Fall Merienda Speaker Series Returns

The Fall 2017 Merienda Speaker Series continues the tradition of showcasing speakers from KU who work and research in Latina/o communities in the United States, as well as Latin American and Caribbean countries, from diverse programs such as business, Spanish and Portuguese, art and design, and anthropology.
 
This fall, CLACS welcomes:
Melissa Birch, associate professor in the School of Business, who will discuss the relations between the United States and Mexico and NAFTA

Omaris Zamora, assistant professor and transnational Black Dominican Studies scholar in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, whose interactive workshop will examine the representation and lack thereof of AfroLatinxs in US media and cultural production

Tim Hossler, assistant professor in the School of Architecture and Design, who will present research on how visual culture defines the idea of place, specifically focusing on Havana, Cuba

Brent Metz, associate professor of Anthropology, who will explore the methodology he used to uncover how people decide who is indigenous in the ethnically-disputed tri-border region of El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala 

The Merienda Speaker Series aims to allow attendees to engage in discussions with expert scholars and learn about emerging research in Latin American and Caribbean Studies in an informal setting. This semester, the presentations are interactive to emphasize conversation and activities between the speaker and audience members.
 
All of the Meriendas will be held in Bailey Hall Room 318, with free food and refreshments provided.
 
The dates are as follows:
NAFTA: The Worst Trade Agreement? Dr. Melissa Birch, School of Business
Friday, September 15, 2017 @ 2:00 p.m.

Reppin' la Patria?: AfroLatinidad & Representation in US Media & Culture  Dr. Omaris Zamora – Spanish and Portuguese
Thursday, September 28, 2017 @ 2:30 p.m.

Do you know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Havana? Dr. Tim Hossler – Art + Design
Wednesday, October 11, 2017 @ 2:00 p.m.

How Do You Tell Who’s Indigenous in Latin America Anymore? Dr. Brent Metz – Anthropology
Thursday, November 09, 2017 @ 2:30 p.m.

For Merienda photos, please see our event photos.

Spring 2017

• January 19 - Laura Herlihy, CLACS. "The New Colonization of Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast."
• February 9 - Paula Cupertino, Preventative Medicine and Public Health, KUMC. “TBD.”
• March 2 - Clara Irazábal Zurita, Architecture, Urban Planning, and Design, UMKC. "TBD."
• April 6 - Viviana Grieco, History, UMKC. "Francisco de Paula Sanz.  Image, Emotions, and Power."
• May 4 - Manuela Gonzalez-Bueno, Curriculum and Teaching, Foreign Language Education, KU. "The reunion of an Andalusian with her own dialect."

Fall 2016

• September 8 - Randy David, Anthropology. "Correlates of Chikungunya infection and transmission in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic." Watch Video.
• October 19 - Bob Augelli, Business. “Business and Culture in Cuba”
• November 3 - Chris Brown, Geography and Environmental Studies. "A year living and working in Brazil."
• December 8 - Phillip Duncan, Linguistics. "Patterns of case and agreement in Me'phaa."

Spring 2016

• January 29 - Diana Restrepo-Osorio. "Sostenible or sustentable? The state of water sources and distribution in cattle ranching operations of Colombia, Paraguay, and Uruguay.”
• February 5 - Josie Kapicka, Matt Fahrenbruch, Will Fleming, and Laura Herlihy, “Language and Culture in Nicaragua: Student Research from the Atlantic Coast.”
• February 12 - Will Penner and Silvia Sánchez-Díaz. "Sustainable Development in rural Guatemala"
• February 19 - Mugur Geana. "Knowledge, barriers to prevention, and sources of information about dengue in rural Costa Rica."
• February 26 - Brett Bias. "Good Catholics, Bad Behavior: The Role of Sacrilege and Blasphemy in the Lived Religion of Colonial Mexico."
• March 4 - Jennifer Abercrombie Foster. "'Los adjetivos son complicados:’ Feminist and Feminine Movements in Cuba.”
• March 25 - Stand Herd. “Earthworks and the Olympics: Making ‘Young Woman of Brazil.’"
• April 1  David Cooper. "Whose Water? Whose Rights? A Comparative Analysis of Conflicts over National Water Policy in Ecuador and Peru."
• April 8 - Taylor Tappan, Matt Fahrenbruch, and Aída Ramos-Viera.“Land tenure in Costa Rica’s Alto Chirripó.”
• April 15 - Steve Scott, "The religious, social, and musical characteristics of Festa de São João (St. John’s Festival) for the Indigenous Xucuru tribe of Northern Brazil."
• April 22 - Cécile Accilien. "TBA."
• April 29 - Nate Frieburger. "TBA."

Fall 2015

• September 3 - Anita Herzfeld, “Mayhem, Mystery and Melodrama in Recent Argentine Politics.”
• September 17 - Tim Hossler, “Making A Poetic Guide to Havana.”
  Watch video
• October 1 - Élika Ortega-Guzmán, "Media Reframes: Carrión, Hostos, and Borges in the Twitter bot scene.”
  Watch video
• October 15 - Sergio Jara, "A Conversation with Paraguayan Artist Sergio Jara.”
• October 22 - Omar Gudino, Langston Hughes Visiting Professor of Psychology, “Adapting Evidence-Based Mental Health Practices for Latino Youth and Families.”
• November 5 - Meghan Farley Webb, “At Home Wives: Indigenous Men's Migration and Family Dynamics in Rural Guatemala.”
• November 19 - Ginett Pineda, “The eco-spiritual discourse in the Huarochirí Manuscript and its contribution to a characterization of the Pachamama in the Andes.”
  Watch video
• December 3 - Elizabeth Esch, "Anglo Saxons are Better in the Tropics': Fordism and Racial Performance in Brazil."
  Watch video

Spring 2015

• January 29 - Ezekiel Stear, “The Doubly Chosen: Nahua Pantheism in the Crónica mexicayotl.”
• February 5 - Vanina Teglia, “Alternancias, contradicciones y transformaciones de los modelos de representación de la otredad en discursos encontrados de mediados del siglo XVI.”
• March 5 - M'Balia Thomas, "Globalization, the Cultural Imaginary, and the Challenge to Promote and Diversify U.S. Study Abroad."
• April 2 - Ludwin Molina, “National Identity and Immigration Policy: Enforcing Laws or Ethnocentric Exclusion?”
• April 16 - Jake Longaker, “Transgender Organizing and Public Policy in Latin America.”
• May 8 - Enrique Chaves-Carballo, “American Medicine and the Panama Canal: The Control of Yellow Fever, Malaria and Other Tropical Diseases.”