CLAS Past Events > Fall Quarter 2008

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Tuesday, September 22

"Creating a Community of the Americas: The Missing Link in an Obama Policy for Latin America and the Caribbean"

Tom O'Keefe, President of Mercosur Consulting Group

lecture 12:15-1:05 pm
cafecito served at 11:45 am
Bolivar House, 582 Alvarado Row

Except for a brief address to the Cuban American National Foundation in Miami in May 2008 that focused primarily on US policy towards Cuba, candidate Barack Obama completely ignored Latin America and the Caribbean during his campaign for the White House. Not surprzingly, the region has continued to be largely overlooked by the new administration since it came to office. Ten month's after his inauguration, President Obama still has no new Assistant Secretary of State for Hemispheric Affairs. The result has been embarrasing gaffes in which, among other things, the United States has not been able to effectively respond to the military coup in Honduras. O'Keefe will discuss his new book "Latin American and Caribbean Trade Agreements: Keys to a Prosperous Community of the Americas", in which he argues that what
is missing is a project that can both excite and engage the citizens of the Western Hemisphere. O'Keefe will discuss how the establishment of a Community of the Americas based on the pillars of genuine free trade, a serious financial commitment to economic
development (especially education and infrastructure), energy security, and respect for human rights and democracy can fill the current void in U.S. foreign policy.

Thomas Andrew O’Keefe is the President of Mercosur Consulting Group, Ltd. [http://www.mercosurconsulting.net], a legal and economic consulting firm that assists companies with their strategic business planning for South America as well as advises Latin American firms exporting to the United States. The firm was founded in New York in 1993 and moved to Washington, D.C. in 1996. Mr. O’Keefe is a dual national of the United States and Chile. He is bilingual in English and Spanish, and fluent in French and Portuguese. He did his undergraduate work at Columbia University, and received his J.D. from the Villanova University School of Law. Mr. O’Keefe is the author of numerous articles on Latin American economic integration and globalization and has lectured extensively on the topic both in the United States and abroad. He is the author of Latin American Trade Agreements and Latin American and Caribbean Trade Agreements: Keys to a Prosperous Community of the Americas. He currently teaches courses at Stanford on Political Economy of the Southern Cone and Economic Integration of the Americas (through the Department of International Relations) and Energy Cooperation in the Western Hemisphere (through Earth Systems).

Monday, September 28

"Mexico City: Capital of the 21st Century"

David Lida, Author of First Stop in the New World: Mexico City, the Capital of the 21st Century

12:00 pm
Bolivar House, 582 Alvarado Row

David Lida moved to Mexico City fifteen years ago in search of a kind of culture, energy, and spontaneity that he thought had been lost in his native New York City. What he found was a thriving, miraculous urban center comprising centuries of living history, even as its rapid development was making it a prominent force on the world stage. Through the eyes of an American who has become an insider, First Stop in the New World is a street-level panorama of contemporary Mexico City—from the high arts to the sex industry; from the dense jungle of urban politics to the interactions of everyday commerce; from one end of this five-hundred-square-mile city to the other. Lida expertly captures the kaleidoscopic nature of life in a city defined by pleasure and danger, justice and lawlessness, ecstatic joy and appalling tragedy—in limbo between the developed and developing worlds.

David Lida is the author of three books about Mexico City, two in English and one in Spanish. His journalism has been published in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Village Voice in the U.S., and in Letras Libres, Gatopardo and Reforma in Mexico. When he is not a writer, he is a mitigation specialist, assisting lawyers who defend Mexicans facing the death penalty in the U.S.

http://www.davidlida.com/

You are invited to bring your own "brown bag" lunch to this event.

Tuesday, September 29

"The Free Afro-Brazilians in the Slave Period"

Herb Klein, Professor of History, Director of the Center for Latin American Studies, Stanford

12:15-1:05 pm
Bolivar House, 582 Alvarado Row

At least two generations before the final abolition of slavery, most Afro-Brazilians were already free citizens of Imperial Brazil. How this class was created and the role it played in pre- and post-emancipation society is examined through a detailed demographic and social analysis of this dominant class in 19th century Brazil.

