CERLAC Review: Events

On the evening of Friday, September 23, 2006, CERLAC and RedLEIDH proudly presented Nora Cortiñas, a co-founder of Argentina’s Madres de la Plaza de Mayo (Mothers of the May Square). Nora delivered the 2006 Michael Baptista Lecture to an auditorium packed with those eager to hear what this brave and inspiring leader had to say about human rights struggles in Argentina.
Her visit this year was especially timely, as 2006 marked the 30th anniversary of Argentina’s 1976 military coup d’état, which began a seven-year dictatorship during which an estimated 30,000 people were forcibly “disappeared,” tortured, and murdered.

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CERLAC Commemorates the 200th Anniversary of Abolition

Franklin W. Knight on Abolition and Slavery

by Karlee Sapoznik

On November 13, 2007, York’s Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC) and the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program (LACS) co-hosted a day of events with Professor Franklin W. Knight. The Leonard and Helen R. Stulman Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University spent his morning in discussion with CERLAC’s graduate students and graciously answered questions over lunch with students in the undergraduate LACS program. The day culminated with Knight’s much anticipated talk to an overflowing auditorium of students and faculty members.

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30 Years Since Argentine coup

by Shana Yael Shubs

March 24, 2006, marked the 30th anniversary of the beginning of one of the bloodiest periods in contemporary Argentinian history—the 1976-1983 military dictatorship. During this period, the military established a culture of terror, silence, and denial through their policy of “disappearances.” A national underground network of torture centres was established; tens of thousands of people were tortured, murdered, and disappeared, and children were stolen from their mothers and sold to the junta’s supporters.

The 30th Anniversary Committee is an ad-hoc group of Canadians and Argentinians interested in recovering the historical memory related to this crucial period in Argentina’s past. The group came together to honour the victims of state terrorism and to raise awareness about the connections between what happened in 1976 and current events in Argentina.

The Committee organized a series of events in Toronto to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the coup. CERLAC was proud to co-sponsor these events and to play a role on the organizing committee. The very well-attended activities included a film series, a round-table discussion, art exhibits, and a concert. For the full program of events and more information, see www.30aniversario.ca.

Now transformed into the Toronto branch of “Argentina-Canada Dialogue,” the Committee is dedicated to providing a space for enhancing understanding between Canadian and Argentinian societies and to strengthening the links between them. See www.argentina-canada.org.

Nora Cortiñas Delivers the 2006 Baptista Lecture

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Kathy Price of Amnesty International Canada introduced Nora and related some of the history of the Madres, as well as highlighting Canadian solidarity efforts with those who suffered under the dictatorship.

Then Nora stepped up to the podium and captivated the audience, telling her own dramatic personal story of grief and activism, recounting the incredible history of the brave and path-breaking Madres, and reaching out with her passionate call to action. She seamlessly linked her own story to a sharp analysis of systematic human rights abuses and broader struggles for social justice.

Nora’s personal story is both tragic and inspiring. Shortly after the “disappearance” of her son Carlos Gustavo—a university student and member of the Peronist Youth Movement—in April, 1977, Nora joined a group of mothers seeking to discover the whereabouts of their children. They held the first of a series of weekly protests in Buenos Aires’ central Plaza de Mayo that continue every Thursday to this day.

Nora recounted how the movement began amidst the terror of that period:

This gathering in the plaza was a visceral and spontaneous act. We didn’t know that we were coming to face some type of monster, nor did we think of the repercussions. It is because of our persistence and constant presence that the military itself called us the ‘crazy women’ of the Plaza de Mayo. And we showed them that yes, we were crazy, crazy in our love for our children, and that this love that we had for our sons and daughters propelled us to continue, in order to vindicate them every day in their struggle, in the love that they had for their people. From the Plaza, little by little, we began to organize visits to the military barracks. We went to many places, knocking on doors, asking questions.

Nora casts a wide net when discussing who was responsible for what occurred in Argentina, characterizing the nature of the regime that ruled the country during that period as “a civic-military dictatorship.”

“I say this,” she argued, “because this dictatorship was not only a product of the military—there were many civilians, politicians, trade unionists, bankers, entrepreneurs, and a very important faction of the highest positions within the Roman Catholic Church. Without this combination, such a degree of terror and hurt in our community would not have been possible.”

