<p align="center"><b>Afro-Latino Masks: Roots, Representations and Cultural Practices”</b></p>
<p align="center"><b>Saturday, February 22, 2014 from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.</b></p>
<p align="center"><b> </b></p>
<p align="center"><b>Speakers/Presenters</b></p>
The year's symposium, <b>Afro-Latino Masks: Roots, Representations and Cultural Practices, </b>explores the origins and meanings of masks in Latin America and the Caribbean and their historical connection with Africa’s traditions of mask making and performance. But more importantly, show how Afro-Latino masks - whether they have religious significance or secular meanings - represent Latin America and the Caribbean’s history of colonization, acculturation, and resistance.

<b> </b>

<b>Dr. Max Harris </b>received his Bachelors degree in English from Cambridge University in 1970, a Master's degree also in English from the University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 1972, and a Ph. D. in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia in 1989.  His work experience includes Assistant professor of Religious Studies and Psychiatric Medicine, University of Virginia, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Humanities Council, University of Wisconsin, Madison, and visiting Assistant Professor of Religion and Literature, Divinity School, Yale University, 2006.  He has been an independent scholar and author since 2004 publishing several books including “Sacred Folly: A New History of the Feast of Fools (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2011) [Winner of the 2012 David Bevington Award for the Best New Book in Early Drama Studies and the 2013 Otto Gründler Book Prize; and Carnival and Other Christian Festivals: Folk Theology and Folk Performance (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2003).  He is the author of multiple articles, chapters and presentations including, “One Name, Many Dances: Differentiating the Danzas de los Matachines,” in Matachines! Essays for the 2008 Gathering, ed. Claude Stephenson (Albuquerque: New Mexico Arts, 2008), and “Claiming Pagan Origins for Carnival: Bacchanalia, Saturnalia, and Kalends,” European Medieval Drama 10 (2006, and  Neither Yorùbá nor Moors and Christians: A Reassessment of the Fiestas de Santiago Apóstol,” Re/Visiones de Santiago Apóstol: Arte, Historia y Crítica Cultural, University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras, March 2006).

<b> </b>

<b>"The Ambiguity of Masks in Latin America and the Caribbean."</b> Masks that hide faces often display the significance of traditional performance more clearly than the spoken word. They may reveal dreams of indigenous Catholic victory over outside forces, or they may challenge notions of racial purity used to justify social hierarchies. Masks with African features may not be African in origin but Afro-Caribbean caricatures of white caricatures of Africans. Masks frequently retain an ambiguity that, if necessary, allows these challenges to power to be denied." Illustrated with Power point images, many of them his own photographs taken throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

<b> </b>

<b>Dr. Samuel Cruz, </b>received his Bachelor of Arts in Religion in 1987 from New Rochelle College, New Rochelle, NY;  his Masters of Arts in Theology from New Brunswick Theological Seminary, New Brunswick, NJ; and his Doctor in Philosophy degree in Religion and Society from Drew University, Madison, NJ, in 2002.  Dr. Cruz is Assistant Professor of Religion and Society at Union Theological Seminary, NYC 2008-present.  He has been a lecturer in Rutgers, The State University, New Brunswick, NJ in the Graduate School of Social Work from 1999-2003 as well as in the Latino and Hispanic Caribbean Studies Department from 2003-2007.  From 1995 to 2005 he worked as Adjunct Assistant Professor for Drew University, Madison NJ, in the Doctor of Ministry Program.  Dr. Cruz is an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament (December 14, 1994), and an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Church in America.  He is the author of Christianity and Culture in the City: A Post-Colonial Approach, 2013, Lexington Books; and of Masked Africanisms: Puerto Rican Pentecostalism, 2005, Kendall Hunt Publishing. In addition to writing multiple articles and essays, he has participated extensively in symposia, workshops and lectures on themes of religion and race, culture, human rights, immigration, African Spirituality in the Caribbean, and cultural and ethnic diversity, among others.