Herbert S. Klein, Professor of History, specializes in Latin American history. He received his B.A. from the University of Chicago in 1957 and his Ph.D. from Chicago in 1963. For thirty five years he taught at Columbia University and was the Gouverneur Morris Professor of History. He is the author of some 20 books and 155 articles in several languages on Latin America and on comparative themes in social and economic history. Aside from courses on Latin America, he teaches methodology classes on quantitative methods in historical research and demographic history. He has been a Guggenheim fellow, a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, a Fulbright Lecturer several times, and a post-doctoral fellow at Yale and Oxford. He is currently Professor of History, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Affiliated Faculty of the Woods Institute for the Environment, and Director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Stanford University.

You are invited to bring your own "brown bag" lunch. In keeping with the Bolivar House cafecito tradition, hot coffee is provided beginning at 11:45 am. Lecture/q&a runs from 12:15-1:05 pm.

Tuesday, October 6

"The Biological Treasures of Latin America and Unusual Anthropogenic Threats"

Rodolfo Dirzo, Professor of Biology, Stanford

12:15-1:05 pm
Bolivar House, 582 Alvarado Row

Recent research highlights the unparalleled biological richnes of the Latin American region. Such biological treasure represents a crucial natural capital that, however, is seriously threatened by anthropogenic impact. This talk will document the region's biological richness, the threats it faces, and what is at stake if we do not appreciate the importance of such natural capital.

Rodolfo Dirzo, Professor of Biology at Stanford University, specializes in the study of plant-animal interactions, particularly in the tropical forest ecosystems in Mexico and Amazonia. His interest in the consequences of anthropogenic impact on ecological processes expands his research into the field of conservation biology. He earned his B.Sc. degree in Biology from the University of Morelos, Mexico and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Ecology from the University of Wales. In addition to his research, Professor Dirzo is also committed to environmental education for students of all levels as well as the general public. In 2007, he earned a grant from the Stanford Initiative on Improving K-12 Education to launch a Pilot Project on Education for under-represented students called "Ecology: Learning by Doing and Making a Difference." The project was later selected as one of just three projects to be extended and continued in 2009.

You are invited to bring your own "brown bag" lunch. In keeping with the Bolivar House cafecito tradition, hot coffee is provided beginning at 11:45 am. Lecture/q&a runs from 12:15-1:05 pm.

Monday, October 12

Anthro Film Double Feature: Amazon Journal and The Kayapó

6:30-8:30 pm
Bolivar House, 582 Alvarado Row

Primarily for students enrolled in ANTHRO 161B/261B (LATINAM 202/302).
Others are welcome, space permitting.

Amazon Journal
Producer/director Geoffrey O'Connor
Editor, Robert Kuhns. I
New York : Filmakers Library,
c1995 VHS 58 min.

Geoffrey O'Connor, the filmmaker of "Contact" and "At the Edge Of Conquest," has produced this fascinating chronicle of political events in the Brazilian Amazon over the past two decades.

Going beyond the strict documentation of social and political events, O'Connor's Amazon Journal offers a critical, first person analysis of the complex web of misunderstanding that has distanced semi-isolated indigenous societies and Western European populations for centuries. His analysis, backed the anthropological work of Alcida Rita Ramos, reveals how the dominant society's perception of Indians as either "primitives" or "noble savages" resulted in the destabilization of the indigenous rights movements in Brazil in the 1990's.

Some of the other landmark stories woven through this documentary include the impact of a gold rush and ensuing malaria epidemic on the Yanomami Indians between 1987 and 1990, the historic gathering of Indigenous People at Altamira in 1989, Sting's quest to "save the rain forest," the assassination of Chico Mendes, the demarcation of Kayapó lands, the UN's "Earth Summit" in 1992, and the events surrounding the massacre of Yanomami Indians in 1993. The result is a unique, densely crafted personal essay exploring a dimension of the rain forest story previously untouched by any other filmmaker.

