CLAS Past Events > Fall Quarter 2008

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Tuesday, September 23, Bolivar House (582 Alvarado Row)
11:45 AM - 12:15 PM (Cafecito), 12:15 PM - 1:05 PM (Lecture Series)

September 23, 12:15 PM

Dr. STEVE HABER, Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; A.A. and Jeanne Welch Milligan Professor, School of Humanities and Science; Director, Social Science History Institute

“Do Natural Resources Fuel Authoritarianism: A Reappraisal of the Resource Curse”

This paper, coauthored with Victor Menaldo (Ph.D. Candidate, Stanford Dept of Political Science), develops unique time series datasets to address a question that has long interested political economists: whether, and to what extent, economic dependence on oil and minerals has a causal relationship to authoritarian government.

Steve Haber's research focuses on the relationship between political organization and economic growth, primarily in Latin America, and in particular in Mexico and Brazil. Haber is the A.A. and Jeanne Welch Milligan Professor in the School of Humanities and Science and the director of the Social Science History Institute at Stanford University. He is also the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Research Economist at the National Bureau of Economic Research, as well as a senior fellow at both the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and the Center for International Development.

Friday, September 26, Bolivar House (582 Alvarado Row)
12:00 PM

Dr. SIMON SCHWARTZMAN, President, Instituto de Estudos do Trabalho e Sociedade, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“Brazilian Education at the Crossroads”

Brazilian education expanded in the 1990s, and today most children are able to get to school and remain there for several years. Illiteracy is falling and is mostly restricted now to the poorer and older population. However, a large number of youngsters leave school at ages 13-15, secondary education has stagnated, and the quality of basic education, as measured by national and international assessments such as PISA, is very low, and many students remain functionally illiterate in spite of years of schooling. Several policies have been tried in the last several years to deal with this situation, but none seems to be working. In the presentation, some of these policies will be discussed, and some better approaches will be suggested.

Simon Schwartzman, born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, is a researcher for and the current President of the Instituto de Estudos do Trabalho e Sociedade in Rio de Janeiro. He previously served as President of the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE, 1994-98) and as Director for Brasil of the American Institutes for Research (1999-2002). Having studied sociology, political science, and public administration at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (1961); Schwartzman then earned a masters degree in Sociology from the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) in Santiago, Chile (1963) and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley (1973). Dr. Schwartzman has been a professor of Political Science at the Universidade de São Paulo and at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. He has also held posts as a visiting professor or scholar at numerous institutions, including École Pratique des Autes Études in Paris (1982-83), University of California, Berkeley (1985), Columbia University (1986), St. Anthony's College, Oxford (1994), Stanford University (2001), and Harvard University (2004). In 1996, he was awarded the Great Cross of the Brazilian National Order of Scientific Merit.

Tuesday, September 30, Bolivar House (582 Alvarado Row)
11:45 AM - 12:15 PM (Cafecito), 12:15 PM - 1:05 PM (Lecture Series)

STEVE REIFENBERG, Program Director, Chile Regional Office, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies

“Santiago's Children: What I Learned about Life at an Orphanage in Chile”

The presentation will be based on Mr. Reifenberg's book with the same title, published by the University of Texas Press in April 2008. While tracking the lives of several children with whom Mr. Reifenberg lived at an orphanage in Santiago, Chile in the early 1980s, the book also explores the broader political and economic conditions of the time. For more information, visit www.santiagoschildren.com.

Steve Reifenberg is Program Director of the Chile Regional Office of Harvard University's David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. He was DRCLAS's Executive Director from 1996 - 2002. Reifenberg is the former Program Director for Latin America of the Conflict Management Group (CMG), an international non-profit organization created from the Harvard Negotiation Project at the Harvard Law School. He has also served as the Director of the Edward S. Mason Program in Public Policy and Management, jointly administered by the Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard Institute for International Development. Reifenberg holds graduate degrees in Public Policy (Harvard) and in Print Journalism (Boston University).

