The
Afro Brazilian Movement: New Challenges in 2003 and Beyond- CANCELLED
Panelists:
Vovo Antonio Carlos dos Santos
Founder, Cultural Association Carnival Group Ile Aiye
J. Michael Turner
Director, Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program Hunter College
Vovo Antonio Carlos dos Santos--Vovo, as he is internationally known--is
founder and creator of the Cultural Association Carnival Group Ile Aiye,
along with the late Apolonio de Jesus.
Vovo went to college for a degree in Electromechanical Engineering. Before
he decided to exclusively work and preside as administrator for Ile Aiye
and it's band, he was an operator at CEMAN and COBAFE in the Oil Company
of Bahia in 1976-1981. The contributions of Vovo are innumerable for the
affirmation of African culture in Brazil. He produced Ile Aiye's four CD's,
and was the coordinator of Liberdade's Carnival festivities from 1989-1992.
He coordinated Salvador, Bahia's Carnival in 1996. He has produced national
and international events with artists hosted by Ile Aiye. Vovo was a member
of the Organizing Commission that brought Nelson Mandela to Brazil.
Vovo was a member of the Official Committee of the Cultural Interchange
Bahia-Benin, consulter for the creation of Afro-Brazilian carnival groups
in Rio de Janeiro, Maranhao and Sao Paulo. He was responsible for the Project
of Pedagogic Extension and for the Professional School of Ile Aiye. He is
also actually a member of the Work Organization for the Valorization of
the Black Population in Brasilia, and is a member of the Coordination of
the Forum of Culture, among others. With his return to working for uplifting
the Black population and it's civil rights, and by doing this through political/cultural
manifestations as the carnival group Ile Aiye, the Band Aiye, the School
of Mae Hilda, the Project of Pedagogic Extension, the Band' Ere, the Professional
School and others. Vovo has accumulated awards and is known through out
Brazil and the world.
Vovo will be talking about the fight to create Ile Aye and keep it a traditional
afoxe in spite of the commercialization of carnival in Bahia and the political
situation that typifies Bahia and Salvador.
"Recent Gains for the Afro-Brazilian Movement-What are the Next
Steps?"
J. Michael Turner
Prof. J. Michael Turner is Director of the Latin American and Caribbean
Studies Program (LACS) at Hunter College-CUNY. Continued Ford Foundation
financing has permitted LACS and the Global Afro-Latino and Caribbean Initiative
(GALCI) to maintain advocacy programs for Afro Latino groups in an effort
to decrease their historic marginality throughout the Western Hemisphere.
At the same time, Turner continues his democracy/governance development
activities for the U.S. Agency for Development in Mozambique. He is currently
researching contemporary local governance issues and development challenges
within that new post-war Southern Africa democracy.
Turner offers courses at Hunter on Human Rights and Development in Africa
and Latin America, The History of African Influences in the Americas, and
Comparative Slavery.
When:
Tuesday September 2, 2003, 5:00pm
Where: Proshanksky Auditorium
The Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10016
To reserve, send e-mail to brazilproject@gc.cuny.edu or leave message at (212) 817-2096