&nbsp;

<b>Afro-Latino Masks: Roots, Ritual &amp; Rhythm in Latin America and the Caribbean</b>- In the US, African belief systems were generally rejected as primitive and barbaric, but in Latin America and the Caribbean they gradually amalgamated with the sacred and secular expressions of the culture. Dr. Samuel Cruz, Associate Professor of Religion and Society at the Union Theological Seminary, will discuss how traditional African belief systems and practices have influenced religion and culture in Latin America and Caribbean.

<b> </b>

<b>Mildred Siuko García Ramírez </b>is a Puerto Rican artist, consultant, lecturer,<b> </b>and Ph. D candidate in Puerto Rican and Caribbean History in the Center for Advanced Studies of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean in Puerto Rico.  She has an Associate Degree in Graphic Design from Atlantic University College, a Masters in Puerto Rican History also from the Center for Advanced Studies of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, and a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts from Queens College, in New York City.   She has held several teaching positions in Atlantic University College, 2005-12, and at Turabo University, and at the Center for Advanced Studies of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, Puerto Rico.  As an artist she has exhibited extensively in Puerto Rico, and she has exhibited internationally in Mexico, the United States, and Germany. She is the award recipient of the Alegria Medal from the Ricardo Alegria Foundation in 2010, and the First ACE Award at the International Forum of Association of Cooperative Education in Canada, 2004.

&nbsp;

<b>Resiliency and longevity of the afro-boricua <i>vejigante</i> mask: where does it come from?</b>  Siuko Garcia, draws from her wide experience as an artist, her long-term practice with folk-art, and her research to tell the history, and practices of the vejigantes of Puerto Rico.

&nbsp;

<b>L. Yesenia Martínez, </b>is  the Director of Human Resources in the Ministry of Education in Honduras. Between June 2010 and early 2012. She was the Head Librarian at the Universidad Nacional de Agricultura in Catacamas, Olancho, in Honduras, where she also taught history. She received her Licenciatura in History from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Honduras in 2003, and recently received her Master’s degree in Central American history from the University of Costa Rica.  Between December 2006 and November 2009 Yesenia served as Chief of the Historical Research Unit at the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History (IHAH). She also served as Coordinator of the Honduran Center of Historical Documentation and Research (CDIHH) established by the Honduran Ministry of Culture in 2007. Throughout her career Ms. Martinez has presented many papers at academic conferences, and published an array of academic articles including, “Centro Documental de Investigaciones Históricas de Honduras”, Revista Yaxkin, Año 32, Vol. XXIII, No. 1 (2007) pp. 179-183; “Una Mirada à la Ahorcancina, Cinchonero y los Movimientos de Protesta Latinoamericana en el Siglo XIX,” Revista Paraninfo,  Tegucigalpa, Año 13, número 25 (Julio 2004), pp. 111-122,  “Una Aproximación al Impacto del Golpe de Estado a las Instituciones Culturales,” en El Golpe de Estado en Honduras desde Una Perspectiva de los Derechos Humanos, Joaquín A. Mejia &amp; Victor Hernández, Coordinators (Tegucigalpa: Editorial Casa San Ignacio- Editorial Guay muras 2010), pp. 136-159.  During her tenure at the Ministry of Education she has worked closely on initiatives promoting racial and ethnic diversity in Honduran primary and secondary education.  She recently  co-authored, with Dario A. Euraque, La Diáspora Africana en los Programas Educativos de Centroamérica (Tegucigalpa: Editorial Guaymuras, 2013), in English, The African Diaspora in the Education Programs in Central America.

<b> </b>

<b>Dr. Dario A. Euraque </b>received his<b> </b>Doctor of Philosophy in Latin American History, with focus on Central American History, from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1990.  He has a Master of Arts in History, degree and a Master of Arts in Ibero-American Studies, both from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1986 and 1984 respectively.   His Bachelor of Arts in History and Philosophy, focus is from Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1982.

