Friday, February 8, 12-1:30 in the WGST Gates Woodruff Cottage library

This special panel unveils the El Salvador Human Rights Archives housed at CU-Boulder.  The discussion will include the opportunities these archives present and the challenges associated with using the archives for research.  Panelists include Michele Leiby, Assistant Professor at the College of Wooster, who has used the archives in her research; Bruce Montgomery and Yolanda Maloney from Norlin library talking about how these archives came into being; and Asuncion Horno-Delgado from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese who has used the archives for class projects.

Please join us for a special LASC event!

Michele Leiby, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the College of Wooster in Ohio

Thursday, February 7, 12:30-1:45 IBS 155

Abstract: This project examines the patterns of state-perpetrated sexual violence and other forms of political violence during the civil war in El Salvador (1978-1992) in an effort to understand why militaries engage in such violence.  The working hypothesis is that sexual violence is not perpetrated randomly, but rather targeted against particular subgroups within the population who present a threat (real or imagined) to the regime.  Data, collected from the archived files of two Salvadoran human rights organizations, will be compared on the timing and location of various forms of violence, as well as the demographic profile of the victims of state violence.  While demonstrating many of the limitations of data on wartime sexual violence, this project represents one of only two quantitatively oriented analyses of first-hand accounts of sexual violence during the war.  As such, despite the tentativeness of its conclusions, this project makes an important contribution to the academic literature on wartime sexual violence as well as to the historical record of violence in El Salvador.

by Mariano Sana, Associate Professor, Sociology, Vanderbilt University

Friday, November 30, 2012, 12:00
IBS Rm. 155B

Please join the Latin American Studies Center and IBS to hear Mariano Sana, Associate Professor of Sociology at Vanderbilt University and visiting IBS fellow, talk about the “Practical and Scientific Challenges of Collecting Survey Data in Latin America.” Dr. Sana has extensive research experience in data collection issues typically ignored by methodological manuals but that are nevertheless ubiquitous.  Drawing from his experience conducting surveys in Latin America, he will address the particular challenges of working in poor areas and with migrant communities.  He will also highlight available data sources, funding sources and key recommendations for scholars interested in gathering their own data.

By Doug Massey, Professor, Princeton Sociology Department
Monday, Oct 29^th, 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm in IBS Room 155B

Abstract: The issue of immigration has spawned strong emotions and political posturing that have obscured the real issues. Illegal immigration is not currently growing and border controls (including military fortifications along the Mexican border) have backfired in important respects. A leading expert on immigration spells out the reality of immigration and sorts out what works and what doesn’t.

Friday November 02, 2012. 03:30 pm. GUGG 205

This talk, by Roseann Cohen of the Community Agroecology Network and Yale University, Program in Agrarian Studies is part of the Geography Colloquium.

Abstract: This talk will draw on ethnographic research about the property relations that shaped a land dispute between a group of displaced farmers, organized as a peasant association, and the owners  of a private estate at Cartagena’s urban fringe. In particular, a case of arson, in which a farmers’ house was burnt down, illuminates the overlapping claims to the estate. The peasant association claimed land based on their labor transforming an idle estate into farmland, as evidenced by crops, trees, houses and fences. However, relying on cultivation practices to enact property across space and time can be a difficult feat for farmers with little control over the land they cultivated. Their story about cultivating crops under the threat of eviction is about the work it takes to make property. I will organize my discussion of farmers’ efforts to make property around “space-times” to demonstrate how property relations fluctuate across time and space, and the complex overlay of multiple claims and insecurities that compromised farmers’ access to land.

For more information: http://geography.colorado.edu/news_events/event/638/colloquium_series14

Indiana University Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies Graduate Student Conference

(Conference is February 15-16, 2013)

Application Deadline: November 16, 2012

The Indiana University Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) is proud to host our second CLACS Graduate Student Conference on February 15-16, 2013 on the campus of Indiana University Bloomington. This year’s conference aims to bring together a diverse group of graduate students to facilitate interdisciplinary and inter-institutional cohorts within the field of Latin American Studies. For more on last year’s conference, see our webpage for Latin American Studies in Practice: Theory Beyond the Academy.  This year’s theme, “Shifting Social Landscapes,” encourages participants to consider changes in various social, political, and environmental landscapes. These shifts reframe the context in which citizenship is imagined and enacted, identities are constructed and imbued with meaning, and connections are built, maintained, or destroyed across national, linguistic, or cultural borders.  Submissions are due November 16, 2012.  SEVERAL TRAVEL GRANTS ranging from $200-350 will be available on a competitive basis for students coming from outside Indiana University Bloomington; those students who apply for a travel grant must also submit a rough budget to aid in allocation of funds.  For more information:

Our website is http://www.iub.edu/~clacs/gradconference.shtml. And a link to our CFP can be found here http://www.iub.edu/~clacs/CLACS_GradConference_CFP.pdf.

