Special Events for the Fall Term

(All events are in the Rittenberg Lounge on Thursdays at 4pm unless otherwise noted)

Sept. 17

Daniel Blackburn, Biology, "The First Diaspora: The Peopling of the Globe by Humans and their Ancestors"

Sept. 24 (Terrace Room C)

Paula Russo, Mathematics, "Modeling the Spread of Disease in Populations"

Sept. 29 (Tuesday, Rittenberg Lounge, 7pm)

Rusty Barrett, University of Texas, "Re-placing language: Mayan language revitalization and the struggle against displacement in Guatemala"

Throughout the history of modern Guatemala, Ladino rulers have attempted to displace the Mayan majority from their homelands as part a larger program to force the Maya to assimilate to Ladino culture. These efforts have included seizing Maya homelands, forced migration for agricultural work on Ladino and foreign-owned fincas, and even the physical destruction of entire villages. The displacement of the Maya works under the assumption that the separation of the Maya from their land will in turn separate the Maya from their ethnic identity and the use of Mayan languages. As the use of Spanish is the strongest marker of Ladino ethnic identity, this program of assimilation relies heavily on attempts to reduce the cultural contexts in which Mayan languages are used. For example, when young men are physically removed from their villages for forced military service they are strategically placed in training with Maya who speak different languages so that they must learn and rely on Spanish for all communication. Over the last twenty years, a movement of Mayan language revitalization has emerged in the hope of replacing Spanish with Mayan languages in a variety of contexts. Aspects of this movement include the initiation of bilingual education, expanding the use of traditional Mayan mathematics, the production of prescriptive grammars for writing in Mayan languages, and the creation of neologisms related to business, medicine, law, and technology. This paper explores the actual methods used in the language revitalization movement and the ways in which this movement serves to combat attempts at further displacement by strengthening the ties between language, ethnic identity, and native homeland.

Oct. 8

Milla Riggio, English, "A Little Bit of Home that is Forever Yours: Festivity and Identity Among Diasporic Peoples - the Trinidad Example"

 

Oct. 20         (4:15pm in the Faculty Club, Hamlin).

David Cutler (Dept. of Economics, Harvard U.) "Were ghettos better for immigratis than they are for blacks?"    Dr. Cutler is currently a senior research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research

Oct. 22         Bianca Jagger "The Betrayal of Bosnia: The Failure of the International                      Community to   Prevent Genocide"   (4:00pm in Terrace Rooms B & C).

Bianca Jagger is a environmental and human rights activist.  She has spent much of her advocacy work since 1993 exposing the systematic violations of human rights and the campaign of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia.  She has testified before the Helsinki Commission on Human Rights and United States Congressional Human Rights Caucus in an effort to stop these atrocities and to make the perpetrators accountable to a war crimes tribunal.  Since 1993, she has been evacuating children from Bosnia for medical care in the United States.  (Please note that this Lecture is hosted by the International Human Rights Lecture Series, and sponsored by the Office of International Programs & the Office of the Dean of Faculty).

Nov. 5 (Boyer Auditorium)

John Alcorn, Italian Studies, and the students of FYSM-175 present a debate "Should the USA change to an open-door immigration policy?"

Nov. 12  (4:00pm McCook Auditorium)

David Henderson, Chemistry, and the students of FYSM 179 "Predicting the Future Life in a Greenhouse Climate" present "Global Warming and Future Migrations"

Nov. 13 (4:00pm Mather Hall, Rittenburg Lounge)

Roberta Cohen, "The Impact of Armed Conflict in Creating and Internal Displacement Crisis in the Sudan" Roberta Cohen is a Senior analyst at the Brookings Institute, Washington, DC, and co-director of its Project on Internal Displacement. She has two books published entitled Masses in Flight and The Forsaken People. (Please note that this Lecture is hosted by the International Human Rights Lecture Series, and sponsored by the Office of International Programs & the Office of the Dean of Faculty).

Special Events for the Spring Semester (dates and times TBA)

March 10   Dr. Hollis Liverpool, a.k.a. "The Mighty Chalkdust" (Trinidadian calypso monarch   and former Minister                          of   Culture 4-5:30pm Faculty Club).
                               

March 10  

"Pure Chutney."  Film screening and discussion afterwards by the director Amitava Kumar, and Hollis Liverpool.

Amitava Kumar teaches angrezi to the angrez in the English Department at the University of Florida. He is also a contributor to Impact Visuals. He is the author of "Passport Photos" (University of California, forthcoming) and "No Tears for the NRI" (Writers Workshop, Calcutta 1996). Kumar is the editor of "Class Issues" (New York University Press, 1997). He has published most recently in Critical Inquiry, Critical Quarterly, Race and Class, and The Nation. Kumar is on the editorial board of "Rethinking Marxism","Mediations", "minnesota review", "Ghadar", and "Cultural Logic". 'Pure Chutney'   addresses the presence of Indians in Trinidad and their relationships in their new land. It questions definitions of identity and hybridity--http://www.purechutney.com/index.html. 

