WEB PROGRAM SPECIALIST
SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS RECORDINGS
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings is looking for a talented, creative, experienced, and proactive person with ethnomusicology, web technology, writing, and interpersonal skills to serve as Web Program Specialist to create, solicit, coordinate, and edit content for its websites. This position is located in the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (SFR) division of the Smithsonian Institution’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (CFCH) unit in Washington, D.C. The position functions as Web Content Development specialist for the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and Smithsonian Global Sound (SGS) websites, www.folkways.si.edu and www.smithsonianglobalsound.org, and additionally as Financial Development Assistant to the Director & Curator of Smithsonian Folkways. It is a Smithsonian trust fund position, supported mainly by earned revenues and grants, and is based in Washington, D.C. The Smithsonian Institution is an equal opportunity employer.
Major job duties and requirements are described below. Applicants should send a statement of interest and qualifications no longer than 1,000 words and a resume to Smithsonian Folkways Director & Curator Dr. Daniel E. Sheehy at sheehyd@si.edu or Smithsonian Folkways, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 520, Washington, DC 20013-7012. Electronic submission is preferred. Application review will commence July 1, 2008. Employment would begin as soon as possible after selection has been made.
MAJOR DUTIES
The major duties of this position are three-fold:
1) under the general guidance of the Director & Curator of SFR and its SGS initiative, independently initiates efforts to develop new content for the SFR/SGS websites; employing research skills and drawing from a broad knowledge of the world’s musical cultures, conceives and writes engaging thematic and multi-media “articles” for the website, e.g., a feature on harp music around the world, diverse dance musics of Southeast Asia, or women’s changing role in traditional music; performs secondary research on the SFR/SGS audio content and related materials; using ethnomusicological knowledge and approaches to music and culture, creates engaging new “albums” that cut across diverse albums in the collections, developing compilations of audio tracks elaborating specific themes; provides creative, collaborative feedback in response to content suggestions from curators and other content providers; employs web technology skills and familiarity with a wide range of musical cultures to!
function as managing editor of the upcoming Smithsonian GlobalSound e-magazine; edits content created by others; publishes content to the SFR/SGS websites; coordinates CFCH curators and other personnel in developing appropriate content; and, in collaboration with the SGS Technical Director and the Director of Marketing & Sales, ensures that the SGS content is maintained, updated, and marketed. [Approximately 60% of time]
2) works pro-actively with educators, educator networks, and education organizations to facilitate the development of culturally diverse educational materials, such as lesson plans, utilizing SFR/SGS content, and to facilitate their placement and availability on the SFR/SGS websites. Works to build and strengthen SFR/SGS connections to educators and educational institutions, via the SGS TNT (Teacher-Nexus-Teacher) network. Employs knowledge of web social networking to build broad-based teacher affinity groups. [Approximately 20% of time]
3) works closely with the Director & Curator and other appropriate CFCH staff in fundraising efforts to advance the missions and programs of SFR and SGS, including researching funding possibilities to match programmatic initiatives, drafting and tracking funding requests, and coordinating fundraising tasks with relevant persons within and outside the Smithsonian. [Approximately 20% of time]
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS REQUIRED
An understanding and appreciation of the Folkways collections in its widely diverse cultural, stylistic, and historical context is required in order to carry out the duties of creating new “music exhibitions” on the SFR/SGS website and other content to be developed by curators, outside experts, and institutional partner archives, distributors, and collaborators.
A broad understanding of musical cultures worldwide and of the needs and opportunities for their utilization for educational purposes is necessary in order to facilitate the development of appropriate content by and for educators. At least a Master’s degree in ethnomusicology or closely related field and bilingual ability in Spanish and English are highly desired.
In order to create effective and visually engaging content for the website and its upcoming Smithsonian GlobalSound e-magazine, and in order to effectively reach a broad audience with its content, expertise in internet use is required, including knowledge of major search engines, new-media trends, social networking, music/video downloads, and podcasting and other web 2.0 applications, and with the ability to use effectively a range of computer software programs in order to create, edit, and publish text, audio, images, and moving images to the SFR/SGS website. Preferred programs include Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, and Powerpoint), web publishing software, media players, RSS, multiple browsers (Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Safari), and, at an intermediate level, html (ability to format content for web publishing, including text formatting, image formatting, hyperlinks, and tables), and database functions.
Knowledge of fundraising principles, entailing the ability to identify potential funding sources, to draft funding solicitations, and to track fundraising efforts accurately, are required in order to secure adequate financial support for a wide range of projects carried out by Smithsonian Folkways, as well as to provide timely and accurate reports to funders.
Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate clearly and effectively both orally and in writing to a variety of constituents are required in order to relate to and organize a wide range of collaborators, including staff, curators, outside cultural experts, educators, institutional partner archives, corporate and foundation funders, artists, and others. This includes knowledge of a variety of formats required for reports, memoranda, correspondence, correct manner of address, spelling, punctuation and grammar to identify errors and type material in final format.
Salary:
Recruitment is for a position to begin at the IS-9, Step 1 level (currently $48,108, plus standard Smithsonian benefits), with the potential for advancement to the IS-11 level.
5.29.2008
Desnutrición en el Chocó - culpa de la violencia
Ya estamos tan acostumbrados a leer noticias de pobreza y desnutrición en el Chocó - como los medios lo presentan como una falta de modernidad. Pero si los afros llevan 350 años ahí, y los indígenas miles, porqué será que ahora precisamente se está viendo esta desnutrición tan berraca?
Hay que ver más a allá de las explicaciones desarrollistas, que es por causa de la "pobreza" (de plata sí, pero en medio de esa naturaleza, quien se muere de hambre?) Nos muestran imágenes de niños indígenas descalzos en Bogotá, pero las causa exógenas de sus problemas apenas empiezan a revelarse:
Por ejemplo:
“en algunas zonas por la restricción que impone la fuerza pública a la entrada de alimentos a las comunidades indígenas aduciendo que son ‘para la guerrilla’, incluso comida que es para los restaurantes escolares y los desayunos infantiles. En otras zonas, algunos de los productos de pan coger no se han podido cosechar dado que les ha entrado ‘enfermedad y se han secado’, cuando no se lo comen los actores armados, quienes también restringen a los indígenas la posibilidad de ir a sus fincas”. Enlace
Se refiere en particular a un group de Emberás que llegaron de Bagadó (Chocó) a Pereira, donde aparentemente la alcaldía no los aceptó y los envió a Bogotá. Linda historia! Enlace
Hay que ver más a allá de las explicaciones desarrollistas, que es por causa de la "pobreza" (de plata sí, pero en medio de esa naturaleza, quien se muere de hambre?) Nos muestran imágenes de niños indígenas descalzos en Bogotá, pero las causa exógenas de sus problemas apenas empiezan a revelarse:
Por ejemplo:
“en algunas zonas por la restricción que impone la fuerza pública a la entrada de alimentos a las comunidades indígenas aduciendo que son ‘para la guerrilla’, incluso comida que es para los restaurantes escolares y los desayunos infantiles. En otras zonas, algunos de los productos de pan coger no se han podido cosechar dado que les ha entrado ‘enfermedad y se han secado’, cuando no se lo comen los actores armados, quienes también restringen a los indígenas la posibilidad de ir a sus fincas”. Enlace
Se refiere en particular a un group de Emberás que llegaron de Bagadó (Chocó) a Pereira, donde aparentemente la alcaldía no los aceptó y los envió a Bogotá. Linda historia! Enlace
Conference: Racism and Discrimination in the Americas / Conferencia: Racismo y Discriminación en las Américas
The Latin American and Caribbean Community Center and Cidadao Global host US-based Durban Conference Call with WCAR International Coordinating Committee Member Margaret Parsons
Tomorrow, Friday May 30th at 1:00pm EST, Margaret Parsons will Margaret Parsons will joining Cidadao Global and the Latin American and Caribbean Community Center to discuss the upcoming Durban Prep Com (Americas) that will take place in Brasilia next weeks and the 2009 Durban Review conference as well as the 5th Summit of the Americas.
Please join us at 1:00pm EST. To join this conference call
Conference Dial-in Number: (616) 597-8000
Participant Access Code: 486016#
Margaret Parsons is the Executive Director African Canadian Legal Clinic in Toronto, Ontario
Please review the Summary of the Durban Process Meeting that took place on May 8th, The Themes and Objectives of the upcoming Prep Meeting, and if you are interested in participating, please download the accreditation form (you must submit it by May 30th).
