Ser quilombola

Lecture: To be a Quilombola

Speaker: Marta Rodrigues

Date: August 1st 2011, 18:30h

Place: Cultural Center of the City Council, Salvador de Bahia (Brazil)

Webpage: www.ceao.ufba.br

Admission: free of charge

Comments: 

The public hearing titled "Identity and Access Quilombola Public Policy" initiative of the Commission of Reparation of the City Council, chaired by Councilwoman Marta Rodrigues, will discuss the importance of affirming the quilombola identity in the process of defending their constitutional rights and their public policies. The event will be attended by the Secretary Elias Sampaio (SEPROMI), Alexandro Reis, director of the Heritage Protection Department of Afro-Brazilian Palmares Cultural Foundation, Silvany Euclênio, Director of Programs of the Secretariat of Policies for Traditional Communities SEPPIR, Secretary Carlos Brasileiro (SEDES), Secretary Ailton Ferreira (SEMUR), Eduardo Jorge Gomes (SEDIR), José Vivaldo Mendonça, director of the Company for Development and Regional Action (CAR), State Representative Bira Côroa, Valmir dos Santos, from Quilombo State Council of Bahia and journalist and director of the documentary "SER QUILOMBOLA", Jaqueline Barreto, who will present her project for the communities.

The hearing will be initiated by the screening of the documentary "SER QUILOMBOLA." The audiovisual production discusses the main elements that constitute the identity from the quilombola communities of the São Francisco do Paraguaçu and Porteiras, located respectively in the cities of Cachoeira and Entre Rios. Some issues discussed are relationship with the land, kinship ties, racism, traditions that reinvent themselves and self-esteem. "Ser Quilombola " counts with the participation of historians Ubiratan Castro and João José Reis, Lydia Cardel, a sociologist and professor at the Federal University of Bahia, the former representative of the Palmares Cultural Foundation, Luciana Mota, and the sociologist Walter Altino.

The documentary covers the two criteria of Decree 4.887/03 which is under threat in the Supreme Court: territoriality and self-definition. It also represents a right of reply of the São Francisco do Paraguaçu community displayed by the report in Jornal Nacional Rede Globo. The documentary is intended to be used as a political tool that encourages self-esteem and the need of quilombola affirmation of identity as an instrument access to public policies.

About Quilombolas:

A Quilombola is a resident of a Quilombo in Brazil. They are the descendents of slaves who escaped from slave plantations that existed in Brazil until abolition in 1888. The most famous Quilombola was Zumbi and the most famous Quilombo was Palmares.

Many Quilombolas live in poverty.

A quilombo (from the Kimbundu word kilombo) is a Brazilian hinterland settlement founded by people of African origin, Quilombolas, or Maroons. Most of the inhabitants of quilombos (called quilombolas) were escaped slaves and, in some cases, a minority of marginalised Portuguese, Brazilian aboriginals, Jews and Arabs, and/or other non-black, non-slave Brazilians who experienced oppression during colonization. However, the documentation on runaway slave communities typically uses the term mocambo to describe the settlements. "Mocambo" is an Ambundu word that means "hideout", and is typically much smaller than a quilombo. Quilombo was not used until the 1670s and then primarily in more southerly parts of Brazil.

A similar settlement exists in other Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America, and is called a palenque. Its inhabitants are palenqueros who speak various Spanish-African-based creole languages. Quilombos are identified as one of three basic forms of active resistance by slaves. The other two are attempts to seize power and armed insurrections for amelioration. Typically, quilombos are a "pre-19th century phenomenon". The prevalence of the last two increased in the first half of 19th century Brazil, which was undergoing both political transition and increased slave trade at the time.

© Text and image: http://www.ceao.ufba.br 

Aleutian Bentwood Hats

LECTURES
Lecture: Aleutian Bentwood Hats

Speaker: Patty Lekanoff-Gregory

Date: Thursday, 7^th July 2011, 12 pm

Place: Anchorage Museum, 625 C Street, Anchorage, Alaska (USA)

Webpage: www.anchoragemuseum.org

Admission: $12

Comments: 

Artist Patty Lekanoff-Gregory explains how to make Unangax (Aleut) bentwood hats and their importance in traditional Aleutian Island culture. Included with admission

About the Patty Lekanoff-Gregory:

O. Patricia Lekanoff-Gregory owns A.L.E.U.T. Tours, operating in Unalaska. She is an expert at making traditional Unangam bentwood visors and hats, and mentors at Camp Qungaayux^, a culture camp sponsored by the Qawalangin Tribe, Unalaska City School, the Ounalashka Corporation and the Alaska Systemic Rural Initiative. Patty has served on the Qawalangin Tribal Council (1994 to 2002), the City of Unalaska Parks, Culture and Recreation Advisory Board (1985 to present), the Aleutian/Pribilof Islands Association, Inc. (1997 to present), the Unalaska Historic Preservation Commission (1994 to present) and has worked with the Aleut International Association with the Aleuts from Bering Island in Russia. She has also served previously on the Unalaska Visitors' Alliance, the Unalaska/Port of Dutch Harbor Convention and Visitors' Bureau, Unalaska Senior Citizens, and the Unalaska Aleut Development Corporation.

© Text and image: Anchorage Museum

Dongria Kondh lecture from Michael Palin

Lecture: The Dongria Kondh

Speaker: Michael Palin

Date: February 22^nd 2011, 19:30-21h

Place: Soho Hotel, Richmond Mews, W1D 3DH, London (UK)

Webpage: www.survivalinternational.org/

Admission: £20.00 + £1.85 fee

Comments: 

Actor, writer and broadcaster Michael Palin talks about his recent travels to Orissa, India, and his visit to the Dongria Kondh tribe.

The Dongria Kondh recently won a historic battle to save their lands and forests from an open-pit bauxite mine.

Vedanta Resources, a British company, intended to dig a bauxite mine on Niyamgiri mountain in India.

The mine would have destroyed the forests on which the Dongria Kondh depend and wreck the lives of thousands of other Kondh tribal people living in the area.

All proceeds in aid of Survival International.

The event includes a Q&A.  

About the Dongria: http://www.survivalinternational.org/dongria and see the article in ETHNIKKA's blog: http://www.ethnikka.org/2010/08/dongria-kondh-of-india.html

About Michael Palin and his support to the Dongria (23/07/2010):

Actor, presenter and explorer Michael Palin has sent a message in support of the Dongria Kondh tribe of India, who are resisting a mine on their land byFTSE 100 companyVedanta Resources.

In a statement, Michael Palin said, ‘I’ve been to the Nyamgiri Hills in Orissa and seen the forces of money and power that Vedanta Resources have arrayed against a people who have occupied their land for thousands of years, who husband the forest sustainably and make no great demands on the state or the government. The tribe I visited simply want to carry on living in the villages that they and their ancestors have always lived in.’

On July 28th, Vedanta’s Annual General Meeting in London will be attended by protestors from Survival International and other groups keen to draw shareholders’ attention to Vedanta’s human rights and environmental record.

PIRC, the shareholder lobby group, have announced that they are urging shareholders to vote against re-electing three of the company’s directors on human rights, safety and environmental grounds.

© Text and image: Survival

Indian or Native American?

Lecture: Indian or Native American?  Deconstructing Stereotypes about American Indians

Speakers: Raney Bench and James Eric Francis

Date: September 28th

Place: The Abbe Museum Community Gallery, 26 Mount Desert Street, Bar Harbor, Maine, US

Webpage: www.abbemuseum.org

Admission: Free

Comments: 

Join the Abbe Museum for a special program presented by Raney Bench and James Eric Francis, Sr. , Penobscot, that aims to deconstruct stereotypes about American Indians. This FREE event, intended for adults and teens, will take place from 6:30-8:00 pm on Tuesday, Sept. 28th in the Abbe Museum Community Gallery on 26 Mount Desert Street, Bar Harbor.

In Indian or Native American? Deconstructing Stereotypes about American Indians, Abbe Museum Curator of Education Raney Bench and Tribal Historian for the Penobscot Nation James Eric Francis, Sr. will present a skit and lead a discussion highlighting all those questions people are afraid to ask about Indians.  The introductory skit aims to address some common stereotypes while creating a comfortable and open atmosphere that encourages the questions and discussion that form the second half of the program.

Stereotyping is a learned form of classifying and labeling others based on inaccurate information or assumption rather than on factual knowledge. Stereotypes, both good and bad, are damaging because they ignore individual differences and assume that all people in a given category are alike.  Stereotyping can lead to prejudice, followed by discrimination in the forms of racism, sexism, or discrimination against foreigners, for example. Part of the program's conversation includes an explanation of the difference between the human tendency to categorize and the potentially harmful effects of generalization.  By directly addressing these stereotypes, this program aims to encourage a better understanding of American Indians.