Nora conveyed to the audience how the violence and repression had political ends. “All of this was a persecution of the social activism of men and women, the majority of them between the ages of twenty and thirty years old. But they also took children, students, specialized trade workers, professionals—engineers, lawyers, teachers, psychologists—anyone they perceived to be a danger, anyone who valued the welfare of people was considered a subversive.”

The Madres themselves became targets of the dictatorship due to their organizing efforts. Nora described the serious persecution they faced, including their infiltration by the military and the disappearance of several of their members.

In addition to recounting the pain of this period, Nora also shared her gratitude for the international support she and the Madres received, and she discussed how the movement has grown to address broader struggles in Argentina and elsewhere.

As Nora reminded the audience, those who were disappeared “were fighting for social justice. They wanted people to live happily and with dignity. And that’s why we, the Madres, accompany social movements, defending public health services and education, land, housing, for there to be employment, and for the redistribution of wealth in Argentina.”

A particularly unjust legacy of the domestic and international failures and actions of the past, she noted, is Argentina’s foreign debt. When the “civic-military government began,” she pointed out, “we had a foreign debt of less than 7 billion dollars. When the dictatorship was over we owed almost 45 billion dollars.”

“That,” she argues, “is why we insist that the human cost of this foreign debt in Argentina are the 30,000 men and women who were disappeared. The human costs are those who were imprisoned, tortured, the internal and external exiles, the appropriated children, and the almost hundred children who still, on a daily basis, die of hunger or curable disease. That is why we insist that this debt cannot be paid. It is illegal because it has a high human cost.”

The connection Nora established between human cost and foreign debt illustrates how the Madres movement has grown over time to encompass not only crucial struggles for justice for the loss of their children and family members, but also broader issues of social and economic justice in the country.

While there remains a great deal to expose and progress has been slow at times, Nora has faith that they will achieve justice for those who were killed during the dictatorship. This is why the Madres continue to march each Thursday, demanding that the fate of the victims be made known, and demanding the social and economic rights for which they and their families have sacrificed so much.

Nora Cortiñas is a founding member of the Madres, a social psychologist, and professor in the Economics Department at the University of Buenos Aires.

The Michael Baptista Lecture is named in honour of Michael Baptista in recognition of the areas central to his spirit and success: the importance of his Guyanese / Caribbean roots, his dedication to and outstanding achievement at the Royal Bank of Canada, and his continued and unqualified drive and love of learning.

See video coverage of the 2006 Baptista Lecture on the CERLAC website: www.yorku.ca/cerlac.

Franklin W. Knight on Abolition and Slavery

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According to Professor Knight, two main factors were essential to achieving British abolition in 1807. First, the earlier efforts of concerned individuals, such as Bartolomé de las Casas, and Enlightenment thinkers, such as Montesquieu, emphasized that the structural organization of society was irrational and that a new set of political and ethical standards had to be conceived. Moreover, the contributions of historians and intellectuals such as Jamaica’s Edward Long and Cuba’s Francisco Arango y Parreño brought the issue of the immorality of the slave trade to the fore in a period when, as Professor Knight stressed, “no trade was more important than the African slave trade.” Secondly, sixty per cent of the Africans transported during the transatlantic slave trade arrived between 1701 and 1810, which made slavery, the major form of labour organization during the period, international in scope. This made its scrutiny a more feasible endeavour, from both sides of the Atlantic.

Professor Knight proposed that the transatlantic slave trade has to be analyzed beyond commercial or economic considerations, and must equally be viewed as a study of migration. The data suggest that, before 1820, African immigration exceeded non-African immigration by a ratio of three to one, and the volume of the slave trade gradually expanded with the decimation of local native populations. In this sense, the slave trade, as a migratory movement, contributed to the substantial reconstitution of the racial composition in many parts of the Americas. Although it is difficult to trace individual slave arrivals, the task is easier today than ever before, given DNA technology and many unexplored archival records, which could further clarify the depth of the slave trade migratory flows.

Professor Knight also argued that the British abolition of the slave trade in 1807, considered to be a turning point in human history and the quest for human rights, reflected important changes in the international arena. However, the multiple causal factors that coincided to erode support for the American slave systems during the 18th and 19th centuries indicate the unexceptional nature of the British deed. Economically, the French centres of sugar production were altered and disrupted in the aftermath of the French Revolution and the slave revolt in Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti), eventually resulting in the achievement of Haiti’s status as the second free state in the Americas in 1804.