Read the Latin American and Caribbean Community Center and Cidadao Global (LACCC/CG)Press Statement
The Latin American and Caribbean Community Center and Cidadao Global (LACCC/CG) will be attending the Regional Preparatory Meeting that will take place in Brasilia, Brazil from June 13-17, as well as organizing a series of consultative meetings and Durban process trainings. If you would like to join the national Durban Committee 2009 and/or keep up to date with the NGO and civil society process, please visit http://durban2009.wikispaces
Cidadao Global and the Latin American and Caribbean Community Center are U.S.-based organizations committed to the application of the human rights framework in the United States while addressing issues such as racist and discriminatory practices and legislation, class and gender. For more information please visit www.cidadaoglobal.org and www.lacccenter.org
Conference: Contested Modernities: Indigenous and Afro-descendant Struggles in Latin America
The 2009 Lozano Long Conference sponsored by the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies will have as a topic Contested Modernities: Indigenous and Afrodescendant Experiences in Latin America. This will be a scholarly gathering to discuss the specific contours of disparate modern experiences in Mesoamerica, the Caribbean and the Andes, where ethnic markers led to fundamentally distinct modernizing processes than elsewhere in the continent.
Considerable progress has been made in scholarship over the past two decades, to address the numerous conceptual failings that had left Afro-descendant and indigenous peoples invisible or marginalized in relation to dominant narratives and analytical frames. To an important degree, these contestations have been carried out by indigenous and Afro-descendant intellectuals themselves, in a way that has served to highlight the closely intertwined relationship between scholarly trends and societal politics. Yet an important facet of this scholarly transformation remains woefully incomplete, perhaps reflecting the difficulties of the corresponding political challenge. It is generally acknowledged that Afro-descendant and indigenous peoples face parallel histories of racism and oppression, and that their struggles for rights and redress follow similar patterns as well. But when it comes to empirical research and sustained analytical work, the most common pattern is to address the two separately, rather than viewing both in the same analytical lens. In the realm of literature and literary analysis a similar pattern holds. There surely are sound political and analytical reasons in particular cases. But the divide itself, and the different emphases within each body of scholarship, also betray some suspicious parallels to the racial ideologies to which both peoples have been subjected over the past 500 years.
This conference will be dedicated to probing this divide, by showcasing scholarship and political interventions that place indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples in the same analytical lens. We seek to explore and problematize this divide, without assuming that it should be eliminated, or that it should stay in place. Rather, our guiding premise is that rigorous historical, humanistic, and social analysis of the underlying question will both energize scholarly debates, and contribute to the bridge-building of commonality and difference, from which the struggles of both peoples stand to benefit.
The conference will be held at the University of Texas at Austin on 26 to 28 February 2009.
The Keynote Speaker will be Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Professor of Sociology at the School of Economics, University of Coimbra (Portugal), Distinguished Legal Scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, Director of the Center for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra and Director of the Center of Documentation on the Revolution of 1974 at the same University. His most recent books in English are Democratizing Democracy: Beyond the Liberal Democratic Canon (2007), and The Rise of the Global Left: The World Social Forum and Beyond (2006). He is one of the founders of the World Social Forum.
Other invited speakers include James Anaya, James J. Lenoir Professor of Human Rights Law and Policy at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law and United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people; Ginetta Candelario, Associate Professor of Sociology and Latin American and Latino/a Studies at Smith College, an expert on Dominican communities and identity formations, race and ethnicity in the Americas, Latina/o communities and identity formations, and Latina feminisms; Arturo Escobar, Distinguished Kenan Professor of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, whose most recent work identifies the political ecology framework developed by the Colombian region's social movement of black communities, and suggests that this framework contains important elements for rethinking sustainability and biodiversity conservation; Michael Hanchard, Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University who has written widely on black politics, race in Latin America, and comparative racial politics; Aida Hernandez, Researcher-Professor at CIESAS (Center for Advanced Studies in Social Anthropology) in Mexico City who has worked and lived among Guatemalan refugees and Chiapas' indigenous peoples on the southern Mexican border since 1986 and is the author of Histories and Stories from Chiapas: Border Identities in Southern Mexico; Bettina Ngweno, Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies at the University of California, Davis, whose recent book, Turf Wars: Territory and Citizenship in the Contemporary State analyzes the local, national, and international construction and transformation of the state by examining Afro-Colombian struggles over territory and citizenship; Irmalicia Velasquez Nimatuj, Guatemalan K'iche', Maya anthropologist working on ethnicity, gender, democratization, and globalization; and Catherine Walsh, Professor of Social and Global Studies and Director of Latin American Cultural Studies at the Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar, in Ecuador, who has worked with Indigenous movements for many years, and is now involved with the emergent Afro-Ecuadorian movement.
These scholars have all been centrally involved in debates about Afro-descendant and/or indigenous politics, culture, and history in Latin America. They will anchor the various thematic areas around which the conference panels will be organized, which include but are not limited to:
1) Post-capitalist, post-liberal, and post-statist societies; 2) Alternative modernizations or the end of coloniality; 3)Artistic manifestations of disparate cultural experiences; 4) Points of convergence and points of divergence in indigenous and Afrodescendant experiences; 5) Legal and political struggles for rights and new citizenship regimes; 6) Communal systems, stability, non-capitalist practices and non-state forms of power; 7) Human rights, indigenous communities, and Afrodescendant communities; and 8) Religious practices and alternative modernizations.
Those interested in participating should send their abstracts (between 250 and 300 words) as
well as a short bio-bibliographical notice (200 words) to the two convenors: Dr. Arturo Arias and Dr. Charles R. Hale, at Arturo_arias@mail.utexas.edu and crhale@mail.utexas.edu. The deadline for sending the proposals is October 1, 2008. Acceptance will be notified by November 15, 2008. Be sure that the abstract makes clear the connection between your paper proposal and the concept statement of the Conference
This Conference is organized by an eight-member Conference Steering Committee from across the UT campus. All decisions are made collectively. Members are Arturo Arias (Spanish and Portuguese); Jossianna Arroyo Martínez (Spanish and Portuguese); Karen Engle (Law);Virginia Garrard Burnett (History);Frank Guridy (History); Charles R. Hale (Anthropology); Juliet Hooker (Government); and Shannon Speed (Anthropology).
Considerable progress has been made in scholarship over the past two decades, to address the numerous conceptual failings that had left Afro-descendant and indigenous peoples invisible or marginalized in relation to dominant narratives and analytical frames. To an important degree, these contestations have been carried out by indigenous and Afro-descendant intellectuals themselves, in a way that has served to highlight the closely intertwined relationship between scholarly trends and societal politics. Yet an important facet of this scholarly transformation remains woefully incomplete, perhaps reflecting the difficulties of the corresponding political challenge. It is generally acknowledged that Afro-descendant and indigenous peoples face parallel histories of racism and oppression, and that their struggles for rights and redress follow similar patterns as well. But when it comes to empirical research and sustained analytical work, the most common pattern is to address the two separately, rather than viewing both in the same analytical lens. In the realm of literature and literary analysis a similar pattern holds. There surely are sound political and analytical reasons in particular cases. But the divide itself, and the different emphases within each body of scholarship, also betray some suspicious parallels to the racial ideologies to which both peoples have been subjected over the past 500 years.
This conference will be dedicated to probing this divide, by showcasing scholarship and political interventions that place indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples in the same analytical lens. We seek to explore and problematize this divide, without assuming that it should be eliminated, or that it should stay in place. Rather, our guiding premise is that rigorous historical, humanistic, and social analysis of the underlying question will both energize scholarly debates, and contribute to the bridge-building of commonality and difference, from which the struggles of both peoples stand to benefit.
The conference will be held at the University of Texas at Austin on 26 to 28 February 2009.
The Keynote Speaker will be Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Professor of Sociology at the School of Economics, University of Coimbra (Portugal), Distinguished Legal Scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, Director of the Center for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra and Director of the Center of Documentation on the Revolution of 1974 at the same University. His most recent books in English are Democratizing Democracy: Beyond the Liberal Democratic Canon (2007), and The Rise of the Global Left: The World Social Forum and Beyond (2006). He is one of the founders of the World Social Forum.
Other invited speakers include James Anaya, James J. Lenoir Professor of Human Rights Law and Policy at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law and United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people; Ginetta Candelario, Associate Professor of Sociology and Latin American and Latino/a Studies at Smith College, an expert on Dominican communities and identity formations, race and ethnicity in the Americas, Latina/o communities and identity formations, and Latina feminisms; Arturo Escobar, Distinguished Kenan Professor of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, whose most recent work identifies the political ecology framework developed by the Colombian region's social movement of black communities, and suggests that this framework contains important elements for rethinking sustainability and biodiversity conservation; Michael Hanchard, Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University who has written widely on black politics, race in Latin America, and comparative racial politics; Aida Hernandez, Researcher-Professor at CIESAS (Center for Advanced Studies in Social Anthropology) in Mexico City who has worked and lived among Guatemalan refugees and Chiapas' indigenous peoples on the southern Mexican border since 1986 and is the author of Histories and Stories from Chiapas: Border Identities in Southern Mexico; Bettina Ngweno, Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies at the University of California, Davis, whose recent book, Turf Wars: Territory and Citizenship in the Contemporary State analyzes the local, national, and international construction and transformation of the state by examining Afro-Colombian struggles over territory and citizenship; Irmalicia Velasquez Nimatuj, Guatemalan K'iche', Maya anthropologist working on ethnicity, gender, democratization, and globalization; and Catherine Walsh, Professor of Social and Global Studies and Director of Latin American Cultural Studies at the Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar, in Ecuador, who has worked with Indigenous movements for many years, and is now involved with the emergent Afro-Ecuadorian movement.
