Press Release from Washington Office on Latin America / US Office on Colombia
February 24, 2009
Washington, DC
Partial Return of Afro-Colombian Lands in Curvaradó a Step Forward
The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and U.S. Office on Colombia (USOC) are pleased to learn that partial steps were taken on February 15th to implement the devolution of illegally and violently usurped lands to their rightful owners in the communities of Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó (Chocó Department). Information we received indicates that 1,354 hectares of land were returned by illegal occupiers to the Colombian Ministry of the Interior for the purpose of handing them over to their rightful owners. We are particularly grateful to Representative Donald Payne (NJ) and the U.S. State Department and Embassy officials, who for the past two years encouraged Colombian authorities to advance the process of implementing the Colombian institutions’ own resolutions which call for the return of these territories to the Community Councils of Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó.
It must be noted that the Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó communities have suffered at least 13 internal displacements, assassinations of their leaders and various other abuses for defending their territorial rights and reporting illegal criminal activity on their lands by members of the Colombian armed forces, paramilitaries and palm oil companies. The members of these communities remain highly vulnerable to harm and Colombian authorities should act effectively to protect them.
We hope that these developments will lead to the full and unconditional restoration of territories to their rightful owners in the coming months. Another 21,000 hectares of land in Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó have yet to be returned to these communities and remain illegally occupied, including 3,644 hectares occupied by palm oil plantations and another 1,300 by illegal cattle ranching. U.S. officials should continue to work to ensure that the land that remains illegally usurped is handed over to the Colombian authorities for devolution to the Community Councils. The impunity for the numerous assassinations of community members should also be addressed, as should the full dismantlement of paramilitaries that remain active in the Rio Atrato area.
U.S. officials should continue to work to ensure that territories that remain illegally usurped are handed over to the Colombian authorities for devolution to these Community Councils. Further, we expect the Colombian authorities to finalize this matter by moving quickly towards justice in Case 3856, in which 23 palm oil businessmen are indicted for the illegal appropriation of land, forced displacement, and conspiracy to commit crimes. Also we anticipate a quick resolution of this land devolution process so that the Colombian authorities can then concentrate on implementing the return of territories to their rightful Afro-Colombian owners in other cases such as that of 800 hectares to the Community Council in Alto Mira and Frontera (Nariño).
2.24.2009
2.20.2009
Desastre natural en Pacífico nariñense - Deadly floods in Colombian Pacific
From El Colombiano
Mira rises 20 meters
The Mira River surprised residents of Tumaco early yesterday after water levels rose more than 20 meters. Six people died and 14 more have been reported missing. According to the Office of Disaster Prevention and Response the situation is critical: 6.000 people have been affected and 270 homes were destroyed. Of the 100 rural settlements (veredas) in the municipality, 62 are flooded; new shelters have been set up in order to accommodate the growing need. The Ideam recommended special precautions be taken in riverside areas like Cumbitara, Pisada and Policarpa. There is also an alert in effect for the possible overflowing of the Telembí River.
El Mira se subió 20 metros y se llevó 270 casas
SE REPORTAN 22 desaparecidas y 6.000 damnificadas. De las 100 veredas de Tumaco, 62 están inundadas; 20.000 hectáreas quedaron anegadas.
Clara Isabel Vélez Rincón - Medellín
Publicado el 18 de febrero de 2009
Dos días seguidos de lluvia no llamaron la atención de los habitantes de Tumaco. Allí la temporada seca y la de invierno en poco o nada se diferencian. Solo en la madrugada del lunes, el ruido -como de una explosión- los sacó de la cama. Era el río Mira que se metía a sus casas.La creciente fue tan intensa que hasta la estación automática de medición del Ideam desapareció.Uno de los trabajadores del Instituto que vive en la ribera del Mira, reportó una creciente de siete metros por encima de la cota de inundación. Minutos después, él y su familia tuvieron que ser rescatados por los organismos de socorro. Ayer, la cota de inundación se había excedido en 20 metros.Ellos hacen parte de los 6.000 damnificados. Según la directora de Gestión de Riesgo para la Atención y Prevención de Desastres, Luz Amanda Pulido, se reportaron 22 desaparecidos, pero no se han encontrado cadáveres.
La cifra podría aumentar pues hay varias veredas que están prácticamente aisladas porque las carreteras Timbilí-Candelillas, La Peña-Peña Colorada, Puerto Nidia, Cajapí, Agua Clara-Bucheli y la que va a la bocatoma del acueducto, colapsaron.Por eso, la Armada Nacional ayuda a la evacuación de los damnificados en las zonas costeras. El Ejército rescató a 172 campesinos de la vereda La Playa.Hay que apoyarlosEl casco urbano de Tumaco se quedó sin luz, gas y agua. Tampoco hay comida, por eso la Fuerza Aérea tuvo que transportar 20 toneladas de alimentos y ayuda humanitaria.Como la fuente del acueducto está contaminada, desde Pasto se envió una planta potabilizadora que tiene capacidad para suministrar 25.000 litros diarios.Se estima que 270 viviendas quedaron inservibles. La cárcel también se inundó y los 250 reclusos tuvieron que acomodarse en el segundo piso de la edificación.En la zona rural la situación no es la mejor. De las 100 veredas del municipio 62 están completamente inundadas. Se perdieron 20.000 hectáreas de palma y cultivos de pan coger.
El ministro del Interior, Fabio Valencia, quien hizo un sobrevuelo por la zona del desastre, pidió a los colombianos solidaridad, mas si se tiene en cuenta que entre los damnificados hay 1.200 niños y 900 ancianos, que serán llevados a nueve albergues.Al desastre de Tumaco se suma el desbordamiento del río Telembí, en Barbacoas. Allí se reportan 250 familias damnificadas.Humberto González, meteorólogo del Ideam, explicó que el clima no se está comportando como es tradicional en esta época, donde debía predominar el tiempo seco.Las lluvias que se presentan en el Pacífico se deben a un remanente del fenómeno de La Niña. A esto se suma un frente frío que viene de Perú y Brasil. Ese organismo mantiene la alerta por crecientes de los ríos Mira, Patía y Telembí, en Nariño.
