Fall 2010 Wrap-up

This fall, CLACS organized a diverse array of events and programs related to Latin America. CLACS events are free and open to the public, allowing interested members of the NYC community to join in on discussions and debates involving groundbreaking research on the region. Hundreds of attendees took advantage of this programming, participating in dozens of events.

The Colloquium series, titled “Patrimony, Space and Performance in Latin American Cities,” was organized by Tom Abercrombie and Rafael Sanchez. The Colloquium aimed to “query Latin American cities as sites for the performance and contestation of authority, rights, and personhood,” and featured groundbreaking research from contemporary scholars working throughout Latin America and Spain. Saskia Sassen presented on “Urban Incompleteness and Norm-Making,” Alejandra Osorio discussed the baroque in colonial Lima, Peru, and Daniel Goldstein analyzed community justice in Bolivia—to name a few.

In Spring 2011 CLACS Faculty members Aisha Khan and Millery Polyné will host a colloquium titled “Our America: Cross Currents and Intimate Dialogues in the Making of a Hemisphere.” This colloquium will investigate the U.S. “from the 19th century to the present, as simultaneously a site of empirical practice and an imagined way of being.”

“Haiti in Context” programming continued, with CLACS Director Ada Ferrer hosting an event prior to the recent elections. CLACS Working Groups also met on topics related to history, migration, racism, lingustics, and the Atlantic World. CLACS also cosponsored a number of art events including “Where is Ana Mendietta,” and a roundtable with Cuban artists from the cutting-edge, “Queloides,” exhibit. CLACS also featured “FolkloRican: The Art of Pepe Villegas.”

The semester’s energy culminated in Quechua Week, a week-long series of lectures, presentations and performances about Quechua language and culture. Speakers came from across the U.S. and Peru to discuss topics such as the role of digital media in Quechua language preservation, poetry and literature, film, and policy changes. The end of the year CLACS party coincided with the final Quechua Week presentation, which featured live music from Andean musicians, Peruvian food, art, and dancing.

CLACS wishes everyone happy holidays, and a happy New Year. We look forward to exciting events in 2011!

Posted by Von Diaz – MA Candidate at CLACS / Global Journalism at NYU