The abolition of the British slave trade was thus important, but must be placed in its historical context. As Professor Knight concluded, “the abolition of the trade must include the heroic deeds of the slaves themselves and above all those of Saint-Domingue.” The Haitians lacked external support as they wrote and implemented a revolutionary, progressive constitution and declared their independence. This tremendous feat was extremely costly, as is evident in the state of Haiti in world affairs today.

The Political Economy of Social (In)Justice in Latin America:

Panels in honour of Liisa North

by John Carlaw

CERLAC honoured the career and “retirement” of Professor Liisa North from June 1 to 3, 2006, as part of the 75th Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences hosted by York University.

In a series of panels, Liisa’s colleagues and students celebrated her contributions to Latin American studies and her long-lasting commitment to social change. The panels, which included scholars from Canada and across the Americas, focused on issues that have been of importance to Liisa’s work, such as the roots of inequality, political and social exclusion, the role of Canada in the region, and the significance of struggles for social justice. The superb series of panels and workshops brought together many dear friends and colleagues and grappled with issues of interest and importance to us all. It was a real treat for the CERLAC community.

As part of these events, on June 2 CERLAC hosted a reception in Liisa’s honour, where conference participants and other invitees discussed and celebrated her legacy, reflecting the breadth of her influence at York, across Canada, and throughout the Americas.

A former director of CERLAC (1989–91), Liisa was instrumental in its founding. As Louis Lefeber, CERLAC’s founding director (1978–84) noted, she contributed her own connections and scholarship to the work of the Centre, and “most of all, her single-minded dedication. Ever since her arrival at York, she has been an outstanding teacher, researcher, worker for human rights, and a defender of academic decency.”

At the reception, Gavin Fridell, a CERLAC Research Associate and recent graduate of York’s PhD program in Political Science, described several aspects of Liisa’s intellectual legacy, which, in addition to her dedication to social justice, include “a respect for history, diversity, specificity, and rigorous, grounded research, and for the subject or social actors you are studying.” He commented that Liisa avoids “getting lost in theory” and possesses the ability to “recognize situations that real people are in, and the limits and possibilities they face,” while walking the “very hard line” of “not being scared to raise critical questions about contemporary movements and the subjects you are investigating.”

Judy and Steve Hellman of York’s Political Science Department commented via an email read to the group on “the inevitably helpful, penetrating, always relevant, and important comments written in a looping but very clear script in the margins of tens of thousands of pages of manuscripts, thesis chapters, and major and minor papers that, over the years, Liisa has written for others.”

Another former CERLAC Director, Ricardo Grinspun (1995–99) described some of Liisa’s major activities that have gone beyond the confines of academia. He noted that Liisa worked early on with refugees in Canada fleeing the military dictatorships of the Americas, she helped to organize five influential roundtables, and she wrote and co-authored two books on finding a just and peaceful resolution to the Central American conflicts. Along with her students, she was also one of the founders of a non-governmental group, CAPA (Canada-Americas Policy Alternatives), one of the precursors of the Americas Policy Group in Ottawa.

The illusory nature of any notion of Liisa as having “retired” was not lost on those who commented on her career, given her continued busy schedule in Canada and Ecuador and her ongoing support for many students.

Louis Lefeber, who noted “any celebration in honour of Liisa’s retirement is entirely premature,” perhaps best captured this reality. He suggested that, “Liisa will never retire. We have no category for Life Fellows at CERLAC, but we have one now. Liisa is a Fellow for life”—a sentiment that was enthusiastically endorsed by all present, celebrating her career up to the milestone of her official “retirement” from York’s Political Science Department.

Liisa's colleagues and former students say:

“I chose to study at York specifically to work with Liisa, by far one of my smartest life choices. I hope that one day I can be the role model, counsellor, and attentive teacher that she has been for me and others. Most of all, I hope that I am able to reproduce the ideal blend of scholarship and NGO activism that she has so gracefully and successfully managed throughout her life.”

Yasmine Shamsie, former student, now Assistant Professor of Political Science at Wilfrid Laurier University

“Liisa has educated her students by making them collaborators. Many of them got their first publications as Liisa’s co-authors. And many of them have become recognized scholars in their own right. Liisa has been a prime contributor to Latin American studies not only at York, but all over Canada.

In her defence of human rights and decent academic practices, she has never hesitated to confront academic administrators, presidents, deans and high-level public servants, and even gun-toting generals.”

Louis Lefeber, Founding Director of CERLAC (1978–1984), Professor Emeritus, Economics, York University

“Liisa has been an exemplary scholar. Her early work at CERLAC with other colleagues was path- breaking. That was a path of committed scholarship—to social justice, to the highest academic standards, to independent thought, to critical inquiry, to field research, and in general to academic life as a passionate mission.