2.19.2009
Convocatoria: Auralidades Negroamericanas / CFP: Mapping Black New World Auralities
(English below)
Una invitación al Encuentro del Instituto Hemisférico en Bogotá a finales de agosto, y un grupo de trabajo dentro de él sobre auralidades afros, lo cual estamos organizando Susana Friedmann (musicóloga, Universidad Nacional de Colombia) y yo. Espero que puedan participar. Pilas que la fecha para entregar las aplicaciones es el 23 de febrero.
Encuentro 2009: Ciudadanías en Escena
El Instituto Hemisférico de Performance y Política y la Universidad Nacional de Colombia invitan a artistas, performeros, académicos y activistas a proponer performances, ponencias, música, videos, instalaciones, exposiciones de artes visuales, temas para grupos de trabajo, proyectos de activismo, acciones virtuales y otras propuestas que vinculen performance y política en las Américas para participar en nuestro próximo
VII Encuentro Ciudadanías en escena: Entradas y salidas de los derechos culturales en la Universidad Nacional de Colombia en Bogotá del 21 al 30 de agosto del 2009
Titulado "Ciudadanías en escena: performance y política de los derechos culturales", el evento de 10 días invita a investigar los “derechos culturales” y sus complejas relaciones con las ciudadanías tanto en contextos históricos como contemporáneos. Entendemos los derechos culturales como una figura jurídica, como un dispositivo de poder, y como una articulación alrededor de la cual se condensan reivindicaciones, ciudadanías y sujetos. Estos nos permiten investigar la relación entre el performance y la política a través de diversas formas expresivas, categorías de análisis, disciplinas, tradiciones y movimientos. Los derechos culturales necesariamente invocan al Estado, hecho visible por los mismos ciudadanos e instituciones que éste produce, y también resaltan la instrumentalización del ritual, la identidad, la protesta, la guerra y el arte. Nos invitan a explorar el derecho a la identidad y a la interculturalidad; el uso y promoción de los idiomas maternos, idiomas de elección y su hibridación; la formación artística y al acceso a sus expresiones; y el reconocimiento, transmisión, y transformación de la memoria colectiva, entre otros. Los derechos culturales también destacan la enorme brecha entre el discurso jurídico y las vivencias sociales, entre la teoría escrita y las prácticas corporales, y nos impulsan a investigar estas tensiones, antagonismos y asimetrías sociales, y las prácticas y estrategias performativas que artistas, actores sociales, pueblos y estados utilizan para intervenirlas.
Nuestros grupos de trabajo nacieron como una alternativa a los paneles académicos tradicionales, ofreciendo un espacio crítico para la investigación colaborativa y otras formas de trabajo interdisciplinario en torno a temas e intereses compartidos. En los grupos de trabajo participan académicos, artistas y activistas. Algunos de los grupos proponen trabajo dirigido específicamente a académicos o artistas, mientras otros buscan el dialogo y la colaboración entre ellos. Limitados a 20 participantes, los grupos de trabajo se reúnen repetidamente en un horario fijo durante el Encuentro. Su formato está diseñado según los objetivos específicos de cada grupo y puede incluir la presentación de ensayos, la producción de trabajos colectivos, la creación de un performance, o una combinación de estos elementos. Por favor vea la descripción de cada grupo, en la lista a continuación, para obtener información adicional.
La participación en los grupos de trabajo será determinada por solicitud. Los interesados deberán presentar un breve resumen (una página) del trabajo de investigación o proyecto para el grupo además de la carta de intención y el curriculum requeridos para aplicar al Encuentro.
Hacia un Mapa de la Auralidad Negroamericana
Coordinadores: Susana Friedmann and Michael Birenbaum
Las Américas negras son igualmente caracterizadas por las comonalidades históricas y por una variedad de formaciones raciales. Por esto, la constelación distintiva de culturas sonoras creadas por los afrodescendientes americanos reflejan tanto los aspectos compartidos de estas experiencias históricas como las particulares divergencias moldeadas por los paisajes sonoros locales. Sin embargo, la historia de estas culturas sonoras también se ve marcada por la interacción de practicantes musicales negros de diferentes lugares con los tropos sónicos de la negritud presentes a nivel global, desde la circulación de formas musicales tales como jazz, son, reggae y hip-hop en la industria musical del Siglo XX hasta los intercambios entre prácticas musicales africanas, europeas y americanas como cumbé, zarabanda y otras en el Siglo XVII.
Lo que ha surgido entonces es un conjunto global de tropos sonoros de la negritud, producto de la influencia de los procesos locales, incluyendo elementos análogos y distintos a la vez, y de un segundo nivel de prestaciones y apropiaciones mutuas. Este grupo de trabajo pretende mapear esta auralidad negra a nivel hemisférico. ¿Cuáles son sus nodos, sus márgenes, sus brechas? ¿Cuáles son los circuitos que los conectan? Es este mapa estructurado o interrumpido por las diferentes formas de inclusión en la nación, por las exigencias económicas de la industria cultural global, y por los sistemas locales de distribución y los nuevos medios digitales? Cómo son o pueden ser logradas las reinvindicaciones locales negras de la modernid en contextos como Colombia, donde la negritud se imagina como la tradición rural y la modernidad como el blanqueamiento o según los modelos transnacionales de negritud absorbidos por los medios masivos? Más urgentemente, cómo pueden complicarse las nociones monolíticas de la musicalidad negra, y reconocerse las sonoridades locales sin socavar las comonalidades culturales o las posibilidades de alianzas políticas o culturales trans-diaspóricas?
Áreas de investigación
• Mapear la auralidad negroamericana: Una cartografía diacrónica de los nodos locales y circuitos hemisféricos de la producción, diseminación y consumo sonoros negroamericanos.