Wednesday, October 1, Bolivar House (582 Alvarado Row)
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

CARLOS FLORES DEL PINO, Director, Escuela de Cine de Chile

Un panorama del cine chileno desde los años 70

Presentation in Spanish / Presentación en español

Carlos Flores is a Chilean filmmaker and the founder and director of the Film School of Chile. At Stanford he will deliver a presentation on Chilean documentary films of the early seventies, filming during the dictatorship years, and the rising generation of Chilean filmmakers. The presentation will include film clips. Films directed by Flores include The Chilean Charles Bronson (1979), Pepe Donoso (1978) and Corazón Secreto (2008).

Carlos Flores es cinematógrafo chileno y fundador y director de la Escuela de Cine de Chile. En Stanford hará una presentación sobre los documentales chilenos de los 70, el filmar durante la dictadura y los jóvenes cinematógrafos ascendentes de Chile hoy en día. La presentación incluirá fragmentos de películas. Obras dirigidas por el Señor Flores incluyen El Charles Bronson chileno (1979), Pepe Donoso (1978) y Corazón Secreto (2008).

Para más información: http://www.escuelacine.cl/index.htm

Thursday, October 2, Bolivar House (582 Alvarado Row)
4:00-6:00 PM

Counting the Uncounted: how do you serve a population if you don't know who they are?

Mobile Metrix Information Meeting ** refreshments provided**

Mobile Metrix is currently recruiting students to join the Stanford-based team to work on expanding the organization's impact in Rio and beyond.

Mobile Metrix, Stanford-born social enterprise, employs youth in favela communities to collect demographic data door-to-door while distributing critical products. The results allow community leaders, governments, NGOs and corporations to more eff ectively channel their vital products and services, such as healthcare, telecommunications and micro-loans.

For more information: www.MobileMetrix.org

Melanie Edwards, founder, CEO and lecturer on Social Entrepreneurship at Stanford, will describe Mobile Metrix and their work - including dengue education and prevention among communities during this year's epidemic in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Monday, October 6, Law School, Room 180
4:00 PM

CHARLES MACDONALD, Professor, Florida International University

"Drug Trafficking and International Law "

Professor Charles MacDonald is an expert on the problem of drug trafficking and has real-world military counter-drug experience. This experience led to his assignment at the Defense Intelligence Agency's Office for Counterdrug Analysis.

In academia, he has conducted extensive research on foreign cocaine consumption and was invited to speak at the Office of National Drug Control Policy. His field research took him to Venezuela, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Belgium, as well as to the offices of the United Nations International Drug Control Program (UNDCP) in Vienna, the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) in Lisbon, The Center for Drug Research in Amsterdam, and the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) of the Organization of American States in Washington, DC.

Sponsored by the Stanford International Law Society. **refreshments served**

Tuesday, October 7, Bolivar House (582 Alvarado Row)
11:45 AM - 12:15 PM (Cafecito), 12:15 PM - 1:05 PM (Lecture Series)

Dr. PAUL WISE, Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine

"Medicine and Governance: Confronting the Political Requirements of Global Child Health"

Approximately 10 million children will die this year throughout the world, more than half from preventable causes. This presentation will discuss the growing evidence that regional and local political conditions are crucial to the effective provision of new, efficacious medical interventions, such as immunizations, anti-malarial bed nets, and anti-retroviral therapy for HIV. The need for interdisciplinary approaches involving a variety of medical and social science expertise will also be discussed.

Paul H. Wise, MD, MPH, is the Richard E. Behrman Professor of Child Health and Society and Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is also Director of the Center for Policy, Outcomes and Prevention and a senior faculty member at the Center for Health Policy/Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research at Stanford University. He is a health policy and outcomes researcher whose work has focused on child health policy, the impact of medical technology on disparities in health outcomes, and the interaction of genetics and the environment as these factors influence child and maternal health. Dr. Wise has also worked to improve healthcare practices and policies in developing countries. He is involved in child health projects in India, South Africa, and Latin America, targeting diseases such as tuberculosis and AIDS. He also has worked for many years with a health promoter program in an indigenous village in Guatemala.

