Last modified: Tuesday, February 22, 2011
IU's CLACS to present lectures by Dean's Beans coffee CEO, 'Soy Andina' documentary director
Cynthia Paniagua, Peruvian-American dancer and protagonist of Soy Andina will offer dance workshops, take part in Q-and-A following film
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 22, 2011
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Dean Cycon, the CEO of Dean's Beans organic coffee, will speak at Indiana University this week in public events Wednesday and Thursday (Feb. 23-24).
Dean Cycon
The activist-entrepreneur will present a public lecture titled "Javatrekking: Social Change and Sustainable Business in the Coffeelands" (also the name of his book) Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 6 p.m. in the Indiana Memorial Union's Frangipani Room. He will take part in an informal discussion with faculty, students and community members Thursday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. in the Foster-Shea Ground Floor Lounge in Foster International Living-Learning Center (1000 N. Fee Lane).
Cycon has set forth theories about what works -- and what doesn't -- about the "fair trade" business model, and is an outspoken advocate for international business practices that account for the interests of local communities. Matthew J. Van Hoose, associate director of IU's Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, said Cycon is coming to campus as part of the center's Sustainable Development Initiative, which draws together Latin Americanist faculty and students from a number of different departments.
The Sustainable Development Initiative is currently supporting a collaborative research and advocacy project between two Spring 2011 undergraduate courses: Anthropology E328, "Ecological Anthropology," taught by Associate Professor of Anthropology Catherine Tucker, and International Studies I300, "Human Rights and the Arts," taught by Hilary E. Kahn, associate director of the Center for the Study of Global Change.
On Thursday and Friday, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies will welcome Mitchell Teplitsky and Cynthia Paniagua, the director and protagonist, respectively, of the 2007 documentary film Soy Andina. The film follows a first encounter with Peru by a third-generation Peruvian-American dancer from New Jersey (Paniagua), offering an introduction to the landscapes and music and dance genres of Peru.
Highlighted in the film are issues about the role of music and dance in processes of identity formation among immigrant populations. While she is in Bloomington, Paniagua will offer two classes on Afro-Peruvian dance: an introductory workshop Thursday, Feb. 24 at Panache Dance (325 E. Winslow Road), and a master class Friday, Feb. 25 at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.
Cynthia Paniagua, right, is the protagonist of the 2007 documentary film "Soy Andina" by Mitchell Teplitsky. Paniagua and Teplitsky will be in Bloomington this week to offer dance classes and discussions surrounding a Friday evening screening of the film.
Both events will include live musical accompaniment directed by Javier Leon of the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, a specialist in Afro-Peruvian music. While both dance workshops will be free and open to the public, the Feb. 25 master class will be attended by all of the members of the IU African American Dance Company. Soy Andina will be shown Friday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. in the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center Grand Hall, with comments afterward by Teplitsky and a Q-and-A with Paniagua and Teplitsky.
The events surrounding Soy Andina are part of a semester-long program series titled "Peru: Contested Representations," that highlights a particular strength of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies: research and teaching on Peru. While the series took as its initial inspiration the Nobel Prize in Literature awarded last year to Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, Van Hoose said the group has since branched out considerably from that starting point.
For more information about the Peru series, see https://www.indiana.edu/~clacs/peru/representations.shtml.