These scholars have all been centrally involved in debates about Afro-descendant and/or indigenous politics, culture, and history in Latin America. They will anchor the various thematic areas around which the conference panels will be organized, which include but are not limited to:
1) Post-capitalist, post-liberal, and post-statist societies; 2) Alternative modernizations or the end of coloniality; 3)Artistic manifestations of disparate cultural experiences; 4) Points of convergence and points of divergence in indigenous and Afrodescendant experiences; 5) Legal and political struggles for rights and new citizenship regimes; 6) Communal systems, stability, non-capitalist practices and non-state forms of power; 7) Human rights, indigenous communities, and Afrodescendant communities; and 8) Religious practices and alternative modernizations.
Those interested in participating should send their abstracts (between 250 and 300 words) as
well as a short bio-bibliographical notice (200 words) to the two convenors: Dr. Arturo Arias and Dr. Charles R. Hale, at Arturo_arias@mail.utexas.edu and crhale@mail.utexas.edu. The deadline for sending the proposals is October 1, 2008. Acceptance will be notified by November 15, 2008. Be sure that the abstract makes clear the connection between your paper proposal and the concept statement of the Conference
This Conference is organized by an eight-member Conference Steering Committee from across the UT campus. All decisions are made collectively. Members are Arturo Arias (Spanish and Portuguese); Jossianna Arroyo Martínez (Spanish and Portuguese); Karen Engle (Law);Virginia Garrard Burnett (History);Frank Guridy (History); Charles R. Hale (Anthropology); Juliet Hooker (Government); and Shannon Speed (Anthropology).
Human Rights Gig/Trabajo en Derechos Humanos
WITNESS is recruiting a Program Coordinator - North America (new position):
WITNESS is seeking a PROGRAM COORDINATOR to work at its Brooklyn headquarters in New York. The position will have a primary focus on supporting partnerships and implementing trainings to enable human rights organizations and concerned citizens in the U.S. to integrate video and related online technologies into their advocacy campaigns.
This position provides an exciting opportunity to build WITNESS' first full-scale North America program, building on an existing record of collaboration and partnership with groups within the US.
For more information Click Here.
Cobertura de cultura negra en los medios
Primero, una entrevista con la señora Ministra de Cultura. Hay algunas cosas en las que no puedo estar muy de acuerdo con ella, pero me gusta su estile y su biografía me parece interesante
como contraejemplo de las narrative folklorizantes de los afrocoombianos - de hecho, parece a veces qae ella, como afrorola, está de una manera más cómoda en Turino que Timbiquí, pero que ahora está - al igual que el país entero - descubriendo las negritudes rurales. Enlace
Y, hablando de cultura y negritudes rurales, El Tiempo hizo una votación de las 10 personas más importantes de la cultura colombiana de los últimos 10 años. Me parece que después de recibir la votación, cambiaron un poco las reglas, y ahora se trata simplemente de "las historias inéditas" de los "personajes de la escen cultural" - nada de más importantes ni de votacíon, así que me parece que los mismos de El Tiempo escogieron. Pero bueno, eso no es tan importante como los resultados. De los "10 de la cultura" todos trabajan o con culturas populares or, en el caso de algunos teatreros, con sectores populares. De los 10, 4 son negros - entre ellos Rafael , fundador del Sexteto Tabalá en San Basilio de Palenque; el compositor y músico chocoano "El Brujo" Alfonso Córdoba de Quibdó. Pero quisiera felicitarles a dos amigos míos, primero mi mentor y practicamente padrino musical, el Maestro Gualajo, José Antonio Torres de Guapi. Y, por sorpresa, nombaron a Marino Grueso, joven guapireño que maneja la Casa de la Cultura y la Biblioteca en Guapi. Conocí a Marino en 2003, y el hombre es muy piloso y me parece que ha transformado lo que es la Casa de la Cultura, en su planta física y en sus programas. Así que felicidades a los dos, y felicidades a Guapi, que tiene dos hijos suyos entre los 10. Enlace
Pero cabe una pregunta, comparando la entrevista de la Ministra con lo de Los 10 de la Cultura: si los negros (y no parece ninguna mujer negra en la lista de los 10) ya son tan importantes en la cultura folklórica del país, eso los mantiene en el papel de entretenadores de los blancos, en salvajes nobles, en transformadores de la ciudadanía, o que? Es decir, como se ha transformado (o no) la noción de "cultura" para abrigar a los que hacen los negros, y como se ha transformado (o no) la noicón de "negritud" para abrigar lo que llamamos "cultura"?
como contraejemplo de las narrative folklorizantes de los afrocoombianos - de hecho, parece a veces qae ella, como afrorola, está de una manera más cómoda en Turino que Timbiquí, pero que ahora está - al igual que el país entero - descubriendo las negritudes rurales. Enlace
Y, hablando de cultura y negritudes rurales, El Tiempo hizo una votación de las 10 personas más importantes de la cultura colombiana de los últimos 10 años. Me parece que después de recibir la votación, cambiaron un poco las reglas, y ahora se trata simplemente de "las historias inéditas" de los "personajes de la escen cultural" - nada de más importantes ni de votacíon, así que me parece que los mismos de El Tiempo escogieron. Pero bueno, eso no es tan importante como los resultados. De los "10 de la cultura" todos trabajan o con culturas populares or, en el caso de algunos teatreros, con sectores populares. De los 10, 4 son negros - entre ellos Rafael , fundador del Sexteto Tabalá en San Basilio de Palenque; el compositor y músico chocoano "El Brujo" Alfonso Córdoba de Quibdó. Pero quisiera felicitarles a dos amigos míos, primero mi mentor y practicamente padrino musical, el Maestro Gualajo, José Antonio Torres de Guapi. Y, por sorpresa, nombaron a Marino Grueso, joven guapireño que maneja la Casa de la Cultura y la Biblioteca en Guapi. Conocí a Marino en 2003, y el hombre es muy piloso y me parece que ha transformado lo que es la Casa de la Cultura, en su planta física y en sus programas. Así que felicidades a los dos, y felicidades a Guapi, que tiene dos hijos suyos entre los 10. Enlace
Pero cabe una pregunta, comparando la entrevista de la Ministra con lo de Los 10 de la Cultura: si los negros (y no parece ninguna mujer negra en la lista de los 10) ya son tan importantes en la cultura folklórica del país, eso los mantiene en el papel de entretenadores de los blancos, en salvajes nobles, en transformadores de la ciudadanía, o que? Es decir, como se ha transformado (o no) la noción de "cultura" para abrigar a los que hacen los negros, y como se ha transformado (o no) la noicón de "negritud" para abrigar lo que llamamos "cultura"?
5.25.2008
"La pobreza en Cali tiene color"
El 36 por ciento de la comunidad afrocolombiana que habita en Cali se encuentra sobre la línea de pobreza. Los caleños no pertenecientes a esta comunidad, son menos pobres (31 por ciento).
Enlace
Enlace
5.22.2008
Feliz semana de la Afrocolombianidad / Happy Afro-Colombian Week
157 years since the abolition of slavery in Colombia. Racism of course still continues, as is covered by Semana magazine (see links below). Plus the website of the Observatory of Racial Discrimination at the University of the Andes in Bogotá.
157 años desde la abolición de la esclavización en Colombia. El racismo, obviamente, sigue, como documenta la revista Semana.
Proyecto de ley contra la discriminación (video):
Enlace
Las penas del racismo (multimedia)
Enlace
Finalmente, la página del Observatorio de Discriminacíon Racial de la Universidad de los Andes: Enlace
157 años desde la abolición de la esclavización en Colombia. El racismo, obviamente, sigue, como documenta la revista Semana.
Proyecto de ley contra la discriminación (video):
Enlace
Las penas del racismo (multimedia)
Enlace
Finalmente, la página del Observatorio de Discriminacíon Racial de la Universidad de los Andes: Enlace
5.19.2008
Racism in Bogotá / Racismo en Bogotá
Esto de una amiga antropóloga afronorteamericana, Fatimah Williams Castro quien está trabajando con negritudes en Colombia:
This is from a anthropologost friend, a black North American, Fatimah Williams Castro, who's working on blackness in Colombia:
> Mayo 17 de 2008 -
> Investigación universitaria muestra latente racismo en algunas
> discotecas de Bogotá
> Los dueños de éstas se defienden: 'Porque devolvemos una vez en un año
> a cuatro negros hay una denuncia'. Las autoridades invitan a que la
> gente no calle estos hechos.