Tuesday, October 14, Bolivar House (582 Alvarado Row)
11:45 AM - 12:15 PM (Cafecito), 12:15 PM - 1:05 PM (Lecture Series)

RICHARD BOLY, National Security Affairs Fellow, Hoover Institution

“Promoting Entrepreneurial Economies in Latin America”

Richard Boly has been an American diplomat since 1994. He is a recipient of the Cobb Award for commercial diplomacy, and he has served in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Paraguay, Italy, and Washington, D.C., where he worked on US-EU economic issues. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Richard started a shrimp hatchery in Ecuador, worked as a consultant with the Inter-American Development Bank, and raised money for charities in Silicon Valley and New York City. He holds a BA from Stanford University and a Masters from the University of California, San Diego.

Wednesday, October 15, 5:30 PM
Annenberg Auditorium, Nathan Cummings Art Building (435 Lasuen Mall)

VIK MUNIZ

Vik Muniz, a Brazilian artist based in New York, will discuss and present samples of his work over the last 20 years. His work is included in current and upcoming exhibitions at the Gana Art Gallery, Seoul, Korea; Guangzhou Triennial, China; Tokyo Wonder Site, Japan; and Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco.

For more information about Vik Muniz and his work, visit www.vikmuniz.net.

Sponsored by Stanford's Department of Art & Art History.

Sunday, October 19 - Sunday, October 26
Annenberg Auditorium, Nathan Cummings Art Building (435 Lasuen Mall)
and various venues in Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, and San Francisco

11th United Nations Association Film Festival

Forty-one documentary films from around the world will be shown during the week-long festival, created by the Stanford Film Society and the United Nations Association Midpeninsula Chapter. The Center for Latin American Studies is proud to be a co-sponsor of this year's festival.

The following are just two of this year's films that feature Latin America:

A PROMISE TO THE DEAD: THE EXILE JOURNEY OF ARIEL DORFMAN
(91 minutes) Argentina/Chile/Canada
Director/Producer: Peter Raymont

On September 11, 1973 General Augusto Pinochet ousted the Chilean president Salvador Allende in a CIA-sponsored coup, replacing the country’s democratic leadership with a brutal dictatorship. A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman is an exploration of exile, memory, longing and democracy through the words and memories of playwright/author/activist Ariel Dorfman (Death and the Maiden, How to Read Donald Duck, Other Septembers). Dorfman was a member of Allende’s socialist government and a witness to the violent coup that ousted the president. The documentary was filmed in the USA, Argentina and Chile in late 2006—coinciding with the death of the former Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet.

LA AMERICANA
(65 minutes) Bolivia/USA
Director/Producer: Nicholas Bruckman

La Americana is an intimate documentary following Carmen, an undocumented immigrant, on a journey from Bolivia to New York City and back, as she struggles to save the life of her ailing daughter. Her unforgettable story is woven into the current immigration crisis in the United States, putting a human face on this timely and controversial issue. Through interviews and a sweeping cinema-vérité narrative, La Americana takes its viewers on an international journey following the personal and political tragedy faced by one undocumented immigrant in New York City.

Most screenings will take place on the Stanford campus, in the Annenberg Auditorium, Cummings Art Building. Ticket prices vary; Stanford students get into most screenings for free.

