Cultural Agents Initiative Newsletter
Week of
February 17th - 24th
2009
Dear friends, 
 
Welcome to the new version of the Cultural Agents Newsletter. We hope you continue to enjoy it and remember to send us your events on a weekly basis. Please keep in mind that we will send the publication every Tuesday. 

 
Warmest wishes from the cultural agents team.
 
In This Issue
Rethinking Challenges to Democracy in (Post-)Civil War Colombia, 1946-1966
"Africa and World History": History Without Horses
The Racial Geography of Early 20th Century Urban Recreation and the Origins of the Long, Hot Summer
"Africa and World History": Political Centralization and its Costs
Prometheus Dance presents: Opposites
"Africa and World History": The African Communal Ethos in a Commercial World
"Corbu Pops": An Evening with William Pope. L.
"Wallmapu, Our Territory, Our Stories": From the Mapuche perspective
"The Jazz Club": Live Bird & Poetry Jam
"Stories of Love": A Playback Theatre Workshop
"Playing Doctor Well": Is Literature the Art of Medicine?
Featured Article
Rethinking Challenges to Democracy in (Post-)Civil War Colombia, 1946-1966
Tuesday 02/17/09
CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge St., Room S250
12:00pm
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Tuesday Seminar on Latin American Affairs

This event is open to the public.

Speaker:
Karl, Robert, Graduate Student Associate. Ph.D. candidate, Department of History, Harvard University.

"Africa and World History": History Without Horses
Tuesday 02/17/09
Thompson Room, Barker Center, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge
4:00pm
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Joseph C. Miller T. Cary Johnson, Jr. Professor of History
University of Virginia
 
A Q&A and reception follows the lecture. For more information, please contact the Du Bois Institute at 617.495.8508.

The Racial Geography of Early 20th Century Urban Recreation and the Origins of the Long, Hot Summer
Wednesday 02/18/09
Thompson Room, Barker Center, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge
12:00pm
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Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.cordially invites you to attend the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute Colloquium
 
Speaker:
Andrew W. Kahrl Assistant Professor of History, Marquette University

A question and answer period will follow the lecture.
Please feel free to bring a lunch.
 
"Africa and World History": Political Centralization and its Costs
Wednesday 02/18/09
Thompson Room, Barker Center, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge
4:00pm
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Joseph C. Miller T. Cary Johnson, Jr. Professor of History
University of Virginia
 
A Q&A and reception follows the lecture. For more information, please contact the Du Bois Institute at 617.495.8508.

W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University, 104 Mt. Auburn Street, 3R, Cambridge, MA, 617.495.8508. www.dubois.fas.harvard.edu.
 
Prometheus Dance presents: Opposites
Thursday 02/19/09
Multicultural Arts Center - 41 Second Street, Cambridge
2:00pm
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Opposites is an engaging interactive performance created with the aim of teaching children about modern dance using the concepts of opposites. Up - down, front - back, slow - fast, loud and quiet.  A chance to dance...Opposites promises an afternoon of excitement and energy with live percussion by Francisco Molina, six members of Prometheus Dance and narration by Tommy Neblett.

Come and learn about what makes up a dance and how point of view can affect the outcome!

$12 for adults and $6 for children under ten.
Tickets are available at the door or online.
 
"Africa and World History": The African Communal Ethos in a Commercial World
Thursday 02/19/09
Thompson Room, Barker Center, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge
4:00pm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joseph C. Miller T. Cary Johnson, Jr. Professor of History
University of Virginia
 
A Q&A and reception follows the lecture. For more information, please contact the Du Bois Institute at 617.495.8508.

W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University, 104 Mt. Auburn Street, 3R, Cambridge, MA, 617.495.8508. www.dubois.fas.harvard.edu.
"Corbu Pops": An Evening with William Pope. L
Thursday 02/19/09
Carpenter Center
6:00pm
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The Carpenter Center presents an evening with William Pope.L

Pope.L will give a lecture and performance piece to celebrate the opening of his new work "Corbu Pops".
"Corbu Pops" is a specially commissioned piece inspired by the Carpenter Center's own unique, modernist architecture - Le Corbusier's only North American builiding.

"Corbu Pops" is an erstwhile investigation of modernism, utopia, nonsense, blackness, purity, and factory production. Paying close attention to the structures and systems that create our built and lived environment, Pope.L's work uses avant-garde strategies such as the readymade, performance, and collage to question the institutionalization of philosophical ideas such as art and the psychic disturbances provoked by industrialization and modernity.
"Wallmapu, Our Territory, Our Stories": From the Mapuche perspective
Thursday 02/19/09
Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Auditorium, George Gustav Heye Center. One Bowling Green, New York, NY
6:30pm
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Wallmapu, Our Territory, Our Stories

Speakers: Jeanette Paillán (filmmaker) and Luis E. Cárcamo-Huechante (Professor Harvard University). Introduced by Gabriela Rangel (Director, Visual Arts Americas Society) and moderated by Amalia Córdova (Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian)

Join us for a screening of clips of a historical documentary that tells the story of the Wallmapu territory from the Mapuche perspective. The screening will be followed by a discussion with director Jeanette Paillán and Luis E. Cárcamo-Huechante.