>
>
> Conscientes que el color de piel podía ser un factor a la hora de
> entrar a una discoteca, cinco estudiantes de Derecho de la Universidad
> de Los Andes realizaron un trabajo de campo para comprobarlo.
>
> Junto a siete afrodescendientes (entre ellos dos mujeres
> estadounidense y el periodista de RCN, Jefferson Asprilla), visitaron
> el pasado 19 de abril dos reconocidos establecimientos de la Zona Rosa
> y del Parque de la 93 -Gavanna y Genoveva-.
>
> Con audios y fotografías documentaron el rechazo del que fueron víctimas.
>
> Una de las participantes recuerda que la velocidad con la que se movía
> la fila de entrada se frenó cuando llegó el grupo afro.
>
> 'Después de la última persona mestiza, el bouncer -persona encargada
> de regular el ingreso- interpuso el cordón de la entrada, habló con
> alguien a través del intercomunicador y nos dijo que no podíamos
> ingresar porque había una fiesta privada y necesitábamos un carné para
> ingresar'. Al manifestar que podían adquirir el documento, les dijeron
> que al interior se festejaban las bodas de plata de una pareja, y que
> esa era la razón para no dejarlos entrar.
>
> Luego Fatimah Williams, una de las norteamericanas, comenzó a hablar
> en inglés con su amiga y asegura ahí sí les permitieron ingresar.
>
> 'Decían que buscaban clase en la clientela, y aquí tener clase es
> tener el pasaporte azul en la frente', afirma esta socióloga, que
> adelanta su investigación doctoral en políticas públicas para
> negritudes.
>
> En Genoveva, cuentan los afectados, les querían cobrar un cover de 30
> mil pesos bajo la excusa que el lugar estaba alquilado para una fiesta
> privada, pero dos investigadoras 'blancas' entraron y descubrieron que
> el sitio estaba casi vacío.
>
> Dueños se defienden
>
> Antonio Turbay, socio de Gavanna y Genoveva, dice que 'el bar es
> abierto a todo tipo de personas' y que el incidente ocurrió porque los
> bouncers no tienen autorización para permitir el ingreso de personas
> sin la aprobación del filtro o de los socios, que en ese momento no se
> encontraban.
>
> El público que asiste al lugar es, según algunos de sus
> copropietarios, el de personas 'chéveres', 'relajadas' y parejas.
> Objetan a 'traquetos', mujeres que consideren 'prepago' -usualmente
> acompañadas de extranjeros- o grupos de hombres solos. Turbay asegura
> que ni él ni su bar son racistas, que tiene amigos negros y que se
> crió con muchos de ellos en su casa de las Islas del Rosario.
>
> Cuestiona, además, la actitud del grupo, a quien finalmente se les
> permitió la entrada, y reconoce que cumplían con el filtro. 'Si no
> hubieran sido agresivos habrían ingresado sin problema. Ellos tienen
> su moda y le habrían dado cierto tinte tropical al bar', dice.
>
> Juancho Méndez, otro de los socios, también niega que su bar sea
> racista. Asegura que sí había una fiesta de los papás de uno de los
> socios y cree que el incidente está inflado. '¿Por qué no hay
> denuncias de los blancos que no dejamos entrar, que sí son muchos?
> Porque devolvemos una vez en un año a cuatro negros hay una denuncia'.
>
> Denunciar, la clave
>
> Olga B. Gutiérrez, directora del Instituto de la Participación y
> Acción Comunal, dice que es importante denunciar los abusos. 'Si no,
> no habrá una cultura jurídica que haga punibles esas prácticas'.
>
> Una sentencia de la Corte Constitucional sobre un sonado caso de
> racismo contra un par de hermanas en discotecas de Cartagena en 2004,
> estableció que ni la raza, el estatus o el nivel socioeconómico pueden
> justificar el rechazo.
>
> Fuentes de la Personería aseguran que las denuncias sobre actos
> discriminatorios son mínimas. La última fue hace dos años y fue
> interpuesta por un estadounidense contra el bar Atmósfera.
>
> Sin embargo, uno de los datos más alarmantes del trabajo de campo es
> el de la responsabilidad de los ciudadanos dentro de los procesos de
> discriminación. 'Ellos la ejercen de manera pasiva, pues nunca
> protestan porque se presentan estos hechos', finaliza otro de los
> estudiantes.
>
> Los afro no aceptan que los discriminan
>
> En el caso de Bogotá el racismo no se manifiesta usualmente de maneras
> violentas, sino dentro de prácticas más sutiles. El Observatorio de
> Discriminación Racial de Los Andes, dirigido por César Rodríguez, ha
> recopilado información sobre rechazo de hojas de vida de personas
> afrodescendientes, persecución de éstas en almacenes y tiendas
> mientras compran e insultos y discriminación a la hora de acceder al
> transporte público.
>
> Una de las prácticas más preocupante es la de las trabas a la hora de
> buscar casa. Según algunos de los 10 denunciantes, les suben el precio
> del inmueble respecto al publicado, les hacen preguntas adicionales en
> los formularios o les dicen que los apartamentos ya han sido
> arrendados y los letreros de oferta continúan puestos. 'Esto permanece
> en el silencio'.
>
> La gente tiende a asimilar esas situaciones como normales en lugar de
> denunciarlas', afirma Rodríguez.
>
> CAMILO SIXTO BAQUERO M.
> REDACTOR EL TIEMPO
> cambaq@eltiempo.com.co
>
This is from a anthropologost friend, a black North American, Fatimah Williams Castro, who's working on blackness in Colombia:
Here's an article from El Tiempo, the only newspaper with daily national circulation in Colombia, on a group of seven of my friends and I being denied entry into a few 'high end' discotecas in Bogota one night in April. The journalist did not quote me correctly. Being cheeky as always, I said, "Colombian claims to be a classist but not racist society, so to be exempt from racial discrimination I would have to tape my blue passport to my forehead so the first thing people see would be my "status" and not my race/color. The bottom line is that all people deserve respect, period." Also, I'm an anthropologist, not a sociologist. Lastly, the journalist failed to mention that none of us were rude or disrespectful to the bouncers. We have it on tape to prove it.
My friends and I are working with an local lawyers group in Bogota to make a formal demanda/accion de tutela (or court case) against the clubs and this type of discriminatory treatment. The case should go before a judge in early June. Anyone who'd like to be updated just let me know.
> Investigación universitaria muestra latente racismo en algunas
> discotecas de Bogotá
> Los dueños de éstas se defienden: 'Porque devolvemos una vez en un año
> a cuatro negros hay una denuncia'. Las autoridades invitan a que la
> gente no calle estos hechos.
>
>
> Conscientes que el color de piel podía ser un factor a la hora de
> entrar a una discoteca, cinco estudiantes de Derecho de la Universidad
> de Los Andes realizaron un trabajo de campo para comprobarlo.
>
> Junto a siete afrodescendientes (entre ellos dos mujeres
> estadounidense y el periodista de RCN, Jefferson Asprilla), visitaron
> el pasado 19 de abril dos reconocidos establecimientos de la Zona Rosa
> y del Parque de la 93 -Gavanna y Genoveva-.
>
> Con audios y fotografías documentaron el rechazo del que fueron víctimas.
>
> Una de las participantes recuerda que la velocidad con la que se movía
> la fila de entrada se frenó cuando llegó el grupo afro.
>
> 'Después de la última persona mestiza, el bouncer -persona encargada
> de regular el ingreso- interpuso el cordón de la entrada, habló con
> alguien a través del intercomunicador y nos dijo que no podíamos
> ingresar porque había una fiesta privada y necesitábamos un carné para
> ingresar'. Al manifestar que podían adquirir el documento, les dijeron
> que al interior se festejaban las bodas de plata de una pareja, y que
> esa era la razón para no dejarlos entrar.
>
> Luego Fatimah Williams, una de las norteamericanas, comenzó a hablar
> en inglés con su amiga y asegura ahí sí les permitieron ingresar.
>
> 'Decían que buscaban clase en la clientela, y aquí tener clase es
> tener el pasaporte azul en la frente', afirma esta socióloga, que
> adelanta su investigación doctoral en políticas públicas para
> negritudes.
>
> En Genoveva, cuentan los afectados, les querían cobrar un cover de 30
> mil pesos bajo la excusa que el lugar estaba alquilado para una fiesta
> privada, pero dos investigadoras 'blancas' entraron y descubrieron que
> el sitio estaba casi vacío.
