York-URACCAN Linkage Project is Underway
Update on the Caribbean Religions Project
CERLAC Project Focuses on Central American Civil Society and Integration
Guatemalan Refugee Return Project
Salvadorans and Guatemalans in Toronto
Interamerican Consortium on Agroecology and Sustainable Development Proposal Submitted
Lecture Series on "Latin America on the Eve of the Twenty-First Century"
York Wins North American Student Mobility Award
Baptista Lecture and Essay Program Announced

York -URACCAN Linkage Project is Underway

In the fall of 1996, the Linkage Proposal between CERLAC and the University of the Autonomous Regions of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua (URACCAN) was granted $750,000 in funding to carry out a five-year institutional development project. The URACCAN Linkage Project will undertake activities which will strengthen URACCAN's capacity to fulfil its mandate. URACCAN was established on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua in 1992, to educate and train local residents so that they may work to promote the cultural, economic, and social development of these regions. The university is expected to play a key role in the realization and strengthening of the region's autonomy, granted to it by the Nicaraguan government in 1987.
 

BACKGROUND

The Caribbean Coastal region of Nicaragua consists of many different ethno-cultural communities including Creole, Mestizo, Miskito, Sumo, Rama and Garifuna peoples whose languages include English, Spanish, Creole and Miskito. The university was created by members of these various communities, and through its bottom-up approach, is dedicated to being shaped by the needs and aspirations of the peoples of the region. The university is located at three regional campuses - Bluefields, Siuna and Bilwi (Puerto Cabezas) - and after nearly four years in existence, has surpassed a total enrollment of 2,000 students.

Thus far, a wide variety of courses have been offered, including degree programmes in the disciplines of teacher education, nursing sciences, sociology and anthropology, as well as sustainable resource management in the areas of fishing, mining and forestry. As part of its community outreach program, URACCAN is also offering over 50 seminars in areas such as ecological tourism, business management, cooperativism, community development, human rights, Indigenous rights, gender issues, electoral rights, culture, and bilingualism.
 

THE PROJECT

The main goal of the Linkage project is to help URACCAN fulfil its mandate by strengthening the latter's capacity to develop the human resources of the Caribbean Coast so that it can better meet the region's needs in the areas of poverty alleviation, sustainable development, and community development.

The project will meet its overall objectives through five areas of concentration. Faculty development will foster the sustainability of URACCAN's teaching capacity by furthering the formal academic training of URACCAN faculty. Programme and curriculum development will be directed at developing new courses that are oriented and responsive to community needs, and improving teaching methods at URACCAN. Community outreach, education and leadership development will be carried out through the enhancement of URACCAN's existing leadership education programs and community outreach courses. Research capacity will be increased through an effort to develop an active research agenda that meets the needs of Nicaragua's Caribbean coast. Finally, information and communications development will be improved through the transfer of technology, resources and training.

Funding for this project was granted through the University Partnerships in Cooperation and Development Program (UPCD), an initiative of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) and the Canadian Partnership Branch of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
 

ACTIVITIES

Since its inception, the URACCAN project team has organized many activities around the Linkage project. Dr. Myrna Cunningham, Rector of URACCAN, was at York to deliver a plenary presentation for the CALACS Congress in October 1996, at which time the funding for the project was announced. In the following months, several visits took place. In December 1996, Harry Smaller (Faculty of Education), who serves as project Director, Eduardo Canel (Social Science), and Patrick Taylor (Humanities) visited Managua and the three URACCAN Campuses to plan the implementation of the project.

Ray Hooker was warmly received at York in January where he gave a lecture on "Politics and Education on Nicaragua's Caribbean Coast - Historical and Contemporary Perspectives." Mr. Hooker has been actively involved in community development projects in the Caribbean coastal region of Nicaragua for many years. A representative of the Caribbean Coast to Nicaragua's National Assembly for twelve years, he now plays a key role in the Masters programme component of the linkage project. Felipe Stuart, a CUSO cooperant, and an active Nicaraguan counterpart of the URACCAN project, arrived in July for an extended visit. He has been taking part in the URACCAN project meetings alongside the Canadian members of the team.

