IXCANUL (“volcano” in the Kaqchikel language, English Subtitles)

Time: 6-8 PM | Place: G08 Uris Hall

This year’s LACS Film Series will screen movies from all over the region, highlighting the program’s recent focus on the Caribbean. During the Fall semester we’ll watch and discuss movies from North America (Mexico), Central America (Guatemala), and the Caribbean (Haiti & Dominican Republic). In the Spring semester, the series will “go South” with films from South American countries, and once again from the Caribbean.

Feel free to join any of the screening sessions + discussions without previous RSVP. Upcoming dates are October 21 and November 18 (always at 6pm). Further details will be shared before each session.

Looking forward to seeing you all!

The LACS Film Committee

Ixcanul Description: Maria, a 17 year old Mayan woman, lives on the slopes of an active volcano in Guatemala. An arranged marriage awaits her. Although Maria dreams of seeing 'the city', her status as an indigenous woman does not allow her to go out into that 'modern world'. Later, during a pregnancy complication, this modern world will save her life, but at what price. The brilliant debut by Guatemalan filmmaker Jayro Bustamante is a mesmerizing fusion of fact and fable, a dreamlike depiction of the daily lives of Kaqchikel speaking Mayans on a coffee plantation at the base of an active volcano. Immersing us in its characters' customs and beliefs, IXCANUL chronicles with unblinking realism, a disappearing tradition and a disappearing people.

Many scholars and practitioners do not necessarily know that the United States occupied Haiti for nineteen years, between 1915 and 1934. It is also not common knowledge that the monies taken from the National Bank of Haiti helped to boost the U.S. economy in the context of the great depression. With the recent assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse followed by the powerful earthquake of August 14, 2021, Haiti has yet again been in the spotlight of mainstream media, and is recurrently labelled as the “poorest country of the Western Hemisphere,” a label that not only ignores the root causes of Haiti’s contemporary issues, but also completely ignores the country’s rich history and resources. Contrary to the general scholarship that has reaffirmed neocolonial tropes about Haiti, Professor Saint Paul will unpack the myth that Haiti is the poorest country, and will explain how U.S. economic interests have driven U.S. political interventions in Haiti, from 1915 to now. The overall goal of the lecture is to raise awareness about the fact that the Caribbean country has been impoverished by powerful transnational social forces, highly influenced by the United States of America. The discussion will also explore the question of whether or not the United States has a moral responsibility in Haiti’s current state of affairs.

Virtual Event via Zoom, please register through the following link: https://cornell.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Py9gTMsFSta3oHkkmEQqyQ

What does it take to challenge entrenched judicial dysfunction? In this talk, Janice Gallagher previews the central argument from her forthcoming book, "Bootstrap Justice: The Search for Mexico's Disappeared." She shows how the sustained mobilization of families of the disappeared widens cracks in impunity produced by shifting state-criminal alliances, and highlights the key role of state allies. Speaker is in-person.

Cornell Community may attend in-person at 1pm G01 Stimson Hall

Event is free and open to the public via Zoom--Please register through the following link:

https://cornell.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5VxY9YHDS5yCp1N-FwG2Lw

Often seen solely as a calamity, El Niño Southern Oscillation has impacted the Peruvian Andes for hundreds of years and has (re)shaped the means of agrarian life for Indigenous and campesino peoples. Based on archival and ethnographic work, this presentation discusses how El Niño and its “disasters” — floods, droughts, and mudslides, and others — are also responsible for spurring adaptation, resilience, and different forms of socioenvironmental organization.

Hybrid (speaker in-person for the Cornell Community)

Free and open to the public by Zoom:

https://cornell.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_iX3_SIpWQqWj4ltARiPQYg

In this moment of hyper-politicized border and migration issues, questions of representation are crucial. This roundtable of scholars, journalists, and practitioners will address the needs and challenges of producing stories about complex border issues along with the potential for different stories to effect real change. Our panelists are actively documenting, producing, circulating, and reflecting on migration stories through a range of media and will share from their own work, focusing especially on the contentious borderspaces of the southern U.S. and southern Europe. This discussion is organized by the Migrations initiative and co-sponsored by the East Asia Program, the Institute for European Studies, the Department of Sociology, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and the School of Public Policy.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

Key questions that journalists, academics, and practitioners consider in producing and responding to stories and coverage of migration issuesHow different media shape what stories get told and who they reachHow the politicization of migration affects what stories do and do not get toldThe possibilities that different media and storytelling practices offer for challenging dominant narratives or providing more complex accountsThe role that images play in communicating migration and border issues to the public

Author Patrícia Lino will be presenting and discussing her recent book, O Kit de Sobrevivência do Descobridor Português no Mundo Anticolonial (2020).

Patrícia Lino (1990) is a poet, an essayist, and an Assistant Professor at UCLA, where she teaches Luso-Brazilian literatures and cinema. Lino is the author of O Kit de Sobrevivência do Descobridor Português no Mundo Anticolonial (2020), Não é isto um livro (2020), and Manoel de Barros e A Poesia Cínica (2019). She recently directed DAEDALUS 22/1 (BRA 2021), Anticorpo. A Parody of the Laughable Empire (US-POR 2019) and Vibrant Hands (US-POR 2019). She is also the author of the mixed poetry album I Who Cannot Sing (2020). Lino presented, published, and exhibited essays, poems, and illustrations in more than seven countries. Her current research focuses on contemporary poetry, visual and audiovisual culture, parody and anticolonialism, ​and Luso-Brazilian film. She works as a researcher member at the UCLA Latin American Institute and as a collaborator at Instituto de Literatura Comparada Margarida Losa. Lino is also the co-editor of escamandro, a Brazilian magazine dedicated to poetry and criticism.

Virtual Event Zoom link:

https://cornell.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_31pGp-mdRGmtvhPvHMrTAw