• Inscribir la auralidad negroamericana: Una historia de las tecnologías de preservación de sonoridades negroamericanas (música grabada, cine, texto, notación) y su diseminacíon por circuitos negroamericanos.
• Encontrar la auralidad negroamericana: Una examinación de contextos de encuentro aural intra-diaspórico (migración, exilio, consumo) y las experiencias de comonalidad y/o “esquizofonía” que engendran
Los candidatos que deseen ser considerados para el grupo de trabajo deben presentar una breve descripción de sus investigaciones actuales con un resumen del trabajo que quieren compartir durante el Encuentro. El objetivo final es la conformación de un grupo de investigación a plazo largo con posibilidades de publicar una recopilación colectiva. El grupo está limitado a 20 participantes.
La fecha límite para solicitar al Encuentro es el 23 de febrero de 2009. Para solicitar, hay que completar el Formulario de Solicitud.
..................................
An invitation to the annual Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute in Bogotá at the end of August, and a work group on black auralities, which Susana Friedmann (musicologist of the National University of Colombia) and I are organizing. I hope you can make it - be advised that the applications are due February 23!
Encuentro 2009: Staging Citizenship
The Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics and the National University of Colombia invite artists, performers, academics and activists to propose performances, papers, performance-based scholarship, videos, installations, visual art exhibits, work group topics, activist projects, hacktivist or virtual actions, and other forms that bring together performance and politics in the Americas to participate in our upcoming 7th Encuentro Staging Citizenship: Cultural Rights in the Americas at the National University of Colombia in Bogotá August 21-30, 2009
Our 7th Encuentro invites interested participants to investigate "cultural rights" and their complex relationship to citizenship in both historical and contemporary contexts. We understand cultural rights as a juridical figure, a technology of power and an articulation that brings together multiple political demands, social subjects and modalities of citizenship. They allow us to explore the relationship between performance and politics through diverse expressive forms, analytic categories, disciplines, traditions and movements. Cultural rights necessarily invoke the State, made visible by the same citizens and institutions that it produces, and also highlight the instrumentalization of ritual, identity, protest and art. They also invite us to examine the right to identity and interculturality; the use and promotion of native languages, languages of choice and their hybrids; artistic training and access to its expressions; and the recognition, transmission and transformation of collective memory, among others. Cultural rights also bring attention to the enormous distance between juridical discourse and everyday experience and between written theory and embodied practice, and extol us to examine these tensions, antagonisms and social inequalities and the performative practice mobilized by artists, social actors and states to intervene them.
These themes will be organized under three umbrella topics that will serve as the point of departure of a great variety of performances, installations, exhibits, roundtables, workshops, keynotes and work groups.
The Memories of Politics and the Legacies of Citizenship
Reflecting on the history and the memory of over two centuries of "independence" in the Americas and its colonial legacy, we ask: Can the rights to memory and to history as cultural demands ever be separate from the exercise of political rights? What is the shape of the struggles over the definition, transmission and control of the past in the public sphere? In what ways do hegemonic mechanisms and institutions highlight, disseminate and legitimize particular narratives and practices, while devaluing, restricting or erasing others?
The Struggles Over Citizenship
The "normalization" of cultural practices in accordance with ideological interests presumes that culture can exist in homogenous and static forms. In such contexts, citizenship is defined in the degree to which subjects are able to obtain "equaility in difference," recognition or identity-based "empowerment." What strategies have individuals, groups and communities deployed to make themselves visible as citizens or, to the contrary, to make themselves invisible as a form of cultural resistance? How may these discursive and performative processes categorized and understood? How do practices repeated upon bodies turn these very bodies into territories of contestation and risk?
Multiculturalism, Interculturality and Migration
Since the 1980's, many countries in the Americas have constitutionally recognized multiculturality, ethnic diversity and differential forms of citizenship while others, like the United States, have moved in the opposite direction. During this same period, diverse forms of violence, forced displacement and migration have intensified both within and across national boundaries. How do these phenomena alter and refine notions of citizenship and belonging? What cultural transformations do they bring with them? How can intercultural dialogue be framed in light of struggles for social justice? What debates emerge about place and territory, about the right to land as a cultural right?
Mapping Black American Auralities
Conveners: Susana Friedmann and Michael Birenbaum The black Americas are characterized by both historical commonalities and a variety of local racial formations. Accordingly, the distinctive constellation of sonic cultures created by the New World descendants of Africans reflect both the shared aspects of these historical experiences and particular divergences shaped by local soundscapes. The history of these sonic cultures, however, has also been marked by the interaction of differently-located black musical practitioners with sonic tropes of blackness present on a global level, not only such as varied forms as jazz, son, reggae, and hip hop circulated in the 20th century recording industry, but as early as the 17th century interchange between African, European, and New World musical practices produced musical forms like cumbé, sarabanda, and others. What has emerged, then, is a global set of sonic tropes of blackness, variously shaped by local processes, which exhibit both differences and commonalities, and a second level of mutual borrowings and appropriations. This working group will aim to map out this black aurality on a hemispheric level. What are its nodes, margins, and interstices? What are the circuits that link them? To what degree is this map structured or interrupted by different forms of inclusion in the nation, by the economic imperatives of the global culture industry, or by local systems of distribution and new digital media? How can/are local black enunciations of modernities be achieved in settings like Colombia, where blackness is conflated with rural tradition, and modernity with either whitening or with transnational models of blackness absorbed from the media? How does the increasing pervasiveness of audio-visual media disturb or reinforce tropes of black orality/aurality? Above all, how can monolithic conceptions of black musicality be complicated, and local sonorities recognized without torpedoing cultural commonalities or potential trans-diasporic political and cultural alliances?Areas of inquiry:
• Mapping Black American aurality: A diachronic cartography of the local nodes and hemispheric circuits of Black American sonic production, dissemination, and consumption
• Inscribing Black American aurality: A history of the technologies of preservation of Black American sonorities (recorded music, cinema, print, notation) and their dissemination through Black American circuits
• Re-encountering Black American aurality: An examination of contexts of intra-diasporic aural encounter (migration, exile, consumption) and the experiences of commonality and/or “schizophonia” they engender
Applicants who would like to be considered for the work group should submit a brief description of their current research with an abstract of the paper that they would like to share in preparation for the Encuentro. Our long-term objective is the conformation of a long-term research group and the possible publication of a joint volume. The group will be limited to a maximum of 20 participants.