The partnership of Raney Bench and James Eric Francis Sr. allows for a highly educational evening, as Bench's expertise enables her to address questions guests might have about sensitive issues regarding Native Americans in the United States; while James Eric Francis Sr. provides an important perspective and wealth of knowledge about Penobscot history and culture. 

About Abbe Museum:

The mission of the Abbe Museum is to inspire new learning about the Wabanaki Nations with every visit. The Abbe has a collection of over 50,000 archeological, historic, and contemporary objects including stone and bone tools, pottery, beadwork, carved root clubs, birch bark canoes, and supporting collections of photographs, maps, and archival documents. It holds the largest and best-documented collection of Maine Native American basketry in any museum. Its collections conservation program is recognized nationally as a model for museums. 

© Text and image: Abbe Museum

Collecting in the field

Lecture: Collecting in the field
Speaker: Chris Boylan (www.chrisboylan.com.au)
Date: Thursday 30th September 2010 
Time: starts 7.30pm, followed by drinks.
Place: Galleries 27 and 28 Cork Street.Mayfair, London , W1S 3NG, United Kingdom
Admission: free
Comments:
Chris Boylan gives a colourful and in depth lecture on the challenges of collecting tribal art in the depths of Papua New Guinea.
Chris has spent his life collecting and travelling to the furthest corners of this amazing region. His experiences of sourcing highland shields should make this lecture well worth the visit.

Songs, music and popular culture in Martinica

CEAO - Centro de Estudos Afro-Orientais

A palestra trata da recente emergência das canções, músicas e cultura popular afro-caribenha na Martinica. Com atenção para as narrativas, poesia e visão de mundo, a autora lança luzes sobre as experiências de mulheres afro-caribenhas numa pespectiva cross-cultural.

Palestrante: Profa. Dra. Brenda F. Berrian
Departamento de Estudos Africanos, Estudos sobre a Mulher e Letras da Universidade de Pittsburgh - USA

Debatedoras:
Profa. Dra. Florentina Souza – CEAO e PPGLL-UFBa
Secretária Estadual Luiza Bairros, SEPROMI

Data: 10 de agosto de 2010, terça-feira.
Horário: 18:30 hs
Local: CEAO - Pç. Inocêncio Galvão, 42, Largo Dois de Julho - CEP 40060-055. Salvador - Bahia Tel (71) 3283-5502/| E-mail: ceao@ufba.br

Early Man and the Ocean

Conference: Early Man and the Ocean
Date: 23 to 26 September 2010
Place: The Kon-Tiki Museum and The Norwegian Maritime Museum (Oslo, Norway)
Price: Free for conferences (just notice on e-mail). For the film festival, the standard museum admittances apply.
Website: www.kon-tiki.no
Contact name: Reidar Solsvik (Reidar.Solsvik@kon-tiki.no)

Early Man and the Ocean 2010: Social Significance of Ocean Voyages is a combined conference and film festival.
The conference topic is maritime experimental archaeology and maritime history dedicated to how (pre)historical or experimental voyages influenced the society they were a part of or the society with which they came in contact.
The conference consists of three sessions on Thursday 23 and Friday 24 of September:
1) Significance of the maritime experiment – social and technological
2) Significance of Ocean Voyages 1 – Oceans Connect
3) Significance of Ocean Voyages 2 – The Sea as a Social Space.
Key note speaker: Professor Ben Finney, University of Hawai'i, "The significance of experimental voyages as a source of scientific knowledge."
The film festival 23-26 of September will screen over 20 films related to maritime experimental archaeology and first European contact with peoples in polar regions:
-BUILDING PHARAOH'S SHIP - Can the legendary trading vessel of an Egyptian queen sail again? WGBH/Nova
-LAPITA VOYAGE EXPEDITION - J. Wharram and H. Boon
-THE SEA STALLION'S VOYAGE - A trial voyage in film and music. Viking Ship Museum, Roskilde
-CILICIA - K. Balayan
-VIRACOCHA I & II - Eyes Open Production
-THE ABORA SAGA - D. Görlitz
-KABANG 2010 - Sea nomads from the Mergui archipelago sail the southwest coast of Norway. Ten Thousand Images
-THE LOG BOAT FROM GLOMMA RIVER - Norwegian Maritime Museum
-ROALD AMUNDSEN'S SOUTH POLE EXPEDITION (1910-12)