Philippe Boukara

Mémorial de la Shoah
Musée centre de documentation juive contemporaine

(The Shoah Memorial and Museum and
Documentation Center for Contemporary Jewish Life)
Paris, France

Friday, May 1, 2009
3 pm, Benjamin Mays Center

The Office of Multicultural Affairs welcomes Phillipe Boukara,  a historian specializing in Jewish studies and professor at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris.  He is the coordinator of adult education at the Memorial de la Shoah, the premier Holocaust documentation center in France, and the largest such center in Europe. He is a member of the steering committee of the Christian-Jewish Friendship Association of France.  A native of Paris, Boukara is also Chairperson of the Eastern Paris Conservative Jewish Congregation (Dor Va Dor). He is the author of numerous contributions to academic symposia and journals. His books include: Précis d’histoire juive: Des origines à 1934,  with Simon Drubnov and Isaac Pougatz and Une communauté au repúblique: histoire des juifs en france depois 1967.

presents

Women of Power Panel Discussion

MARFA INOFUENTES
(Afro-Bolivian cultural activist)

&

ROSANA SILVA CHAGAS
(Afro-Brazilian political activist)

Monday, March 23rd
4:15 p.m. Benjamin Mays Center

Co-sponsored with the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI)

This series highlights contemporary Afro-Latino/a scholars and artists who focus on topics including Afro-Latino/a identity, politics, culture, literature and history.  The Women of Power panel marks the last of the three lectures in this series for this academic year.

Ms. Marfa Inofuentes has been fundamental part of the creation Cultural Movement Saya Afroboliviano born 20 years ago to recover and re-evaluate Afro-Bolivian culture.  She has worked very hard to ensure the Bolivian people recognize their presence and contribution to the country. In 2006 Ms. Inofuentes advocated for the establishment of the Afro-Bolivian Center for Integral Development and Community (CADIC) that aims to create a strong political impact in Bolivia. They were able to get the dance of Saya to be recognized as part of Department of Intangible Heritage. In December 2007 with CADIC, Marfa advocated with the Bolivian government to present and officially recognize Mr. Julio Pinedo as the Afro-Bolivian King, the first and highest authority of Afro-Bolivian people.

Ms. Rosana Silva Chagas (Brazil) is a scholarship recipient of the project, “Race, Development and Inequality”, of the “Color of Bahia” program set up b the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) in collaboration with Howard University. She has worked with organizations such as the Steve Biko Cultural Institute (Brazil) and the Your World Consultant Group Educational Foundation. She is one of the leaders of the Black University Student Union (NENO) at the Federal University of Bahia. Chagas is involved in direct social work at the grassroots level rather than in strictly political agitation. She organizes within her densely populated, crime-ridden community to provide residents basic social services. She works on issues of concern to the Afro descendant majority in Brazil.

presents

JUNOT DIAZ

Pulitzer Prize winning author of “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” and “Drown”
Nancy Allen Professor of Writing and Humanistic Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Friday, March 20th
4:30 p.m. Benjamin Mays Center

followed by the

CREOLE TABLE
6:00 p.m. Multicultural Center
by rsvp only

co-sponsored by the
College Lectures Committee, Dean of Students, Office of the Multifaith Chaplaincy, Program in African American Studies, Spanish, Department of English, Writing Workshop

This series highlights contemporary Afro-Latino/a scholars and artists who focus on topics including Afro-Latino/a identity, politics, culture, literature and history.  Junot Diaz marks the second of three lectures in this series for this academic year.  Junot Díaz was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He is the author of “Drown” and “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.”  The latter won the John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the 2008 Pulitzer Prize. His fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, African Voices, Best American Short Stories (1996, 1997, 1999, 2000), in Pushcart Prize XXII and in The O’Henry Prize Stories 2009.

He has received a Eugene McDermott Award, a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, a Lila Acheson Wallace Readers Digest Award, the 2002 Pen/Malamud Award, the 2003 US-Japan Creative Artist Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, a fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University and the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

featuring

Dr. Lud Yisrael, Musical Director
“Music is the universal language; therefore I speak the language of the universe.  I founded the Neo Jazz Collective to give voice to talented youngsters in the community.”

Yah’el Yisrael, piano-keyboards, 12
“I have been a professional musician since the age of 10 and I can’t see myself doing anything else other than bringing good music.”

Yirmeyahu Yisrael, tenor-soprano Sax, 17
“Improvising music and playing the sax are the means by which I express my thoughts and feelings, so to be a master improviser is to get the point across in a way people will say ‘I hear you or I understand’.”

