ECOS DEL PACIFICO AFROCOLOMBIA
“ E P A ! ”
Has the Pleasure to Invite You and Your
Family to II “KURRULAO”
World Festival of Afro Art and Culture,
a celebration of Juneteenth”.
June 3, 17 y 18
* 2 0 1 1 *
Showing posts with label ee.uu.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ee.uu.. Show all posts
4.22.2011
1.09.2011
4.08.2010
La Guayabita supports US House Resolution 1224 on Colombian Internally Displaced Persons
Colombia has one of the highest internally displaced populations in the world. In 2009 alone, 280,000 civilians were newly displaced in addition to the 4 million already displaced. Victims of forced displacement leave their homes and families to escape violence, intimidation, and rape from legal and illegal armed groups. Vulnerable communities such as Afro-Colombians, indigenous communities and women are disproportionately affected by displacement related to the armed conflict.
In 2004, the Colombian Constitutional Court declared a State of Unconstitutional Affairs and ordered the Colombian government to address the needs and rights of the displaced population. Despite the Constitutional Court’s demands, Colombia’s displacement crisis continues and the Colombian government remains unaccountable. The resolution led by Representative Hank Johnson (GA) and 22 other co-sponsors calls on the Government of Colombia to fully implement the Constitutional Court’s orders.
Many indigenous groups in Colombia are on the verge of extinction. Afro-Colombians’ livelihoods are threatened by the armed conflict and invasive government policies. The precarious condition of women is exacerbated by gender based violence. Vulnerable populations in Colombia suffer from the worst aspects of the armed conflict and should be guaranteed protection of their human rights.
Ms. Sascha Thompson, Rep. Johnson’s aide, recently stated that “many internally displaced Colombian leaders, who have been brave enough to organize their communities to speak out about their rights and to demand the Colombian authorities to meet its obligations to protect them and restore their lands, have become constant targets of threats against their lives, harassment, additional human rights violations, and extra violence.”
Send a message to your representative asking him/her to co-sponsor House Resolution 1224
For further information please contact Anthony Dest at adest@wola.org or (202) 797-2171
2.13.2010
US Latin America foreign aid budget ratchets down militarization in Cdolombia and Mexico, slightly raises aid to the rest of the region
This from the always excellent Colombia and Beyond blog:
"The drop in aid to Latin America foreseen in the Obama administration’s 2011 aid request to Congress, issued a week ago, has caused a minor stir in the region’s media. Typical is this opening sentence in Miami Herald columnist Andrés Oppenheimer’s Sunday column. "If President Barack Obama’s foreign aid budget request for 2011 is a reflection of his priorities in world affairs, it looks like the president is saying “adios” to Latin America."... When Mexico and Colombia are removed from the equation, aid to the rest of the region follows a different trend. Total aid actually increases from 2010 to 2011... Look at the aid this way, and it’s pretty clear that nobody is saying “adiós” to anybody. We need not lament that the tempo of helicopter-buying for Mexico and Colombia has slowed, and we note that economic and social assistance is holding remarkably steady..."
1.25.2010
Beca para Academicos Latinamericanos
The Program in Latin American Studies (PLAS) at Johns Hopkins University invites applications for the William Zitzmann Visiting Scholar Fellowship for the academic year 2010-11. The Fellowship is for one semester in residence at Johns Hopkins University (August 20- December 20 2010 or January 5 - June 1 2011). The competition is open to Latin American scholars who work and live in Latin America, and who hold a Masters degree or higher in the fields of social sciences, humanities and history.
The fellow will teach one undergraduate course, present a paper on his or her research for PLAS faculty and students, participate in the PLAS colloquia series and annual conference, and otherwise engage in the intellectual life of the Program. Because courses are taught in English, proficiency in both written and spoken English is required of all Visiting Scholars.
Eligibility Requirements include: Fluency in English; at least three years university level teaching experience as main instructor in the fields mentioned above; and an ongoing research commitment in Latin America.
Deadline for receipts of applications is March 1st, 2010
We would be very grateful if you could circulate this message to your contacts in Latin America and among your colleagues.
The Program in Latin American Studies (PLAS) at Johns Hopkins University invites applications for the William Zitzmann Visiting Scholar Fellowship for the academic year 2010-11. The Fellowship is for one semester in residence at Johns Hopkins University (August 20- December 20 2010 or January 5 - June 1 2011). The competition is open to Latin American scholars who work and live in Latin America, and who hold a Masters degree or higher in the fields of social sciences, humanities and history.