Hollis Liverpool is the Director of Culture for Trinidad and Tobago,   a lecturer at the University of West Indies School of Creative Arts, and the Presidential Fellow for the spring semester here at Trinity. He holds a Ph.D. in history and ethnomusicology from the University of Michigan. Dr. Liverpool is a calypsonian, and he has lectured to students and community groups throughout the Caribbean, North America and Europe on various aspects of Caribbean history and culture.  (7 pm in the McCook Auditorium).

March 10   *Salsafication*, Trinity Latin Band, free admission
                     (9:30-1130 pm The Bistro).
                               

March 11   

                    Jazzwomen concert with OFFBEAT (all-women jazz quintet from NYC)
                     (7-9 pm Hamlin Hall).

March 12  

"Formed Migrations" An Art Exhibit by Taylor Milne '99 and Jocelyn Schneider '99     (5:30-7pm, Mather Art Space, 2nd Floor. Exhibit runs from March 12-29).

    Formed Migrations is an installation about lost identities and the extent to which even the bodies are not recognized entities.  The exhibit attempts to portray a surrealistic atmosphere of dislocated and fragmented body parts, in which may be found a chilling "sense of self".
  

March 13   

"Voice of the Turtle" Performance, Joanne Rile Artists Management, Inc. Jenkintown PA     (8:00pm in Hamlin Hall).

    Voice of the Turtle, North America's Premier Sephardic musical ensemble, has been performing and recording their special blend of Judeo-Spanish music for almost twenty years.  Having won international critical acclaim for their ten recordings and enlightening concert performances, the quartet continues to delight audiences throughout the world with some of history's most beloved and overlooked music.
   By way of stage or disc, an encounter with Voice of the turtle is one that lingers long after the music stops.  Unusually gifted musicians and vocalists, Derek Burrows, Lisle Kulbach, Jay Rosenberg and Judith Wachs, posses a sense of authenticity regarding instrumentation and arrangement that is nothing shout of a musical anomaly.  Proficient in over twenty various medieval and renaissance instruments, the group introduces audiences to the exotic 'du, cornetti, chalueax, baglama, saz, Spanish bagpipe, medieval fiddles, kamanja, rebec, harp and a wide variety of percussion from the Near and Middle east.
    Voice of the Turtle is an international treasure, bringing music and history lovers unprecedented access to that which may have otherwise been lost.   In addition to concerts, the group offers lectures and workshops, programs for young people, bi-lingual (English-Spanish) presentations, and special performances for holidays and special occasions.  Alive and well, Sephardic music, arranged and performed like you've never heard before.

March 25   

Thursday - Saturday, MARCH 25-27 at 8pm: The Judy Dworin Performance Ensemble Sankofa Kuumba Cultural Arts Consortium and Women of the Cross in FLYING HOME.

Three of Hartford's foremost performing groups join together in a provocative and inspiring exploration of racial identity and racism. Using dance theater, African dance and drumming, and a capella songs, eleven women performers explore the experience of peoples in the diaspora.
Flying Home was inspired by the African folk story, "The People Who Could Fly," where flying is an emblem of freedom from oppression, and evokes images of rootedness (connection to cultural and ancestral roots), spiritual liberation and unity.
Directed by Judy Dworin, Christine Dixon-Smith and Leslie Bird.
8pm ~ Goodwin Theater, Austin Arts Center $10 general / $5 discounts Tickets go on sale 3/15.
Note: Grab a cup of coffee while book browsing before or after the show at Gallows Hill Bookstore (next door to Austin Arts) from Noon-10pm on 3/27.
(This event is co-sponsored by the Migrations Series in conjunction with the Austin Arts Center).

April 5         New America: A Photographic Study of Minneapolis/St Paul Urban Neighborhoods
                                (4:15pm in Hallden 14).

Wing Young Huie is a photographer from Minneapolis who has spent much of his career documenting the diverse neighborhoods of the Twin Cities. His book "Frogtown: Photographs and Conversations in an Urban Neighborhood" was published in 1996 by the Minnesota Historical Society Press. Wing will speak about his Frogtown project and about his new work, a documentary survey of the Lake Shore district. (Lecture sponsored by the Studio Art Program).

April 15         (7:00pm in Terrace Rooms B & C).

Jale Ahmadi,  "Immigrant Women: Between Fundamentalism and Racism"

April 19   (cancelled)       "Amor e dedinhos de pé" (Love and Tiny Toes) Directed by Luís Filipe Rocha
                             Portugal/Spain/ France, 1991. Runtime: 85 minutes
                               

April 26          Oxalá. Portugal, 1981. 85 minutes. Directed by António Pedro Vasconcelos.

A Portuguese expatriate in Paris returns home when he hears on the radio that there has been a revolution in Portugal. There he tries to make sense of the political unrest, the social changes and the way his friends are or aren't dealing with them. He also has to decide whether he wants to stay or to go back to his old life and relationships in Paris.