For tickets, a full schedule with times and other locations, and more information about the films and their directors, visit: http://www.unaff.org

Tuesday, October 21, Bolivar House (582 Alvarado Row)
11:45 AM - 12:15 PM (Cafecito), 12:15 PM - 1:05 PM (Lecture Series)

ANNETTE HESTER

“Energy Policy in Brazil”

Annette Hester is an independent scholar, economist, and writer specializing in Canadian foreign trade policy, Latin American economics and politics, and hemispheric integration, particularly regarding the energy sector. She was the founding Director of the Latin American Research Centre (LARC) at the University of Calgary, and she currently works in association with a number of research institutions including the the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C. and the Centre d'études interaméricaines at Université Laval. Ms. Hester writes for a variety of academic, trade, and news publications, and she has provided consulting services to governmental agencies and energy companies throughout the Americas.

Wednesday, October 22, Room 351 Landau Economics Building
1:30 PM - 3:00 PM

GABRIEL TORTELLA, Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Spain

“Nature or Nurture: Factors of Entrepreneurship in England and Spain, 19th-20th Centuries”

Friday, October 24

CLARA EUGENIA NÚÑEZ

Financial Reform in Madrid's Public Universities

- Cancelled -

Tuesday, October 28, Bolivar House (582 Alvarado Row)
11:45 AM - 12:15 PM (Cafecito), 12:15 PM - 1:05 PM (Lecture Series)

JOEL GUTIÉRREZ-GONZÁLEZ, Knight Latin American Fellow

“Lessons Latin American Developing Countries Can Draw from Emerging Economies such as Ireland, Spain, and Others”

Joel Gutiérrez-González was born in León, Nicaragua. He attended Miami Dade Community College in Florida and received his master's degree from Thomas More University in Managua, Nicaragua. In 1987, he started his career in journalism as a writer for a radio station funded by the U.S., Radio Libercion which broadcast news to Nicaraguans. Then in 1998, he moved to the Miami Cuban-American radio station WRHC Cadena Azul and later to WQBA as a reporter. He became a staff writer for El Nuevo Herald in Miami in 1990. He returned to Nicaragua in 1992 to help launch a new daily, La Tribuna, as its news director. In 1994, he came back to El Nuevo Herald as its city editor. From 1998-2000, he worked again for La Tribuna in Managua. In 2001, he began work in television, first as a producer, and then in 2005, as the news director of the morning show, Primera Hora in Managua. In addition to his work as a journalist, Gutiérrez was the media relations manager for then President elect Enrique Bolanos from 2003-2005 and as the Minister of Telecommunications in 2004. He was awarded the first place prize for Excellence in Covering Latin America by the National Association of Hispanic Publications in 1991.

Friday, October 31, Bolivar House (582 Alvarado Row)
12:15 PM - 1:30 PM

PEDRO DORIA, Knight Latin American Fellow , Columnist at O Estado de São Paulo

“Brazil after Lula"

In October 2008, Brazil elected new mayors around the country. The midterms set a new balance for political parties, strengthening some, and weakening others. Which presidential candidates have a chance in the 2010 elections? Who are these men and women and what can we expect from them? How might the transition affect the economic and political balance in the region?

** Lunch will be provided. **

Hosted by the Brazilian Working Group.

Monday, October 27 - Saturday, November 1
Cummings Art Building (Film Screenings, Monday-Friday)
Stanford Humanities Center, 424 Santa Teresa St (Conference, Saturday)

Under the Magnifying Lens: Catalan Cinema of the Real

Between the documentary and the feature film, contemporary Catalan directors have developed a film form that explores visual surfaces and the real-time rhythms of everyday life, while excavating the unusual and the uncanny from the customary and the recurrent. This new school of cinema, based for the most part on low-budget production and circulating largely outside commercial networks, is attracting critical attention in international film festivals. "Under the Magnifying Lens" brings to Stanford some of the directors associated with this new wave of cinema and aims to provide a compact "history" and critical assessment of a movement that could be considered a new Barcelona school of cinema.

All films are subtitled in English.