>
> Dueños se defienden
>
> Antonio Turbay, socio de Gavanna y Genoveva, dice que 'el bar es
> abierto a todo tipo de personas' y que el incidente ocurrió porque los
> bouncers no tienen autorización para permitir el ingreso de personas
> sin la aprobación del filtro o de los socios, que en ese momento no se
> encontraban.
>
> El público que asiste al lugar es, según algunos de sus
> copropietarios, el de personas 'chéveres', 'relajadas' y parejas.
> Objetan a 'traquetos', mujeres que consideren 'prepago' -usualmente
> acompañadas de extranjeros- o grupos de hombres solos. Turbay asegura
> que ni él ni su bar son racistas, que tiene amigos negros y que se
> crió con muchos de ellos en su casa de las Islas del Rosario.
>
> Cuestiona, además, la actitud del grupo, a quien finalmente se les
> permitió la entrada, y reconoce que cumplían con el filtro. 'Si no
> hubieran sido agresivos habrían ingresado sin problema. Ellos tienen
> su moda y le habrían dado cierto tinte tropical al bar', dice.
>
> Juancho Méndez, otro de los socios, también niega que su bar sea
> racista. Asegura que sí había una fiesta de los papás de uno de los
> socios y cree que el incidente está inflado. '¿Por qué no hay
> denuncias de los blancos que no dejamos entrar, que sí son muchos?
> Porque devolvemos una vez en un año a cuatro negros hay una denuncia'.
>
> Denunciar, la clave
>
> Olga B. Gutiérrez, directora del Instituto de la Participación y
> Acción Comunal, dice que es importante denunciar los abusos. 'Si no,
> no habrá una cultura jurídica que haga punibles esas prácticas'.
>
> Una sentencia de la Corte Constitucional sobre un sonado caso de
> racismo contra un par de hermanas en discotecas de Cartagena en 2004,
> estableció que ni la raza, el estatus o el nivel socioeconómico pueden
> justificar el rechazo.
>
> Fuentes de la Personería aseguran que las denuncias sobre actos
> discriminatorios son mínimas. La última fue hace dos años y fue
> interpuesta por un estadounidense contra el bar Atmósfera.
>
> Sin embargo, uno de los datos más alarmantes del trabajo de campo es
> el de la responsabilidad de los ciudadanos dentro de los procesos de
> discriminación. 'Ellos la ejercen de manera pasiva, pues nunca
> protestan porque se presentan estos hechos', finaliza otro de los
> estudiantes.
>
> Los afro no aceptan que los discriminan
>
> En el caso de Bogotá el racismo no se manifiesta usualmente de maneras
> violentas, sino dentro de prácticas más sutiles. El Observatorio de
> Discriminación Racial de Los Andes, dirigido por César Rodríguez, ha
> recopilado información sobre rechazo de hojas de vida de personas
> afrodescendientes, persecución de éstas en almacenes y tiendas
> mientras compran e insultos y discriminación a la hora de acceder al
> transporte público.
>
> Una de las prácticas más preocupante es la de las trabas a la hora de
> buscar casa. Según algunos de los 10 denunciantes, les suben el precio
> del inmueble respecto al publicado, les hacen preguntas adicionales en
> los formularios o les dicen que los apartamentos ya han sido
> arrendados y los letreros de oferta continúan puestos. 'Esto permanece
> en el silencio'.
>
> La gente tiende a asimilar esas situaciones como normales en lugar de
> denunciarlas', afirma Rodríguez.
>
> CAMILO SIXTO BAQUERO M.
> REDACTOR EL TIEMPO
> cambaq@eltiempo.com.co
>
4.10.2008
Conference: Latin America and Opposition to Neo-Liberalism
So, somebody who doesn't have to finish two chapters before they go to Colombia on Tuesday (like me), please go to this and tell me how it was:
Latin American Opposition to Neo-Liberalism: Janey Program Annual Conference at the New School
Friday, April 11, 2008 9:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
New School
79 Fifth Ave, Room 906
The Latin American region has witnessed mounting opposition to neoliberalism over the course of the last decade. Recent developments in Bolivia and Venezuela in particular raise questions with critical implications for various fields of study, from political economy to political theory. Are these 21st-century revolutions turning the tide against the neoliberal consensus, or do they represent a regression to statist models of growth discredited long ago? Is Latin America finally finding its own way to participatory democracy, or are these recent political trends part of a worrisome global movement away from freedom and liberal rights? Do these developments suggest the possibility of forms of social reproduction that escape the logic of liberal capitalism by opening a space to the people? Must we then completely rethink the meaning of “populism,” or will it always be equivalent to demagogy?
These questions will be addressed by a panel of experts including Sujatha Fernandes, Greg Grandin, Bernardo Kliksberg, Philip Oxhorn, Fred Rosen, and David Schneiderman. The keynote speech will be delivered by Mario Gustavo Guzmán Saldaña, Bolivian ambassador to the United States. Estela Carlotto, president of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo and recipient of the 2006 New School University in Exile Award, will be the special guest speaker.
9:45 a.m.
Opening remarks
Michael Cohen, Director, graduate program in International Affairs, and Courtney Jung, Director, Janey Program in Latin American Studies
10:00–11:30 a.m.
Panel 1:
Latin America’s New Consensus?”
Greg Grandin, New York University
“Against Neoliberalism: Confronting Obsolescence and Insecurity in Mexico”
Fred Rosen, North American Congress on Latin America
"A Turn to the Left or a U-Turn? Understanding Voter Opposition to Neoliberal Economic Reforms”
Philip Oxhorn, McGill University
11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
Panel 2:
“Investment Rules, the Immobilized State, and the Difficulties of Counterhegemonic Resistance”
David Schneiderman, University of Toronto
“Everyday Wars of Position: Media, Social Movements, and the State in Chavez’s Venezuela”
Sujatha Fernandes, Queens College, City University of New York
“Violence and Inequality in Latin America”
Bernardo Kliksberg, United Nations Development Program
1:00–2:30 p.m.
Lunch break
2:30–4:00 p.m.
Keynote speech
Mario Gustavo Guzmán Saldaña, Ambassador of the Republic of Bolivia to the United States
4:00–4:30 p.m.
Coffee break
4:30–5:30 p.m.
Special guest speaker
Estela Carlotto, President of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo and recipient of the 2006 New School University in Exile Award
5:30 p.m.
Wine and cheese reception
Latin American Opposition to Neo-Liberalism: Janey Program Annual Conference at the New School
Friday, April 11, 2008 9:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
New School
79 Fifth Ave, Room 906
The Latin American region has witnessed mounting opposition to neoliberalism over the course of the last decade. Recent developments in Bolivia and Venezuela in particular raise questions with critical implications for various fields of study, from political economy to political theory. Are these 21st-century revolutions turning the tide against the neoliberal consensus, or do they represent a regression to statist models of growth discredited long ago? Is Latin America finally finding its own way to participatory democracy, or are these recent political trends part of a worrisome global movement away from freedom and liberal rights? Do these developments suggest the possibility of forms of social reproduction that escape the logic of liberal capitalism by opening a space to the people? Must we then completely rethink the meaning of “populism,” or will it always be equivalent to demagogy?
These questions will be addressed by a panel of experts including Sujatha Fernandes, Greg Grandin, Bernardo Kliksberg, Philip Oxhorn, Fred Rosen, and David Schneiderman. The keynote speech will be delivered by Mario Gustavo Guzmán Saldaña, Bolivian ambassador to the United States. Estela Carlotto, president of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo and recipient of the 2006 New School University in Exile Award, will be the special guest speaker.
9:45 a.m.
Opening remarks
Michael Cohen, Director, graduate program in International Affairs, and Courtney Jung, Director, Janey Program in Latin American Studies
10:00–11:30 a.m.
Panel 1:
Latin America’s New Consensus?”
Greg Grandin, New York University
“Against Neoliberalism: Confronting Obsolescence and Insecurity in Mexico”
Fred Rosen, North American Congress on Latin America
"A Turn to the Left or a U-Turn? Understanding Voter Opposition to Neoliberal Economic Reforms”
Philip Oxhorn, McGill University
11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
Panel 2:
“Investment Rules, the Immobilized State, and the Difficulties of Counterhegemonic Resistance”
David Schneiderman, University of Toronto
“Everyday Wars of Position: Media, Social Movements, and the State in Chavez’s Venezuela”
Sujatha Fernandes, Queens College, City University of New York
“Violence and Inequality in Latin America”
Bernardo Kliksberg, United Nations Development Program
1:00–2:30 p.m.
Lunch break
2:30–4:00 p.m.
Keynote speech
Mario Gustavo Guzmán Saldaña, Ambassador of the Republic of Bolivia to the United States
4:00–4:30 p.m.