This program is organized in collaboration with the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.
"Simone de Beauvoir": A Centennial Symposium
Friday 02/20/09
Thompson Room, Barker Center, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge
2:00pm
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The Humanities Center at Harvard presents:

BEAUVOIR THE INTELLECTUAL

Judith Coffin "Beauvoir, Kinsey, and Mid-Century Sex"

Judith Surkis "Ethics and Violence: Djamila Boupacha and the Algerian War"

Alice Jardine "What Feminism?"

Moderated by Peter Gordon
 
BEAUVOIR THE WRITER

Susan R. Suleiman "Memory Troubles: Remembering the Occupation in The Mandarins"

Nancy K. Miller "Jean-Paul's Tears, Simone's Baby: Reading the Early Diaries"

Christie McDonald "The Death of Maternity?" (on A Very Easy Death)
 
Moderated by Lawrence D. Kritzman

Open to the public. Seating is limited.

Co-sponsored by:  the Department of Literature and Comparative Literature, the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, and the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
"The Jazz Club": Live Bird & Poetry Jam
Friday 02/20/09
Multicultural Arts Center - 41 Second Street, Cambridge
7:30pm
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Live Bird: Celebrating the Life of Charlie 'Bird' Parker at 7:30 PM
Live Bird is a one-man play celebrating the life of jazz legend Charlie "Bird" Parker, written and performed by playwright, actor, director and musician Jeff Robinson.

"Robinson has Bird down cold... Robinson does it so convincingly you'll forgive Parker for his flaws just to be in his presence" - David Yaffe, The Village Voice

Poetry Jam: Jazz Poetry with the Jeff Robinson Trio at 9:30 PM
An evening of Jazz Poetry with the legendary Jeff Robinson Trio, Regie Gibson, Roger Bonair-Agard, and Nicole Terez; some of Boston and Cambridge's best poets. The "Trio" recently celebrated their twelfth year hosting the world renowned Lizard Lounge Poetry Jam.

"The Jeff Robinson Trio is one of the most innovative and revolutionary bands of today that mixes the old with a new kind of flavor." - Abiodun Oyewole, The Last Poets

$16 General/$14 Multicultural Arts members, students, and seniors
OR See Both Shows with a Combo Ticket: $22 General/$20 Multicultural Arts members, students, and seniors
"Stories of Love": A Playback Theatre Workshop
Sunday 02/22/09
Multicultural Arts Center - 41 Second Street, Cambridge
7:00pm
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TRUE STORY THEATER performs a form of improvisational story-telling called Playback Theatre, where volunteers from the audience describe important moments from their lives, and actors bring them to life through movement, music, and dialogue. Every show is unique!

Public Performances January-February -- please come!

"Stories of Love"
$15 at the door (low-income discount available)

Please note that our programs are most appropriate for adults and older teens.

Open PlayShops

Tues. Feb. 24, 7-9:15pm
Wed. Mar. 25, 7-9:15pm

A great opportunity to explore playback theatre and work on improv skills. Plus it's fun! For people of any level--all welcome!
For more information or to let us know that you'd like to attend, please email us at Info@TrueStoryTheater.org.
Suggested donation: $15 (and feel free to bring a snack to share)
"Playing Doctor Well": Is Literature the Art of Medicine? - Lecture
Monday 02/23/09
Boylston Hall, Fong Auditorium - Harvard Yard
4:00pm
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Lecture by Dr. Alice Flaherty, Neurology MGH, HMS
Featured Article
Friday, February 20, 2-6 p.m.

The Humanities Center at Harvard presents:

Simone de Beauvoir
A Centennial Symposium

BEAUVOIR THE INTELLECTUAL

Judith Coffin
"Beauvoir, Kinsey, and Mid-Century Sex"

Judith Surkis
"Ethics and Violence: Djamila Boupacha and the Algerian War"

Alice Jardine
"What Feminism?"

Moderated by Peter Gordon
 
BEAUVOIR THE WRITER

Susan R. Suleiman
"Memory Troubles: Remembering the Occupation in The Mandarins"

Nancy K. Miller
"Jean-Paul's Tears, Simone's Baby: Reading the Early Diaries"

Christie McDonald
"The Death of Maternity?" (on A Very Easy Death)
 
Moderated by Lawrence D. Kritzman

Thompson Room, Barker Center, 12 Quincy Street
Open to the public. Seating is limited.

Co-sponsored by:
 the Department of Literature and Comparative Literature,
the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, and
the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
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