The Kayapó
Filmmaker: Michael Beckham
Anthropologist: Terence Turner
New York : Filmakers Library,
c1987 VHS 51 min.

This film, made for Granada Television's Disappearing World series, focuses on the conflicts and determination of a group of people trying to survive and maintain their ethnic identity in the face of almost overpowering odds. The film contrasts the reactions of two groups of Kayapó to outside influence. The Kapot have opposed contact and resisted both non-indigenous Brazilian settlers and gold miners. The Gorotire, by contrast, were invaded by gold miners who strip-mined their land and polluted their rivers. The miners paid the Gorotire very little for the destruction until 1985 when the Gorotire forced the miners to raise the commission to 5% when 200 warriors seized the airstrip. This commission amounts to two million dollars per year for the tribe and the tribe is learning to cope with the money, both with the problems it brings and the power it gives. They have trained several of their number to deal effectively with the outside world on behalf of the rest of the tribe and they now run a plane (and hire a pilot) to patrol their land against intruders.
The Kapot, in their own way, are also trying to assert their identity and independence. This portion of the film shows the Kapot in the traditional activities of building and dismantling a hunting camp. The hunters returning with the tortoises they have caught are a particularly impressive sight. The now famous Chief Rop-ni is featured as a leader of the Kapot and he states eloquently his opposition to the Gorotire's acceptance of the gold miners. Despite their adherence to tradition, however, the Kapot use modern technology-video, radios, etc.-to protect their interests and record their rituals.

Tuesday, October 13

"Defining Empires: The Spanish-Portuguese Conflict in the Americas (16th-19th Centuries)"

Tamar Herzog, Professor of Latin American and Spanish History, Stanford

12:15-1:05 pm
Bolivar House, 582 Alvarado Row

From the late fifteenth to the early nineteenth century, Spain and Portugal struggled to define the extension of their American domains. Having first secured papal bulls that gave them a monopoly in certain areas (in exchange for the obligation to convert the natives) and having signed a bilateral treaty (the Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494) confirming, albeit with changes, this monopoly, for the next 500 years the monarchs, bureaucrats, experts, military men, religious personal and inhabitants of these two powers could not agree what this monopoly meant and how it was to be implemented. My talk will examine how this lack of agreement affected those living on the border. It will argue that the indetermination of who and what belonged where led to a massive local involvement. Rather than debated by the courts —which it often was— most of the discussion regarding who was allowed to be where, doing what, happened on the territory itself, as individual Spaniards wished to bar individual Portuguese from doing certain things, and as their rivals hoped to achieve the same. And, although locals pretended that the debate confronted Europeans among themselves, none of the local speakers could ignore the (obvious) fact that the territory was indigenous. How they dealt with Indian presence and what they made of it, and how –because of Indian presence-- the religious orders became involved in what was essentially a political issue, will also be examined.

Tamar Herzog is professor of History at Stanford, having obtained her PhD at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, France. She is the author of various monographs, most recently Upholding Justice: State, Law and the Penal System in Quito (University of Michigan Press 2004) and Defining Nations: Immigrants and Citizens in Early Modern Spain and Spanish America (Yale University Press, 2003). She was the co-editor of various volumes: The Collective and the Public in Latin America. Cultural Identities and Political Order (Sussex Academic Press, 2000) and Observation and Communication: The Construction of Realities in the Hispanic World (Vittorio Klostermann, 1997) as well as the author of numerous articles. Her current research wishes to examine the right to land and territorial conflicts among individuals and communities in Spain, Portugal and their overseas domains during the early modern period.

You are invited to bring your own "brown bag" lunch. In keeping with the Bolivar House cafecito tradition, hot coffee is provided beginning at 11:45 am. Lecture/q&a runs from 12:15-1:05 pm.

