Past Events

Monday, February 6, 2012

"State Compliance with the Inter-American System of Human Rights" Part of the Miami Consortium Faculty Lecture Series 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM Merrick Building, Room 306 This lecture by Dr. Gomez is part of the Miami Consortium Faculty Lecture Series. Dr. Manuel Gomez is an Associate Professor at Florida International University’s College of Law who has previously lectured at Stanford University and the Universidad Central de Venezuela Law School. He received his J.D. from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, Caracas, Venezuela. He is interested in diverse topics ranging from dispute resolution and arbitration to Latin American legal policy. His latest book, Law in Many Societies (Stanford U. Press 2011), has received a number of accolades in the academic community. Dr. Gomez has also been appointed as an international arbitrator under the rules of the ICC, and is a founding member of the Miami International Arbitration Society. This event will discuss the mechanisms available to ensure state compliance with decisions from the Inter-American Commission and the Court on human rights issues. View Flyer

Friday, February 3, 2012

Language and the Global Institution A lecture and workshop on the implications of language/culture education in the context of the global mission of a university. 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM CAS Gallery / Wesley House Dr. Van Deusen-Scholl, the Director of Yale's Center for Language Study, will speak on the implications of language/culture education in the context of the global mission of a university. Her workshop will focus on a variety of issues central to the teaching and learning of foreign languages and cultures in a global context, such as the connection between classroom learning and study abroad experiences, discipline-specific and interdisciplinary models of language learning, advanced learning, and non-traditional approaches to language education. The workshop will provide opportunities for discussion and reflection and encourages active participation from the audience. Dr. Van Deusen Scholl has worked with academic institutions to examine the study of language/ culture education in the context of a global mission. Prior to assuming directorship of the Center For Language Study at Yale University, Dr. Van Deusen-Scholl was Director of the University of Pennsylania Language Center in the School of Arts and Sciences and adjunct Associate professor in the Graduate School of Education. Register online at http://www.as.miami.edu/RSVP/ by Friday, January 7th. Lunch will be provided to registered participants. The Miami Consortium Foreign Languages Across the Curriculum (FLAC) Lecture Series is supported by a U.S. Department of Education Title VI grant. The Department of Education has designated the Miami Consortium for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, a collaboration between UM’s CLAS and FIU’s Latin American and Caribbean Center, a National Resource Center, which demonstrates the Miami Consortium's role as one of the nation's major centers for teaching and training in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. View Flyer

Thursday, February 2, 2012

The Latin American Film Series presents: “Granito: How to Nail a Dictator” With the support of the Kenneth Lattman Foundation, the Bill Cosford Cinema is pleased to invite filmmakers Pamela Yates and Paco de Onis to discuss their latest film. 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM UM's Cosford Cinema, 2nd floor Memorial building As part of the Kenneth Lattman Foundation Lecture Series, GRANITO will be screened for its Miami Premiere followed by a Q+A with the filmmakers. GRANITO is a story of destinies joined by Guatemala’s past, and how a documentary film intertwined with a nation’s turbulent history emerges as an active player in the present. In GRANITO our characters sift for clues buried in archives of mind and place and historical memory, seeking to uncover a narrative that could unlock the past and settle matters of life and death in the present. Each of the five main characters whose destinies collide in GRANITO are connected by the Guatemala of 1982, then engulfed in a war where a genocidal “scorched earth” campaign by the military exterminated nearly 200,000 Maya people. Now, as if a watchful Maya god were weaving back together threads of a story unraveled by the passage of time, forgotten by most, our characters become integral to the overarching narrative of wrongs done and justice sought that have pieced together, each adding their granito – their tiny grain of sand, to the epic tale. The Kenneth Lattman Foundation Lecture Series at the Bill Cosford Cinema features eight films build on innovative storytelling and created by some of the brightest filmmakers today. The series brings audiences “back to the movie theater” to watch and discuss exceptional films together. Each screening is followed by a discussion with University of Miami experts, distinguished industry VIPs, the audience and other guests who explore the scholarly, professional, and artistic merits of each film. This special event came to fruition through the generous support of Eliot and Shelley Abramson of the the Lattman Foundation, UM’s Center for Latin American Studies, the Women and Gender Studies program, and the University of Miami School of Communication. Tickets are $9 General Admission, $7 for Seniors (62+), UM Employees, UM Alumni, and Non-UM Students. This event is Free for UM Students with the Cane ID. For more information and advance tickets please go to www.cosfordcinema.com.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Is Cuba in Transition? In collaboration with the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Initiatives (CLACI) at Miami Dade College and the Miami International Press Association (MIPA) 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM Miami Dade College, Wolfson Campus: Room 6100, Building 6, first floor In November 2011, Cuba announced that it would allow citizens and permanent residents living on the island to buy and sell real estate for the first time in decades. This panel will assess the effects the measure will have on the lives of the Cuban population and whether these changes will in any way alter the current political regime. Panelists: - Carlos Saladrigas, Cuba Study Group - Marifeli Perez-Stable, Professor of Sociology, Florida International University - Ariel Armony, Director of UM’s Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) - David Adams, Poder Magazine (US and Miami Editor) - Carlos Barrezueta, Executive Director, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Initiatives at Miami Dade College Complimentary parking is available at the Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus Parking Garage, 500 N.E. Second Avenue, through the N.E. Fifth Street entrance. Please let the parking attendant know you are attending the event. For more information please contact Juan Castro Olivera at juan.castro@afp.com or Carlos Barrezueta at cbarrezu@mdc.edu View Flyer

