western.

For more information on events as they draw nearer call LACS at 763-0553
or e-mail at lacs.office @ umich.edu

Last updated April 14, 2004 by Mercedes Santos-Garay. Copyright 2004, Regents of the University of Michigan