Coffee break
4:30–5:30 p.m.
Special guest speaker
Estela Carlotto, President of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo and recipient of the 2006 New School University in Exile Award
5:30 p.m.
Wine and cheese reception
Caen jefe de las FARC y socio narcotraficante
Dizque la operación tuvo lugar en "una área rural de Buenaventura," pero no dicen donde. Enlace
4.08.2008
Bill Clinton's Ties To Colombia Trade Deal Stronger Than Even Penn's
60 Años de Modernidad Colombiana/60 Years of Modernity in Colombia
Se ha dicho que el Siglo XX empezó en Colombia el 9 Abril 1948 con el asesinato de Gaitán. Antes de esa fecha, la mayoría de colombainos eran campesinos y el país estaba apartado del mundo. Hoy, un gringolombiano hace post en su blog desde el Bronx para que lo lean en Tumaco. Obviamente, este corto Siglo XX colombiano ha traido violencia también. Ojalá no nos dure hasta el Siglo XXII.
Unas reflexiones de El Tiempo sobre esta fecha tan importante: enlace
***
It's been said that the 20th century started in Colombia on April 9, 1948, in a paroxysm of violence that, paradoxically, transformed the country from a peasant majority with its back to the world to a modern urban nation. So, today marks 60 years of modernity and violence in Colombia.
4.05.2008
Conference: Ethnicity, Sexuality, Age and Gender in Brazil
April 11
Ethnicity, Sexuality, Age and Gender in Brazil: Comparative Perspectives ETHNICITY, SEXUALITY, AGE AND GENDER IN BRAZIL: COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES. Sponsored by: The Institute of Latin American Studies, The Center for Brazilian Studies, and the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Columbia University. Friday, April 11, from 9:00am to 4:00pm. Conference Room 420, Hamilton Hall. Welcome and Introduction - 9:00am: Thomas J. Trebat, Columbia University, Lilia Schwarcz, Columbia University. Racial Relations - 9:30am: Lilia Moritz Schwarcz; AnaniDzidzienyo, Brown University; Antônio Sérgio Guimarães, Princeton University. Gender and Age(Part I) 11:00am: James Green, Brown University; Bila Sorj, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; Guita Grin Debert, UNICAMP. Gender and Age(Part II) 2:00pm: James Green, Brown University; Jerry Dávila, University of North Carolina at Charlotte Bryan McCann, Georgetown University. For more information: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ilas/
Colombian Migration Conference / Conferencia sobre la migración colombiana
Colombian Migration Conference: Transnational, Political, and Cultural Perspectives
Saturday, April 12, 2008, G08 Uris Hall Cornell University
** Open to the Public*
This Cornell University conference aims to create a space for addressing the increasingly important phenomenon of Colombian migration around the world by bringing together various disciplines and viewpoints.
*Objectives:*
· Inform academics, scholars, and graduate/undergraduate students within the Cornell community about relevant research on Colombian migration to the U.S. and elsewhere
· Encourage networking among researchers that will facilitate on-going collaborations in interdisciplinary scholarship and public policy initiatives
· Encourage and support students who may be interested in engaging in research on Colombian migration issues.
Schedule:*
9:30am
Welcoming by *Arturo Ignacio Sánchez, Robert Blake, and Claudia G. Pineda
*
10:00-12:00
Transnational Perspectives and Political Participation
*"Colombo-londinenses: Colombian migrants in the British Capital"*
*Luis Eduardo Guarnizo*, University of California, Davis
*"Colombian Organizations, Civic Engagement and Political Participation"*
*Cristina Escobar*, Princeton University
*"Colombian Migration to Jackson Heights, New York: The Politics and Scales
of Immigrant Demonization and the Built Environment"*
*Arturo Ignacio Sánchez*, Cornell University
Discussant: *Mary Roldán*, Cornell University
12:00-2:00 Lunch
2:00-4:00
Colombian Youth Culture, Education, and Religious Organizations
*"Religions and Spirituality: Building up a Transnational Colombia"*
*Ana María Bidegain*, Florida International University
*"Immigrant Cultural Identity: Social Class, Status & Mobility"*
*Vivian Louie*, Harvard University
*"Colombian Youth Cultural Engagement through a Colombian Dance Program"*
*Claudia G. Pineda*, Cornell University
Discussant: *Vilma Santiago-Irizarry*, Cornell University
4:00-4:15 Coffee Break
4:15-6:15 Representations of Colombians in the Media
*Javier Castaño*, Editor-in-Chief HOY Nueva York
*Héctor Abad-Faciolince*, Revista Semana. EAFIT University
*Juan Carlos Iragorri*, Harvard University
Discussant: *Elvira Sánchez-Blake*, Cornell University
6:30 Open Reception
*Sponsored by:*
Latin American Studies Program<http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/LatinAmerica/ >
City and Regional Planning <http://www.aap.cornell.edu/crp/>
Latino Studies Program <http://latino.lsp.cornell.edu/>
International Living
Center<http://www.campuslife.cornell.edu/campuslife/housing/undergraduate/holland-international-living-center.cfm >
*Co-Sponsored by:*
ALANA
American Studies Program
Cornell University Colombian Students Association (CUCSA)
Colombian Studies Institute at Florida International University
Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Finance Commission (GPSAFC)
Department of History
International Students Programming Board (ISPB)
Polson Institute for Global Development
Society for the Humanities
For more information visit:
http:// www.einaudi.cornell.edu/LatinAmerica/conference/colombian_migration/
Latin American Studies Program
190 Uris Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
Phone:(607) 255.3345
Fax: (607) 254.5000
Email: lasp @ is.cornell.edu
Saturday, April 12, 2008, G08 Uris Hall Cornell University
** Open to the Public*
This Cornell University conference aims to create a space for addressing the increasingly important phenomenon of Colombian migration around the world by bringing together various disciplines and viewpoints.
*Objectives:*
· Inform academics, scholars, and graduate/undergraduate students within the Cornell community about relevant research on Colombian migration to the U.S. and elsewhere
· Encourage networking among researchers that will facilitate on-going collaborations in interdisciplinary scholarship and public policy initiatives
· Encourage and support students who may be interested in engaging in research on Colombian migration issues.
Schedule:*
9:30am
Welcoming by *Arturo Ignacio Sánchez, Robert Blake, and Claudia G. Pineda
*
10:00-12:00
Transnational Perspectives and Political Participation
*"Colombo-londinenses: Colombian migrants in the British Capital"*
*Luis Eduardo Guarnizo*, University of California, Davis
*"Colombian Organizations, Civic Engagement and Political Participation"*
*Cristina Escobar*, Princeton University
*"Colombian Migration to Jackson Heights, New York: The Politics and Scales
of Immigrant Demonization and the Built Environment"*
*Arturo Ignacio Sánchez*, Cornell University
Discussant: *Mary Roldán*, Cornell University
12:00-2:00 Lunch
2:00-4:00
Colombian Youth Culture, Education, and Religious Organizations
*"Religions and Spirituality: Building up a Transnational Colombia"*
*Ana María Bidegain*, Florida International University
*"Immigrant Cultural Identity: Social Class, Status & Mobility"*
*Vivian Louie*, Harvard University
*"Colombian Youth Cultural Engagement through a Colombian Dance Program"*
*Claudia G. Pineda*, Cornell University
Discussant: *Vilma Santiago-Irizarry*, Cornell University
4:00-4:15 Coffee Break
4:15-6:15 Representations of Colombians in the Media
*Javier Castaño*, Editor-in-Chief HOY Nueva York
*Héctor Abad-Faciolince*, Revista Semana. EAFIT University
*Juan Carlos Iragorri*, Harvard University
Discussant: *Elvira Sánchez-Blake*, Cornell University
6:30 Open Reception
*Sponsored by:*
Latin American Studies Program<http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu
City and Regional Planning <http://www.aap.cornell.edu/crp/>
Latino Studies Program <http://latino.lsp.cornell.edu/>
International Living
Center<http://www.campuslife.cornell
*Co-Sponsored by:*
ALANA
American Studies Program
Cornell University Colombian Students Association (CUCSA)
Colombian Studies Institute at Florida International University
Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Finance Commission (GPSAFC)
Department of History
International Students Programming Board (ISPB)
Polson Institute for Global Development
Society for the Humanities
For more information visit:
http:// www.einaudi.cornell.edu
Latin American Studies Program
190 Uris Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
Phone:(607) 255.3345
Fax: (607) 254.5000
Email: lasp @ is.cornell.edu
4.04.2008
New Bill May Speed U.S. Visas for Artists
When it comes to artists trying to obtain visas, notorious performers like Amy Winehouse usually get the headlines. That British soul singer’s application to come to the United States for the Grammy Awards in February was initially denied, with speculation that the refusal was because of her alleged use of illegal drugs.