Monday, January 23, 2012

Lawyers and the Transformation of Law Practice: From State's Hosts to Legal Service Providers This is the first of four lectures in the Latin American Law Visiting Professor Lecture Series 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM UM Law School, Room F108 This is the first of four lectures in the Latin American Law Visiting Professor Lecture Series. A Miami Consortium for Latin American and Caribbean Studies event, hosted by Dr. Rogelio Perez-Perdomo with comments by Professor Keith Rosenn, Miami Law. This event will also be simultaneously video-conferenced at FIU in the FIU Law Scool, Room RBD 2006, 2nd Floor. A welcome reception will follow in the UM Law Student Lounge. Professor Rogelio Perez-Perdomo is the 2012 Miami Consortium for Latin American and Caribbean Studies Latin American Law Visiting Professor. He is Professor of Law at the Universidad Metropolitana in Caracas, Venezuela and continues to serve as a frequent Visiting Professor at Stanford Law School, which he had done on numerous occasions since 1998. Perez-Perdomo studied law at Universidad Central de Venezuela (1959-64), philosophy and sociology of law at Paris (1964-66), and law at Harvard University (1971-72). He holds an LL.M. from Harvard and a research doctorate in law from the Universidad Central de Venezuela. He was a professor at the Universidad Central de Venezuela (1967-1988) and at the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración (1988-1998). Additionally, Perez-Perdomo served as Dean at the Universidad Metropolitana in Caracas. He has also been a visiting fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex (1977), and a visiting professor at the University of the Basque Country (1991-2), CIDE and Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas of UNAM, Mexico (2010). He was Academic Director of the Stanford Program for International Legal Studies (1999-2001), Academic Director of the Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law (1991-92), and President of the Research Committee on Sociology of Law, International Sociological Association. His most recent books include Justicia e injusticias en Venezuela (Academia de la Historia and Universidad Metropolitana, 2011) and Law in Many Societies (Stanford University Press, 2011), co-edited with Lawrence Friedman and Manuel A. Gómez. He is teaching the seminar, Professional Legal Actors and Latin American Legal Culture, at Florida International University’s College of Law. For more information, please contact FIU’s Latin American and Caribbean Center (LACC) at lacc@fiu.edu or (305) 348-2894. Upcoming Lectures in the Series Monday, February 20, 2012 Judges and Judicial Reform: From Mouth-Pieces of Legislation to Oracles of the Constitution 4:00pm – 5:30pm UM Law, F108* Commentator: Professor Sergio Campos, Miami Law Wednesday, February 29, 2012 Law Schools and Legal Education: Change and Resistance 4:00pm – 5:30pm FIU Law, RDB 2006** Commentator: Professor Matthew Mirow, FIU Law Wednesday, March 28, 2012 Legal Scholars: Palace Warriors or Global Actors? 4:00pm – 5:30pm FIU Law, RDB 2006** Commentator: Professor Manuel Gomez, FIU Law *Video conference at FIU: FIU Law, RDB 2006, 2nd Floor **Video conference at UM: Miami Law, Faculty Meeting Room, 4th Floor View Flyer

