Chan centre Connects event: Buscando America/ Searching for America
On Wednesday March 25th, Natha Uribe, Eri Kamei and Devin Rajala presented on behalf of our Geography 495 class as part of the Chan Centre Connects series held at the Liu Institute. The event sought to examine the ideologies embedded in the arts and the impact that they have on society. The event was hosted by moderators Valentina Montilla and Enrico Trevesi in PechaKucha format- meaning each presenter was allowed to present a total of 20 slides with each slide lasting for 20 seconds. The goal of the moderators was to engage the audience in exploring issues related to the role of the arts in the political transactions of Latin America. The central question of the night was: how can the arts fight social issues such as oppressive regimes, ignorance and censorship? The event was comprised of 7 presentations, including one by our fellow classmate Sam Bloom on ‘Identity Performance: Carnival and the Masks We Wear”. Our presentation was the final presentation of the night.
Our presentation was a representation of what our class has been working on since January and focused on the collaboratiion with two indigenous communities, one here in Canada and the other in Guatemala. We talked about how both communities have suffered from environmental and social struggles due to the involvement of Canadian mining companies in their territories. We showed how our class aimed to construct relationships of solidarity that challenge, rather than reproduce, some of the unequal power relations that are constituted through systems of privilege and oppression.
Following our presentation, the audience was able to engage in a question and answer discussion period with Angelica Choc. Overall, the audience was very receptive with many questions being directed at Angellica. It was fantastic to have Angelica at the presentation, as it allowed her message to reach a wider audience. I think that we accomplished our goal of giving Angelica a voice in addressing her struggles. Special thanks to the moderators Valentina Montilla and Enrico Trevesi for organizing the event and to Juanita and our classmates for attending!