Thursday, November 14, 2013

Cuentos que celebran la diversidad

La editorial española "Cuento de Luz" explora temas de diversidad y ambientalismo en sus últimas publicaciones, entre las cuales se destacan "El silbido de Juan" de Lili Ferreirós y Sonja Wimmer y "El águila y la gallina" de Marta Munté Vidal.

Desde su fundación en 2010, "Cuento de Luz" se ha convertido en una fuente importante de literatura infantil con la misión de publicar libros de valores universales enfocados en la paz, la diversidad y la protección del planeta.


"El silbido de Juan" es un hermoso relato sobre un niño que posee un talento especial para silbar.
Juan, sin embargo, no puede hablar. Asiste al colegio y presta atención pero solo puede responder con silbidos de distintas tonalidades que expresan lo que quiere decir.
Sus compañeros lo aceptan como alguien especial y eventualmente, Juan entabla amistad con Taleb, un niño nuevo que tocaba el bendir (especie de gran pandereta) prodigiosamente.
Los niños crecen juntos y compiten por la atención de una joven llamada Clara, quien es capaz de suscitar los sonidos más inesperados de parte del joven mudo.
Las ilustraciones a cargo de Sonja Wimmer son de ensueño, adornadas con anotaciones musicales para destacar el contenido.


"El águila y la gallina", también publicado bajo su título en suahili "Kuku na Mwewe", fue inspirado por un cuento tradicional africano adaptado por Marta Munté Vidal.
Situado en el poblado de Nrao Kisangara, al pie del Kilimanjaro, el cuento trata de una gallina (Kuku) y un águila (Mwewe) que son grandes amigas.
Pero todo cambia cuando la gallina presumida le pide prestada una aguja al águila para reparar un hermoso vestido que se había comprado y que le hacía recibir todo tipo de cumplidos.
La aguja de Mwewe era un preciado recuerdo de su familia, pero Kuku la extravía, poniendo en peligro su linda amistad.

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CALL FOR PAPERS
Boricuas / Latin@s in Global Flux: Shifting Spaces of Inflection
11th Biennial Conference - Puerto Rican Studies Association
Denver, Colorado
23 – 26 October 2014

According to the Census Bureau’s population estimates, as of 1 July 2011, the Latino population of the United States reached 52.0 million, making people of Hispanic origin the country's largest ethnic or race minority (constituting 16.7 % of the country's total population). At the same time, more Puerto Ricans are now residing in the Diaspora than in Puerto Rico.
Whereas the majority of Latinos in Colorado are of Mexican descent, Puerto Ricans are the second largest Latino group in the state, and have become increasingly more visible, particularly through a local Taste of Puerto Rico Festival. It is also a known fact that Puerto Rican migration patterns are changing and our population distribution in the United States is being reconfigured. Meanwhile, the political status of Puerto Rico and its relationship with the USA, remains an unresolved and contended matter, even after a fourth referendum on this issue was held in November 2012. 
In an environment of perceived increase in political strength and projections for sustained growth in our numbers, Latinos are far from being a homogeneous constituency, and making use/sense of our strengths in organized fashion remains a challenge. Are we really in transition toward a more balanced sharing of power where we may enjoy a more equitable place? If so, how should we negotiate that transition? What can be learned from our experiences in forming alliances across ethnic, racial, national, linguistic differences? What new alliances need to be forged? How do we connect with/to each other? To what extent do we share an identity or have common interests? What is the relative/comparative place of Puerto Ricans within the larger Latino population? 

PRSA Conference Themes:
1. Papers, works-in-progress (WIP), workshops or other creative presentations, and panels that connect or contrast Puerto Rican studies to / with other genres of scholarship, including but not limited to the various strands of ethnic studies that critique class, gender, race, sexuality and other categories of social-legal identities and relations.
2. Papers, works-in-progress (WIP), workshops or other creative presentations, and panels that focus on the multiple dimensions of Latina/o identity and its relationship to current legal, economic, social, political and cultural regimes or practices. 
3. Papers, works-in-progress (WIP), workshops or other creative presentations, and panels especially salient to Colorado and the Western United States. The U.S. Regional emphasis ensures that the Conference’s geographic rotation will illuminate local issues, helping us understand how local particularities produce (inter)national patterns of privilege and subordination.
4. Papers, works-in-progress (WIP), workshops or other creative presentations, and panels that elucidate cross-group histories or experiences. In this way, each Conference aims to explore not only intra-Latina/o diversities, but also to contextualize Latina/o experience within inter-group frameworks and Euro-Heteropatriarchy. Accordingly, we constantly ask how we can create progressive movements, communities, and coalitions that meaningfully recognize difference.
5. Papers, works-in-progress (WIP), workshops or other creative presentations, and panels that highlight praxis with scholarship that builds on histories and transformative practices of social justice movements.
6. Papers, works-in-progress (WIP), workshops or other creative presentations, and panels that focus on culture broadly conceived, and analyze the varied artistic, musical, literary production of Puerto Ricans and other Latinos in light of the conference themes. 
PRSA Pre-Conference Workshops:
The PRSA Pre-Conference Workshops are designed to assist junior faculty and advance graduate students in professional development and career planning, and are tailored to scholars whose research and work projects focus on Puerto Rico, Puerto Ricans and their communities, and Puerto Rican Studies. These will include a workshop on tenure and promotion as well as a discussion of the history of PRSA and its contributions to intellectual life and collaborative community work. Pre-Conference Workshops will take place on Thursday Morning 23 October 2014. More details about the workshops will be forthcoming and posted on the 2014 Biennial PRSA Conference page.

The Host Institutions and Conference Site:

The Puerto Rican Studies Association was founded to help promote scholarship in the field and offer a place for its scholars to come together. The Association meets every year in a different location. PRSA holds a one-day symposium during the month of October on odd years and a biennial conference on even years. We maintain a list-serve for the dissemination of news that may interest to the membership. For more information on the PRSA please visit our website at: http://www.puertoricanstudiesassociation.org. We encourage students, scholars, activists, and others with interests in the island and its Diaspora to join and actively participate in the PRSA.

The University of Denver and the Latino Center for Community Engagement and Scholarship (DULCCES) will host the 2014 Biennial Conference. DULCCES is a consortium of interdisciplinary faculty from throughout the university who are committed to placing Denver University at the center of scholarship, teaching, and service related to Latinos in the Rocky Mountain west.


Submission Information:

Proposed submissions are due by 15 January 2014. Please visit the PRSA webpage site for updates and information on the biennial conference: http://arlenetorresprofessor.com/PRSA/conferences/biennial-conference-2014.html


This year we will be accepting the proposals for individual papers, works-in-progress (WIP), workshops or other creative presentations, and panels. Please visit the following site to submit your proposal:  http://www.cvent.com/d/j4q85h/1Q The program committee will only consider proposals submitted by members of the PRSA in good standing (persons who paid the 2013 membership dues). Selected participants will also be required to pay the 2014 membership dues and pre-register in order to appear in the program. Please plan ahead.


For more information, please contact:

For local information, please contact: Professor Salvador Mercado, Department of Languages & Literatures, University of Denver, smercado@du.edu or (303) 871-2184.

For general PRSA information, please contact: Professor Charles R. Venator-Santiago, Department of Political Science and El Instituto, University of Connecticut, charles.venator@uconn.edu or (860) 486-9052.

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