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Haitian Community Media in Miami: Transnational Audiences, Journalists and Radio Producers 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM Little Haiti Cultural Center: 212 NE 59 Terrace, Miami, FL Presented by the Miami Consortium for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and co-sponsored by the McCormick Foundation, the University of Miami Journalism Program, and the Miami Observatory on Communication and Creative Industries (www.miamiobservatory.org). Join us for the release of a working paper analyzing the uses and practices of Haitian-oriented media in greater Miami -- the newspapers, radio shows, television programs and websites that serve people missed, ignored or neglected by the area’s mainstream media in English and Spanish. Presented by: - Yves Colon, Sallie Hughes and Tsitsi Wakhisi, University of Miami - Lilia Santiague, Indiana State University The report will be distributed and refreshments served. RSVP: 305-348-2894 or LACC@FIU.EDU View Flyer

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Mexico's Security Crisis 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM Building 3, Room 3208-09, Wolfson Campus, Miami Dade College In collaboration with the Miami Consortium for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Initiatives (CLACI) at Miami Dade College. Mexico is engaged in a war against narcotrafficking and cartels that has left an extensive death toll and is affecting the country’s economic well-being and relationship with its neighbors. This panel will assess Mexico’s war on drugs and political responses to the problem taken by President Calderon. The panel will review the monetary, political, and diplomatic costs of the Mexican security crisis. Panelists will also discuss how Mexico’s approach to the War on Drugs compares to that of Colombia in the 1990s, and will assess how its approach has affected and been influenced by the U.S.’ current domestic and international drug policy. Finally, the speakers will analyze how Mexico’s domestic security policy will affect the upcoming Mexican presidential elections. Panelists include: - Jesús Alberto López Gonzalez, General Director and Professor, El Colegio de Veracruz, Mexico. - Ariel Armony, CLAS Director and Professor, University of Miami. - Victor Vazquez Hernandez, Social Sciences Chair, Miami Dade College. - Bruce M. Bagley, Chair & Professor of International Studies, University of Miami. - Carlos Barrezueta, Executive Director, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Initiatives at Miami Dade College For more information about UM's Center for Latin American Studies and the Miami Consortium, please contact Jordan Adams at jadams@as.miami.edu or 305-284-1854. View Flyer

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The Plena’s Dissonant Melodies: Overlapping Diasporas from Ponce to New York 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM Merrick Building, Room 205 Join José Amador for a discussion of Latin American music and diaspora in the United States. Dr. José Amador is an Assistant Professor of Latin American, Latina/o Studies and Caribbean Studies at Miami University, Ohio. He is the co-editor of Sociedad, cultura y vida cotidiana en Cuba, 1878-1917. He is currently completing a book on public health campaigns and racial projects in early-twentieth-century Puerto Rico, Cuba and Brazil. This lecture will be entirely in Spanish. Thanks to Cuban Heritage Collection, the Goizueta Foundation, and the Center for Latin American Studies for their generous support of this event. View Flyer