Monday, October 27, 2008 - (Room Art2)
5:30 p.m. Veinte años no es nada by Joaquim Jordà

Tuesday, October 28, 2008 - (Room Art4)
6:15 p.m. Gaudí by Manuel Huerga

Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - (Room Art4)
5:30 p.m. Cravan vs. Cravan by Isaki Lacuesta

Thursday, October 30, 2008 - (Room Art2)
5:30 p.m. La doble vida del faquir by Esteve Riambau

Friday, October 31, 2008 - (Room Art2)
5:30 p.m. Els nens perduts del franquisme by Montse Armengou

This event is sponsored by the Institut Ramon Llull, the Forum on Contemporary Europe, the Iberian Studies Program, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, and the Humanities Center.

For more information, including a full program schedule, visit the Department of Spanish and Portuguese website.

Monday, November 3, Main Quad, Building 50, Room 51A
3:15 PM - 5:00 PM

LÚCIA SÁ, Professor of Brazilian Cultural Studies, University of Manchester

“Flânerie and Nostalgia in the Monstrous City: São Paulo in Recent Cinema”

Part of the Anthropology Colloquium series; co-sponsored by the Center for Latin American Studies.

Tuesday, November 4, Bolivar House (582 Alvarado Row)
11:45 AM - 12:15 PM (Cafecito), 12:15 PM - 1:05 PM (Lecture Series)

Dr. ALFONSO VALENZUELA-AGUILERA, Guggenheim Fellow

“The Electronic Eyes of Justice: Surveillance, Territory and the Rule of Law in Mexico City”

Professor Valenzuela-Aguilera will address the role in which legal frameworks and perceived norms shape the social control of space in Mexico City. He will examine the classic prevention/intervention/suppression model that has framed our thinking on crime as well as the role that mainstream surveillance policies are having within the urban realm.

Alfonso Valenzuela-Aguilera is Professor of Urban Planning at the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos and UNAM and a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Urban and Regional Development at UC Berkeley. He was awarded the 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Tuesday, November 4, Main Quad, Building 50, Room 51A
1:30 PM - 2:45 PM

“Zola in Rio de Janeiro: The Production of Space in Aluísio Azevedo's O Cortiço”

a roundtable discussion with

LÚCIA SÁ, Professor of Brazilian Cultural Studies, University of Manchester

**Lunch provided**

Hosted by the Postcolonial City workshop; sponsored by the Stanford Humanities Center

Tuesday, November 11, Bolivar House (582 Alvarado Row)
11:45 AM - 12:15 PM (Cafecito), 12:15 PM - 1:05 PM (Lecture Series)

Dr. NICOLE VON GERMETEN, Assistant Professor of History, Oregon State University

“Prostitution and the Captain's Wife: A Public and Notorious Scandal in Eighteenth-Century Cartagena de Indias”

While the city of Cartagena de Indias was threatened by England’s expanding power in the Caribbean, it also experienced the dishonor and shame of a sex scandal, at the center of which was a heroic veteran of the English invasion of Cartagena in 1741. This presentation draws from a work in progress that explores how colonial ideologies were in constant negotiation with local interests in Cartagena de Indias. Analysis of a wide range of archival documents will bring to life the many voices that contributed to a distinct imagined vision of the city.

Nicole von Germeten holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Berkeley and is currently an Assistant Professor of History at Oregon State University. She has published two books: Black Blood Brothers: Confraternities and Social Mobility for Afromexicans, and an annotated translation of Alonso de Sandoval’s 1627 De Instauranda Aethiopum Salute, the earliest known book-length study of African slavery in the Americas.

Tuesday, November 11, Bolivar House (582 Alvarado Row)
8:30 PM

Come learn about innovative applications of technology bringing solutions to some of the world's biggest challenges.

Melanie Edwards, lecturer at Stanford on Social Entrepreneurship and founder and CEO of Mobile Metrix, will speak about what Mobile Metrix is doing to promote visibility of communities in developing countries while linking them with critical resources.