The fellow will teach one undergraduate course, present a paper on his or her research for PLAS faculty and students, participate in the PLAS colloquia series and annual conference, and otherwise engage in the intellectual life of the Program. Because courses are taught in English, proficiency in both written and spoken English is required of all Visiting Scholars.
The Fellowship offers a $20,000 stipend, health insurance for the Fellow, $1500 travel allowance, and a $1000 research fund.
Eligibility Requirements: Fluency in English; at least three years university level teaching experience as main instructor in the fields mentioned above; and an ongoing research commitment in Latin America.
Applications should include:
(1) a cover letter briefly describing the Fellow’s research and teaching experience, the reasons s/he is applying for the PLAS Fellowship, and what the Fellow hopes to accomplish while in residence at Johns Hopkins University;
(2) a 3-5 page description of a well-defined current research project to be carried out during the Fellow’s residency at Johns Hopkins University (other than manuscript revisions projects);
(3) a 1-2 page course description;
(4) a full updated curriculum vitae;
(5) two letters of recommendation from individuals familiar with the applicant’s research and teaching experience.
Completed applications may be sent electronically to: PLAS@jhu.edu, or by regular mail to: John Russell-Wood, Director, Program in Latin American Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Macaulay Hall 404, 3400 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
Deadline for receipts of applications is March 1st, 2010
Fellowship will be announced by May 1, 2010.
10.14.2009
9.23.2009
Direct from Colombia! Champeta singer Louis Towers, with Palenke, brings danceable afro-Colombian rhythms to UPENN—for a free show at the Rotunda, Oct. 13th at 7pm.
Press Release follows:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Direct from Colombia! Champeta singer Louis Towers, with Palenke, brings danceable afro-Colombian rhythms to UPENN—for a free show at the Rotunda, Oct. 13th at 7pm.
Philadelphia, PA – September 24th, 2009
“Champeta is a hybrid music” says music writer Craig Havighust, “unique to its home city because of Cartagena’s history as a slave trading capital, a Spanish colonial stronghold, and a port city. Through the 1960s and 70s, guys from many nations worked the freighter traffic between Africa and Caribbean ports of call. Records changed hands and criss-crossed the Gulf and the Atlantic Ocean. Reggae and dub music mingled with Colombian cumbia and Afro-pop and juju. Bob Marley, meet King Sunny Ade.”
Artist Louis Towers hails from the storied town of Palenque San Basilio, founded in the sixteenth century by escaped slaves who wrung repeated peace treaties from Spanish troops seeking to re-enslave them. Towers sings in Spanish but also speaks Palenquero, the Afro-Creole language still heard in San Basilio—and what comes across in his upbeat, get-you-moving tracks is Palenque’s message of pride and zest for life.
The show is organized by Penn professors Ann Farnsworth-Alvear, Tim Rommen, and Tukufu Zuberi, who will host the show at the Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St, on October 13th.
Towers' music is on myspace, http://www.myspace.com/louistowerselrasta , and he has a new video filmed in Palenque that is viewable on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5qKlq4ZoNQ . The organizers thank our co-sponsors at UPENN: Latin American and Latino Studies, the Ethnohistory Program, and the Center for Africana Studies, as well as the Departments of Music and Romance Languages. Additional thanks go out to the Penn Humanties Forum, DuBois College House, and La Casa Latina. The show is free to the public thanks to a grant from the Greater Philadelphia Latin American Studies Consortium.
Contact Information: Ann Farnsworth-Alvear or Migdalia Carrasquillo, Latin American and Latino Studies, University of Pennsylvania. lals@sas.upenn.edu, 375 Claudia Cohen Hall, UPENN, Philadelphia, PA 19104. 215-898-9919.
Press Release follows:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Direct from Colombia! Champeta singer Louis Towers, with Palenke, brings danceable afro-Colombian rhythms to UPENN—for a free show at the Rotunda, Oct. 13th at 7pm.
Philadelphia, PA – September 24th, 2009
“Champeta is a hybrid music” says music writer Craig Havighust, “unique to its home city because of Cartagena’s history as a slave trading capital, a Spanish colonial stronghold, and a port city. Through the 1960s and 70s, guys from many nations worked the freighter traffic between Africa and Caribbean ports of call. Records changed hands and criss-crossed the Gulf and the Atlantic Ocean. Reggae and dub music mingled with Colombian cumbia and Afro-pop and juju. Bob Marley, meet King Sunny Ade.”
