Speakers:
CGIS-South S 216, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge MA 02138
The yearlong Sawyer Seminar seeks to understand contemporary contestation over citizenship and belonging by Afrodescendants in Latin America, situating these struggles within long-term, historical patterns of nation building, racial stratification, and political mobilization. It will explore the struggles and experiences of citizenship of this vastly heterogeneous group, which have been starkly uneven across time and across (and within) countries. The Seminar will also ask what these differences can teach us, including how these Afro-Latin American perspectives can help inform our understanding of race and racism. To do so, the proposed seminar will examine four interrelated questions that will guide our comparative analysis of what we believe are three pathways to Afrodescendant citizenship that have guided, and continue to guide, experiences in Latin America.
Speakers: -(In)Visibility and Recovery
Susana Matute Charún, Políticas para Población Afroperuana, Ministerio de Cultura, Lima
Afrodescendiente. Licenciada en Educación. Experta en Educación para la Sostenibilidad: Medio Ambiente, Economía e Interculturalidad. Magister en Ciencias de la Educación con mención en Gerencia Educativa Estratégica. Directora del Área de Educación del Centro de Desarrollo Étnico. Especialista en educación intercultural y cultura Afroperuana del Ministerio de Educación. Directora de Políticas para la Población Afroperuana del Viceministerio de Interculturalidad del Ministerio de Cultura. Miembro del Comité de Gestión de la Red Interamericana de Altas Autoridades sobre Políticas para la Población Afrodescendiente de la OEA – RIAFRO-. Cuenta Amplia experiencia en consultoría en temas de educación, metodología de la investigación, gestión educativa, liderazgo, creatividad, emprendimiento, autoevaluación y acreditación educativa. Ha dictado conferencias sobre Interculturalidad y Etnoeducación, en diferentes instituciones nacionales y extranjeras.
Kaysha Corinealdi, Emerson College
Kaysha Corinealdi is an interdisciplinary historian of modern empires, migration, gender, and activism in the Americas. In her research and teaching she incorporates diverse source materials and analytical approaches to highlight the richness and complexity of historical inquiry. Corinealdi has presented her work nationally and internationally on themes such as photographing existence in the Americas, Afro-Latinx educators in New York City, women undoing empire, anti-Blackness in the Americas, and anti-communism in twentieth century Panama and the United States. Her book, Panama in Black: Afro-Caribbean World Making in the Twentieth Century (Duke University Press, 2022), examines activist networks created by Afro-Caribbeans in Panama, the U.S. controlled Panama Canal Zone, and New York City during periods of extralegal and state-sanctioned anti-black and anti-foreigner campaigns. Her research and writing can also be found in the American Historical Review, the Caribbean Review of Gender Studies, Black Perspectives, the International Journal of Africana Studies, Public Books, the Global South, and Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. Corinealdi’s research has been supported by the Mellon Foundation, the Institute for Citizens and Scholars, and the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University.
Ruth Pion, AfrohistoriaRD project
An Afro-Caribbean woman, social researcher, and anti-racist and decolonial activist from the Dominican Republic with a strong interest in the history of black people, Ruth Pion is the creator and CEO of the AfrohistoriaRD project, which seeks to connect with the history of enslaved African people on the island of Hispaniola through immersive and educational experiences such as historical tours, workshops, and various training and interactive programs designed for all audiences. Ruth has participated as a panelist speaker in various national and international platforms to discuss issues regarding racism, antiracism, feminism, gender, black history, and social movements in the past few years. She is the co-founder of the Junta de Prietas collective, and she collaborated in the elaboration of the “Guía para la Formación en Perspectiva Antirracista”, a didactic guide to support grassroot organizations on integrating an antiracist perspective in their work.
Ruth has degrees in Anthropology and Gender Equality from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo and the University of Castilla La Mancha, respectively. She has managed and worked on various archeological projects studying the history of slavery in the Dominican Republic. In fall 2023, she is the inaugural Threatened Dominican Scholar at CUNY DSI, a program made possible by the generous support of the Mellon Foundation.
Moderators: Luis Reyes Escate, Sawyer Visiting Fellow / ALARI