Monday, November 21, 2011

Political Marketing in Latin America: New Challenges to the Quality of Democracy 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM Memorial 125D Is modern political marketing safe for Latin American democracies? What are the political opportunities and challenges opened by the new communication and surveying techniques and tools? How can strong citizenship be built while candidates and leaders are being marketed as media celebrities or consumer goods? Is politainment risky for the quality of civic participation? Is it avoidable at all in a media-driven society? Discussion led by Gustavo Martinez Pandiani, Plenipotentiary Minister in the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Argentine Republic and Deputy Consul General of Argentina in Miami and Puerto Rico. Mr. Martinez Pandiani is also a Political Scientist and Attorney at Law (JD, Universidad de Buenos Aires) specialized in Political Communication. He holds a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from Georgia State University and a Master in Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard University. As a lecturer and media coach for the Organization of American States (OAS), he has trained hundreds of young leaders in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Venezuela, Suriname, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Dominic Republic, Panama, Honduras, Canada, Uruguay, and the United States, among other countries. From 2002 to 2008, he was Dean of the School of Social Communication at Universidad del Salvador, the prestigious Jesuit university located in Buenos Aires. He has published six books and several essays on issues such as Political Marketing, Mass Media, Campaigns and Elections, Investigative Journalism, Public Diplomacy and Government Communication. This event is free and open to public and a light luncheon will accompany the discussion. View Flyer

Thursday, November 17, 2011

O Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra (MST) Presented as part of the Miami Consortium FLAC Lecture Series 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM UC Room 224 O Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) é um dos maiores movimentos sociais do Brasil e da América Latina. Como parte da sua luta pela reforma agrária e por uma sociedade mais justa, os integrantes do MST ocupam terras produtivas que eles consideram mal utilizadas. O Clube Brasileiro da Universidade de Miami (BRASA) com o apoio do Center of Latin American Studies (CLAS) convida todos interessados a participarem de uma conversa aberta com o jornalista Gilvan De Sergipe, que recentemente esteve entre os membros do MST. Em sua apresentação, Gilvan falará do dia-a-dia, ideais e ações do Movimento. The Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) is one of the largest social movements in Brazil and Latin America. As part of their struggle for agrarian reform and to create a more just society, MST participants occupy fertile lands that they consider to be poorly used. The Brazilian Club of the University of Miami (BRASA) with the support of the Center of Latin American Studies (CLAS) invites all interested parties to participate in an open conversation with journalist Gilvan de Sergipe, who has recently spent time with the MST. Gilvan will address the work, ideals, and day-to-day experiences of the Movement’s members. (This event will be conducted in Portuguese). Presented as part of the Miami Consortium Foreign Languages across the Curriculum Lecture Series View Flyer

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

US Foreign Policy Priorities in Central America A discussion with Ambassador Lisa Kubiske, U.S. ambassador to Honduras. 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM Executive Conference Room 102, School of Nursing The topic of the lecture will be the changing role and priorities of US foreign policy in Central America, especially in Honduras. Lisa Kubiske, current US ambassador to Honduras, is a United States diplomat with experience in Latin America, China/Hong Kong, and Washington, DC. Prior to her nomination as Ambassador, Mrs. Kubiske served as Deputy Chief of Mission of the United States Mission in Brazil. Earlier assignments include service as Western Hemisphere Economics Director at the State Department; Deputy Chief of Mission in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Officer in the State Department's Operations Center and Secretariat Staff; Investment Director and Negotiator at the United States Trade Representative's Office (USTR); chief of the Economic-Political Section at the United States Consulate General in Hong Kong; and additional work in Shanghai, China and in Mexico, DF, Mexico. She was awarded the State Department's highest honor, a Valor Award, for her coordination of U.S. search teams following the major Mexican earthquakes of September 1985. She has earned other awards as well, including a Superior Honor Award for her work as DCM in Santo Domingo and, most recently, Superior Honor awards for her participation in the public outreach campaign on behalf of the United States-Peru Free Trade Agreement and her efforts on behalf of the United States-Brazil biofuels cooperation. Ms. Kubiske holds a Bachelor's Degree from Brandeis University and a Masters of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) degree from Georgetown University. She spent her undergraduate junior year abroad at Universidad La Catolica in Lima, Peru. This event is open to all UM faculty and students. Please RSVP to umclas@miami.edu View Flyer