Application deadline is Monday, February 23rd 2009. To apply, fill out the Online Application.
Una invitación al Encuentro del Instituto Hemisférico en Bogotá a finales de agosto, y un grupo de trabajo dentro de él sobre auralidades afros, lo cual estamos organizando Susana Friedmann (musicóloga, Universidad Nacional de Colombia) y yo. Espero que puedan participar. Pilas que la fecha para entregar las aplicaciones es el 23 de febrero.
Encuentro 2009: Ciudadanías en Escena
El Instituto Hemisférico de Performance y Política y la Universidad Nacional de Colombia invitan a artistas, performeros, académicos y activistas a proponer performances, ponencias, música, videos, instalaciones, exposiciones de artes visuales, temas para grupos de trabajo, proyectos de activismo, acciones virtuales y otras propuestas que vinculen performance y política en las Américas para participar en nuestro próximo
VII Encuentro Ciudadanías en escena: Entradas y salidas de los derechos culturales en la Universidad Nacional de Colombia en Bogotá del 21 al 30 de agosto del 2009
Titulado "Ciudadanías en escena: performance y política de los derechos culturales", el evento de 10 días invita a investigar los “derechos culturales” y sus complejas relaciones con las ciudadanías tanto en contextos históricos como contemporáneos. Entendemos los derechos culturales como una figura jurídica, como un dispositivo de poder, y como una articulación alrededor de la cual se condensan reivindicaciones, ciudadanías y sujetos. Estos nos permiten investigar la relación entre el performance y la política a través de diversas formas expresivas, categorías de análisis, disciplinas, tradiciones y movimientos. Los derechos culturales necesariamente invocan al Estado, hecho visible por los mismos ciudadanos e instituciones que éste produce, y también resaltan la instrumentalización del ritual, la identidad, la protesta, la guerra y el arte. Nos invitan a explorar el derecho a la identidad y a la interculturalidad; el uso y promoción de los idiomas maternos, idiomas de elección y su hibridación; la formación artística y al acceso a sus expresiones; y el reconocimiento, transmisión, y transformación de la memoria colectiva, entre otros. Los derechos culturales también destacan la enorme brecha entre el discurso jurídico y las vivencias sociales, entre la teoría escrita y las prácticas corporales, y nos impulsan a investigar estas tensiones, antagonismos y asimetrías sociales, y las prácticas y estrategias performativas que artistas, actores sociales, pueblos y estados utilizan para intervenirlas.
Nuestros grupos de trabajo nacieron como una alternativa a los paneles académicos tradicionales, ofreciendo un espacio crítico para la investigación colaborativa y otras formas de trabajo interdisciplinario en torno a temas e intereses compartidos. En los grupos de trabajo participan académicos, artistas y activistas. Algunos de los grupos proponen trabajo dirigido específicamente a académicos o artistas, mientras otros buscan el dialogo y la colaboración entre ellos. Limitados a 20 participantes, los grupos de trabajo se reúnen repetidamente en un horario fijo durante el Encuentro. Su formato está diseñado según los objetivos específicos de cada grupo y puede incluir la presentación de ensayos, la producción de trabajos colectivos, la creación de un performance, o una combinación de estos elementos. Por favor vea la descripción de cada grupo, en la lista a continuación, para obtener información adicional.
La participación en los grupos de trabajo será determinada por solicitud. Los interesados deberán presentar un breve resumen (una página) del trabajo de investigación o proyecto para el grupo además de la carta de intención y el curriculum requeridos para aplicar al Encuentro.
Hacia un Mapa de la Auralidad Negroamericana
Coordinadores: Susana Friedmann and Michael Birenbaum
Las Américas negras son igualmente caracterizadas por las comonalidades históricas y por una variedad de formaciones raciales. Por esto, la constelación distintiva de culturas sonoras creadas por los afrodescendientes americanos reflejan tanto los aspectos compartidos de estas experiencias históricas como las particulares divergencias moldeadas por los paisajes sonoros locales. Sin embargo, la historia de estas culturas sonoras también se ve marcada por la interacción de practicantes musicales negros de diferentes lugares con los tropos sónicos de la negritud presentes a nivel global, desde la circulación de formas musicales tales como jazz, son, reggae y hip-hop en la industria musical del Siglo XX hasta los intercambios entre prácticas musicales africanas, europeas y americanas como cumbé, zarabanda y otras en el Siglo XVII.
Lo que ha surgido entonces es un conjunto global de tropos sonoros de la negritud, producto de la influencia de los procesos locales, incluyendo elementos análogos y distintos a la vez, y de un segundo nivel de prestaciones y apropiaciones mutuas. Este grupo de trabajo pretende mapear esta auralidad negra a nivel hemisférico. ¿Cuáles son sus nodos, sus márgenes, sus brechas? ¿Cuáles son los circuitos que los conectan? Es este mapa estructurado o interrumpido por las diferentes formas de inclusión en la nación, por las exigencias económicas de la industria cultural global, y por los sistemas locales de distribución y los nuevos medios digitales? Cómo son o pueden ser logradas las reinvindicaciones locales negras de la modernid en contextos como Colombia, donde la negritud se imagina como la tradición rural y la modernidad como el blanqueamiento o según los modelos transnacionales de negritud absorbidos por los medios masivos? Más urgentemente, cómo pueden complicarse las nociones monolíticas de la musicalidad negra, y reconocerse las sonoridades locales sin socavar las comonalidades culturales o las posibilidades de alianzas políticas o culturales trans-diaspóricas?