The Department of Anthropology presents

Professor Deborah A. Thomas
Department of Anthropology
University of Pennsylvania

Bad Friday: Rastafari after Coral Gardens*

film and discussion

Thursday, October 4, 2012

4:00pm – 6:00pm Hale 230

***

For many around the world, Jamaica conjures up images of pristine beach vacations with a pulsating reggae soundtrack. The country, however, also has one of the highest per capita murder rates in the world, and the population is actively grappling with legacies of Western imperialism, racial slavery, and political nationalism – the historical foundations of contemporary violence in Jamaica and throughout the Americas. BAD FRIDAY focuses on a community of Rastafarians in western Jamaica who annually commemorate the 1963 Coral Gardens “incident,” a moment just after independence when the Jamaican government rounded up, jailed and tortured hundreds of Rastafarians. It chronicles the history of violence in Jamaica through the eyes of its most iconic community, and shows how people use their recollections of past traumas to imagine new possibilities for a collective future.

*Film trailer at http://www.badfridaythemovie.com/bad-friday.htm

PREDOCTORAL / POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP IN LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES

The Latin American Studies Program at Lehigh University invites Ph.D. candidates specializing in Latin America, with a clear contemporary Latin American cultural studies focus, to apply for a two-year predoctoral / postdoctoral fellowship, beginning Fall 2013.

Applications are welcome from candidates whose research concentrates in any of the following areas: social movements, identity (gender, ethnic, religious, etc.), transnational migration, and/or urbanization. Successful candidates must be within one year or less of finishing all requirements for the Ph.D. They will also demonstrate breadth and depth of cultural and Spanish language experience, and ability to design and offer a Latin American Studies introductory course. The fellow will be expected to contribute to further develop the Latin American Studies Program, establish links with the campus community, and share results of his/her research. The teaching load is one course per year during the first year as a pre-doctoral fellow and two courses per year during the second as a post-doctoral fellow.

A detailed description of the fellowship and complete list of application materials can be found at http://las.cas2.lehigh.edu/content/predoctoralpostdoctoral-fellowship. For first consideration, all application materials should be received by November 28, 2012.

Americas Latino Festival Sneak Preview

October 6, 2012 at 4:30 in ATLAS

On October 6^th, 2012, CU will host a preview of the Americas Latino Festival that will be held in 2013.  There is more information below about the all-star list of participants who will be part of the conference to be held at CU next year.  This year’s preview features a talk by best-selling author Luis J. Rodriguez, author of “Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.”, recognized as a major figure of contemporary Chicano literature.  The event program also includes a piano recital of ʻMusic across the Americasʼ, a musical intermezzo of the Colombian folkloric group Tucandirá, and a performance of Denver Sound band Slim Cessnaʼs Auto Club.

The 2013 Americas Latino Festival is an initiative of its umbrella non-profit organization, The Arts for the Americas 501(c)(3), aiming to majoritize minority arts and peoples. The 2013 festival will take place September 27-30, 2013 at the University of Colorado Boulder. Over 75 speakers in the areas of human rights and justice, conservation, science, literature, music, visual arts, and film will participate in this event committed to promoting cross cultural understanding. Among those that have confirmed attendance are: Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Junot Diaz, best-selling authors Isabel Allende, Mayra Santos Febres, and Cristina Garcia, Nicaraguan poet Ernesto Cardenal, Guggenheim Fellow and International Literature Award Winner Daniel Alarcon, author and film director Lucia Puenzo, ʻBabelʼ film director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, ʻThe Future of Foodʼ producer Deborah Garcia, Academy Award-winning actor and film producer Benicio del Toro, Laura Restrepo, Alberto Manguel, Santiago Vaquera, Nilo Cruz, Maria Hinojosa, Nestor Torres, Lulu Delacre, Ray Suarez, and McArthur Genius fellows Pepe Osorio, Dafnis Prieto, Miguel Zenon, Camilo Jose Vergara, Susan Meiseles, Lydia Davis, and Nobel Laureates Derek Walcott and Mario Vargas Llosa.

For more information: http://vilarcreativeagency.com/alf