Tuesday, October 20

"Ecocriticism in Latin America: Prospects and Challenges"

George Handley, Professor of Humanities and Comparative Literature, Brigham Young University

12:15-1:05 pm
Bolivar House, 582 Alvarado Row

George Handley is Professor of Humanities and Comparative Literature at Brigham Young University where he has taught since 1998. A graduate of Stanford, he holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley. He is the author of Postslavery Literatures in the Americas (Virginia 2000) and New World Poetics: Nature and the Adamic Imagination of Whitman, Neruda, and Walcott (Georgia 2007). He is also the co-editor of Caribbean Literature and the Environment (Virginia 2005) and of a forthcoming volume, Postcolonial Ecologies (Oxford 2010). His articles have appeared in Callaloo, American Literature, Mississippi Quarterly, Interdisciplinary Study of Literature and the Environment, and Modern Fiction Studies.

His paper is entitled "Ecocriticism in Latin America: Prospects and Challenges." Ecocriticism is largely the byproduct of Anglo-American literary criticism, but as it has made advances into world literatures and more recently into the Caribbean and Latin America, it has undergone some significant shifts and changes, providing new insights regarding the relationships between Latin American racial and cultural theory and discourses of nature. This paper will highlight recent challenges posed by this development, both for ecocriticism and Latin American literary scholarship.

You are invited to bring your own "brown bag" lunch. In keeping with the Bolivar House cafecito tradition, hot coffee is provided beginning at 11:45 am. Lecture/q&a runs from 12:15-1:05 pm.

Tuesday, October 27

"Civilian Autonomy in Civil War? Understanding Civilian Responses to the Armed Conflict in Colombia"

Oliver Kaplan, PhD Candidate in Political Science, Stanford

12:15-1:05 pm
Bolivar House, 582 Alvarado Row

In Colombia and other countries, various civilian communities have organized to protect themselves from the effects of civil war violence. What are the strategies these communities employ? How can we tell whether these strategies actually work to deal with violence? I answer these questions by providing a statistical overview of civilian organizations in Colombia and use case studies based on field research to show how particular communities have survived difficult periods of conflict. The study goes beyond the examples of Colombia's well-known "peace communities" to more broadly enumerate the at times subtle civilian strategies and forms of cohesion that are found across the country.

Oliver Kaplan is a Ph.D. candidate in the Political Science department at Stanford University. For his dissertation, Civilian Autonomy in Civil War, he conducted field research in urban and rural Colombia. He holds a B.A. from UC San Diego.

You are invited to bring your own "brown bag" lunch. In keeping with the Bolivar House cafecito tradition, hot coffee is provided beginning at 11:45 am. Lecture/q&a runs from 12:15-1:05 pm.

Tuesday, November 3

From Sun to Sun: Sousândrade and Hélio Oiticica in New York

Marília Librandi Rocha, Assistant Professor of Brazilian Literature and Culture, Stanford

12:15-1:05 pm
Bolivar House, 582 Alvarado Row

The purpose of this talk is to discuss how New York City impacted the work of two Brazilian artists, Sousândrade (1833-1902) and Hélio Oiticica (1937-1980), and how these artists represented the city in their work. In order to understand better the differential dialogue
between these two artists, three concepts will be examined: 1) impact; 2) “provincial center;” and 3) the “production of presence.”

Sousândrade lived in New York City for eleven years (from 1871 to 1885), and is the author of the astonishing "The Wall Street Inferno." His poetic hero, the Guesa, makes a pilgrimmage from Maranhão (Brazil) to Manhattan, and in the process allegorizes the situation of modern
provincial artists confronted with cities and the world of finance. Hélio Oiticica, who lived in New York City from 1971 to 1978, transformed his apartment into an art event that he referred to as “Babylonest.” There he wrote his “Newyorkaises” as an endless work-in-progress, and created a film entitled “Agripina is Roma-Manhattan.” Not incidentally, the title of this film comes from a verse found in Sousândrade's poem, "O Guesa". From Sousândrade, who
created a solar hero, to Hélio, the solar name of Oiticica, both artists find themselves connected through their vertiginous art.