Áreas de investigación
• Mapear la auralidad negroamericana: Una cartografía diacrónica de los nodos locales y circuitos hemisféricos de la producción, diseminación y consumo sonoros negroamericanos.
• Inscribir la auralidad negroamericana: Una historia de las tecnologías de preservación de sonoridades negroamericanas (música grabada, cine, texto, notación) y su diseminacíon por circuitos negroamericanos.
• Encontrar la auralidad negroamericana: Una examinación de contextos de encuentro aural intra-diaspórico (migración, exilio, consumo) y las experiencias de comonalidad y/o “esquizofonía” que engendran
Los candidatos que deseen ser considerados para el grupo de trabajo deben presentar una breve descripción de sus investigaciones actuales con un resumen del trabajo que quieren compartir durante el Encuentro. El objetivo final es la conformación de un grupo de investigación a plazo largo con posibilidades de publicar una recopilación colectiva. El grupo está limitado a 20 participantes.
La fecha límite para solicitar al Encuentro es el 23 de febrero de 2009. Para solicitar, hay que completar el Formulario de Solicitud.
..................................
An invitation to the annual Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute in Bogotá at the end of August, and a work group on black auralities, which Susana Friedmann (musicologist of the National University of Colombia) and I are organizing. I hope you can make it - be advised that the applications are due February 23!
Encuentro 2009: Staging Citizenship
The Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics and the National University of Colombia invite artists, performers, academics and activists to propose performances, papers, performance-based scholarship, videos, installations, visual art exhibits, work group topics, activist projects, hacktivist or virtual actions, and other forms that bring together performance and politics in the Americas to participate in our upcoming 7th Encuentro Staging Citizenship: Cultural Rights in the Americas at the National University of Colombia in Bogotá August 21-30, 2009
Our 7th Encuentro invites interested participants to investigate "cultural rights" and their complex relationship to citizenship in both historical and contemporary contexts. We understand cultural rights as a juridical figure, a technology of power and an articulation that brings together multiple political demands, social subjects and modalities of citizenship. They allow us to explore the relationship between performance and politics through diverse expressive forms, analytic categories, disciplines, traditions and movements. Cultural rights necessarily invoke the State, made visible by the same citizens and institutions that it produces, and also highlight the instrumentalization of ritual, identity, protest and art. They also invite us to examine the right to identity and interculturality; the use and promotion of native languages, languages of choice and their hybrids; artistic training and access to its expressions; and the recognition, transmission and transformation of collective memory, among others. Cultural rights also bring attention to the enormous distance between juridical discourse and everyday experience and between written theory and embodied practice, and extol us to examine these tensions, antagonisms and social inequalities and the performative practice mobilized by artists, social actors and states to intervene them.
These themes will be organized under three umbrella topics that will serve as the point of departure of a great variety of performances, installations, exhibits, roundtables, workshops, keynotes and work groups.
The Memories of Politics and the Legacies of Citizenship
Reflecting on the history and the memory of over two centuries of "independence" in the Americas and its colonial legacy, we ask: Can the rights to memory and to history as cultural demands ever be separate from the exercise of political rights? What is the shape of the struggles over the definition, transmission and control of the past in the public sphere? In what ways do hegemonic mechanisms and institutions highlight, disseminate and legitimize particular narratives and practices, while devaluing, restricting or erasing others?
The Struggles Over Citizenship
The "normalization" of cultural practices in accordance with ideological interests presumes that culture can exist in homogenous and static forms. In such contexts, citizenship is defined in the degree to which subjects are able to obtain "equaility in difference," recognition or identity-based "empowerment." What strategies have individuals, groups and communities deployed to make themselves visible as citizens or, to the contrary, to make themselves invisible as a form of cultural resistance? How may these discursive and performative processes categorized and understood? How do practices repeated upon bodies turn these very bodies into territories of contestation and risk?
Multiculturalism, Interculturality and Migration
Since the 1980's, many countries in the Americas have constitutionally recognized multiculturality, ethnic diversity and differential forms of citizenship while others, like the United States, have moved in the opposite direction. During this same period, diverse forms of violence, forced displacement and migration have intensified both within and across national boundaries. How do these phenomena alter and refine notions of citizenship and belonging? What cultural transformations do they bring with them? How can intercultural dialogue be framed in light of struggles for social justice? What debates emerge about place and territory, about the right to land as a cultural right?
Mapping Black American Auralities
Conveners: Susana Friedmann and Michael Birenbaum The black Americas are characterized by both historical commonalities and a variety of local racial formations. Accordingly, the distinctive constellation of sonic cultures created by the New World descendants of Africans reflect both the shared aspects of these historical experiences and particular divergences shaped by local soundscapes. The history of these sonic cultures, however, has also been marked by the interaction of differently-located black musical practitioners with sonic tropes of blackness present on a global level, not only such as varied forms as jazz, son, reggae, and hip hop circulated in the 20th century recording industry, but as early as the 17th century interchange between African, European, and New World musical practices produced musical forms like cumbé, sarabanda, and others. What has emerged, then, is a global set of sonic tropes of blackness, variously shaped by local processes, which exhibit both differences and commonalities, and a second level of mutual borrowings and appropriations. This working group will aim to map out this black aurality on a hemispheric level. What are its nodes, margins, and interstices? What are the circuits that link them? To what degree is this map structured or interrupted by different forms of inclusion in the nation, by the economic imperatives of the global culture industry, or by local systems of distribution and new digital media? How can/are local black enunciations of modernities be achieved in settings like Colombia, where blackness is conflated with rural tradition, and modernity with either whitening or with transnational models of blackness absorbed from the media? How does the increasing pervasiveness of audio-visual media disturb or reinforce tropes of black orality/aurality? Above all, how can monolithic conceptions of black musicality be complicated, and local sonorities recognized without torpedoing cultural commonalities or potential trans-diasporic political and cultural alliances?Areas of inquiry:
• Mapping Black American aurality: A diachronic cartography of the local nodes and hemispheric circuits of Black American sonic production, dissemination, and consumption
• Inscribing Black American aurality: A history of the technologies of preservation of Black American sonorities (recorded music, cinema, print, notation) and their dissemination through Black American circuits
• Re-encountering Black American aurality: An examination of contexts of intra-diasporic aural encounter (migration, exile, consumption) and the experiences of commonality and/or “schizophonia” they engender
Applicants who would like to be considered for the work group should submit a brief description of their current research with an abstract of the paper that they would like to share in preparation for the Encuentro. Our long-term objective is the conformation of a long-term research group and the possible publication of a joint volume. The group will be limited to a maximum of 20 participants.