In February, Harry Smaller and Rebeccah Nelems (Master student in Social and Political Thought, York) visited URACCAN where they met with various URACCAN faculty, administrators and students as well as with members of other organizations working on the Caribbean coast. Marianne Kelley (Academic Advisor, Founders College, York), who plays a key role in the organizing team, visited URACCAN in March to generally oversee the project and to aid in the establishment of the English as a Second Language component of the Linkage programme. Also, Susan Heald of the Women's Studies Programme at the University of Manitoba spent two and a half months in Nicaragua this spring facilitating workshops on gender along side URACCAN faculty. The workshops were funded by the Canadian Bureau of International Education (CBIE) and CIDA.

The largest component of the project started this past February as URACCAN nominated twenty-one of its faculty members to apply to be Masters students at York. Over the next five years, six of these students will come to York to pursue their studies. The remaining fifteen will receive their Masters Degrees in Interdisciplinary Studies in Nicaragua through a combination of distance education and courses conducted by visiting York professors. Marianne Kelley, Nadine Jubb (Ph.D. candidate, Political Science, York), and Kirsten Iler (Master candidate, Women's Studies, York) will teach the first on-site course for the Masters candidates this July. The course will focus on enhancing academic and research skills necessary for graduate school.

If you would like to become involved in the project, there is presently need for people to travel to Nicaragua to teach English as a second language. For more information, please contact Marianne Kelley through Founders College, York University. Also, the University will be celebrating its third anniversary with a conference to be held in Managua, Nicaragua in October 1997.

For more information, please contact CERLAC.  Visit the URACCAN Project Website.

Update on the Caribbean Religions Project

The Caribbean Religions Project is an interdisciplinary, collaborative research project designed to identify, describe and analyse Caribbean religious phenomena both from a comparative and a historical perspective. Funded by SSHRC, the results of the joint project will be published in the form of an Encyclopaedia of Caribbean Religions.

Following the project's first workshop in Cuba in 1995, a second workshop was held at the University of the West Indies, Trinidad in August 1996 entitled "African, Indian and Indigenous Religions of the Caribbean". The three day workshop attracted over fifty practitioners, advocates and scholars of Caribbean religions from the Caribbean, North America, Africa and India. Workshop panels which focused on topics such as Hinduism, Kali worship, Islam, Orisha, Santeria, Voodoo, Winti and the Shouter-Baptists resulted in lively discussions of religious meaning, monotheism and polytheism, gender roles and female leadership, cultural syncretism, nationalist politics, modernity, and creolization. CERLAC Fellow Frederick I. Case (New College, University of Toronto), Patrick Taylor (Project Leader and Deputy Director of CERLAC), and Sean Meighoo (Interdisciplinary Studies, York) attended.

The Caribbean Religions Project sponsored a series of panels on Caribbean religion at the 27th Annual CALACS Congress. The highlight of this portion of the conference was a moving spiritual celebration entitled "An Evening with Eva" featuring Cuban Espiritualista, Eva Fernandez (see CALACS Congress).

CERLAC Project Focuses on Central American Civil
Society and Integration

CERLAC is the Canadian partner in a new two year, $800,000 CIDA-funded project. The project has been successful in the PAR competition managed for CIDA by the consulting firm CRC-SOGEMA. The Central American partner and the coordinator of the project is the General Secretariat of the Central American Integration System (SG-SICA) which was formally established in 1993 when the Central American presidents outlined the principles and institutional mechanisms for regional integration. The Central Americans envisioned a regional strategy of development oriented to equity and sustainable development. CERLAC's partnership with SICA will strengthen the participation of Central American civil society organizations in the regional integration process, by enhancing their communication and networking capacities.
 

BACKGROUND

CERLAC developed a working relationship with SICA in 1995. SICA was formally established in 1993, following the 1991 Tegucigalpa Accord, in which the Central American Presidents decided to establish the principles and the institutional mechanisms for Central American integration. SICA is today composed of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. An umbrella organization that folds all the institutions of Central American integration, it has a broad mandate to subsume and coordinate all the activities regarding diverse aspects of integration.

SG-SICA (based in San Salvador, El Salvador) and CERLAC decided to engage in sustained institutional collaboration, with a focus on the implementation of institutional development projects funded by the Canadian government. Dr. Roberto Herrera C., the Secretary General, visited York University during April 1996 to sign a collaboration agreement with York. His visit in Toronto and Ottawa was coordinated by CERLAC, including his encounters with governmental, non-governmental and business sectors in Canada.

