Latin American Studies

Building from the approach to decolonization and abolition in the Haitian Revolution as well as from Frantz Fanon’s view of combative decolonization and decoloniality, the presentation makes the case for the abolition of the humanities as a crucial component of the project for decolonizing knowledge today.

Snacks and Silent Listening Podcast Party

BYOE (Bring Your Own Earphones) for an opening of the podcast “Feminism, Fascism & the Future.” Some of the makers of this podcast will talk about the process of tracing the global rise of anti-gender ideology movements in podcast form. Then you can go listen to whatever episode you want (and bonus: many of our speakers for the conference are in these episodes)!

Lukas Kühne, a director at the Facultad de Artes at the Universidad de la República in Montevideo, Uruguay, will host a conversation about study abroad at his institution. He is an artist himself, a sculptor who works with sound. More information about Lukas Kühne is available right here.

The event is co-sponsored by the Associate Dean for the Arts.

“Writing Crime: Transmigrated, Border Subjects and International Violence,” a talk by Professor Ileana Rodriguez, Distinguished Humanities Professor of Spanish at Ohio State University. “In this talk, I examine the case of Doris Ivania Jimenez, a woman who was raped and murdered on November 21, 2006, in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. Implicated in the crime are Eric Stanley Volz, Julio Martin Chamorro Lopez, Armando Agustin Llanes Navarro and Nelson Antonio Lopez Danglas. Volz and Chamorro were indicted; Llanes and Danglas were exonerated.

“World Cup Soccer and the Global South: From South Africa 2010 to Brazil 2014” a presentation by Peter Alegi, professor of history at Michigan State University. He is the author of African Soccerscapes: How a Continent Changed the World’s Game (2010) and co-editor with Chris Bolsmann of Africa’ World Cup: Critical Reflection on Play, Patriotism, Spectatorship, and Space (University of Michigan Press, 2013).

Filmmaker Marilyn Solaya will travel all the way from Havana, Cuba to present her documentary In the Wrong Body (2010, 55 mins, Spanish with English subtitles). The film tells the story of Mavi Susel, who underwent the first gender reassignment operation in Cuba in 1988. In the Wrong Body explores such timely issues as the meaning of femininity in the macho and patriarchal society in Cuba where many stereotypes and prejudices still exist. Q&A with the filmmaker to follow screening.

Writing and the Practice of Circulating/A escrita e o circular no espaço In his The Practice of Everyday Life Michel de Certeau proposes a reading of the way users do things, such as occupying space. His objective was to restore to consumption its own productive side and to perceive users not only as the bearers of structures that Marx proposed. Theoretically, de Certeau’s view allows for a valuable analysis of users’ practices; yet, how does his theory fare if we read it alongside narratives written by those who are on the absolute margins of consumption?

Cuban filmmaker Rigoberto Jiménez presents his documentaries “Four Women” and “Like Mountain Birds” (37 minutes each). Q&A to follow screening. Rigoberto Jiménez is one of the founding members of TV Serrana, an award winning community video project based in the Sierra Maestra Mountains of Cuba. TV Serrana works with and for the campesinos of the Sierra, reflecting in their videos the realities of life in the Sierra. The documentary productions of Jiménez have received both national and international awards.

Lunchtime lecture by Dr. Marta Vega Moreno, founder of the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute and former director of El Museo del Barrio and the Association of Hispanic Arts. She is one of the founders of the Association of Hispanic Arts and the Network of Organization of Color. Dr. Vega is president of the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI), an international not for profit organization dedicated to researching, documentation and promulgating the reach history and traditions of African descendants in the Americas. Lunch will be provided.