Application deadline is Monday, February 23rd 2009. To apply, fill out the Online Application.
French Caribbean Labor protests: Guadeloupe Strikers Block Roads, Close Airport, Appeal for Solidarity
Guadeloupe Strikers Block Roads, Close Airport, Appeal for Solidarity
1) Appeal to the International Workers' and DemocraticMovements
2) Guadeloupe Strikers Block Roads, Close Airport
(1)
Appeal to the International Workers' and
DemocraticMovements
Liyannaj Kont Pwofitasyon Site officiel du collectifd'organisations syndicales, associatives, politiques & culturelles de Guadeloupewww.lkp-gwa.org
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
As we wrote in our last international appeal ofFebruary 6, 2009: "The bosses and the representativesof the French State are hoping that the general strike
will die down, so that they can then begin therepression."This is visibly the political thinking that promptedthe French State to take action, as they did onFebruary 16.In the face of the obstinate refusal by the FrenchState and the bosses to heed our demands, in the faceof their scorn for the people of Guadeloupe, theLiannaj Kont Pwofitation Strike Collective, or LKP,issued a call to the population on the 28th day of theGeneral Strike to reinforce the picket lines across thecountry. The French State proceeded to repress themovement, seriously injuring one trade union leader,injuring others less seriously, and arresting more than70 activists, including many trade union leaders of theLKP Strike Collective.The population, the workers, the youth have said,"Enough is Enough!" They refuse to give up thestruggle.A number of elected officials protested against thisState violence, which was also denounced by the LKP.The workers, the youth, the people of Guadeloupe havestrengthened their mobilizations on the ground. Theirresolute actions won the freedom of all the jailedactivists.Today, on the 29th day of the general strike [Feb. 17],Guadeloupe is paralyzed by barricades in nearly everycommune.Youth were arrested the night of February 16-17, 2009.This repression is going to continue, as the FrenchState has just sent in a reinforcement of 1,000 mobilepolice troops [to bolster the 4,000 troops sent in onFeb. 7 -- translator's note]. The LKP has issued a callto the population to reinforce their mobilizations.Dear Sisters and Brothers:In the name of international labor solidarity, in thename of democracy, we call upon you once more torequest your support for our just struggle.The workers and people of Guadeloupe have the right tofight for their legitimate demands!
In solidarity,
ADIM - AFOC - AGPIHM - AKIYO - AN BOUT'AY - ANG - ANKA- ASSE - ASS.AGRICULTEURS DU NORD BASSE-TERRE -ASS.LIBERTE EGALITE JUSTICE - CFTC - CGTG - CNL -COMBAT OUVRIER - COMITE DE L'EAU - CONVENTION POUR UNEGUADELOUPE NOUVELLE - COPAGUA - CSFG - CTU - ESPERANCEENVIRONNEMENT - FAEN SNCL - FO - FSU - GIE SBT -KAMODJAKA - KAP Gwadloup - LES VERTS - MADICE - MAS KAKLE - MOUVMAN NONM - PCG - SGEP/SNEC/CFTC - SOS B/TerreENVIRONNEMENT - SPEG - SUD PTT GWA - SUNICAG - SYMPACFDT - TRAVAYE é PEYIZAN - UDCLCV - UIR CFDT - UNSA -UGTG - UPG - UPLG - UMPG - VOukoum-SNUIPP-ADEIC --Guadeloupe, February 17, 2009
(2)
Guadeloupe Strikers Block Roads, Close Airport
Associated Press
February 17, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/02/17/world/AP-CB-French-Caribbean-Unrest.html
BASSE-TERRE, GuadeloupeThe French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe was on theverge of rebellion, a political leader said Tuesdayafter stone-throwing protesters set cars and buildingsablaze, forced the international airport to close andclashed with police.Nearly four weeks of work stoppages and demonstrationsfor lower prices and higher pay have caused thousandsof tourists to flee or cancel holidays on the normallytranquil island, prompting many hotels to close andcruise ships to head elsewhere."It is a political crisis, an institutional crisis andwe are on the brink of sedition," Guadeloupe'sRegional Council President Victorin Lurel told France-Info radio.From Paris, France's Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said the protests had caused "degradation,devastation and confrontations" on Guadeloupe and its
sister island, Martinique, where most shops and officeshave been closed by the protests.She urged "calm, responsibility and restraint" andsaid she hoped for a resumption of talks withprotesters that broke down last week.Police said they arrested 18 people overnight asprotesters burned cars, a library and a boat-rentalstore in Sainte-Anne and Point-a-Pitre. An official,speaking on the standard condition of anonymity, saidat least three officers suffered minor wounds due togunshots fired by looters taking advantage of thechaos.Guadeloupe's main airport was closed Tuesday becauseworkers could not pass through barricaded and debris-clogged roads, said Guadeloupe's top appointedofficial, Nicolas Desforges, and several flights werecanceled.Paris has refused to budge on strikers' demands for a200 euro ($250) monthly raise for low-paid workers whonow make roughly 900 euros ($1,130) a month. Butbusiness leaders in Martinique have agreed to lowerprices by 20 percent on 100 products, including fooditems.Strikers want prices cut on nearly all supermarketproducts -- a step that Stephane Hayot, a spokesman forthe National Union of Wholesale Distributors, said"would represent our death sentence" by forcing themto sell at prices that don't cover their costs.Police detained 50 demonstrators on Monday after theywere pelted by stones as they tried to take downbarricades. Roadblocks were being gradually liftedTuesday morning and a trickle of vehicle traffic wasresuming, the police official said.The U.S. Embassy in Paris issued Americans inGuadeloupe and Martinique to avoid crowds."Most commercial activities have ceased, and there aremounting shortages of food, water, and power on bothislands," the embassy said. "In Guadeloupe there arereports of increasing tensions, with armed gangs
blockading routes and targeting residents and tourists.There have been no reports of U.S. citizens beingspecifically targeted."In Martinique, taxi and bus drivers blocked streets onTuesday and honked their horns as they arrived at cityhall in the capital, Fort-de-France.Lurel warned that the islands were heading toward"radicalization, a rise in extremism.""We have the impression that we have been abandoned,that there is an organized indifference," he told theradio station.