CIDA recently established a Program to Support Regional Initiatives (Programa de Apoyo Regional, or PAR, in Spanish) in Central America and commissioned CRC-SOGEMA, a consultancy firm with branches in Quebec and in San Jose, Costa Rica to manage it. The first PAR competition was in December 1995, and SG-SICA, in collaboration with CERLAC, submitted a proposal focused on electronic networks and information technology. The proposal submitted in the first competition was not successful, but SG-SICA and CERLAC, in collaboration with Association of Central American Rural Organizations for Cooperation and Development (ASOCODE) and other civil society organizations, submitted a letter of intent for the second bidding in May 1996. This submission focused on communication networks to support civil society organizations in Central America. This submission was successful, and the team was requested to prepare the detailed proposal that serves as a basis for the project.
 

THE PROJECT

The objective of the project is to strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations to participate in the regional integration process through enhanced communication and networking capacities. This will be done by targeting the 20 regional civil society organizations that currently participate in SICA's Consultative Committee. This Consultative Com- mittee groups civil society organizations with a regional (Central American) presence, including organizations for peasants, workers, small producers, women, universities, cooperatives, and municipalities. Each one of these umbrella organizations incorporates national organizations in each of the countries, which, in turn, incorporate many sub-national and local organizations. Thus, the ability of the regional organizations to effectively participate in the Central American integration process is critically dependent on their ability to communicate and network effectively both vertically (with national and sub-national organizations) and horizontally (with other participants in the integration process).

This two-year project will expand the computer and communications infrastructure of regional civil organizations. It contains three components. The first involves organizations such as ASOCODE, an umbrella group representing peasant organizations in all SICA countries. ASOCODE provides regional representation to the peasant sector and is concerned with the impact of Central American integration on peasants' daily lives. The Project will work to increase the capacity of ASOCODE to communicate effectively with peasant organizations, other civil society organizations, and regional institutions such as the Central American Parliament. This will be carried out through the provision of computer equipment, technical training, and the establishment of a web site. Through these activities, the project will work to strengthen the role of ASOCODE in regional integration.

The second component of this project involves diffussion through "rural radio networks" of issues sorrounding Central American integration. This is a form of distance education through local radio programs, aimed at peasants and dealing with basic issues in their lives. It has a strong participatory and interactive nature. Peasants send in questions, suggestions and experiences that serve as the basis for the radio scripts, which, in this case, will focus on the participation of civil society in the integration process.

The project's third component is focused on the context of regional integration. CERLAC and the Central American partners will commission discussion papers and hold workshops in Central America on the challenges that regional integration presents to civil organizations in key areas such as economic participation; poverty; the environment and sustainable development; human rights and democracy; gender; ethnicity; and the use of electronic networks as a tool for civil society.

This two-year project will expand the computer and communications infrastructure of the targeted regional organizations. It will also train key personnel in the use and development of electronic communication and publication, so as to pursue more effective networking among regional and national or- ganizations. Project implementation will follow a participatory model that promotes linking up civil society organizations both na- tionally and regionally, as well as with other countries (particularly Canada) and with relevant international initiatives. The focus will be organizations that represent weaker groups in Central American society, such as workers, peasants, and women.

For York University, the project opens the door for closer contact with governmental and non-governmental organizations in Central America. York faculty and graduate students will participate in a number of activities, including research, training, and thesis work.

Guatemalan Refugee Return Project

The Peace Accord signed in Guatemala in late 1996 was preceded by several years of negotiation and those previous steps needed to bring an end to the civil war, a return to democracy and the reinstatement of human rights. The approximately 50,000 Guatemalan refugees who had been living in Mexico since the escalation of violence in the early 1980s were directly involved in these efforts as part of their long term plan to return home and assist in efforts towards national transformation. The Peace accord and the continuing return of the refugees gives hope that the transformation to long-term peace, democracy and development will indeed take place. At the same time, there are major reasons for continuing concern: human rights violations are still widely reported, economic growth in Guatemala does not benefit large numbers of people, and increasing numbers of Guatemalans are dependent on migration for employment abroad and remittances from migrants who have already departed.

In 1994, Liisa North and Alan Simmons at CERLAC initiated a research project on the return of Guatemalan refugees from Mexico. The objective was to understand more fully the process, particularly the perceptions and aspirations of the returning Guatemalans, the role of the refugees in organizing the conditions and procedures for their own return, and the contributions of international non-governmental organizations and international agencies in the process and its outcomes. Addressing these objectives also required an examination of the broader peace process in Guatemala, and of the contributions by various groups, including the returning refugees, to national transformation.