&nbsp;

Dr Euraque has held several positions at Trinity College in Connecticut including Director of the International Studies Program, Associate and Assistant Professor, and Coordinator of Latin American Studies, since 1996.  He is a Professor of History, at Trinity College, in Connecticut, since July 2007 where he has been the Chair of the Department of History since June, 2013.  He received a Fulbright Hays Doctoral Research Abroad Fellowship, and a Magna Cum Laude from University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1982.  He is the author of “La Diáspora Africana en los programas educativos de Centroamérica”, which translates as The African Diaspora in the Education Programs in Central America, co-authored with Yesenia Martínez. Tegucigalpa: Editorial Guaymuras, 2013; and El golpe de Estado del 28 de junio de 2009, el Patrimonio Cultural y la Identidad Nacional de Honduras, which translates as The June 28, 2009 Coup, the Cultural Patrimony and Honduras’ National Identity. San Pedro Sula: Centro Editorial, 2010.  He is the author of multiple articles and essays including “Africa and the African Diaspora in the Primary and Secondary Curriculums of Contemporary Central America”, co-authored with Yesenia Martinez, in Paul Lovejoy &amp; Benjamin P. Bowser, Editors, The Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery: New Directions in Teaching and Learning (Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 2012): 53-67.

&nbsp;

<b>“Garifuna Culture Seen through Masked Choreographed Rituals in Contemporary Central American Education” </b>Garifuna music, dance, and historical narratives, often in choreographed masked rituals, are perhaps the most circulated and presented cultural expressions of this the largest and most politically active of Central America’s segments of the African Diaspora.  Paradoxically, the formal educational sensibilities of millions of Central Americans to the legacies of the African Diaspora, including among the Garifuna, remains superficial, often mired in stereotypes, and distressingly disengaged from advances in the historiography of the region.

&nbsp;

Panel Presentation<b> “Mask Practices in Art.  Incorporations, interpretations and adaptations.”  </b>

<b>Moderator:  </b><b>Evelyne Laurent-Perrault </b>is an Afro-Latina activist and scholar.  Born and raised in Venezuela from Haitian and Venezuelan parents, Ms. Laurent-Perrault has studied, lived, and traveled through Europe, Africa, Latin America, North America, and the Caribbean.  Ms. Laurent-Perrault has a Licenciatura (Licentiate) Degree in Biology from the Central de Venezuela and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the History Department, New York University (NYU), African Diaspora program in Latin America and the Caribbean.  Her dissertation explores the intellectual contributions of illiterate Afro-descendants in the province of Caracas-Venezuela during the end of the colonial period.  Ms. Laurent-Perrault has presented at various Universities, and conferences in the United States and abroad.  She has been the recipient of several fellowships.  While on staff at Taller Puertorriqueño, Ms. Laurent-Perrault founded the Annual Arturo Schomburg Symposium.

<b> </b>

<b>Panelists:</b>

<b> </b>

<b>Claudio Mir </b>received a Professional Actor Degree from La Escuela Nacional de Arte Drámatico, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He studied theater direction at the International School of Latin American and Caribbean Theater (EITALC) in Bologna, Italy, and Havana, Cuba.  He received his bachelor degree in Fine Arts from Mason Gross School of the Arts, New Brunswick, NJ, 1999, and a Master’s degree in Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Rutgers University Graduate School, Newark, NJ, 2012.  From 2008 to the present he has been the program coordinator for The Collaborative, a Center for Community Based Learning, Service, and Public Scholarship, in Rutgers University. He has also been the Coordinator of the New Jersey Leaders of Tomorrow, a Rutgers university internship for junior and senior students in legislative offices, and Co-Director of the Rutgers Bonner Leader AmeriCorps Volunteer Program. He has been an artistic associate for the Institute of Arts Humanities Educations, 1999-2007, and Artistic Director for the Artist Mentoring Against Racism, Drugs and Violence Summer Camp, from 1997 to the present.  He received the New Jersey Governor’s Award, 2001 and the Rutgers University Human Dignity Award in 2012.