----------Associated Press writers Cecile Brisson in Paris andRodolphe Lamy in Fort-de-France, Martinique contributedto this report.
1) Appeal to the International Workers' and DemocraticMovements
2) Guadeloupe Strikers Block Roads, Close Airport
(1)
Appeal to the International Workers' and
DemocraticMovements
Liyannaj Kont Pwofitasyon Site officiel du collectifd'organisations syndicales, associatives, politiques & culturelles de Guadeloupewww.lkp-gwa.org
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
As we wrote in our last international appeal ofFebruary 6, 2009: "The bosses and the representativesof the French State are hoping that the general strike
will die down, so that they can then begin therepression."This is visibly the political thinking that promptedthe French State to take action, as they did onFebruary 16.In the face of the obstinate refusal by the FrenchState and the bosses to heed our demands, in the faceof their scorn for the people of Guadeloupe, theLiannaj Kont Pwofitation Strike Collective, or LKP,issued a call to the population on the 28th day of theGeneral Strike to reinforce the picket lines across thecountry. The French State proceeded to repress themovement, seriously injuring one trade union leader,injuring others less seriously, and arresting more than70 activists, including many trade union leaders of theLKP Strike Collective.The population, the workers, the youth have said,"Enough is Enough!" They refuse to give up thestruggle.A number of elected officials protested against thisState violence, which was also denounced by the LKP.The workers, the youth, the people of Guadeloupe havestrengthened their mobilizations on the ground. Theirresolute actions won the freedom of all the jailedactivists.Today, on the 29th day of the general strike [Feb. 17],Guadeloupe is paralyzed by barricades in nearly everycommune.Youth were arrested the night of February 16-17, 2009.This repression is going to continue, as the FrenchState has just sent in a reinforcement of 1,000 mobilepolice troops [to bolster the 4,000 troops sent in onFeb. 7 -- translator's note]. The LKP has issued a callto the population to reinforce their mobilizations.Dear Sisters and Brothers:In the name of international labor solidarity, in thename of democracy, we call upon you once more torequest your support for our just struggle.The workers and people of Guadeloupe have the right tofight for their legitimate demands!
In solidarity,
ADIM - AFOC - AGPIHM - AKIYO - AN BOUT'AY - ANG - ANKA- ASSE - ASS.AGRICULTEURS DU NORD BASSE-TERRE -ASS.LIBERTE EGALITE JUSTICE - CFTC - CGTG - CNL -COMBAT OUVRIER - COMITE DE L'EAU - CONVENTION POUR UNEGUADELOUPE NOUVELLE - COPAGUA - CSFG - CTU - ESPERANCEENVIRONNEMENT - FAEN SNCL - FO - FSU - GIE SBT -KAMODJAKA - KAP Gwadloup - LES VERTS - MADICE - MAS KAKLE - MOUVMAN NONM - PCG - SGEP/SNEC/CFTC - SOS B/TerreENVIRONNEMENT - SPEG - SUD PTT GWA - SUNICAG - SYMPACFDT - TRAVAYE é PEYIZAN - UDCLCV - UIR CFDT - UNSA -UGTG - UPG - UPLG - UMPG - VOukoum-SNUIPP-ADEIC --Guadeloupe, February 17, 2009
(2)
Guadeloupe Strikers Block Roads, Close Airport
Associated Press
February 17, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/02/17/world/AP-CB-French-Caribbean-Unrest.html
BASSE-TERRE, GuadeloupeThe French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe was on theverge of rebellion, a political leader said Tuesdayafter stone-throwing protesters set cars and buildingsablaze, forced the international airport to close andclashed with police.Nearly four weeks of work stoppages and demonstrationsfor lower prices and higher pay have caused thousandsof tourists to flee or cancel holidays on the normallytranquil island, prompting many hotels to close andcruise ships to head elsewhere."It is a political crisis, an institutional crisis andwe are on the brink of sedition," Guadeloupe'sRegional Council President Victorin Lurel told France-Info radio.From Paris, France's Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said the protests had caused "degradation,devastation and confrontations" on Guadeloupe and its
sister island, Martinique, where most shops and officeshave been closed by the protests.She urged "calm, responsibility and restraint" andsaid she hoped for a resumption of talks withprotesters that broke down last week.Police said they arrested 18 people overnight asprotesters burned cars, a library and a boat-rentalstore in Sainte-Anne and Point-a-Pitre. An official,speaking on the standard condition of anonymity, saidat least three officers suffered minor wounds due togunshots fired by looters taking advantage of thechaos.Guadeloupe's main airport was closed Tuesday becauseworkers could not pass through barricaded and debris-clogged roads, said Guadeloupe's top appointedofficial, Nicolas Desforges, and several flights werecanceled.Paris has refused to budge on strikers' demands for a200 euro ($250) monthly raise for low-paid workers whonow make roughly 900 euros ($1,130) a month. Butbusiness leaders in Martinique have agreed to lowerprices by 20 percent on 100 products, including fooditems.Strikers want prices cut on nearly all supermarketproducts -- a step that Stephane Hayot, a spokesman forthe National Union of Wholesale Distributors, said"would represent our death sentence" by forcing themto sell at prices that don't cover their costs.Police detained 50 demonstrators on Monday after theywere pelted by stones as they tried to take downbarricades. Roadblocks were being gradually liftedTuesday morning and a trickle of vehicle traffic wasresuming, the police official said.The U.S. Embassy in Paris issued Americans inGuadeloupe and Martinique to avoid crowds."Most commercial activities have ceased, and there aremounting shortages of food, water, and power on bothislands," the embassy said. "In Guadeloupe there arereports of increasing tensions, with armed gangs
blockading routes and targeting residents and tourists.There have been no reports of U.S. citizens beingspecifically targeted."In Martinique, taxi and bus drivers blocked streets onTuesday and honked their horns as they arrived at cityhall in the capital, Fort-de-France.Lurel warned that the islands were heading toward"radicalization, a rise in extremism.""We have the impression that we have been abandoned,that there is an organized indifference," he told theradio station.