Funding from the CIDA grant to the Centre for Refugee studies at York University provided fieldwork subsidies to several of these researchers, particularly those undertaking graduate theses.

The project has involved four collaborating institutions: AVANCSO and FLACSO-Guatemala in Guatemala, the Centre for Refugee Studies at York, and CERLAC. Researchers from these centres and other institutions include: Stephen Baranyi (London School of Economics), Tanya Basok (Anthropology, University of Windsor), Cathy Blacklock (Ph.D. student, Political Science, Carleton University), Manuel ngel Castillo (El Colegio de México), Alison Crosby (Ph.D. student, Sociology, York University), Gonzalo De Villa (Parroquia de San Antonio, Guatemala), Brian Egan (Research Consultant, Praxis Research and Communication), Marco Fonseca (Ph.D. student, Social Science, York University), Gisela Gellert (FLACSO-Guate-mala), Jim Gronau (CUSO), Barry Levitt (Ph.D. candidate, Political Science, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), George Lovell (Anthropology, Queen's University), Catherine Nolin (Ph.D. student, Geography, Queen's University), Viviana Patroni (Political Science, Wilfrid Laurier University), René Poitevan (Director, FLACSO-Guatemala), Dawn Suther-land (M.A. student, Environmental Studies, York University) and Gabriela Torres (FLACSO-Guatemala). A number of other people have contributed as informal advisors and critics including Jim Handy (History, University of Saskatchewan), Frances Arbor (Gender and Development Consultant) and Jose Herrán Lima (Department of Foreign Affairs).

A volume of research papers is being edited by Liisa North and Alan Simmons with the assistance of Alison Crosby. Work on the volume is nearing completion. The papers cover diverse themes: the background to the war and current efforts to strengthen democracy and human rights; the role of various institutions in the refugee return; the conditions faced by returning refugees and their aspirations; and the role of women leaders in the return process.

Salvadorans and Guatemalans in Toronto

Beginning in August 1997, the Salvadorans and Guatemalans in Toronto (SAGIT) research project will work to contribute to the existing pool of knowledge about strategies which Salvadorans and Guatemalans living in Toronto have developed in order to improve their well-being. The objective of the two year project is to expand the resources which may be used for reflection and capacity building by these individuals, their organizations and others supportive of their concerns. Project activities will also be directed toward researchers in academic, policy and community institutions.

The project will explore migrant strategies from a historical perspective at two different levels: with respect to the changing international, Canadian and local (Toronto) circumstances which affect contemporary migration trends and immigrant well-being; and through the life histories of migrants from different migration "waves". Information on these topics will come from a wide range of sources including: immigration statistics; census and other published or available survey data; information from agency representatives and community groups; and insights provided by individual Salvadoran and Guatemalan immigrants. Provisional topics for reports and workshops to emerge from the project include:

• Historical trends and future directions in immigration from the countries of concern.
• Changes over time in housing, education, employment and other circumstances of Salvadorans and Guatemalans in Toronto, from time of arrival until the present.
• Evolution in the stategies used by individuals, families and community groups to improve their well-being.
• The nature and implication of links between immigrants in Toronto and family members in the origin countries.
• Policy implications of similarities (and differences) between immigrants from El Salvador and those from Guatemala, and the implications of differences within these groups.

Interamerican Consortium on Agroecology and Sustainable Development Proposal Submitted

In our previous newsletter it was noted that CERLAC had recently begun pursuing a collaborative agreement with the Latin American Consortium on Agroecology and Sustainable Development (CLADES). Continued action on this front resulted in the formation of a York led consortium which included the University of Guelph, the Inter Church Fund for International Development, CLADES, and the Catholic University of Temuco, Chile. In September this consortium submitted a proposal titled "Interamerican Consortium on Agroecology and Sustainable Development" to CIDA.

The purpose of this proposal was to create a Centre for Sustainable Development at the Catholic University in Temuco, southern Chile. CLADES, which consists of thirteen NGOs from nine countries, promotes the training and education of peasants engaged in marginalized agriculture, teaching them to pursue this livelihood strategy in a socially, economically and ecologically sustainable manner. In order to fully achieve its goals, CLADES decided to enhance its training and research base by entering into partnership with the Catholic University of Temuco.