Artist Louis Towers hails from the storied town of Palenque San Basilio, founded in the sixteenth century by escaped slaves who wrung repeated peace treaties from Spanish troops seeking to re-enslave them. Towers sings in Spanish but also speaks Palenquero, the Afro-Creole language still heard in San Basilio—and what comes across in his upbeat, get-you-moving tracks is Palenque’s message of pride and zest for life.
The show is organized by Penn professors Ann Farnsworth-Alvear, Tim Rommen, and Tukufu Zuberi, who will host the show at the Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St, on October 13th.
Towers' music is on myspace, http://www.myspace.com/
Contact Information: Ann Farnsworth-Alvear or Migdalia Carrasquillo, Latin American and Latino Studies, University of Pennsylvania. lals@sas.upenn.edu, 375 Claudia Cohen Hall, UPENN, Philadelphia, PA 19104. 215-898-9919.
4.29.2009
New MA in Performance Studies
The Department of Performance Studies at Texas A&M University announces
a new Master of Arts degree in Performance Studies. This
interdisciplinary program emphasizes the ethnographic study of
vernacular culture. The Department of Performance Studies has strengths
in Africana studies, dance and ritual studies, ethnomusicology,
folklore, performance ethnography, popular music studies, religious
studies, theatre and media studies, and women’s studies.
Application deadline for Fall, 2010 is January 15, 2010. Assistantships
are available.
a new Master of Arts degree in Performance Studies. This
interdisciplinary program emphasizes the ethnographic study of
vernacular culture. The Department of Performance Studies has strengths
in Africana studies, dance and ritual studies, ethnomusicology,
folklore, performance ethnography, popular music studies, religious
studies, theatre and media studies, and women’s studies.
Application deadline for Fall, 2010 is January 15, 2010. Assistantships
are available.
11.24.2008
The recession and the academic job market
The Chronicle reveals that, among other things, some of the humanities might be in trouble, Tufts has a hiring freeze, while the University of Hawaii will be turning off the A/C nights and weekends:
11.19.2008
Quid pro quo: Detroit bailout for Colombia FTA? / Bush le dará plata a la industria de automóviles si Obama aprueba el TLC con Colombia?
The Times is saying of the Bush-Obama meeting last week that Bush agreed to approve a bailout of the auto industry (literally 3 million jobs are at risk, mind you) in return for Obama's agreement to support the FTa with Colombia. Obama's chief of staff says the one has nothing to do with the other.
Según el NY Times (enlace, inglés), en su reuníon con Obama de la otra semana, Bush prometió plata para los tres grandes compañias fabricadoras de automóviles (qu están por derrumbarse, son la suerte de 3 millones de trabajadores env ilo) si Obama se compromete a aprobar el TLC con Colombia. El jefe del estado mayor de Obama dice que no tienen que ver el uno con el otro (enlace, inglés).
Según el NY Times (enlace, inglés), en su reuníon con Obama de la otra semana, Bush prometió plata para los tres grandes compañias fabricadoras de automóviles (qu están por derrumbarse, son la suerte de 3 millones de trabajadores env ilo) si Obama se compromete a aprobar el TLC con Colombia. El jefe del estado mayor de Obama dice que no tienen que ver el uno con el otro (enlace, inglés).
11.17.2008
Racist attacks in NY area / Asaltos racistas en NY
- Black teenager in States Island beaten by white kids yelling "Obama!" on election night. Link
- Adolescente negro neoyorquino agredido por jóvenes blancos gritando "Obama!" la noche de la votación Enlace (castellano)
- Ecuadorean "lynched" by 6 white kids and a 1/2 black 1/2 Rican friend, who went out looking to "get a Mexican," a pastime known in Long Island as "beaner jumping" Link
- Ecuatoriano "linchado" por 6 jóvenes blancos y un 1/2 afro-americano 1/2 puertorriqueño quienes salieron a "cazar mexicanos" un pasatiempo conocido en Long Island con la frase peyorativa "atacar frijolero" Enlace (castellano)
Parenteticamente, no debe sorporender que uno de estos muchachos en LI es 1/2 puertorriqueño. Aún aparte del hecho de que este tipo andaba esa noche con blancos, hay en esta ciudad una fuerte tensión, en parte sobre cuestiones de ciudadanía, en parte racial, entre los Latinos de ascendencia caribeña nacidos en el país, y los inmigrantes sur- y centro-americanos...