Hosted by the Technological Entrepreneurship in Latin America working group and the Society for Entrepreneurship in Latin America.

Co-sponsored by the Center for Latin American Studies.

Friday, November 14, Bolivar House (582 Alvarado Row)
12:15 PM - 1:05 PM

Dr. JUAN TIRAO, Professor of Mathematics at Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Tinker Visiting Professor

“Argentine Universities and Research Institutions: Their Role in Scientific and Technological Development”

** Lunch provided **

Juan Alfredo Tirao is a Tinker Visiting Professor in residence at Stanford for Fall Quarter 2008. He received his Ph. D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1970. He is a Professor of Mathematics at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, where he has also served as Director of the Instituto de Matemática, Astronomía y Física (1977-1983). He is an Investigador Superior at the National Research Council, Argentina (CONICET) and the former Vice President of Scientific Affairs of the National Research Council (1998-2002). Tirao has been honored as a visiting professor at Universidad de Buenos Aires, Universidade de Brasilia, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia, and University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Tuesday, November 18, Bolivar House (582 Alvarado Row)
11:45 AM - 12:15 PM (Cafecito), 12:15 PM - 1:05 PM (Lecture Series)

DAVID HULTS, Research Fellow, Stanford Program on Energy and Sustainable Development

"Sanctuary for the State: National Oil Companies in Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela"

As the pro-market "Washington Consensus" has unraveled, this decade has seen the emergence of two new Latin American trends: One group of countries favoring continued liberalization (Brazil, Chile, Mexico), and another opting for increasing state intervention (Argentina, Ecuador, Venezuela). Energy policy tells some of the story behind these two trends. This talk will focus on energy policy for three Latin American countries-- Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela-- within the context of a larger fifteen-country study on National Oil Companies. The speaker will address how oil has both facilitated greater state control and created, though typically to a lesser degree, some pressures for market liberalization, as well as suggest some implications from recent oil market trends (new oil field discoveries in Brazil, falling oil prices globally) for state control in the region.

David Hults is a Research Fellow at Stanford University's Program on Energy and Sustainable Development. His areas of academic interest include the role of energy in the developing world, climate change, and Latin American law. David received a J.D. with distinction from Stanford Law School, where he was Senior Editor for Stanford Law Review and Senior Articles Editor for the Stanford Journal of International Law. Before coming to Stanford, David worked at the U.S. Department of State on Latin American economic issues. David previously earned a B.A. in International Studies from the University of Florida and an M.A. in International Relations from Yale University.

Tuesday, November 18, Bolivar House (582 Alvarado Row)
7:00 PM

CONSTANZA NIETO, CEO of Global Tech Bridge

"Tech Entrepreneurial Markets in Latin America"

GlobalTech Bridge supports technology companies and organizations seeking global expansion. With more than 20 years of experience as entrepreneur, founder, CEO, consultant and business executive of private and public corporations, and government institutions in Latin America, Constanza Nieto will be speaking on the existing tech entrepreneurial markets throughout Latin America.

Organized by the Technological Entrepreneurship in Latin America working group; sponsored by the Center for Latin American Studies.

Wednesday, November 19, Bolivar House (582 Alvarado Row)
4:00 PM - 8:00 PM

ROAD2ARGENTINA and VILA (VOLUNTEERS IN LATIN AMERICA)

"Study, Internship and Service Opportunities in Argentina and Ecuador"

Learn about summer, year-long, and month-long study, internship, and service opportunities in Latin America. These programs are open to all undergraduates as well as recent graduates. Scholarships are available. Drop by anytime between 4 and 8 to speak with past program participants with Road2Argentina and Volunteers in Latin America (VILA).