Marília Librandi Rocha is Assistant Professor of Brazilian Literature and Culture in the Department of Iberian and Latin American Cultures at Stanford University. She is the author of "Maranhão-Manhattan. Ensaios de Literatura brasileira" (7Letras), which will be launched in Rio de Janeiro in November 2009. At Stanford, she coordinates, with J.R.Resina and H.U.Gumbrecht, a collaborative project named "Presence. Transcultural Dialogues" and an art event and colloquium on Octavio Paz (1914-1998) and Haroldo de Campos (1929-2003) entitled "Trans-poetic Exchange: Around Blanco and Campos de Paz Colloquium". This event, awarded with a SiCa Grant (The Stanford Institute for Creativity and the Arts), will congregate internationally-known poets and scholars from Brazil, Catalonia, Japan and the United States at Stanford on January 29-30, 2010. More information at: http//blanco.stanford.edu

You are invited to bring your own "brown bag" lunch. In keeping with the Bolivar House cafecito tradition, hot coffee is provided beginning at 11:45 am. Lecture/q&a runs from 12:15-1:05 pm.

Tuesday, November 10

The Expansion of MERCOSUR: Special Approach in the Case of Venezuela

Adriana Dreyzin de Klor, Professor of Integration Law, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (Argentina)

12:15-1:05 pm
Bolivar House, 582 Alvarado Row

Venezuela has asked to be incorporated as a full member of MERCOSUR, the Southern Cone integration process. But, MERCOSUR has special clauses for those who desire to be part of the process. Is Venezuela in a condition to be incorporated into the MERCOSUR? The conditions are written as legal rules and include respect for democratic rights which are enumerated in the Asuncion Protocol. In addition, all four member states of MERCOSUR must agree to Venezuela's membership request. To date, two of these countries (i.e., Brazil and Paraguay) have not yet done so. I will provide an analysis of the legal conditions and the reasons why these two countries have not yet moved to include Venezuela as a full member of MERCOSUR.

Adriana Dreyzin is Professor of Integration Law at the National University of Córdoba in Argentina. She is the author of numerous academic books and papers and has been a Visiting Professor at Complutense University, Madrid; UNAM, Mexico D.F.; UFSC, Brasil; National University of Chile, Santiago; Max Planck Institute, Heidelberg; and UNIDROIT Italia. Ex Legal Consultant of the MERCOSUR Secretariat in Montevideo, she is a current member of the list of arbitrators of MERCOSUR and was a delegate at the UNCITRAL Working Group on Mediation & Arbitration, New York, 2009.

You are invited to bring your own "brown bag" lunch. In keeping with the Bolivar House cafecito tradition, hot coffee is provided beginning at 11:45 am. Lecture/q&a runs from 12:15-1:05 pm.

Wednesday, November 11

Spies and Gossip in the Forest: Children's Role in Mediating Resource Management Activities in an Amazonian Society

V. Constanza Ocampo-Raeder, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Maine

12:00-1:00 pm
Bolivar House, 582 Alvarado Row

Indigenous people around the world have experienced a change in land and resource availability due to policies that limit access to traditional territories. In response they are having to develop new or reconfigure old resource management systems to deal with changing environmental and social conditions. Although studies have uncovered intricate cultural arrangements that are implemented by a population to mitigate impacts, children are a sector of the population that has largely been overlooked. My research shows that in fact children play an important role in mediating relationships around resource management activities. In this lecture I examine children’s activities as a critical mechanism in influencing social networks and resource use within communities. Stemming from over 28 months of ethnographic fieldwork among the Ese eja people of southeastern Peru, I show the manner in which children’s participation in monitoring resource use (spying) and communicating this information (gossip) to their kin plays an important role in the equitable use of resources in a community, especially as resource availability decreases.