11.05.2008
We made history / Hicimos la historia
(Photo from Huffington Post)Si el amigo de la foto está contento allá en Senegal, imagínense como nos sentimos acá en EE.UU. En el Bronx, donde vivo, la gente sacó tamboras a tocar merengue en las calles hasta las 2 de la mañana. El hecho que EE.UU. va a tener un presidente Afro es, a la vez, el fruto de 400 años de lucha, y solamente el principio de un proyecto de nación y de mundo que está incipiente todavía. Por ahora, Obama y su familia merecen sus dos meses de vacaciones, pero en enero, empieza el trabajo duro. Aquí en Estados, le deseamos suerte y nos compremetemos a apoyar. A ver que nos trae el futuro.
If the guy in the photo is happy all the way over in Senegal, imagine how we're feeling here in the US. In the Bronx, where I live, people took out their tamboras and played merengue until 2 in the morning. The fact that we're going to have a black president is both the fruit of 400 years of black struggle and only the beginning of a nation-building (and world-building) project that's still incipient, and our man has his work cut out for him. For now, Barack and his family deserve two months of much-needed rest, but in January, the heavy lifting starts. Here in the US, we wish him luck and pledge ourselves to help him along. We'll see what the future brings.
If the guy in the photo is happy all the way over in Senegal, imagine how we're feeling here in the US. In the Bronx, where I live, people took out their tamboras and played merengue until 2 in the morning. The fact that we're going to have a black president is both the fruit of 400 years of black struggle and only the beginning of a nation-building (and world-building) project that's still incipient, and our man has his work cut out for him. For now, Barack and his family deserve two months of much-needed rest, but in January, the heavy lifting starts. Here in the US, we wish him luck and pledge ourselves to help him along. We'll see what the future brings.
9.25.2008
IP News / Noticias en Propiedad Intelectual
- El juez en un famoso caso de piracía digital (una madre cabeza de hogar tiene que pagar $220,000 dolares - $457 millones de pesos - por bajar música) equivaló el acto de bajar la música con el intento a distribuirla. Puede haber un nuevo proceso.
- Judge in landmark IP case ($220,000 in damages for single mother for downloading music) equated downloading with intent to distribute, a new trial may happen.
The court granted the RIAA’s jury instruction #15 that:
“The act of making copyrighted sound recordings available for electronic distribution on a peer-to-peer network, without license from the copyright owners, violates the copyright owners’ exclusive right of distribution, regardless of whether actual distribution has been shown.”
If this was error – if the RIAA had to show actual distribution not mere availability – as the judge ruled it was, Thomas is entitled to a new trial. The RIAA argued the error was harmless because the jury would have convicted on the reproduction right in any case.
“The act of making copyrighted sound recordings available for electronic distribution on a peer-to-peer network, without license from the copyright owners, violates the copyright owners’ exclusive right of distribution, regardless of whether actual distribution has been shown.”
If this was error – if the RIAA had to show actual distribution not mere availability – as the judge ruled it was, Thomas is entitled to a new trial. The RIAA argued the error was harmless because the jury would have convicted on the reproduction right in any case.
- Dice Dept. de Justicia de EE.UU. a la industria de entretenamiento: "No somos sus abogados"
- US Department of Justice to entertainment industry: "We're not your pro bono lawyers" Link/Enlace
"Department of Justice prosecutors serving as pro bono lawyers for private copyright holders regardless of their resources. In effect, taxpayer-supported Department lawyers would pursue lawsuits for copyright holders, with monetary recovery going to industry."
9.24.2008
Biography of the Hemmings family of Thomas Jefferson's slave and lover, Sally Hemmings
This book, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family, looks ridiculously good, covering four generations of the Hemmings family. Here's an article on the book by its author, Annette Gordon-Reed, a law and history professor, an interview in the Times, and The Root.com is publishing excerpts, like this one about Sally Hemmings and her brother in Paris.
From the Times article:
From the Times article:
"It is almost impossible to put ourselves in their places, Ms. Gordon-Reed said. As she writes of James Hemings in her book, “A man is born into a society that allows his half-sister and her husband to hold him as a slave.” Does he grieve when Martha dies, she asks, or when her child — his niece — is buried? Did he and his brother resent the fact that the man who controlled their lives inherited the fortune that — as John Wayles’s sons — would have been theirs had they been born free white men? And what did Jefferson, who gave his enslaved servants a relative amount of freedom and sometimes considered himself a friend, suppose of their feelings?
“The connections between these two men are so divorced from anything resembling what could be recognized today as ‘normal’ human relations that they can be recovered only in the imagination and, even then, only with great difficulty,” she writes of James Hemings and Jefferson.And then there is Sally, light-skinned and beautiful, who apparently bore a remarkable resemblance to her dead half-sister.