For more information: http://www.road2argentina.com
http://www.stanford.edu/group/vila

Tuesday, December 2, Bolivar House (582 Alvarado Row)
11:45 AM - 12:15 PM (Cafecito), 12:15 PM - 1:05 PM (Lecture Series)

Dr. MAURO GALETTI, Tinker Visiting Profesor in Latin American Studies, Stanford University

“10,000 Years of Extinction: Ecological and Evolutionary Consequences of Defaunation in the Neotropical Ecosystems”

Mauro Galetti received his Bachelors degree in Biology (1990) and his Masters degree in Ecology (1992) at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). After receiving his Ph.D. from Cambridge University (1996), he moved to Indonesia to study seed dispersal by hornbills and mammals. In 1997, he returned to Brazil and founded the Plant Phenology and Seed Dispersal Research Group at Universidade Estadual Paulista at Rio Claro in São Paulo State. Since 2002, Dr. Galetti has been a Visiting Scientist at Integrative Ecology Group at Consejo de Investigaciones Cientificas in Seville, Spain. In 2006, he, along with other colleagues, received the Zayed International Prize for Scientific Achievements in the Environment for the Millenium Assessment book. Dr. Galetti’s research strives to understand complex interactions between fruit-eating animals (frugivores) and plants and the impact of human activities, including forest fragmentation, poaching, and more recently global warming, on biodiversity loss. His major study sites are in the Pantanal and in the Atlantic rain forest.

Wednesday, December 3, Bolivar House (582 Alvarado Row)
6:00 PM

STEVE CAGAN, Photographer

“El Chocó, Colombia: Struggle for Cultural and Environmental Survival”

El Chocó is the northwestern-most department of Colombia, on the border with Panama. Steve Cagan's work, photographing the environment and the people of the area, and working closely with the few organizations committed to defending the people of the region, has been in the northern half of the department. It is an area of great natural beauty and incredible biodiversity, primarily low tropical and sub-tropical rain forest. It is also home to unique river-centered Afro-Colombian (80-85% of the population) and indigenous (10%) cultures.

The region of El Chocó has long been isolated from and ignored by the rest of the country, which has allowed the local cultures to develop in peace. Despite financial poverty and having been denied public services such as healthcare and education, the people still enjoy a history of living well on the bounty of the rain forest.

This life and the whole area are under great threat, as Colombian and international economic interests are determined to eliminate the rain forest to develop large industrial, agricultural, and infrastructure projects. The Colombian civil war reached the area a dozen years ago to undermine the legal protections that the Afro and indigenous populations enjoy and to clear out the population in order to expedite the development of those projects. Uncontrolled and unsustainable lumbering and gold mining, as well as movements to replace the forest with monocultures, advance at an increasingly swift pace. If nothing changes, the rain forest of El Chocó, with its important environmental treasures and the special cultures it shelters, will soon be gone, probably within a generation. The one hope is the potential of the local communities to organize and to resist the pressures to abandon their homes.

This talk will be illustrated by numerous photographs by Mr. Cagan and accompanies an ongoing exhibit of his photographs at Bolivar House, October 20, 2008 - March 20, 2009.

Steve Cagan is a photographer, writer and social activist. He has taught photography, American history and English at the university level. Steve’s photography and writing have been widely exhibited and published on three continents. His writing features, among other themes, issues facing socially conscious photographers.

For over twenty-five years, Cagan has done extensive photography in Latin America documenting aspects of daily life of working people in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Cuba and Colombia. He has also completed photo projects about work and workers in Ohio. His book This Promised Land, El Salvador (Rutgers, 1991; published also in an expanded Spanish-language edition, El Salvador, La Tierra Prometida [San Salvador, 1994]), written with his wife, Beth Cagan, won an award as “Book of the Year” from the Association for Humanist Sociology in 1991. Mr. Cagan has also been awarded two Fulbright Fellowships, an Artist’s Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, several Fellowships from the Arts Councils of Ohio and New Jersey, and Teacher of the Year (1991) at Rutgers University.

For more information and photos, visit: www.stevecagan.com, www.stevecagan.blogspot.com, and www.pbase.com/stevecagan.