Please join CELASA for our April events.
April 1st, 5:00-7:00, USF, Harney 232Que Viva la LuchaA documentary that features a look at the sport of Lucha Libre or Mexican wrestling, specifically the extreme version inTijuana. It explores how individuals are drawn to this grueling sport as either the wrestler or as a devoted fan, many of whom come from poor, working class neighborhoods. Universal themes of good vs. evil, the underdog beating the bully, the noble hero outwitting the corrupt nemesis - all play out over and over to generations of fans. The wrestlers fabricate unique characters that their fans can embrace or insult, such as corrupt politicians and cops, crime fighting heroes, mythological figures and villains. Familiar traces of comic book heroes like Superman, Spiderman, action fighting icons like Bruce Lee or a modern day Robin Hood combine to form one of Mexico's favorite spectator sports.
Gustavo Vazquez is an independent filmmaker and videographer who has directed over thirty productions, including documentaries, video installations, and dramas. Some of his work focuses on the Chicano-Latino experience and social and political commentary on the cultural dynamics of the changing American landscape. Vazquez was commissioned to produce and direct a video installation, "Who Am I?" for "Chicano Now," an interactive, multimedia exhibit currently touring museums in the United States. Vazquez is assistant professor at UC Santa Cruz. The recipient of several awards, including a Rockefeller Media Fellowship. He received a B.F.A. in Film from the San Francisco Art Institute, and an M.A. in Film from San Francisco State University.
Harney is located off of Golden Gate. For a campus map:
http://www.usfca.edu/online/gen_info/map_c.html
April 2nd, 2009. 12:15-1:15, USF, Kalmanovitz Hall 209
Brown Bag Lunch Lecture with Elisabeth Friedman (Latin American Studies and Politics) and Erika Carlsen (Politics).Progressive Colonialism? The Diffusion of LGBT Rights in Ibero-America.
Elisabeth Friedman was awarded her B.A. from Barnard College (1988) and her M.A./PhD by Stanford University (1997). She is the author of Unfinished Transitions: Women and the Gendered Development of Democracy in Venezuela, 1936-1996 (Penn State Press, 2000), and the co-author of Sovereignty, Democracy, and Global Civil Society: State-Society Relations at UN World Conferences (SUNY Press, 2005). She has also published articles on transnational women's organizing, Latin American feminism, and civil society at both regional and global levels. She is currently exploring the impact of new global technologies on Latin American gender equality organizing.
Kalmanovitz Hall is located off of Fulton street . For a campus map:
http://www.usfca.edu/online/gen_info/map_c.html
April 3-4, 2009. 8pm. Teatro Misión
El Teatro Jornalero! La Colectiva de Mujeres and the San Francisco Day Labor Program, present: Quebrando el silencio de mis manos (Breaking the Silence of My Hands)An urban fable about the risks that day after day immigrant women workers face, and the need to understand the rights that protect them. An original creation by the Teatro de la Colectiva de Mujeres!, a theater company of Latin American immigrant women day laborers, based on real life stories. Quebrando el Silencio reveals the abuses and dangers immigrant sisters confront doing domestic work, and how these could be solved, by demanding the rights that protect them. Directed by Violeta Luna, dramaturgy by Roberto Varea, visual art by Víctor Cartagena, music by Ricardo Torres.
In Spanish, with simultaneous English translation
Tickets $5 - $10 sliding scale
Mission Cultural Center for the Latino Arts, 2868 Mission Street (between 24th y 25th)
April 8th, 2009. 12:15-1:15, USF, Cowell 322
Jorge Aquino (Latin American Studies and Religious Studies) presents: Maria Mater MediatrixThe Virgin of Guadalupe betwixt history, charisma, and nationalist CatholicismIn this brown bag research talk, Professor Aquino proposes a pluralist reading of the Virgin of Guadalupe, based on his research into the phenomenology of religious charisma.
Cowell Hall is located near Fulton street . For a campus map:
http://www.usfca.edu/online/gen_info/map_c.html
April 15th, 2009. 12:00, Law offices of Morrison and Foerster, 425 Market Street.
Brown Bag Lunch Lecture with Héctor Aguirre. A perspective on water infrastructure development in the US-Mexico border region since NAFTA.Developing water infrastructure was a commitment made in environmental side agreements to NAFTA aiming to balance environmental protection with promoting economic growth. This presentation will discuss efforts by EPA and the BECC and NADB, two binational institutions created as a result of NAFTA, to develop environmental infrastructure along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Héctor Aguirre is a project manager on the EPA's US-Mexico Border Water Infrastructure Team. He has been with the EPA for over 6 years and is currently focused on border issues in Arizona and Sonora. Prior to joining EPA, Héctor completed a Master's in Geography at San Diego State University and spent several years in the social work field.
This event is FREE and open to the public, but your confirmation is REQUIRED to facilitate entry into the building. To confirm, or for more information, please write PAS@usfca.edu.
Offices are close to the Embarcadero BART Station., Beale St. exit. For detailed directions: http://www.mofo.com/about/offices/sanfrancisco.html
April 22, 2009, 12:15-1:30, USF, KA 399
Brown Bag Lunch Lecture with Roberto Varea. Performance & The Creative Transformation of Conflict: Special Focus, Argentina & PeruFrom "Theater for Identity" in Patagonia to Native American rituals in Methow Valley, Washington, performance artists and community leaders are availing themselves of ritual and performance to bring about justice, truth, and when possible, reconciliation, in the context of violent conflict. This lecture will introduce the concept of "peacebuilding performance" through examples from all over the world researched by Varea and his colleagues for an upcoming anthology and DVD, and place special focus on the work of Argentinean and Peruvian artists to address the aftermath of their countries' "dirty wars."
Please email for detailed directions as this room is very difficult to find.
April 30, 2009, 7-9PM, USF, Room TBA
Remaking News across the BorderA panel including Luz Ruiz Martinez, from Comunicadores Populares for la Autonomia (COMPPA), which facilitates media training in Chiapas, and more recently with indigenous communities in Guatemala and Honduras; and Franc Contreras, who has worked in public radio in the US and is now Mexico City Correspondent for Al Jazeera.
