Break and Flow: The Poetics of Hip Hop in Latin America

Charlie Hankin in conversation with Fély Catan

This year, hip hop turned 50. In Latin America, rappers claim the art form as a means to empower themselves and their communities in the face of postcolonial racial and class violence. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Cuba, Brazil, and Haiti, Visiting Assistant Professor of Spanish and Portuguese Charlie Hankin will share findings and musical selections from his recent book, Break and Flow: Hip Hop Poetics in the Americas. His presentation will be held in conversation with Assistant Professor of French and Spanish Fely Catan, who specializes in contemporary Caribbean narratives and popular cultures.

MCSI Series: Apologies, Reparations, and Restitution – Kamilah Moore

We are excited to invite you to a compelling public talk featuring Kamilah Moore, Chairperson of the California Reparations Task Force. Ms. Moore’s presentation promises to be an enlightening and thought-provoking exploration of the pressing issue of reparations for descendants of slaves in California.

During this engaging conversation, Ms. Moore will delve into the vital topic of reparations, explaining the compelling justifications for providing restitution to descendants of slaves in California. She will also work to dispel common myths surrounding California’s historical role in slavery, shedding light on lesser-known but crucial aspects of our state’s history.

Furthermore, Ms. Moore will discuss specific instances of state-sponsored discrimination that persist as lingering “badges and incidents” of slavery. Her insights will help us better understand the complex web of historical and contemporary factors contributing to racial disparities in our state.

As Chairperson of the California Reparations Task Force, Ms. Moore will share insights into the next steps in our journey toward achieving reparations. This will include a discussion of legislative advocacy efforts aimed at turning the vision of reparations into a reality in our state.

Preparation:
To make the most of this engaging conversation, we encourage you to read the Executive Summary of the California Reparations Task Force’s findings before the public lecture. You can access the summary here: https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/exec-summary-ca-reparations.pdf

We look forward to your participation in this important dialogue. Together, we can work toward a more equitable and just future for all Californians.

Kamilah Moore is a reparatory justice scholar and an attorney with a specialization in entertainment and intellectual property law. As a law student, Moore contributed to human rights reports related to domestic and international human rights issues, including, but not limited to racial inequality in Brazil, the human right to sanitation in Lowndes County, Alabama, USA; and the human right to remedy for indigenous Black women affected by racialized gender violence in Papua New Guinea. While studying abroad at the University of Amsterdam, Moore wrote a master thesis exploring the intersections between international law and reparatory justice for the trans-Atlantic slave trade, chattel slavery, and their legacies. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School in New York City, a Master of Laws degree inInternational Criminal Law from the University of Amsterdam, and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Kamilah Moore was appointed to the California Reparations Task Force in 2021.

CASA Pitzer Fall Speaker Series: Social Justice 101 with Kerri Kelly

Join us at CASA Pitzer September 18th from 11am-12pm for our CASA Pitzer Fall Speaker Series! Kerri is the founder of CTZNWELL, a movement that is democratizing wellbeing for all. A descendant of generations of firemen and first responders, Kerri has dedicated her life to kicking down doors and fighting for justice. She’s been teaching yoga for over 20 years and is known for making waves in the wellness industry by challenging norms, disrupting systems and mobilizing people to act. More of her teachings can be found in her website and her book, American Detox: The Myth of Wellness and How We Can Truly Heal.

Zoom option is available at this link: https://pitzer.zoom.us/j/83094288703

MCSI Lecture | The Failure to Repair and the Persistence of Genocide

This lecture is part of the 2023 MCSI Speaker series: ‘Reparations, Apologies, and Restitution’

Description: Armenians have been subjected to two historical cases of genocide, the 1894-96 Massacres and the Genocide of Ottoman Christians of 1913-23. The second of these had especially devastating impacts on Armenians. The failure to repair has been the major obstacle to achievement of secure viability of the global Armenian community. This failure has included avoidance by Turkey of a rehabilitative process; quite the opposite, the ideological and structural forces driving the 1913-23 genocide became embedded in the political, military, economic, educational, cultural, and spiritual aspects of the Turkish state and society. As part of activization of Turkish genocidality in recent years, the eliminationist ideology has been exported to Azerbaijan, with its own history of mass violence against Armenians. The combination of the significant demographic, resource, identity, security, and social vulnerability of Armenians and the persistence of the impetus to genocide in Turkey and Azerbaijan became deadly in 2020. The eight-month-old blockade of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh has, in the words of some observers, turned the entire area into a concentration camp. This talk will examine the harms of genocide a century ago and demonstrate how those harms are central factors in the existential victimization of Armenians today. It will end on a somewhat more positive note, showing how the analysis given of the Armenian case actually supports the notion that genocide prevention can be accomplished to some extent at least through repair of past genocidal injuries.

Biography: HENRY C. THERIAULT is currently Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at Worcester State University in the United States, after teaching in its Philosophy Department from 1998 to 2017. From 1999 to 2007, he coordinated the University’s Center for the Study of Human Rights. Theriault’s research focuses on genocide denial, genocide prevention, post-genocide victim-perpetrator relations, reparations, and mass violence against women and girls. He has lectured and appeared on panels around the world. Since 2007, he has chaired the Armenian Genocide Reparations Study Group and is lead author of its March 2015 final report, Resolution with Justice. He has published numerous journal articles and chapters, and his work has appeared in English, Spanish, Armenian, Turkish, Russian, French, and Polish. With Samuel Totten, he co-authored The United Nations Genocide Convention: An Introduction (University of Toronto Press, 2019). Theriault served two terms as President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), 2017-2019 and 2019-2021. He is founding co-editor of the peer-reviewed journal Genocide Studies International. From 2007 to 2012 he served as co-editor of the International Association of Genocide Scholars’ peer-reviewed Genocide Studies and Prevention.