Stephan Hundley, drums-percussion, 17
“I’ve been a drummer for years and I realize practice is essential in building technique and a musical vocabulary, so I have to be disciplined; but when I get on stage it’s just me, the guys, and the sounds we create.”

Sam Albright, upright-electric bass, 17
“We can all say that music is our way of communicating our lives, whether through the sax, bass, piano, or the drums–we’ve found our medium of communicating to the world, and we just want you all to listen.”

Saturday, February 7th
8 pm, Olin Concert Hall

Please come support this group of musicians from Birmingham, Alabama. Their sound is a dreamy haze of jazz electronica.

Sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Affairs
A Black History Month program celebrating African American cultural traditions
*Admission free, but tickets required. For reservations: 207-786-6135 or olinarts@bates.edu

2009 Martin Luther King Jr. Day Schedule at Bates College

Sunday, Jan. 18

7 p.m.
Service: Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Service of Worship. Melissa Harris-Lacewell, associate professor of politics and African American Studies at Princeton University, delivers the evening’s sermon, “Time to Believe: Lessons from Edwina.” Music by Bates students, including solos by sophomore vocalist Megan Guynes of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., and a “sound collage” of political rhetoric developed by Assistant Professor of Music Dale Chapman. A reception follows in Olin Arts Center Lobby.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

Monday, Jan. 19   Martin Luther King Jr. Day

In observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, classes are canceled and special programming takes place throughout the day. This year’s King Day theme at Bates is “Inaugurating Change: Where Do We Go From Here?” For more information, call 207-786-6400.

9 a.m.
Reception: Meet the students from Morehouse and Bates colleges and local high schools who will take part in the morning’s debate.
Benjamin Mays Center

9:30 a.m.
Oratory: In “Minutes and Words of Eternity: The Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays Speech Invitational,” members of the Morehouse and Bates debate teams will discuss the topic, “The United States should reform its system of prison and incarceration.”
Benjamin Mays Center

10:45 a.m.
Keynote Address: Delivered by Melissa Harris-Lacewell, associate professor of politics and African American Studies at Princeton University, and author of Barbershops, Bible and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought. (Princeton University Press, 2004)
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

Noon to 5:30 p.m.
Video Installation: Video artist Craig Saddlemire, Bates Class of 2005, curates “Social Justice: Critique, Action, Change,” as part of the Bates MLK Day celebration. Presented in the Perry Atrium of Pettengill Hall, the installation encourages reflection on the legacy of King, the Civil Rights Movement and the struggle for social justice. Organized by theme, the videos will be shown throughout the afternoon on three large viewing screens in the Atrium.
Perry Atrium, Pettengill Hall

1:20 to 2:30, 2:35 to 3:50 and 4 to 5:15 p.m.
Concurrent Workshop Sessions: Students, staff, guests and faculty lead readings, presentations and discussions focused on various topics tied to the day’s theme, “Inaugurating Change: Where Do We Go From Here?” For more information about the workshops, call 207-786-6400 or see a complete listing.
Pettengill Hall and Marcy Plavin Dance Studios

7:30 p.m.
Performance: Bates students commissioned to create cultural work for Martin Luther King Day 2009 present music, theater, dance and spoken-word pieces. The evening features seniors Shawki White of Danville, Ill., hip hop/rap; and Sulo Dissanayake of Pita Kotte, Sri Lanka, dramatic performance;  and Ben Smeltzer ’10 of Waterbury Center, Vt. , jazz; along with the performance of an improvisatory piece created during the day in a workshop run by the Philadelphia-based Headlong Performance Institute, a group of artists and master teachers who train students to create, improvise and perform.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

Thursday, Jan. 22 at 1:30 p.m. (Snow date: Friday, Jan. 23)
Annual MLK Read-In: Faculty, staff, students and members of the community will share a picture book with Martel School students in grades 4-6. Those interested in volunteering should e-mail Anne Fischer at afischer@bates.edu or call 908-642-2620.
Martel

Dr. Marta Moreno Vega
President of the Franklin H. Williams Caribbean Cultural Center/
African Diaspora Institute
“Africa to the Americas: Connecting Our Histories,
Cultures and Lived Experiences

Thursday, Dec. 4
4:30 p.m. Benjamin Mays Center

Dr. Vega will be introduced by Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf, Program Director, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York

This new series will highlight contemporary Afro-Latino/a scholars and artists who focus on topics including Afro-Latino/a identity, politics, culture, literature and history.  Dr. Vega teaches Afro-Caribbean religions and Afro Latino/a studies at Hunter College of the City University of New York. She is co-director and a co-founder of the Global Afro Latino and Caribbean Initiative, which established an alliance of non-governmental, non-profit organizations grounded in African descendant communities. She is also a founder of the Association of Hispanic Arts and the Network of Organizations of Color, and served as director of El Museo del Barrio, a groundbreaking New York cultural institution.  Dr Vega is the first of three speakers who will present lectures this year.

Sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Affairs

Seeking Understanding:
The Black Christ of Portobelo, Panama

Sponsored by:
The Office of Multicultural Affairs/ Multicultural Center &
Office of the Multifaith Chaplaincy

EXHIBIT
Monday, November 17th – Friday, November 28th
Chase Gallery

PRESENTATION
Tuesday, November 18th
4:30pm, Hirasawa Lounge
Presented by:
Eugenia Gomez ’12
Uriel Gonzalez ’11
Jennelle Liljestrand ’11
Sean McGhee ’12
Rose Schwab ’09
Katrina Sondermann ’12
Porsha Winters ’12

The exhibit consists of photos taken during the Black Christ festival. Prints of the photos will be for sale after the Tuesday presentation.  We would like to give special thanks to the following individuals and their departments for their support.

Czerny Brasuell, Office of Multicultural Affairs          William Blaine-Wallace,  Office of the Multifaith Chaplain
Camille Hazeur, Office of Affirmative Action & Institutional Diversity
Charles Carnegie, Anthropology & African American Studies
Elizabeth Eames, Anthropology

Monday, October 6, 2008
7 pm, Keck Room (Pettengil G-52)

!!ONE DAY ONLY HAITIAN ART SALE!!

Friday, October 10, 2008
Multicultural Center
4-5:30pm

ARTIST
Andre Eugène
Bates College artist-in-residence

Artists Information

Mr. Eugène is the progenitor of the Grand Rue movement. The Grand Rue is the main avenue that runs a north-south swathe through downtown Port au Prince, Haiti.  At the southern end of Grand Rue, near the municipal cemetery and amongst the labyrinth of back streets that line the avenue, is the Bidonville community that has a historical tradition of arts, crafts, music and religious practice. As a contemporary Haitian artist Eugène grew up in an atmosphere of survivalist recycling. Artist like Eugene who create powerful sculpture collages of engine manifolds, TV sets, wheel hubcaps and discarded lumber have transformed a failing economy into bold, radical and warped sculptures. Mr. Eugène started out as a house builder, but influenced by the creative energy of his neighborhood he started to learn traditional sculpting in wood. Eugène’s work is  increasingly influenced by Haitian artists such as Nasson and references shared African & Haitian cultural heritage and a dystopian sci-fi view of the future. Much of his work is figurative and pays particular homage to the Vodou spirit Gede, the master of the phallus and the guardian of the cemeteries.

For more information and to view his work please go to the web page below:
http://www.atis-rezistans.com/

Leah Gordon worked as a freelance photographer for film, theater and magazines and was lyricist and singer for London-based punk folk band, The Doonicans. She visited Haiti for the first time in 1991, and has continued the relationship ever since. We will screen her most recent film about the artist of the Grand Rue.

For more information and to view Leah’s work please go to the web page below:
http://www.leahgordon.co.uk/

Sponsored by
Bates Teaching Associate Program, African American Studies
American Cultural Studies, Office of Multicultural Affairs, Art & Visual Culture
Rhetoric, Romance Languages, Humanities & Interdisciplinary Divisions

Friday, March 9, 2007

Creole Table
Focus: Cape Verde
5 pm, Multicultural Center
RSVP by Thursday, March 8

Monday, March 12- Friday, March 16, 2007

Cape Verdean Creole 101
12pm- 1pm, MCC Kitchen
RSVP by Friday, March 9
(one week commitment)

The Creole Table is a language/cultural program sponsored by the Multicultural Center. Each meeting focuses on one Creole society over dinner and a presentation by a guest or student/faculty/staff member of the Creole Table. This weeks’ focus is Cape Verde and our guest, Christian Rocha, Creole Linguist-in-Residence will speak about the Creole culture of Sao Vicente one of the Cape Verdean islands.  If you are interested in participating please RSVP to Tonya Taylor (ttaylor@bates.edu) for either the Creole Table or the one week language course.  Anyone choosing to participate in the language course must commit themselves for the entire week from 12pm- 1pm.

Christian Rocha, a native of Sao Vicente runs various training programs through out Cape Verde. Cape Verde is composed of nine islands each possessing a different Creole.  Mr. Rocha speaks many of the creoles found throughout the islands and in addition is fluent in French, Portuguese, English, Spanish and is also a native speaker of Wolof.  Mr. Rocha will be teaching the basics of Cape Verdean creole in addition to providing an overview of the issues facing Cape Verde ranging from environmental impacts to social tourism.

Sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Affairs