Liisa is a wonderful human being. She cares deeply about her students, friends and colleagues, and about people in general, and has an amazing capacity to remember every detail about what they are doing, how, and where. She also has endless energy to talk about it. So, if you get her going about one of her students, or about her latest research trip to Ecuador, well, you better be prepared to sit for a while… and if you are wise, you will listen, as you’ve found a source of insight, wisdom, and unmatched passion for a better world.”

Ricardo Grinspun, former Director of CERLAC (1995–1999), Associate Professor of Economics, York University

“Liisa’s devotion to social justice lies at the heart of everything Liisa does. It is why she does academic work. She has always served as a great reminder of how the two can and should be intricately connected.”

Gavin Fridell, former student, now Assistant Professor of Political Studies, Trent University

They Came in Ships: Imperialism, Migration and Asian Diasporas in the 19th Century

Walton Look Lai delivers 7th annual Jagan Lecture

by William Doyle-Marshall

Walton Look Lai, retired professor of history at the University of the West Indies, delivered the 2007 Jagan Lecture, “They Came in Ships: Imperialism, Migration, and Asian Diasporas in the 19th Century” on October 20, 2007. The Oxford-trained lawyer and activist offered his insights into how people of Chinese and Indian origin arrived in the Caribbean and the role they played in the global sugar industry in the 19th century.

Dr. Look Lai’s talk centred on the increasingly integrated global economy of the 19th century and the emergence of an industrial, urban sector and a complementary rural, agricultural, and tropical sector: a global city and global countryside, respectively. In the migrations that took place during this period, Western Europeans tended to flock to the urban centres, while a majority of Indian and Chinese migrants arrived in the rural, tropical destinations. These patterns laid the foundation for an international racial division of labour in the emerging global scenario.

The overwhelming majority of Asian migrants, Dr. Look Lai said, ended up as indentured sugar workers. In fact, the revival of the indentured labour system in the 19th century seems to have been connected to the creation of the global sugar industry. Dr. Look Lai noted that a recent study of 19th century indenture hardly mentions any other industry in its overview of how the institution functioned during this period. He added that the study’s author situates the revival of this coerced labour around the end of African slavery in the British Empire, with the plantation owners’ need to find alternative sources of labour when trouble with the traditional labour system began to arise post-emancipation.

The Trinidad-born scholar went on to discuss the subsequent assimilation process for the Chinese and Indian migrants into their host countries. The indenture system, introduced by colonialism, was the connecting point for these diasporic communities who are now settled in Canada, across North America, and throughout the Caribbean.

Adapted from articles in CANADAextra and Indo Caribbean World with permission from the author.

Walton Look Lai's lecture and all previous Jagan Lectures are available online as CERLAC Colloquia Papers:

www.yorku.ca/cerlac/publications.htm

More about the Jagan Lecture Series:

www.yorku.ca/cerlac/projects.htm#jagan

Brazilian Studies Seminar Series - 2006-2007

In 2006, the York/CERLAC Brazilian Studies Seminar Series was launched. The seminar series, headed by CERLAC Fellow Ellie Perkins, is an informal, wide-ranging, and friendly opportunity to share and discuss current work related to Brazil with others at York. Throughout 2006 and 2007, students and researchers met on Wednesdays over lunch to discuss an array of topics including, but not limited to, environmental issues, activism, and identity.

To receive information and updates about the Brazilian Studies Seminar Series, write to Ellie Perkins at esperk@yorku.ca.

We Work Hard at Entertainment: Popular Music as Profession. Sept. 20, 2006. Jeff Packman.

Natural Disasters in Brazil. Sept. 20, 2006. Katia Canil.

Public Participation in Water Management in Piracicaba. Sept. 27, 2006. Laura Antoniazzi.

Exploring the Possibilities for an Emancipatory Approach to Formal Environmental Education in Taboão da Serra, Brazil. Oct. 4, 2006. Aneela Bisram.

Landscape Ecology and Planning in the Poá Creek Watershed. Oct. 4, 2006. Julia Leite.

Bahia, Brazil: Sugar, Oil & Atlantic Identities. Oct. 11, 2006. Dr. Livio Sansone, Anthropology, University of Bahia.

Participation & Corporate Social Responsibility in Local Agenda 21: A Case Study from São Paulo, Brazil. Oct. 18, 2006. Arlita McNamee.