But as the House of Representatives voted this week to speed up the visa approval process for some foreign artists and entertainers, the heads of arts organization said attention was finally being paid to the real problem: the time, money and complexity involved in getting visas for lower-profile artists, including dancers, singers, musicians and actors.
“It has become a huge burden,” said Nigel Redden, director of the Lincoln Center Festival, the renowned arts showcase that this summer will bring together 57 performances and events from nine countries.
“We hire someone in January whose only job is to do visas,” he said. Once, when the festival sought to bring in a cast of Chinese acrobats and soloists, a “visa wrangler” in China asked for $75,000 to smooth the way for the group to travel to the embassy and get the necessary papers in order.
“We’re turning the United States into fortress America,” Mr. Redden said. “It turns everyone into an enemy. It loses us friends around the world and respect around the world.”
Now, those seeking entry must run a bureaucratic gantlet that can include having to establish their artistic credentials, hire a lawyer, pay visa fees and visit a United States embassy or consulate.
All of that requires money and time, said Jonathan Ginsburg, an immigration lawyer in Fairfax, Va., with the firm of Fettmann, Tolchin & Majors. An entertainer from London who has an arrest record, for example, would need a report from Scotland Yard, which can cause more delays.
Once the application is made, the Homeland Security Department is supposed to act within two weeks, but recently it almost never has; in the worst cases, getting an answer takes as long as six months, arts organizations said. So-called premium processing is available to expedite an application, at a cost of $1,000 for each petitioner.
The House bill, approved on Tuesday, extends the processing time to 30 days from two weeks. If the deadline is not met, the department is required to provide free expedited processing. The bill, which applies only to visa applications made by nonprofit arts groups, still needs the Senate’s approval.
Heather Noonan, the vice president for advocacy for the League of American Orchestras, called the bill an important step.
“We’re very pleased to see Congress support opportunities for international cultural exchange this way and particularly happy to see such broad bipartisan support for the measure,” Ms. Noonan said.
Sandra Gibson, the president and chief executive of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, said: “We’ve been watching this issue for 10 years. The premium-processing fee meant the nonprofit community would not be served.”
A task force on visas was formed in 2001, she said, when premium processing began. But the Sept. 11 attacks slowed everything down. “There were delays in interviews, inability to get interviews,” Ms. Gibson said. On applications, problems like inverted birth dates and misspelled last names made problems snowball. Around the world, the embassies and consulates that were part of the process were staffed at different levels. “In China and India it can take 100 days to get an interview,” she said.
With the value of the dollar waning, more and more artists have decided to stay home, Ms. Gibson said, echoing other officials. And fewer of the presenters, she said, are willing to go through the contortions of bringing in foreign artists.
Cyril M. Ferenchak, a spokesman for the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the State Department, said in an e-mail message that the government had worked hard to make the visa application easier and more efficient.
“Over 570 new consular positions have been created to handle a growing visa demand and the added security measure in our visa adjudication process,” Mr. Ferenchak wrote, adding that embassy Web sites provide information on things like required documents to demystify the visa process.
Matthew Covey, executive director of Tamizdat, a nonprofit group that helps artists get visas, said the House bill was a step in the right direction. Emerging artists without much money or the organizational skills to get together a visa application are the ones especially hurt by the visa labyrinth.
“An awful lot of musicians don’t make a lot of money,” he said. “They are looking to break even, to promote their work. Most musicians need to expedite their visas because many clubs book six to eight weeks in advance.”
And American audiences may never know what they are missing.
More on the Colombia Free Trade Agreement
This from the Afro-Latino Working Group at University of California Berkeley:
***
Take Action to Stop the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA): The FTA is a Threat at to Afro-Colombian Rights. Afro-Colombian grassroots organizations are opposed to the FTA.
As President Bush rushes to pressure the U.S. congress for a favorable vote on the U.S.-Colombia FTA, under the guise of national security, we need you to take action and let your representative know that approving the FTA will sentence Indigenous and Afro-Colombians communities to a live of poverty and
exclusion.
While the Bush administration tries to mislead Congress and public opinion on Colombia¹s advancements on peace and justice, the paramilitaries, military and guerrillas carry on threatening, terrorizing and assassinating union leaders and Afro-Colombian and Indigenous peasants. Impunity continues unabated and President Bush¹s FTA campaign ignores the real threats to national security: injustice, impunity, lack of governance, and disrespect for human rights. Trade alone will not resolve these threats and in fact there are vital conditions that need to be met to ensure just trade.
We join people all over the United States who are calling for international trade and investment systems that respect and promote the dignity of Afro-Colombians and Indigenous peoples, ensure the development and
well-being of these vulnerable populations, foster gender and racial equity and lead to environmental sustainability. The current FTA fails to do that, and will only increase the plight of Afro-Colombians:
1. A Threat to Ethnic and Human Rights The FTA was conceived by violating the rule of law. It was not consulted with Afro-Colombians or Indigenous Peoples as required by the Colombian constitution and ILO convention 169. These laws were created to protect Indigenous and Afro-Colombian¹s rights to
territory, environment, food security, and to self determination. The FTAviolates these laws and is therefore a threat to their rights.
2. A Threat to Land Ownership and a Dignified Life Land is a principle of life and strengthens identity for ethnic groups in Colombia. As land is threatened, the right to life is threatened. Systematic human rights
violations including murder, terror, and forced displacement, are used on a daily basis to take over Afro-Colombian and Indigenous lands that are rich in natural resources. Of the Afro-Colombians who held title to their land 79% are currently homeless due to this violence. In Mexico, the North American Free Trade Agreement caused the displacement of 3 million rural farmers, Colombia¹s ethnic and rural populations cannot afford further displacements. The FTA cannot be discussed or voted on until
Afro-Colombians and Indigenous are able to safely return and live on their lands.
3. A Threat to the Environment The FTA contains an ambitious project to supply the world with bio-fuels produced from Oil Palm, sugar cane and corn¹s large scale cultivation. Large scale monocrops target the best lands, most of which are collectively and individually owned by Afro-Colombian grassroots communities. Oil palm cultivation has been linked to massacres and expropriation by paramilitaries in Chocó, Nariño, South of Urabá and the East Llanos region. Nevertheless, the Colombian government aspires to grow 6 million hectares of this product by 2020. The cultivation of just 456 hectares of African palm requires 86 kilometers of drains and 11 kilometers of roads. This type of infrastructure has extremely high cultural, social and environmental cost for the communities, the nation and the world. To approve the FTA is to approve large scale monocrops that will devastate environmental heritage of humanity.
4. A Threat to Colombia¹s National Sovereignty The FTA will undermine Colombia¹s sovereignty by allowing corporations to sue governments that pass environmental and public health laws that might reduce corporate profits. The to pre-emptive legal changes the Colombian government made in preparation for the FTA negotiations, undermine the rights to self determination and governance of the ethnic groups, particular those rights that Afro-Colombians, gained through a legal framework created by Law 70/93. These pre-emptive changes consequently jeopardize their cultural rights and their rights over traditional knowledge and natural resources. In the same way, while the US advocates for protection of the US population¹s food
security, the U.S. and Colombian government put Colombia¹s food security at risk by promoting extractive industries and large scale monocrops, increasing food imports, and adopting public and economic policies that contribute to the most unequal distribution of land in Latin America. Arguing that the FTA is a matter of national security to approve it undermines Colombia¹s ethnic groups¹ most basic right, the right to be fed.
5. A Threat to Labor Rights President Bush and President Uribe along with FTA supporters insist there is improvement in the situation for labor unions and that the FTA will bring more employment. But they forget that plantation based economies have a well known history of labor rights violations. Indeed, sugar cane, African oil palm, plantain plantations in the past and the present have been characterize by violent expropriation of land, slave like labor conditions, and labor union repression. As Colombia moves toward agricultural imports while using rich and productive lands for bio-fuels, subsistence farmers are violently forced to migrate and urban workers face the threat of lower wages as competition increases. Since
Afro-Colombian communities have an agricultural vocation and strong network of support based on rural extended families, their lost is greater in terms of productivity, labor and employment. And Afro-Colombians face additional racism and discrimination in the labor market which leads to unequal
opportunities and ignores their existence, contributions and struggles within the larger society.
Under these circumstances, considering the US-Colombia FTA is a threat to the security of a population that is a third of the Colombian population and a significant part of the African Diaspora.
A few calls can sway your members of Congress to take a public stand. It¹s easy. Here¹s how:
1. Call (202) 224-3121 and ask the Capitol Switchboard operator to connect you to your member of Congress¹ office. Visit www.congress.org <http://www.congress.org/> to find out who represents you in Congress.
2. Talking Point: Please stop President Bush from forcing a vote on the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement by taking a public stance against it. Or select one of the above talking points.