The "Interamerican Consortium on Agroecology and Sustainable Development" proposal sought to create a new centre for sustainable development at the Universidad Católica de Temuco and to assist the University with the development of a master's program in this area. Specifically, the consortium planned to: engage in faculty development to create a core of university faculty and researchers in Latin America focused on sustainable agriculture, and connected with existing grassroots efforts; develop a new university curricula focused on rural development which is consistent with sustainability and agroecological approaches; build research capacity in small-scale sustainable agriculture in Latin America; and enhance communications through an interamerican university network, distance education, and links with the world. While the CIDA submission was not successful, CERLAC continues to work with its southern partners to pursue common goals through other avenues.

Lecture Series on "Latin America on the Eve of the Twenty-First Century"

Learning Unlimited for Etobicoke Seniors was established in 1978 in order to organize lecture series during the day for mature adults. The lecture series are designed to encourage retirees and mature adults to achieve a more fulfilling life. The organization consists of 250 well informed and well travelled persons who are interested in an activity that provides intellectual stimulation and a deeper understanding of the world.

This spring, CERLAC presented a set of lectures on various issues of relevance to Latin America and the Caribbean. The lectures were presented by CERLAC fellows of various backgrounds including political science, humanities, economics, and nursing. The one hour lectures were followed by 45 minute discussion periods. They took place on Tuesday mornings from January 14th to March 18th, 1997, at the Fairfield Senior's Centre in Etobicoke. The lectures organized by CERLAC were:

York Wins North American Student Mobility Award

In July 1996, the federal government announced that York University had been awarded a place in the Program for North American Mobility in Higher Education, an initiative which seeks to strengthen North American integration through greater cooperation among universities in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

The joint proposal submitted by York University and the Université de Montréal titled "Cooperative Program in North American Integration" was one of nine proposals selected by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Human Resources Development. Officials from the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, CERLAC and York International collaborated in the development of the proposal. Under the program, York and the Université de Montréal will work as part of a consortium with Duke University in North Carolina, Northwestern University in Illinois, and two leading Mexican universities, Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Económica (CIDE) in Mexico City and the Universidad de Las Américas in Puebla (UDLA). Each of the Canadian universities will receive $120,000 over three years to establish and fund student exchanges.

Eight students per year will be selected from each institution to participate in the student exchanges. The students will travel to one of the four member institutions outside of their home country, where they will study for a single semester or for a full year. Students who have completed two years of study at York, are enrolled in a four-year honours undergraduate degree, and can operate in the language of the host country, will be eligible to participate. Beginning in 1997-98, the Program for North American Mobility in Higher Education will allow for the exchange of a total of 96 students over a period of two years.

Through the Program, York hopes to foster a cadre of specially trained people who can address the implications of North American integration and globalization in a variety of policy fields. The program seeks to encourage the growth of a comparative perspective on, and a North American consciousness of, key areas of policy-making in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The program will also lay the basis for long-term collaboration in North American studies among the six institutions, in part through expanding access to courses pertaining to North American studies in the participating institutions and forming core courses for a North American curriculum.

Baptista Lecture and Essay Program Announced

Early in 1996, the establishment of the "The Michael Baptista Lecture" and "The Michael Baptista Essay Prize" at York University was announced. Initiated in honour of the late Michael Baptista, this program was established through the donation of $50,000 from the Royal Bank and a further $23,000 raised by friends and family.

Mr. Baptista, who died in July of 1995, immigrated from Guyana to Toronto in 1963. A past graduate of York's MBA program, Mr. Baptista joined the Royal Bank in 1961 and eventually became an executive of this institution. In making the donation, Royal Bank Chair and chief executive officer John Cleghorn noted the energetic, innovative, and valuable contribution Mr. Baptista had made to the bank in the many areas in which he had served.

The endowment fund will recognize scholarly contributions linking Guyana with Toronto and be presented on a biannual basis. "The Michael Baptista Lecture" will be given by a prominent speaker in the field of Caribbean and Latin American studies addressing issues critical to the Caribbean and its place in the world. A prize of $1000 will be attached to the "Michael Baptista Essay Prize," to be received by an undergraduate student at York for an essay of high scholastic value which promotes greater understanding of Caribbean culture and economy in a Latin American and North American context.