April 13, 2011
‘Bridging the Antilles a conference on the Caribbean — and an excellent photo exhibit
In an effort to bring together conversations about the Caribbean region across its linguistic, cultural, and geographic sites, the Latin American and Caribbean Student Association at the UW presents “Bridging the Antilles,” a conference taking place Thursday through Saturday, April 21 to 23.
Student-driven and interdisciplinary, the conference will showcase faculty and undergraduate and graduate student work related to the Caribbean Region. Panelists include scholars of history, literature, art, ethnomusicology, sociology, and media, with cross-disciplinary focuses on race, diaspora, and postcolonial studies.
The conference keynote speaker is Carolle Charles, associate professor of sociology at Baruch College, CUNY. Charles currently serves as vice president on the executive council for the Caribbean Studies Association, and as a member of the Haitian Studies Association Board. For more information on the conference, visit its website.
Also associated with the conference will be a photo exhibit in Odegaard Undergraduate Library presented by the Photographic Center Northwest and Seattle University titled Crossing the Water: A Path to the Afro-Cuban Spirit World, by photographers and authors Claire Garoutte and Anneke Wambaugh. The exhibit was installed April 1 and will remain on display through May 1. Its 50 images are from the book of the same name, published in 2008 by Duke University Press.
“Focusing on a single ritual expert and his religious environment, the exhibition offers an unusually intimate and dynamic view of the Cuban religious practices of Santería, Palo Monte, and Espiritismo,” promotional notes state. “Compelling photographs, informed text panels, and succinct captions combine to illustrate the spiritual power and energy of ritual as enacted by Santiago Castañeda Vera, a highly respected priest living in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba.”
The photographic essays in the exhibition focus on Veras ritual artistry and on the sacred objects, thrones, and altars that mediate his ongoing dialogue with the spirit world.
This event is co-sponsored by GPSS; Diversity Research Institute; ASUW; Jackson School of International Studies; Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity; Department of History; Comparative History of Ideas; School of Music; Law, Societies and Justice Program; Department of Comparative Literature; and the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program.
