Forthcoming Events
on Latin America
October 2010
Haga que pase!: 'Mi Fink' and The Struggle for Food Sovereignty and Freedom in Villa Rica, Colombia Jota Ramos and Giuliana Cascella-Carbó
Wednesday 6 October, 17:00 - 19:30
Venue: Room G32 (Senate House, Ground Floor)
As land has been lost to large, commercial, sugar plantations in the Cauca Region of Colombia, small scale traditional farms or fincas have disappeared and with them knowledge of locally adapted food production systems. In Villa Rica, however, Jota Ramos and his friends have decided to fight back. By learning about traditional production techniques from the town's elders they are rescuing and revitalising the knowledge they need in order to re-establish a vibrant rural community that has control over the food that they eat. 'Mi Fink' is a short documentary that Jota and his colleagues have made to record their efforts to take control of their lives and their futures. It is also the name of their project, which is part of a much larger programme, ¡Haga que pase!, which seeks to motivate and support young people in their efforts to change their lives for the better. In this evening's seminar, Jota will present the documentary 'Mi Fink' and explain a little more about the struggle for food sovereignty and freedom in Villa Rica.
Agriculture with a future: Cuba's agroecological alternative Fernando Funez Monzote, Universidad de Matanzas, Cuba.
Wednesday 13 October, 12:30 - 14:30
Venue: Room 102 (Senate House, 1st Floor)
Madness, Meaning and Kinship in the Andes: Mental illness among Quechua-speaking peasants in rural Peru
David Orr, University College London
Wednesday 13 October, 17:00 - 19:00
Venue: Room G37 (Senate House, Ground Floor)
Intersecting Inequalities: Women and Social Policy in Peru, 1990-2000
Jelke Boesten, School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds
Friday 15 October, 17:00 - 19:30
Venue: Room G37 (Senate House, Ground Floor)
Book flyer
Late Justice in South America (Human Rights Trials)
Thursday 21 October, 09:30 - 18:00
Venue: The Beveridge Hall (Senate House, Ground Floor)
See the conference programme
Continuities and discontinuities in U.S.-Latin American relations: smart power, the Obama administration and U.S.-Latin American Relations
John Saxe-Fernandez, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Wednesday 27 October, 17:00 - 19:00
Venue: Room G35 (Senate House, Ground Floor)
November 2010
Celebrate the Day of the Dead - Learning from our Different Communities In collaboration with The Dying Matters Coalition, led by the National Council for Palliative Care
Monday 1 November, 14:00 - 18:00
Venue: The Chancellor's Hall (Senate House, First Floor)
Joaquim Nabuco Conference
Kindly sponsored by the Embassy of Brazil in London
Wednesday 3 November, 10:00 - 18:00
Venue: Room G34 (Senate House, Ground Floor)
Aztec Gold: Facts not Fiction Elizabeth Baquedano, UCL
Wednesday 10 November, 17:00 - 19:30
Venue: Room G32 (Senate House, Ground Floor)
Inca Ushnus: Landscape, site and symbol in the Andes
Thursday 18 - Sunday 21 November, 18:00 - 16:15
Venue: Other
This conference focuses on the Inca Empire, c. AD 1400–1532, to examine the role of the sacred centre ushnu in statecraft. Archaeological, ethnographic and ethnohistoric approaches illustrate the role that ushnu platforms played in Andean political and sacred geography and their relevance today.
Between the past and the future: Challenging narratives of memory in Latin America Keynote Speaker: Elizabeth Jelin (IDES, Buenos Aires-Argentina) Confirmed Contributors: Vikki Bell (Goldsmiths), Susannah Radstone (University of East London), Jens Andermann (Birkbeck Venue for second day Room 273 Stewart House, Second floor
Tuesday 23 - Wednesday 24 November, 10:00 - 19:00
Venue: Room G35 (Senate House, Ground Floor)
In the context of novel theories of trauma and loss that have emerged in the field of memory studies, we propose to examine the current debates on memory in relation to traumatic pasts in Latin America.
South America's regional options: Too many and too diverse? Gian Luca Gardini, Lecturer in International Relations and Latin American Politics at the University of Bath and Coordinator of the Bath Latin American Network.
Wednesday 24 November, 17:00 - 19:30
Venue: Room G32 (Senate House, Ground Floor)
Order's other histories: re-visiting South America Invited speakers include: Prof Denise Y. Arnold (Anthropology, ILCA, Bolivia & CILAVS, Birkbeck), Prof Dana Leibsohn (Art History, Smith College), Prof Tristan Platt (Social Anthropology, U of St Andrews), Prof Gordon Brotherston (Languages, Linguistics and Cultures, U of Manchester), Dr Luciana Martins (Iberian and Latin American Studies, Birkbeck), Dr Colin McEwan (Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, British Museum).
Thursday 25 November, 10:00 - 15:00
Venue: Room G22/26 (Senate House, Ground Floor)
Focusing on South America, this interdisciplinary symposium organized by the Centre for Iberian and Latin American Visual Studies (CILAVS) at Birkbeck aims to foster discussion on the multiple ways of ordering, representing and “othering” nature and society within different experiences of colonial encounters. In the first part of the symposium, invited speakers will address the following questions: to what extent did the context of an informal empire produce different frames for interpreting different colonial experiences? What were the literary, scientific or aesthetic discourses and practices of Hispanic and Portuguese colonial powers in their attempts to control the apparent ‘disorder’ of the different worlds under their rule? In what ways did South Americans borrow from, resist or reconfigure European classifications?
In the second part, the collection of South American textiles held by the British Museum will provide the focus for a roundtable discussion on weaving practices as a particular way of organizing socio-cultural knowledge and histories.
December 2010
South American Archaeology Seminar
Saturday 4 December, 10:00 - 17:00
Venue: Institute of Archaeology
The Americas and the Cold War
Monday 6 December, 10:00 - 17:00
Venue: STB9 (Stewart House, basement)
Programme | Registration form
Chacaracual Community Conservation Area, Margarita Island: integration of biodiversity conservation with community development Bibiana Sucre, Asociación Civil Provita
Wednesday 8 December, 17:00 - 19:30
Venue: Room G32 (Senate House, Ground Floor)
ISA/WLT Biodiversity Conservation in Latin America Seminar Series
Latin American Independence Movements: Causes, Course and Consequences Confirmed participants include Professor David Brading (University of Cambridge), Professor Victor Bulmer-Thomas (University of London), Professor Nicola Miller (University College London), Eduardo Posada-Carbó (University of Oxford) and Dr Natalia Sobrevilla (University of Kent).
Friday 10 December, 13:00 - 18:30
Venue: Room 274/275 (Stewart House, Second floor)
The goal of this half-day workshop is to reflect on aspects of Latin American independence movements in the early nineteenth century and their longer-term consequences for different countries’ economics, politics and society and for the region’s international engagement. Speakers will address such topics as the implications of independence struggles for: Latin American state-making; political ideas and intellectual movements (republicanism, democracy, liberalism, nationalism) in the region; economic development and Latin America’s insertion in the international economy; the evolving role of the Catholic Church and religious sentiment; and the role of indigenous peoples.
February 2011
JISLAC Conference
Friday 25 February, 10:00 - 18:00
Venue: Room G22/26 (Senate House, Ground Floor)
May 2011
The Dominican Republic: Issues and prospects
Friday 6 May, 10:00 - 18:00
Venue: STB3/6 (Stewart House, basement)