Cacao Workers in Bahia. Oct. 25, 2006. Frank Luce.

Sambas, Rodas and Raizes. Nov. 8, 2006. Danielle Robinson, Dance, York University.

Capoeira in Brazil. Nov. 15, 2006. Marcio Mendes.

Community Participation in Brazil and Mozambique. Nov. 22, 2006. Alex Arnall, Oxford University.

Gender, Representation and Elections: the Female Presence in the Brazilian Senate. Nov. 29, 2006. Simone Bohn, Political Science, York University.

African Slaves in Northern Brazil, 1755–1777. Dec. 6, 2006. Carlos Liberato.

Analysis of a Brazilian Urban Landscape: the Poá Creek Watershed. Dec. 6, 2006. Julia Leite.

Between Food and Other Things. Video Documentary. Feb. 7, 2007. Fred Yurichuck, MES Student, York University.

The Toronto Brazilian “Community”: Bringing Brazilian Class into Canadian Context. Feb. 21, 2007. Katherine Brasch, PhD Student, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.

Multicultural Education in a North-South Context: The Comparatives Impacts of Official Multicultural Legislation in Canada and Brazil. March 7, 2007. Fabiane Bastos, Master’s Student, Faculty of Education, York University.

The Transnational Dimensions of Afro-Brazilian Women’s Identities and Activism. March 21, 2007. Jessica Franklin, PhD candidate, Department of Political Science, McMaster University.

Refugee Integration and Social Capital -- São Paulo and Toronto. Sept. 19, 2007. Andrea Pacheco Pacifico

Black Identity and Race quota Policies in Brazil. Oct. 3, 2007. Gislene Aparecida dos Santos.

Mestiza Consciousness of a Brazilian Present and Possible Futures. Oct. 17, 2007. Gena Chang-Campbell.

Gabriela’s Sisters: Women Working in Cacao. Oct. 31, 2007. Frank Luce.

Toward Popular Environmental Education in Marginalized Watershed Communities: The Case Study of São Paulo. November 14, 2007. Claudia de Simone.

Universidade Federal de Goias: The Workers’ Party and President Lula: Then & Now. Nov. 21, 2007. Denise Paiva.

Environmental Education with Youth -- Brazil and Toronto. Nov. 28, 2007. Paulo Marco.

To receive information and updates about the Brazilian Studies Seminar Series,

write to Ellie Perkins at esperk@yorku.ca.

CERLAC Events: 2006-2007

2006

With the Poor of the Earth. Jan. 19, 2006. Film Screening.

Environmental Education Through Community Arts: The Kuna Children’s Art Project in Kuna Yala, Panama. Jan. 24, 2006. Brown Bag Seminar. Laura Reinsborough, MES Candidate, Environmental Studies.

Uncomfortable: The Art of Christopher Cozier. Jan. 30, 2006. Film Screening and Discussion. Christopher Cozier, Trinidadian artist.

A Look at Haiti: A Discussion and Film Screening Two Years After the Coup. Feb. 21, 2006. Film Screening and Panel Discussion. Nadine Pequeneza, independent documentary filmmaker and journalist; Zac Smith and Dan Freeman-Maloy, York students and organizers with the Toronto Haiti Action Committee.

Undermining Democracy in Haiti. Feb. 27, 2006. Visiting Speaker. Patrick Elie, rights activist and former member of Jean Bertrand Aristide’s first government.

Political Violence and the Guatemalan CICIACS. Mar. 7, 2006. Brown Bag Seminar. Simon Granovsky-Larsen, MA Candidate, Social and Political Thought.

Wetback: The Undocumented Documentary. Mar. 8, 2006. Film Screening and Discussion. Arturo Perez Torres, director.

30th Anniversary of the Argentine Coup d’Etat. Mar. 24–Apr. 1, 2006. Series of Events.

The Contra War as Another US-Indian War. Mar. 28, 2006. Visiting Speaker. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Professor Emerita, California State University, Hayward.

Chiapas Indigenous Women’s Fair Trade Weaving Cooperative. Mar 29, 2006. Visiting Speaker. Representatives from Jolom Mayaetik and K’inal Antzetik.

From Civil War to Neoliberalism: El Salvador Since the Peace Accords. April 25, 2006. Visiting Speakers. Dr. Lisa Kowalchuk, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Guelph; Rusa Jeremic, Kairos Canada; and Alfredo Marroquin, Salvaide Toronto.

