Latino/Latin American Studies

Latino/Latin American Studies Spring 2013 Event Series and Reading Circle -  Violence and Peace Movements in Latin America

Spring 2013

Monday, February 18, SJU, Quad 264, 6:30 pm.
Karina Ansolabehere will present on "Violence and Peace Movements in Mexico"
Rising levels of violence and the war against drug traffickers mark the last six years in Mexico.  Extrajudicial killings, disappearances and torture are now common and have claimed the lives of approximately 50,000 people since 2006.  In this context a new social justice movement has emerged called Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad (Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity).  It's goals are to recongize the rights of the victime of violence and begin a process of dialogue and non-violent resistance with the Mexican State.  This talk will explore the relationship between dialogue and peaceful resistance in the quest to end drug traffic and violence in Mexico.

Friday, March 8, SJU, Q264, 6:00 pm.
Patricia Ariza will present on "Women, Art and Peace"
Ariza will speak about her movement to promote peace and social empowerment among society's most excluded sectors, including women displaced by violence in Colombia and around the world.  As an actor, playwright and poet, she will speak about the role of the arts in conflict resolution and peace building efforts.

Re-scheduled from last semester, Wednesday, April 10, Gorecki 204C, CSB, 7 pm, 
Diana Taylor will present on "The Politics of Passion"
What options for political and economic justice do people have when the electoral process has been violated or corrupted, the media sequestered in the hands of power-brokers, and official institutions cannot adjudicate in a way that is seen as transparenet and legitimate?  The politics of passion explains the resurgance and even centrality of the body in politics.  As political parties fail to represent their constituencies, people are re-learning to represent themselves.

NEW! Monday, April 22, Pellegrine Auditorium, SJU, 6:30 pm. 
Juan Armando Rojas Joo will present, "Blood of Mine, Blood of All: The Poetic Conception of Ciudad Juárez, A Mexican Boarder City"

In the U.S./Mexico border town of Ciudad Juárez, since 1993 at least one woman per week is killed and dumped in the desert.  In 1998, a local poetry festival initiated a movement which emerged as an intellectual and social justice movement, and defined the literary conception of the city.  Chant to a City in the Middle of the Desert (2004) was published with the objective to poetically denounce, through the work of more than 90 authors, the violence of Ciudad Juárez.  On January 6, 2011, the murder of poet and activists Susana Chávez, who wrote the poem "Blood of Mine", frequently read during protests by the civil rights organizations and their supporters, gives name to the forthcoming anthology as it represents the current phase of the literary movement.

Fall 2012
Wednesday October 17, SJU Alumni Lounge, 7:00pm. 
Tomás Gómez Membreño will present on "United States Intervention in Honduras and the Effects on Indigenous Peoples"
Tomás Gómez Membreño is visiting from Honduras, where he works for the non-profit Indigenous rights organization COPINH (Civic Council of Popular Indigenous Organizations). COPINH has been working to expose the role of the United States in the coup and its aftermath. Gomez is a member of the Lencan people, an indigenous community in the southwest of Honduras.

Wednesday October 31, CSB Gorecki 240C, 7:00pm.   Diana Taylor will present on "The Politics of Passion".  (rescheduled for Spring 2013)
What options for political and economic justice do people have when the electoral process has been violated or corrupted, the media sequestered in the hands of power-brokers, and official institutions cannot adjudicate in a way that is seen as transparent and legitimate? The politics of passion explains the resurgence and even centrality of the body in politics. As political parties fail to represent their constituencies, people are re-learning to represent themselves.

Wednesday, December 5, SJU (Q264), 7:00pm. 
Kathryn Sikkink will present on "Latin America and the Justice Cascade" 
The groundbreaking emergence of human rights trials as modern political tool is changing the face of global politics. To the unprecedented violence of the twentieth century, the justice cascade is a shift in the legitimacy of the norm of individual criminal accountability for human rights violations and an increase in criminal prosecutions on behalf of that norm. 

For video links to previous guest lectures, go to:
Patricia Ariza
Nancy Garcia
Juan Javier Pescador
Margaret Randall
Samuel Regalado
Cheryl Thomas
Corey Shouse Tourino
LLAS Digital Commons

Students who plan to attend all events may register for "LLAS 270: Readings in Latino/Latin American Studies."  Requirements are:  attend at least three LLAS events, meet to discuss three academic articles and write a short (3-4 pages) reflective essay.  Registrants for LLAS 270 will receive 1 academic credit pass/fail.  Students may also choose to register for 0 credits which does not require an essay.  Interested students should contact Eleonora Bertranou, Diretor of Latino/Latin American Studies program, at ebertranou@csbsju.edu.  Students should specifiy whether they wish to register for 1 or 0 creidt..