Dr. Ocampo-Raeder’s primary research focuses on uncovering human signatures in the forest through the analysis of indigenous resource management strategies. More specifically, her work with the Ese eja people of the southeastern Peruvian Amazon, spanning over 10 years of ethnographic fieldwork, shows how they have influenced their traditional territory (an area of about 1.5 million hectares) by creating a series of anthropogenic habitats that influence vegetation structure and wildlife resources. In addition to studying the human ecology of the Amazon, she also examines the applied dimension of this research such as implications to conservation and indigenous rights. Dr. Ocampo-Raeder obtained her doctorate in Anthropology from Stanford University and is currently an Assistant Professor in the Anthropology Department and Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine.

You are invited to bring your own "brown bag" lunch.

Thursday, November 12

'Waar Gwan': Beyond the Kaleidoscope of Assimilation
An Artist Talk on Caribbean Identity and Diaspora

Faisal Abdu'Allah

12:00-1:00 pm
Bolivar House, 582 Alvarado Row

Black British identity has been played out amongst UK academia for sometime with little response from the practitioner. 'Waar Gwan' is an honest Artist talk with cultural annotations illustrating my life through the lens in contemporary England. Referencing the Personal through the eyes of my family in 70’s London exposing the complex kaleidoscopic reception by the English which reached breaking point in 1958 with the race riots of Notting Hill. The race riots were to transform the streets of London forever, primarily in the realm of black consciousness.

The second element, that of Culture, will be illustrated through my arts practice and influences chronologically but also unpacking issues of displacement, assimilation, and identity, highlighting the complex differences that artists from the Caribbean have to constantly define or align themselves with.

You are invited to bring your own "brown bag" lunch.

Tuesday, November 17

Development in Brazil and Latin America: A Policy-Oriented Approach

Pedro Maciel, Former Manager of Fiscal Analysis, Brazilian Secretariat of the National Treasury

12:15-1:05 pm
Bolivar House, 582 Alvarado Row

Pedro presents the progress of his current research in Bolívar House. He is preparing a comparative study about fiscal policy and development in Brazil and Latin America. He is also analyzing how the Brazilian government should address policies based on good practices and experiences in Latin American public sector. In this lecture, he shows recent trends of the Brazilian economy, Latin American and Brazilian updated development indicators, the role of the public sector in the Brazilian development performance and case studies of federal government programs in education, social transferences and defense areas.

Pedro Maciel is the former Manager of Fiscal Analysis at the Brazilian Secretariat of the National Treasury - Ministry of Finance. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Brasilia. He is responsible for developing studies and policies regarding fiscal programs of the Brazilian Government. He has published articles about fiscal policy and economic growth in Brazil and has been awarded several national prizes for his research.

You are invited to bring your own "brown bag" lunch. In keeping with the Bolivar House cafecito tradition, hot coffee is provided beginning at 11:45 am. Lecture/q&a runs from 12:15-1:05 pm.

Wednesday, November 18

Reminiscences of Contemporary Portugal

Fernando Ferreira, Tinker Visiting Professor, Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal)

12:00-1:00 pm
Bolivar House, 582 Alvarado Row

A leading Portuguese specialist in logic, Fernando Ferreira holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Pennsylvania State University and is currently Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of Lisbon and a corresponding member of the Academia das Ciencias de Lisboa. He has been a visiting fellow at Harvard and Stanford Universities and the University of Aarhus (Denmark) and given invited talks throughout Europe and in the United States. His book, Matemática Finita (with Carlos André), was published in 2000. Recently published articles by Ferreira include "The co-ordination principles: a problem for bilateralism" (Mind, 2008), "A most artistic package of a jumble of ideas" (Dialectica, 2008), and "The Riemann integral in weak systems of arithmetic" (with Gilda Ferreira, Journal of Universal Computer Science, 2008).

A Tinker Visiting Professor at Stanford during fall quarter 2009, Professor Ferreira is currently teaching MATH 293A/PHIL 353A: Proof Theory and PHIL 353C: Functional Interpretations.

He will offer a panorama of contemporary Portuguese history and culture, through the personal lens of a native Portuguese citizen.

You are invited to bring your own "brown bag" lunch.