Center for Mexico and Central America's Public Programming

For its public programming, the Center for Mexico and Central America hosts different events throughout the academic year. Below is a list of Upcoming and Past Events. 

Upcoming Events Spring 2022:

1. "Infancias en Movimiento en las Américas | Children on the Move Across the Americas." January 20th, 2022. To register, tap the following link: https://bit.ly/3HLTPZL.

2. "Seeking Asylum: Cubans and Haitians in Mexico." This event is made possible by the Cuba Program at the Institute of Latin American Studies and co-sponsored by the Center for Mexico and Central America at Columbia. January 25th, 2022 from 6 to 8 PM EST.


3. "Separated: Central American Families, Migration, and the State of Violence." January 27th, 2022. 


4. "The Crisis of Democracy in Central America." February 10th, 2022. (This event is subject to change and co-sponsored by the Institute of Latin American Studies at Columbia and Harvard University).

5. "Rebel and Revolutionaries Women in Anthropology in Chiapas and Central America." Friday, February 11th at 11:00 AM EST. 

6. Book presentation of "Feminist Anthropologies in Mexico." Led by: Marisa Ruiz Trejo, Mary Goldsmith, Lina Rosa Berrio, and more. Friday, February 18th, at 11:00.

7. Roundtable/book presentation  "Decolonize and depatriarchalize the Social Sciences, memory, and life in Chiapas, Central America, and the Caribbean" by: Marisa Ruiz Trejo, María Guadalupe Hernández García, Mabel Dalila Morales, Irma Alicia Velásquez, Marta Casaús, Mayra Santos Febres?. Invited to comment: Nara Milanich (to be confirmed), Pamela Calla, and Arlene Davila. Organized by: Anthropology Department and CLACS, NYU and CeMeca, Columbia University. Thursday, February 24h, at 6:00 PM EST.


8. "Launch of Regional Expert Paper Series." February 25th, 2022.

 

Past Events - Fall 2021 Semester:

From the Center for Mexican Studies to CeMeCA. Launch Event

This panel featured a discussion with four scholars of Mexico and Central America, including the Center's former Director, Professor Claudio Lomnitz, and current Director, Professor Nara Milanich. Both examined the center’s shifting focus from “Greater Mexico” to “Mexico and Central America,” exploring the intellectual and political implications of the Center's new focus and shift.

El Chavo del 8: Projecting and Image of Community, Childhood, and Identification

This panel featured Professors Daniel Friedrich, Erica Colmenares, and Columbia College student Ricardo Mercado on the popular 1970's television show El Chavo del Ocho and how it has been entertaining audiences across Latin America and beyond with humorous images of childhood and community, but which taught at the same time about the true value of human connections.

Persistence of the Past

This panel featured School of the Arts Professor Richard Peña, Film Director Rodrigo Reyes, and Columbia College student Astrid Liden. Together, they delved into the 500th anniversary of the Spanish Conquest of the Americas. They discussed why it is clear and evident that the legacy of colonialism in Latin America and its present-day implications in the region have had a long-lasting impact on its people and culture through Reyes' film 499. The discussion also touched upon how the hybrid narrative of Reyes' film weaved together a documentary and narrative plot to illustrate the continuation of the Conquest into today, exploring the conquest's legacy in modern Mexico through a mix of real-life experiences and the fictional perspective and viewpoints of a Conquistador returning to the present-day realities that colonialism has left. 

The Accumulated Traumas of Honduran Displacement

This conversation featured National Geographic photographer Tomas Ayuso. The discussion analyzed how displacement out of Honduras has increased exponentially every year as crisis after interconnected crisis piles onto the cities and villages of the country since 2009. Ayuso discussed how the consequences of political instability, generalized violence, and abyssal inequality pushed hundreds of thousands of Hondurans abroad in search of the shelter and dignity they were stripped of at home. It was also in the decade-plus of permanent catastrophe that effects of factors of displacement exacerbated open wounds in the mental health of those that stayed behind. 

A Cop Movie: A Discussion with Professor Pablo Piccato and Film Director Alonso Ruizpalacios

This discussion featured Professor of History at Columbia, Pablo Piccato, and Mexican Film Director Alonso Ruizpalacios, who also directed other films, such as Museo (2018) and Güeros (2014). Professor Piccato and Ruizpalacios discussed how A Cop Movie challenged the way one sees the Mexican Police in Mexico.

Bridging the Search - Buscadoras Research Unit

This panel featured Mónica Trigos (SIPA '21), Gregory Odum, and Alexander Gil, as they presented their latest report on the project that started with the Center for Mexican Studies and crossed over to the rebranded Center for Mexico and Central America.

Farming as More than A Livelihood Strategy

This event touched upon the connection between climate change, agriculture, and the process of international migration in the Mexican state of Zacatecas.

Enrique Alferez: Migration, Nahua Influence, and Mexico-U.S. Relations Through Sculpture

This book presentation focused on the artistic and cultural legacy that Mexican sculptor Enrique Alférez left on the City of New Orleans and how this legacy transcended both national borders and the ephemeral nature of time, featuring Author Katie Bowler-Young, Professor Jeronimo Duarte Riascos, and Columbia College student Deborah Sofia Moreno Ornelas.

Indigenous Women on Building a Plurinational State in Latin America

Representatives from Guatemala, Chile, and Peru spoke during a Zoom session on October 29th about their aims to construct a plurinational state within Latin America. 
To watch the recorded session, tap the following link: https://sofheyman.org/media/videos/indigenous-women-on-building-a-plurinational-state-in-latin-america.

 

For more information on events, visit: https://ilas.columbia.edu/events.