Ms. Gordon-Reed tries to understand why the pregnant Sally Hemings made the decision to return with Jefferson to Virginia from Paris, where the law declared her a free person and where there was a community of free Africans.
She suggests that an insecure existence in a foreign country, away from her family, would be a frightening prospect for a pregnant teenager. Jefferson promised to free their children in exchange for her coming back to Virginia; she would have a home and a powerful protector.
All four of her children were later freed; three of them passed as white."
7.25.2008
Latino immigrant beaten to death
Link
"The youths goaded Ramirez and the girl, saying, "You should get out of this neighborhood" and "Get your Mexican boyfriend out of here," documents said."
[The victim's white fiancée, who grew up in Shenandoah and has two children with the murdered man, said] "I plan on moving out of this town as fast as I can. Not because I'm scared. I just don't want to see my children have to deal with what their father dealt with."
7.23.2008
Vallenato = Colombia = Uribismo
Talk about cultural politicking - Jorge Celedón, Colombian vallenato singer, and George W. Bush showed how semiotically slippery culture is as the vallenato slid easily into support of the Free Trade Agreement and the militarization of Colombia. It's one thing when a music equals a nation, but when a nation equals a political stance to the exclusion of others, something's wrong.
Uf, eso sí es políticacultural - Jorge Celedón, cantante de vallento, y George W. Bush mostraron lo semioticamente resbalosa que es la cultura cuando el vallenato se delizó facilmente al apoya al Tratado de Libre Comercio y la militrización de Colombia. Una cosa es que una música equivalga a una nacíon, pero cuando la nacíon equivale a una perspectiva política sin cabida para otras, algo está mal.
Links/Enlaces
Uf, eso sí es políticacultural - Jorge Celedón, cantante de vallento, y George W. Bush mostraron lo semioticamente resbalosa que es la cultura cuando el vallenato se delizó facilmente al apoya al Tratado de Libre Comercio y la militrización de Colombia. Una cosa es que una música equivalga a una nacíon, pero cuando la nacíon equivale a una perspectiva política sin cabida para otras, algo está mal.
Links/Enlaces
7.02.2008
McCain in Colombia
John McCain, with an entourage including senators Joe Lieberman, Lindsay Graham, and other sweaty white men in summer colors arrived in Colombia today to, among other things, take a ride in a drug interdiction ship with wife Cindy. Said McCain: “We have a long way to go to stem the flow of drugs into the United States of America, [but] the progress that I’ve seen since previous visits here has been substantial and positive.’’ The recent report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, however, found a huge leap in coca cultivation (different from the interdiction McCain was talking about, but you see where I'm going with this, right?) from 78,000 hectares [193,000 acres] to 99,000 hectares [245,000 acres] - despite fumigation and manual eradication totaling 219,512 hectares [542,426 acres]. Oh well.
Some recommendation for McCain on ways to signal US for support Colombian institutionality, and respect for human rights from the Center for International Policy here, although McCain seems more bent on getting the conservative Latino vote - and a lot of the US-Colombians, believe me, are some real zealots for Uribe.
That this gambit with the hostages (an incredible bit of intelligence work and infiltration involved in scooby-dooing the FARC commander to get into an army chopper with 15 hostages under false pretenses) seems to have paid off is great (and lucky - previous rescue operations have resulted in dead hostages) news for Igrid, the three US contractors, and the 12 Colombian military and police hostages who have apparently been freed, but it's definitely good news for Uribe, who is clearly itching to run for a third term and will probably enjoy even higher popularity after this liberation. The irritating presence of McCain in the country through all of this makes one wonder how Uribe's vistory will reflect on McCain's candidacy and on the Free Trade Agreement he, and Uribe, support.
Some recommendation for McCain on ways to signal US for support Colombian institutionality, and respect for human rights from the Center for International Policy here, although McCain seems more bent on getting the conservative Latino vote - and a lot of the US-Colombians, believe me, are some real zealots for Uribe.
That this gambit with the hostages (an incredible bit of intelligence work and infiltration involved in scooby-dooing the FARC commander to get into an army chopper with 15 hostages under false pretenses) seems to have paid off is great (and lucky - previous rescue operations have resulted in dead hostages) news for Igrid, the three US contractors, and the 12 Colombian military and police hostages who have apparently been freed, but it's definitely good news for Uribe, who is clearly itching to run for a third term and will probably enjoy even higher popularity after this liberation. The irritating presence of McCain in the country through all of this makes one wonder how Uribe's vistory will reflect on McCain's candidacy and on the Free Trade Agreement he, and Uribe, support.
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