The Once and Future President?

Hugo Chávez and the Future of Venezuela

Tony Spanakos

Department of Political Science

Monday April 27 2:30-4:00

University Hall Courtyard Lounge

On 15 Feb 2009, the Venezuelan electorate passed a constitutional
referendum removing term limits from government positions. Members of
the opposition claimed that this was part of a more general power grab
by President Hugo Chávez who, they claim, seeks to be president for
life. Chavez has said that his ten years in office is not enough to
correct all of the evils of the previous elite-led regime and that voter
choice should not be constrained by term limits.

Tony Spanakos, Department of Political Science, received a Fulbright Scholar grant to work at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Administration (IESA) in Caracas, Venezuela from January to August, 2008.  He will analyze what the referendum means for democracy, Venezuela, and Latin America more generally.

Collective Memory, Ongoing Resistance

Testimony from Guatemala

 Domingo Tum Mejía

Friday, April 24 from 10-11:15

University Hall Courtyard Lounge

Historical Memory ("Memoria Histórica"), a grassroots organization from Nebaj, Quiché in  Guatemala 's central highlands works  to achieve justice for crimes committed during  Guatemala 's 36-year civil war. Historical Memory, emphasizes how the past influences current community struggles in the region.  They recognize that the same motives that fueled military offensives of the 1980s – the push to control communities, their lands and resources – are propelling the economic and political powers of today to impose mega-development projects on indigenous peoples’ lands.

About the speaker

Domingo Tum Mejía was born in a small village near Sacapulas, Quiché in the northwestern highlands of Guatemala . The Quiché area was particularly hard-hit by the civil war that ravaged Guatemala for 36 years; over half of the 629 wartime massacres committed by the Army took place in that one region.
 Today, at the age of 35, Tum has reconstructed his memories as a child,  as well as the history of his family, his community, his region, and  his country. He is currently fighting nationally and internationally  to achieve justice for the genocide that took the lives of his parents and wiped out entire Maya communities.

Poetry Reading And Discussion by :

Luis Montesinos; Vincenzo Bollettino; Marta Lopez-Luaces; Carlos Ortiz.

April 15 from 1:00 - 2:15 PM in Cohen Lounge, Dickson Hall.

The reading is in Spanish and in English.

Sponsored by LASO, The Spanish Club, and the Spanish-Italian Dept.

The Extraordinary Art and Grace of Aztec Poetry

Provost Willard Gingerich

Tuesday, April 14th at 3:00pm DI 276

Sociability, Secrets and Identities:

 Key Issues in Sexual Politics in Latin America

Mario Pecheny,

Professor at the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina), Visiting Scholar at Monmouth University

Monday, April 6th 1:00pm

Cohen Lounge, Dickson Hall

In Latin America, as elsewhere, gays and lesbians have pursued political strategies to redefine their subordinate status. This presentation discusses the political claims of gays and lesbians, which are formulated in the name of rights. These rights are tools of the struggle to make issues of sexual and intimate relationships part of a broader demand for full and equal citizenship. After exploring the situation in cities such as Buenos Aires and other urban centers in Latin America, the presentation will focus on recent social changes in sexuality and intimate relationships in the region.

Mario Pecheny, Professor at the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina), Visiting Scholar at Monmouth University, former Tinker Visiting Professor at ILAS. He works on human rights, health and sexuality issues in Argentina and other Latin American countries and coordinates two global projects on sexual rights funded by the Ford Foundation.

Tea and Talk 

Nuestra America: Re-Approaching the Americas from a European Perspective

Ulla Kriebernegg

Center for the Study of the Americas

Karl-Franzens University of Graz, Austria

Wednesday February 18  2:30pm

Sprague Library Special Collections Room

Over a century after Cuban poet José Martí called for solidarity among the fledgling nations of Latin America in the face of colonialism and imperialism of Europe and the United States, there is still a tendency to equate America with the U.S. The practice in Latin American, Canadian, and Caribbean Studies is to view these disciplines in national and regional vacuums, which can be parochial when viewed from a European perspective. There is a need to shift the American dialogue from nation and region to hemisphere, from America to Americas.

 Global Education Center Visiting Scholar Ulla Kriebernegg is based at the Center of the Study of the Americas at Karl-Franzens University Graz, Austria. She studied English and American Studies and German Philology at Karl-Franzens University Graz, Austria and at University College Dublin, Ireland. She was a Visiting Scholar at the Boston College Center for International Higher Education and is a Salzburg Seminar alumna. She is currently preparing a PhD thesis on: "Transatlantic Relationships in Higher Education: An Analysis of Cultural Narratives".  She teaches Cultural Studies at the Department of American Studies at the University of Graz, and her research interests focus on North American literary and cultural studies, intercultural studies, inter-American studies, and the transatlantic dialogue on higher education.

Co-sponsored by the Global Education Center

Poetry Reading

Roberto Sosa With Jo Anne Engelbert, Translator and MSU Professor Emeritus

Tuesday Oct. 21 2:30pm: Courtyard Lounge, University Hall

Seating limited ; contact x 4185 or simonW@mail.montclair.edu to reserve a place.

Roberto Sosa, Poet-in-Residence at Montclair State University October 18-25, was born in Yoro, Honduras in 1930 into a poor family. His childhood coincides with the dictatorship of Tiburcio Carías Andino, a period of severe political repression. He spent his early life “working to earn honorably my frijoles, tortillas, books, and music.” His work is characterized by clarity and richness of language combined with an attack on privilege and oppression. After Sosa’s Los pobres (1969) won the Adonais Prize in Spain and Un mundo para todos dividido (1971) won the Casa de las Américas Prize in Cuba, Latin America began to recognize Sosa as a major poetic talent. Four collections of his poetry have been translated into English-The Difficult Days, Poems, The Common Grief (translated by Jo Anne Engelbert, Curbstone, 1994), and The Return of the River (translated by Jo Anne Engelbert, Curbstone, 2002). Sosa is currently the editor of a review of Central American arts, and teaches literature at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras. His poetry has been translated into French, German, Russian and English.

Co-Sponsored by The Global Education Center, the Spanish & Italian Department, 

the Graduate Program in Spanish & the Translating Program in the Spanish & Italian Department

A Time for Change: Revolution, Activism, and Feminism in Mozambique and Nicaragua