&nbsp;

<b>Siuko García</b>

<b> </b>

<b>Orlando Enrique Fiol</b> is a piano/keyboards, Latin and Indian percussion pedagogue in various musicological fields.  He is finishing his Ph.D. in music theory at the University of Pennsylvania with a concentration on contemporary Cuban piano in popular dance music.  Born in Brooklyn, New York to a Puerto Rican Italian father and a Dominican mother, Orlando Fiol began showing interest and talent for music from an early age. Fiol began studying Western classical piano, music theory and composition at the Lighthouse Music School with such distinguished performers and teachers as George Bennett, Norma Varga, Anthony Felaro and Myrna Votta.  While immersing himself in Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Debussy and Scriabin, Fiol was also gradually exploring jazz piano on his own, as well as other music traditions such as table, and others.  Fiol  received multiple awards for excellence, and has played with renowned musicians such as Stevie Wonder and others.  Fiol obtained a bachelor’s degree in music from Colombia University in 1996.

&nbsp;

<b>Ira Bond, M. Ed., </b>an<b> </b>educator of cultural and ethnic tradition, and folklorist of Africa and it’s diaspora, has over 20 years of teaching experience in urban Philadelphia.  He has traveled extensively including to Lebanon, Jordan and several countries in West Africa and the Caribbean, researching and teaching in the work of cultural anthropology, arts integration in education, and the current status of urban education.  Ira earned his B.A. in Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations/Broadcasting and a minor in African-American studies from Mansfield University.  His interests in traditional culture lead him to Antioch University to earn an honorary certificate in Malian Arts and Culture.  Ira earned a Masters of Education in Multicultural Education from Eastern University.  His community programs have received the PA Council for the Arts funding for Folk and Traditional Arts several years in a row.

<b> </b>

<b> </b>

<b> </b>

&nbsp;

<b>Symposium Schedule</b>

<b>Saturday, February 22, 2014</b>

9:30-9:50 am <b>"Continental Breakfast"/</b><i>Café y bizcochitos</i><b> </b>

<b> </b>

<b>Speakers and presentations:</b>

9:50-10:00 a.m.<b>  Welcome &amp; Introductions</b>

<b>10:00-10:45 am  </b>Dr. Max Harris <b>"The Ambiguity of Masks in Latin America and the Caribbean."</b>

<b>10:45-11:30 am  </b>Dr. Samuel Cruz <b>“</b><b>Afro-Latino Masks: Roots, Ritual &amp; Rhythm in Latin America and the Caribbean”.</b>

<b>11:30-12:15 am  </b>Dr. Darío A. Euraque and L. Yesenia Martínez<b> “Garifuna Culture, Seen through Masked Choreographed Rituals, in Contemporary Central American Education”  </b>

<b> </b>

<b>12:15 am-12:45 pm</b> <b>Plenary (Theater) Q &amp; A</b>

<b> </b>

<b>12:45-2:00 pm                  </b>Lunch (Dance Room, 2<sup>nd</sup> floor)

&nbsp;

<b>2:00 - 2:45 pm </b>Siuko García <b>“Resiliency and longevity of the afro-boricua <i>vejigante</i> mask: where does it come from?”</b>

<b> </b>

<b>2:45 - 3:00 pm                   Q &amp; A</b>

<b> </b>

<b>PANEL:</b>

<b> </b>

<b>3:00 - 4:45 pm</b>         <b>“Afro-Latino Masks Practices in Art:  Incorporation, interpretations and adaptations.”  </b>.

<b> </b>

<b>Panelists: </b>Claudio Mir, Siuko García,

<b>Moderator: </b>

&nbsp;

<b>4:45 – Remarks and Closing</b>

&nbsp;