Title: Past and Present of the Ñuu Savi Codices makers

Abstract: The precolonial Mixtec codices contain the cultural memory of the Ñuu Savi (Mixtec) “People of the Rain”, one of the Indigenous Peoples of southern Mexico. Historically, these documents have been interpreted without fully consulting their cultural heirs, the Na Savi (Mixtec), in the living Mixtec communities or they are taken just as informants. In the last decades, more and more scholars and Mixtec scholars have shown how Ñuu Savi communities have maintained their own worldview, sacred places, cultural practices, and languages, despite the prolonged colonial trauma. It means that there is a cultural continuity, allowing us to understand the codices through the living heritage and cultural values of contemporary communities. In this talk, I will present the results of this methodology and its impact in the Ñuu Savi territory, how the knowledge of the codices is taken into account by the communities themselves to support their identity.

This event is co-sponsored by CIAMS, the Department of History of Art, the Johnson Museum of Art, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program. Thank you.

Go global in summer 2025! Global Internships give you valuable international work experience in fields spanning global development, climate and sustainability, international relations, communication, business, governance, and more.

This session will discuss opportunities with the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, a Cornell Global Hubs partner in Ecuador.

Register for this virtual session.

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The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies hosts info sessions for graduate and for undergraduate students to learn more about funding opportunities, international travel, research, and internships. View the full calendar of fall semester sessions.

How do activists use historical memory? Examining the narratives expressed in recorded oral histories, I argue that Indigenous labor leaders from the haciendas of Cayambe, Ecuador constructed an empowering narrative politics that guided their allies as well as future activists in preserving and revitalizing the history of their local activism. In light of critiques from across the political spectrum about the waning salience of Marxist projects, I aim to show how, in mid-20th century Ecuador, Indigenous activists’ understandings of the significance of their communism were radically unorthodox, and in fact–because of the ways in which they recorded and archived their experiences of resistance– their perspectives continue to offer lessons about spaces for indigenous empowerment in the present. Understanding historical documentation as part of wider political projects allows for an analysis of historical self-representation as political action.

Marlen Rosas is assistant professor of History at Haverford College in Haverford, PA. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in History from the University of Pennsylvania. Her book project, Recording Indigenous Resistance: Literacy, Memory, and Narrative Power in Twentieth-Century Ecuador, employs critical archive scholarship, oral history, and memory studies approaches to the examination of Indigenous mobilization in twentieth-century Ecuador, arguably the most organized Indigenous movement in the history of the Americas. She is the co-founder and convener of the Thinking Andean Studies Interdisciplinary Conference.

Bartels World Affairs Lecture

The bestselling author of Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World joins us for a personal journey down the conspiracy rabbit hole to explore why our political sphere has become dangerously warped.

When author and social activist Naomi Klein discovered a writer with the same first name but radically different political views was chronically mistaken for her, it seemed too ridiculous to take seriously—until suddenly it wasn’t. As the pandemic took hold, she absorbed a barrage of insults from her doppelganger’s followers.

Klein’s 2023 book Doppelganger follows Other Naomi into a digital underworld of conspiracies, anti-vaxxers, and right-wing paranoia. Klein’s journey reveals mirrored concerns and unlikely connections between well-meaning liberals and the right-wing voices that relish “owning” them.

After a talk sharing her insights, Klein joins distinguished global democracy experts from Cornell to lift the lid on this surreal election moment and examine how our politics have become so twisted and polarized. What can we do to escape our collective vertigo and get back to fighting for what really matters?

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Panelists

Read election remarks from the panelists in Chronicle coverage of global democracy activities on campus.

Thomas Garrett, Einaudi Center Lund Practitioner in Residence, Distinguished Global Democracy Lecturer (Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy)Suzanne Mettler, John L. Senior Professor of American Institutions, Department of Government (College of Arts and Sciences)Kenneth Roberts (moderator), Einaudi Center Democratic Threats and Resilience faculty fellow, Richard J. Schwartz Professor, Department of Government (A&S)

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This event is sold out.

All free tickets are reserved. If you don’t have a ticket but would like to attend, please arrive 15 minutes early to be put on our wait list.

A reception with refreshments will follow the lecture and panel.

Lecture and Panel: 5:00 | G10 Biotechology BuildingReception: 6:30-7:30 | Biotechnology Building Atrium

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About Naomi Klein

Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist and international bestselling author of nine books published in over 35 languages, including No Logo, The Shock Doctrine, and her most recent book Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World (2023). A columnist for The Guardian, her writing has appeared in leading media around the world. She is a tenured professor of climate justice at the University of British Columbia, founding codirector of UBC’s Centre for Climate Justice, and honorary professor of media and climate at Rutgers University.

About the Bartels World Affairs Lecture

The Bartels World Affairs Lecture is a signature event of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. This flagship event brings distinguished international figures to campus each academic year to speak on global topics and meet with Cornell faculty and students, particularly undergraduates. The lecture and related events are made possible by the generosity of Henry E. Bartels ’48 and Nancy Horton Bartels ’48.

Come to the LRC to practice your language skills and meet new people. Conversation Hours provide an opportunity to use the target language in an informal, low-pressure atmosphere. Have fun practicing a language you are learning! Gain confidence through experience! Just using your new language skills helps you learn more than you might think. Conversation Hours are open to any learner, including the public.

Come to the LRC to practice your language skills and meet new people. Conversation Hours provide an opportunity to use the target language in an informal, low-pressure atmosphere. Have fun practicing a language you are learning! Gain confidence through experience! Just using your new language skills helps you learn more than you might think. Conversation Hours are open to any learner, including the public.