The Venezuelan Labour Movement in the Epoch of Globalization. May 25, 2006. Visiting Speaker. Francisco Iturraspe, Professor, Central University of Venezuela.

The Political Economy of Social (In)Justice in Latin America: Panels in Honour of Liisa North. June 1–3, 2006. Conference. 75th Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences.

An Evening of Testimonies, Poetry and Film. June 12, 2006. Visiting Speakers. Erika Del Carmen Fuchs, participant in the Other Campaign in Mexico; Maka, independent media journalist and activist; and R.H.Y.M.E. Poetry Collective.

What’s Behind the Secret Negotiation of the Canada–Central America Free Trade Agreement (CA4FTA)? June 22, 2006. Visiting Speakers. Raúl Moreno, Sinti Techan Citzens’ Action Network, El Salvador; Suzanne Rumsey, Co-Chair Americas Policy Group, Canadian Council for International Cooperation (CCIC)/ Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF), Anglican Church of Canada.

Canadian Mining Abuses Overseas: The Pascua Lama Case in Northern Chile. Sept. 13, 2006. Panel Discussion. Luis Faura, City Councilor, Huasco Valley; Lucio Cuenca, Latin American Observatory of Environmental Conflicts; Luz Bascunan (Moderator).

The 2006 Michael Baptista Lecture. Sept. 22, 2006. Baptista Lecture. Nora Cortiñas, Madres de Plaza de Mayo, Línea Fundadora.

Afrocuban Culture and Spirituality. Oct. 5, 2006. Visiting Speaker. Victor Oscar Perez Rodriguez, Cultural Promoter, Municipal Office of Culture, Baracoa, Cuba.

Bolivia Rising: The Struggles of Bolivian Social Movements. Oct. 12, 2006. Visiting Speakers. Lydia Robles Arteaga, Coordinator of Water and Textile Workers of Cochabamba, and Alberto Camacho, Union of Bolivian Postal Workers.

Out from Under: Shifting Forces in Latin America (How Can Canada Connect to Changes Ocurring in Our Hemisphere?) Oct. 15, 2006. Conference.

The Struggle for Change: El Salvador in Crisis. Oct. 19, 2006. Visiting Speaker. Blanca Flor Bonilla, member of the FMLN Legislative Assembly Caucus in El Salvador.

Voices of Victims: Their Proposals for Peace with Justice in Colombia. Oct. 19, 2006. Visiting Speakers. Lilia Solano Ramirez, human rights defender and founder, Movement of Victims of Human Rights Abuses in Colombia; with a youth spokesperson and member of the Movement of Human Rights Abuses in Colombia.

The Securitization of Citizenship under Colombia’s Democratic Security Policy. Nov. 7, 2006. Visiting Speaker. Dr. Christina Rojas, Associate Professor, School of International Affairs, Carleton University.

The Oaxaca Crisis: Progressive Perspectives on the Crisis of the State and Civil Disobedient Turmoil in Contemporary Mexico. Nov. 14, 2006. Visiting Speakers. Dr. Richard Roman, Professor, Sociology, University of Toronto; Dr. Luisa Ortiz Pérez, Nova, Mexico City; and Rogelio Cuevas Fuentes, political refugee from Oaxaca.

Multiculturalism as More than the Sum of Ethnicities: Experiences from the Anglophone Caribbean. Nov. 15, 2006. UCGS Seminar. Sara Abraham, Assistant Professor, Sociology, University of Toronto.

What Next in Cuba? Nov. 21, 2006. Visiting Speaker. John Kirk, Professor of Latin American History, Spanish Language and Latin American Culture at Dalhousie University and Adjunct Professor in International Development Studies at Saint Mary’s University.

Reflections on the Election Year in Latin America: Bolivia, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua & Venezuela. Nov. 22, 2006. UCGS Panel Discussion. Jonah Gindin, independent journalist; René Guerra Salazar, PhD candidate, University of Toronto; Jasmin Hristov, PhD candidate, Sociology, York University; Thomas Marois, PhD candidate, Political Science, York University; Jeff Weber, PhD candidate, Political Science, University of Toronto, editor of New Socialist.

Haitian Migration in the Dominican Media: Perspectives on Contemporary Dominican-Haitian Relations. Nov. 23, 2006. Brown Bag Seminar. Melisa Bretón, MA candidate, Political Science.