3. And Call 1-202-224-3121 again and ask for one of your two senators. Repeat the message, than call your other senator.
To know more about on Afro-Colombians you can contact Charo at charo@io.com or go to: http://www2.renacientes.org:8080/renacientes (Spanish);
Vielka Cecilia Hoy
African Diaspora Studies, PhD Student
Afro-Latino Working Group, Co-Founder
University of California-Berkeley
vielkahoy@berkeley.edu
***
Take Action to Stop the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA): The FTA is a Threat at to Afro-Colombian Rights. Afro-Colombian grassroots organizations are opposed to the FTA.
As President Bush rushes to pressure the U.S. congress for a favorable vote on the U.S.-Colombia FTA, under the guise of national security, we need you to take action and let your representative know that approving the FTA will sentence Indigenous and Afro-Colombians communities to a live of poverty and
exclusion.
While the Bush administration tries to mislead Congress and public opinion on Colombia¹s advancements on peace and justice, the paramilitaries, military and guerrillas carry on threatening, terrorizing and assassinating union leaders and Afro-Colombian and Indigenous peasants. Impunity continues unabated and President Bush¹s FTA campaign ignores the real threats to national security: injustice, impunity, lack of governance, and disrespect for human rights. Trade alone will not resolve these threats and in fact there are vital conditions that need to be met to ensure just trade.
We join people all over the United States who are calling for international trade and investment systems that respect and promote the dignity of Afro-Colombians and Indigenous peoples, ensure the development and
well-being of these vulnerable populations, foster gender and racial equity and lead to environmental sustainability. The current FTA fails to do that, and will only increase the plight of Afro-Colombians:
1. A Threat to Ethnic and Human Rights The FTA was conceived by violating the rule of law. It was not consulted with Afro-Colombians or Indigenous Peoples as required by the Colombian constitution and ILO convention 169. These laws were created to protect Indigenous and Afro-Colombian¹s rights to
territory, environment, food security, and to self determination. The FTAviolates these laws and is therefore a threat to their rights.
2. A Threat to Land Ownership and a Dignified Life Land is a principle of life and strengthens identity for ethnic groups in Colombia. As land is threatened, the right to life is threatened. Systematic human rights
violations including murder, terror, and forced displacement, are used on a daily basis to take over Afro-Colombian and Indigenous lands that are rich in natural resources. Of the Afro-Colombians who held title to their land 79% are currently homeless due to this violence. In Mexico, the North American Free Trade Agreement caused the displacement of 3 million rural farmers, Colombia¹s ethnic and rural populations cannot afford further displacements. The FTA cannot be discussed or voted on until
Afro-Colombians and Indigenous are able to safely return and live on their lands.
3. A Threat to the Environment The FTA contains an ambitious project to supply the world with bio-fuels produced from Oil Palm, sugar cane and corn¹s large scale cultivation. Large scale monocrops target the best lands, most of which are collectively and individually owned by Afro-Colombian grassroots communities. Oil palm cultivation has been linked to massacres and expropriation by paramilitaries in Chocó, Nariño, South of Urabá and the East Llanos region. Nevertheless, the Colombian government aspires to grow 6 million hectares of this product by 2020. The cultivation of just 456 hectares of African palm requires 86 kilometers of drains and 11 kilometers of roads. This type of infrastructure has extremely high cultural, social and environmental cost for the communities, the nation and the world. To approve the FTA is to approve large scale monocrops that will devastate environmental heritage of humanity.
4. A Threat to Colombia¹s National Sovereignty The FTA will undermine Colombia¹s sovereignty by allowing corporations to sue governments that pass environmental and public health laws that might reduce corporate profits. The to pre-emptive legal changes the Colombian government made in preparation for the FTA negotiations, undermine the rights to self determination and governance of the ethnic groups, particular those rights that Afro-Colombians, gained through a legal framework created by Law 70/93. These pre-emptive changes consequently jeopardize their cultural rights and their rights over traditional knowledge and natural resources. In the same way, while the US advocates for protection of the US population¹s food
security, the U.S. and Colombian government put Colombia¹s food security at risk by promoting extractive industries and large scale monocrops, increasing food imports, and adopting public and economic policies that contribute to the most unequal distribution of land in Latin America. Arguing that the FTA is a matter of national security to approve it undermines Colombia¹s ethnic groups¹ most basic right, the right to be fed.
5. A Threat to Labor Rights President Bush and President Uribe along with FTA supporters insist there is improvement in the situation for labor unions and that the FTA will bring more employment. But they forget that plantation based economies have a well known history of labor rights violations. Indeed, sugar cane, African oil palm, plantain plantations in the past and the present have been characterize by violent expropriation of land, slave like labor conditions, and labor union repression. As Colombia moves toward agricultural imports while using rich and productive lands for bio-fuels, subsistence farmers are violently forced to migrate and urban workers face the threat of lower wages as competition increases. Since
Afro-Colombian communities have an agricultural vocation and strong network of support based on rural extended families, their lost is greater in terms of productivity, labor and employment. And Afro-Colombians face additional racism and discrimination in the labor market which leads to unequal
opportunities and ignores their existence, contributions and struggles within the larger society.
Under these circumstances, considering the US-Colombia FTA is a threat to the security of a population that is a third of the Colombian population and a significant part of the African Diaspora.
A few calls can sway your members of Congress to take a public stand. It¹s easy. Here¹s how:
1. Call (202) 224-3121 and ask the Capitol Switchboard operator to connect you to your member of Congress¹ office. Visit www.congress.org <http://www.congress.org/> to find out who represents you in Congress.
2. Talking Point: Please stop President Bush from forcing a vote on the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement by taking a public stance against it. Or select one of the above talking points.
3. And Call 1-202-224-3121 again and ask for one of your two senators. Repeat the message, than call your other senator.
To know more about on Afro-Colombians you can contact Charo at charo@io.com or go to: http://www2.renacientes.org
Vielka Cecilia Hoy
African Diaspora Studies, PhD Student
Afro-Latino Working Group, Co-Founder
University of California-Berkeley
vielkahoy@berkeley.edu
Author Silvana Paternostro at Museo del Barrio/ Autora Silvana Paternostro en el Museo del Barrio
El Museo presents
In Our Lingo: James Cañon with Silvana Paternostro
Tuesday, April 15, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Location: El Museo del Barrio
In Our Lingo: Dialogues Between Latino Authors
In Our Lingo brings together Latino authors in conversation with filmmakers, artists, and other authors to share their views on the ideas, themes, and social issues addressed in a specific work presented each session. These intimate dialogues give the audience a unique perspective on contemporary Latino literature.
In connection with New York City’s 5th Annual Immigrant History Week, New York based Colombian author James Cañon will interview Silvana Paternostro, author of My Colombian War: A Journey Through the Country I Left Behind (Henry Holt and Co., 2007). The authors will discuss Paternostro's two wars: the bloody, decades-long battle between leftist rebels and the Colombian government, and the author's own struggle to embrace her Colombian identity while making a life for herself in the U.S. Admission: Free. For advance registration e-mail public_programs@elmuseo.org .
In Our Lingo: James Cañon with Silvana Paternostro
Tuesday, April 15, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Location: El Museo del Barrio
In Our Lingo: Dialogues Between Latino Authors
In Our Lingo brings together Latino authors in conversation with filmmakers, artists, and other authors to share their views on the ideas, themes, and social issues addressed in a specific work presented each session. These intimate dialogues give the audience a unique perspective on contemporary Latino literature.
In connection with New York City’s 5th Annual Immigrant History Week, New York based Colombian author James Cañon will interview Silvana Paternostro, author of My Colombian War: A Journey Through the Country I Left Behind (Henry Holt and Co., 2007). The authors will discuss Paternostro's two wars: the bloody, decades-long battle between leftist rebels and the Colombian government, and the author's own struggle to embrace her Colombian identity while making a life for herself in the U.S. Admission: Free. For advance registration e-mail public_programs@elmuseo.org .
Guess what - the music industry is changing / Sabías? Se está cambiando la industria discográfica
How do I know?/Como es que lo sé?
- Apple's iTunes, which sells mp3s, is now the #1 music retailer, passing WalMart, which sells CDs. Link
- Jay-Z ditched record companies to sign, like Madonna and U2, with a booking agency, of all things... Link
- MySpace is getting in on the act. Link
- iTunes, de Apple, que vende mp3, ya es el vendedor más grande de música, pasando el almacén WalMart, que vende CDs. Enlace
- El rapero, productor, y empresario musical Jay-Z ha roto su relación con las disqueras tradicionales para firmar con una agencia promotora, una manera completamente diferent de distribuir y financiar sus proyectos. Enlace
- MySpace también se ha lanzado a la industria musical. Enlace
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