----------Associated Press writers Cecile Brisson in Paris andRodolphe Lamy in Fort-de-France, Martinique contributedto this report.
2.16.2009
The West Indian Roots of Hip Hop
Presented by City Lore and The Point CDC
Bring Out the Sound System
The West Indian Roots of Hip Hop
Saturday, February 28th, 2009, 3pm - 6pm
Free and Open to the Public
The Point CDC
940 Garrison Avenue in the Bronx NY 10474
Dr. Natasha Lightfoot of the Bronx African-American Oral History Project, will lead a discussion featuring hip hop pioneers and legends including DJ Kool Herc, Kool DJ Red Alert, Ralph McDaniels (Video Music Box) and VP Records co-founder, Patricia Chin. VP Records (named after founders Patricia and Vincent) was founded 50 years ago as a record store in Kingston called Randy's Record Mart, at a time when reggae existed only on the streets with DJs improvising toasts over the music, and large speaker systems brought out into the parks. They went on to record many of the DJ and reggae legends in Jamaica. Writers from the bi-monthly journal, Wax Poetics, will also be on hand to take part in the discussion.
The discussion will be followed by a demonstration on Jamaican and hip hop sound systems from the 1970s by DJ Kool Herc and Brother Vincent. The evening concludes with a reception, where audience members can view: From Mambo to Hip Hop: The Exhibit, a photo exhibit which complements City Lore's award-winning documentary directed by Henry Chalfant, From Mambo to Hip Hop: A South Bronx Tale; dance to the music of DJ Just Ice; and purchase West Indian fare provided by Bascom Catering with delicious roti, jerk and curry chicken, and salt fish.
For more information, please call City Lore at 212.529.1955 ext 306 or The Point at 718.542.4139 ext 27.
Train direction to The Point: 6 Train to Hunt's Point. Walk underneath the Bruckner overpass and take a left onto Garrison. The Point is one block down on your left.
Funded by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and The Scherman Foundation. Publicity, Tools of War.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Graffiti: Freddy Sepulveda; Photo: Henry Chalfant; Design by Beth Higgins and Paco Levine
City Lore www.citylore.org 72 East 1st St. New York, NY 10003 t 212.529.1955 f 212.529.5062 e info@citylore.org
2.03.2009
Conference: Speaking of Music
Speaking of Music
When: Friday and Saturday, 20-21 February 2009
Where: Fordham University, New York, NY
How do we speak of music and its effects? What is the sense and meaning of sound? Although these questions are asked in every age, the answers are always and obviously provisional, for they say as much about the questioner as they do about the medium of music. In this two-day colloquium, we wish to ask these questions anew, but not because we hope to answer them once and for all. Rather, we hope in the first place to discuss the avenues of questioning that might be fruitful at a time marked by the dissolution of boundaries between musics and between disciplines. Second, we hope to use the question to reflect on our own disciplines, both on their high achievements and on their possible limits. The participants in this colloquium come from musicology and music theory, from philosophy, political science and literary studies, and from cognitive science. The four half-day panels are organized thematically and deliberately cross disciplines.
Audience participation in discussion is highly welcome. For times and further information, please see the website http://www.speaking-of-music.com/.
Participants: Per Aage Brandt, Kiene Brillenburg Wurth, Keith Chapin, Andrew Clark, Matthew Gelbart, Christopher Gogwilt, John Hamilton, Lawrence Kramer, Jairo Moreno, Jean-Luc Nancy (in absentia, paper to be read), Laura Odello, Alexander Rehding, Tracy Strong, Peter Szendy, Saander van Maas, Lawrence Zbikowski
When: Friday and Saturday, 20-21 February 2009
Where: Fordham University, New York, NY
How do we speak of music and its effects? What is the sense and meaning of sound? Although these questions are asked in every age, the answers are always and obviously provisional, for they say as much about the questioner as they do about the medium of music. In this two-day colloquium, we wish to ask these questions anew, but not because we hope to answer them once and for all. Rather, we hope in the first place to discuss the avenues of questioning that might be fruitful at a time marked by the dissolution of boundaries between musics and between disciplines. Second, we hope to use the question to reflect on our own disciplines, both on their high achievements and on their possible limits. The participants in this colloquium come from musicology and music theory, from philosophy, political science and literary studies, and from cognitive science. The four half-day panels are organized thematically and deliberately cross disciplines.
Audience participation in discussion is highly welcome. For times and further information, please see the website http://www.speaking-of-music.com/.
Participants: Per Aage Brandt, Kiene Brillenburg Wurth, Keith Chapin, Andrew Clark, Matthew Gelbart, Christopher Gogwilt, John Hamilton, Lawrence Kramer, Jairo Moreno, Jean-Luc Nancy (in absentia, paper to be read), Laura Odello, Alexander Rehding, Tracy Strong, Peter Szendy, Saander van Maas, Lawrence Zbikowski
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