2007

The Curse of Copper: No Means No to Ascendant Copper in Ecuador. Jan. 11, 2007. Film screening. Chair: Liisa North, CERLAC Fellow, Professor Emeritus, York University.

Peace-Building or Imperial State-Building? Peace-Building and Privatization in Guatemala (Including Canada’s Role in the New Imperialism). Jan. 16, 2007. Brown Bag Seminar. Michael Skinner, PhD Candidate, Political Science, York University.

Argentina after the 2001 Rebellion: Social Movements and the New Political Paradigm. Jan 23, 2007. Brown Bag Seminar. Gabriela Agatiello, MA Candidate, Political Science, York University.

Inside the Para=Narco=State: Understanding the Paramilitarization of Colombia. Jan. 25, 2007. Brown Bag Seminar. Jasmin Hristov, PhD Candidate, Sociology, York University.

Regulating ‘Dangerous Sexualities’ and ‘Infected Centers’: Medical Practitioners and the Containment of Afro Barbadian Female Erotic Bodies in Post-Slavery Barbados, 1868-1887. Jan. 30, 2007. Brown Bag Seminar. Denise Challenger, PhD Candidate, History, York University.

Assessing Participatory Conservation and Development: Unequal Relations of Power, Competing Interests, and the Politics of the Local. Feb. 1, 2007. Brown Bag Seminar. Kate Ervine, PhD Candidate, Political Science.

Left and Right in the Americas: Mobilization and Reaction in Venezuela, Bolivia & Mexico. Feb. 22, 2007. Visiting Speaker. Fred Rosen, Editor-in-Chief, NACLA Report on the Americas.

‘Miskitus & Sandinistas: Old enemies, new friends’ – Elections and Autonomy on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua. Feb. 27, 2007. Brown Bag Seminar. Screening of “YATAMA: Its struggle for a real autonomy” and panel discussion with Robert Sharp, FSLN political activist; Dolores Figueroa, PhD candidate Sociology; and Miguel Gonzalez, PhD candidate, Political Science, York University.

Another Lost Decade: Privatization, neoliberalism and access to water in Buenos Aires, Argentina. March 6, 2007. Brown Bag Seminar. Fernando Rouaux, MES Candidate, York University.

Our History is Still Being Written: The Story of Three Chinese-Cuban Generals in the Cuban Revolution. March 14, 2007. Visiting Speakers.Laureano Cardoso, Consulate General of Cuba in Toronto; Mary-Alice Waters, Editor of Our History Is Still Being Written, President, Pathfinder Press.

Fair Trade Coffee: Ethical Fig Leaf or Proof That Market-Driven Social Justice Works? March 15, 2007. Visiting Speakers. Gavin Fridell, Author of Fair Trade Coffee; Bill Barrett, Director of Planet Bean coffee in Guelph; and Darryl Reed, Chair, Social Sciences, York University.

Colombia: Truth and Justice in the Search for Peace. March 15, 2007. Roundtable. Martha Domico, daughter of Indigenous leader Kimy Pernia Domico, with other leaders of Colombia’s Indigenous and Afro-Colombian peoples and the human rights movement.

Ethnicity, Violence and Exclusion in Colombia: The Struggles of Indigenous and Afro-Colombian Communities. March 15-16, 2007. Conference.

The Worker-Recovered Enterprises in Argentina: Worker Self-Management and Hope within Socio-Economic Crisis. March 20, 2007. Brown Bag Seminar. Marcelo Vieta, PhD Candidate, Social and Political Thought, York University.

Cuba & Latina America Today. March 28, 2007. Visiting Speakers. Basilio Gutiérrez and Fernando Duque, representatives of ICAP (Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos).

Nicaragua - A Fragile Hope. January to June 2007. Photo Exhibit. A Photo Exhibit by Anneli Tolvanen.

Let’s Not Let the Hate Defeat Us: An Account of the Tumultuous Events of the Week of January 4-11th, 2007 in Cochabamba, Bolivia. March 26, 2007. Visiting Speaker. Eduardo Sousa, Council of Canadians.

Building Power: Social and Political Transformations in Latin America. April 13-14, 2007. Conference.

A Philosophical Anthropology of Slavery and Freedom. April 12, 2007. Visiting Speaker. Dr. Lewis R. Gordon, Temple University.

Autogestión in Argentina: Self-Management, Recovering Work, Recovering Life. April 17, 2007. Visiting Speaker. Mario Alberto Barrios, General Secretary of the National Association of Self-Managed Workers of the Industrial Federation, Argentina Workers’ Central. Chair: Marcelo Vieta, PhD candidate, Social and Political Thought, York University.