Monday, November 7, 2011

Brazil - China Relationship: Partners or Competitors? A discussion on the current relationship between China and Brazil, and the importance of building a balanced, strategic relationship. 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM UC Flamingo Ballrooms A&B Presented in collaboration with UM's Center for Hemispheric Policy. The discussion will be led by Marcelo Rocha e Silva Zorovich, an assistant professor of international relations and international business at the Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing (ESPM) in São Paulo, Brazil, and resident fellow at the Center for Hemispheric Policy at the University of Miami. Previously, he worked for the Nielsen Company, Kantar WorldPanel, and for sixteen years did international business consultancy for different multinationals in Latin America, the United States, Canada, China and India. Mr. Zorovich has been a visiting scholar at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. This event is free and open to the public and lunch will be served. View Flyer

Monday, October 31, 2011

Latin American and Caribbean Presidential Elections Series - Nicaragua 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM Dooley Memorial Building, Room 207 Presented by the Miami Consortium for Latin American and Caribbean Studies Led by José Miguel Cruz, Ph.D., Florida International University Dr. Cruz is a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Politics and International Studies at Florida International University. Formerly, he was the director of the University Institute of Public Opinion (IUDOP) at the University of Central America (UCA) in San Salvador from 1994 to 2006. During the 1990s, he was an assistant professor of social psychology at the School of Medicine, Universidad de El Salvador. He has also lectured at the Universidad Centroamericana in San Salvador; Universidad Nacional Autónoma, Honduras, and Lund University, Sweden. He has worked as a consultant for the World Bank, the Pan-American Health Organization, the UNDP and several NGOs on the topic of Central American violence, gangs, and governance. As director of IUDOP he supervised more than fifty national public opinion polls in Central America and conducted several survey-based research projects on political behavior, criminal violence, and human rights in the region. He has been researching Central American gangs since 1996, and has published several articles about violence in the region. He holds a doctorate in political science from Vanderbilt University and a master’s degree in Latin American public policy from Oxford University, England. View Flyer

Friday, October 28, 2011

Marginalization in the Americas: Perspectives from the AmericasBarometer A collaboration with the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM Robert and Judi Prokop Newman Alumni Center, UM This conference will focus on the main theme of the AmericasBarometer for 2012, “Marginalization in the Americas.” The AmericasBarometer, under the direction of LAPOP, was established in 2004 and conducts surveys of democratic values and behaviors in the Americas. The database has become a valuable source of primary data for the region and its influence continues to grow. For further information and to RSVP, please contact CLAS at (305) 284-1854 or umclas@miami.edu. Breakfast included from 7:45 – 8:15AM View Flyer & Agenda

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Os Nanicos: Contracultura, Novos Movimentos Sociais e a Imprensa Alternativa no Brasil, 1969-1982 Presented as part of the Miami Consortium Foreign Languages Across the Curriculum Lecture Series 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM Merrick Building 203 In conjunction with the Portuguese program in UM's Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. The talk will be entirely in Portuguese and is free and open to the public. Led by Professor Chris Dunn, Chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Tulane University. Christopher Dunn received his Ph.D. in Luso-Brazilian Studies from Brown University in 1996, the same year he joined the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Tulane University. He holds a joint appointment with the African and African Diaspora Studies Program and is a core member of the Stone Center for Latin American Studies. Since 1999, he has served as Director of the Brazilian Studies program at Tulane. His research focuses on cultural politics during the period of the dictatorship, national and regional discourse, popular music, race relations, and black culture in Brazil. He is the author of Brutality Garden: Tropicália and the Emergence of a Brazilian Counterculture published by the University of North Carolina Press (2001) and by Ongaku Na Tomo in Japanese translation (2005). He is co-editor with Charles Perrone of Brazilian Popular Music and Globalization published by Routledge (2001). At present, he is working on a book-length study of the Brazilian counterculture and related artistic expression of the 1970s and preparing a new volume of essays, co-edited with Idelber Avelar, Brazilian Popular Music and Citizenship.” The Miami Consortium Foreign Languages Across the Curriculum (FLAC) Lecture Series is supported by a U.S. Department of Education Title VI grant. The Department of Education has designated the Miami Consortium for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, a collaboration between UM’s CLAS and FIU’s Latin American and Caribbean Center, a National Resource Center, which demonstrates the Miami Consortium's role as one of the nation's major centers for teaching and training in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. View Flyer