<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>
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The year's symposium, Afro-Latino Masks: Roots, Representations and Cultural Practices, 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.

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Dr. Max Harris has a Bachelor’s degree in English, Cambridge University, 1970, a Master’s degree in English, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 1972, and a Ph. D. in Religious Studies, University of Virginia, 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 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 “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).

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"The Ambiguity of Masks in Latin America and the Caribbean." 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."

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<b>Dr. Samuel Cruz</b>, received his Bachelor of Arts in Religion, New Rochelle College, New Rochelle, NY, 1987;  his Masters of Arts in Theology, New Brunswick Theological Seminary, New Brunswick, NJ; and his Doctor in Philosophy in Religion and Society, Drew University, Madison, NJ, 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.  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.

Afro-Latino Masks: Roots, Ritual &amp; Rhythm in Latin America and the Caribbean- 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.

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<b>Mildred Siuko García Ramírez </b>is a Puerto Rican artist, consultant, lecturer, 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, Atlantic University College, a Masters in Puerto Rican History, Center for Advanced Studies of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, and a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts, Queens College, 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.

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

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L. Yesenia Martínez, is the Director of Human Resources in the Ministry of Education in Honduras. She was Head Librarian, Universidad Nacional de Agricultura in Catacamas, Olancho, in Honduras, where she also taught history 2010-2012. She has aLicenciatura in History, Universidad Nacional Autónoma, Honduras, 2003, and recently received her Master’s degree in Central American history, University of Costa Rica.  From20062009 she served as Chief of the Historical Research Unit at the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History (IHAH) and as Coordinator of the Honduran Center of Historical Documentation and Research (CDIHH).  Throughout her career Ms. Martinez has 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 a 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,  “During her tenure at the Ministry of Education she worked closely on initiatives promoting racial and ethnic diversity in Honduran primary and secondary education.

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Dr. Darío A. Euraque received his Doctor of Philosophy in Latin American History, with focus on Central American History, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1990.  He has a Master of Arts in History, and a Master of Arts in Ibero-American Studies, both from,University of Wisconsin, Madison1986 and 1984 respectively.   His Bachelor of Arts in History and Philosophy, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1982.

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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, since July 2007 and 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.

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“Garífuna Culture Seen through Masked Choreographed Rituals in Contemporary Central American Education” 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 Garífuna, remains superficial, often mired in stereotypes, and distressingly disengaged from advances in the historiography of the region.

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Panel Presentation “Mask Practices in Art.  Incorporations, interpretations and adaptations.”

Moderator:  Evelyne Laurent-Perrault 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 working on her disortation towards a Ph.D. in 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.

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Panelists:

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Claudio Mir received a Professional Actor Degree from La Escuela Nacional de Arte Drámatico, Palacio de Bellas Artes, 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, Mason Gross School of the Arts, New Brunswick, NJ, 1999, and a Master’s degree in Fine Arts in Creative Writing,Rutgers University Graduate School, Newark, NJ, 2012.  Since 2008 he has been program coordinator for The Collaborative, a Center for Community Based Learning, Service, and Public Scholarship, in Rutgers University. 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.

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Orlando Enrique Fiol is a piano and keyboard player, and Latin and Indian percussion instructor 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.  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 tabla, and others.  Fiol has played with renowned musicians such as Stevie Wonder and others.  Fiol obtained a bachelor’s degree in music from Columbia University, 1996.

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Ira Bond, M. Ed., is an educator of cultural and ethnic tradition, and folklorist of Africa and it’s diaspora, with over 20 years of teaching experience in urban Philadelphia.  He has traveled extensively including 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, and an honorary certificate in Malian Arts and Culture, Antioch University.  Ira earned a Masters of Education in Multicultural Education from Eastern University.

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<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>

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<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>

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

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

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<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>

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

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<b>PANEL:</b>

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

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

<b>Moderator: </b>

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<b>4:45 – Remarks and Closing</b>

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