Contemporary Brazilian Foreign Policy: New and Old Paths. May 2, 2007. Visiting Speaker. Professor Rafael Villa, Director of the International Research Nucleus at the University of São Paulo, Brazil.

A 15 Años de los Acuerdos de Paz en El Salvador: Aporte de los Medios de Comunicación al Proceso (Foro de Medios Salvadoreños). May 19, 2007. Panel Discussion. With Salvadoran journalists Mauricio Funes, Gabriel Trillos, and Serafín Valencia.

From Haiti: Women’s Rights and Trade Union Organizers Speak Out. May 25, 2007. Panel Discussion. Ginette Apollon and Euvonie Georges-Auguste.

The Workers’ Economy: Self-Management and the Distribution of Wealth. July 19-21, 2007. Conference. Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, University of Buenos Aires.

Globalización, Mujer y Trabajo en el Norte de México: Vulnerabilidad y Precariedad. Sept. 10, 2007. Visiting Speakers. María Eugenia de la O, Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, Guadalajara, México; Edmé Domínguez, Escuela de Estudios Globales del Instituto Iberoamericano, Universidad de Gotemburgo, Suecia; Silvia López, Departamento de Estudios de la Población, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, México; and Cirila Quintero, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, México.

Derechos Económicos de Género y Sindicalismo: El Caso de Argentina. Sept. 11, 2007. Visiting Speaker. Graciela Di Marco, Directora, Centro de Estudios sobre Democratización y Derechos Humanos, Universidad Nacional de San Martín.

New Perspectives on Cuba. Sept. 12, 2007. Visiting Speakers. Samuel Furé Davis, Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Havana; and Javier Gilberto Cabrera Trimiño Professor, Centre of Demographic Studies (CEDEM), University of Havana.

The Struggles of Indigenous People in Peru: Historical Overview & Current Situation. Sept. 13, 2007. Visiting Speaker. Hugo Blanco Galdós, Director, Lucha Indígena.

Social Economy as an Alternative to Globalization. Sept. 17, 2007. Visiting Speaker. Rosa García Corado, Alianza por la Vida y la Paz, Guatemala.

Venezuela and 21st Century Socialism. Oct. 9, 2007. Visiting Speaker. Diana Raby, Senior Research Fellow at the Research Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Liverpool.

Resurgent Voices: A Post Hurricane Benefit for BilwiVision and Autonomous Media in Nicaragua. Hurricane Felix Benefit. Oct. 15, 2007.

They Came in Ships: Materialism, Migration and Asian Diasporas in the 19th Century. Oct. 20, 2007. Jagan Lecture. Walton Look Lai, recently retired Lecturer in the History Department of the University of the West Indies in Trinidad.

Sugar, Migration, and Oral History in Twentieth-Century Cuba. Oct. 22, 2007. Visiting Speakers. Gillian McGillivray, Glendon College, York University, and José Abreu, Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba.

So You Want to be a Coolie Woman? The Negotiation of Cooliehood in Janice Shinebourne’s The Last English Plantation. Oct. 23, 2007. Brown Bag Seminar. Tanita Muneshwar, MA Candidate, Interdisciplinary Studies, York University.

Taking care of bodies: Sport, physical education and health in the French West Indies since the end of the 19th century. Nov. 1, 2007. Visiting Speaker. Jacques Dumont, Assistant Professor at the University of the French West Indies and Guyana (UAG).

Elusive Democracy: Oligarchic Consolidation in Post-War El Salvador. Nov. 6, 2007. Brown Bag Seminar. Carlos Velásquez, PhD Candidate, Political Science, York University.

The Context of Atlantic Slavery and the Abolition of the British Slave Trade. Nov. 13, 2007. Visiting Speaker. Franklin W. Knight, Leonard and Helen R. Stulman Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.

Canada - US - Mexico Integration: Do Transnational Networks Lead to Health Policy and Health Service Convergence? Nov. 15, 2007. Visiting Speaker. Nielan Barnes, Fullbright Scholar and Assistant Professor of Sociology at California State University at Long Beach.

Youth Violence Prevention in Post-War El Salvador. Nov. 27, 2007. Visiting Speaker. Transito Ruano, Director, PASSOS Education and Training Centre, El Salvador.

Fieldwork in the Global South: Methods, Ethics and Activism. Nov. 30, 2007. UCGS Symposium.