Join us for a 10th anniversary screening of the film THE MILK OF SORROW followed by a panel discussion with Kimberly Theidon and Ulla Berg.

About this Event

The Latin American Film Center (LAFC), a non-profit based in New York City, plans to open its inaugural film series on November 25th, 2019 with a screening of THE MILK OF SORROW (La teta asustada), an award-winning 2009 film by Peruvian director Claudia Llosa.

Fausta suffers from la teta asustada, which translates literally as “the frightened tit”, an illness transmitted through the breastmilk of women who were abused and raped during the period of the Sendero Luminoso terrorism in Peru during the 1980s. Both in the film and reality, the illness is testament to how painful memories accumulate in the body and how one can physically suffer from the symptoms of history. Although the war has ended, its traumatic memories remain living inside of the character of Fausta. Claudia Llosa’s widely acclaimed film sheds light on a repressed country that can only express itself via its unconscious: its myths, its fears, and its traumas.

Screening América: The Series brings together two anthropologists to explore THE MILK OF SORROW through the lenses of medical and visual anthropology. Kimberly Theidon, the medical anthropologist whose ethnographic work inspired the film, will be in conversation with Ulla Berg, whose work explores racial and class divisions in contemporary Peru through visual mediums.

The goals of the LAFC are educational and cultural as well as artistic, through the establishment of a permanent home for the continued screening and research of films from Latin America and the Caribbean. The films we plan to include in this series have been selected for their artistic merit as well as their ability to help us better understand the issues and concerns being faced by the countries in the region.

Please visit our website at http://www.lafcnyc.org to learn more about LAFC’s projects and long-term goals and to find out more ways that you can become involved.

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About

For more information, https://sites.tufts.edu/decolonizeir/

LASA Statement

I am pleased to be considered as a candidate for vice president and president-elect of the Latin American Studies Association.  I have served on the Executive Council, and participated in the most recent LASA strategic planning workshop convened in New York.  My research has focused on gender-based and sexual violence, transitional justice, human rights and post-conflict reconstruction.  More information about me can be found at www.kimberlytheidon.com; here I wish to say a few words about the issues that drive my research and political commitments, and to which I would dedicate my time serving LASA.

From the odious politics of United States President Trump to the right wing reactionaries coming to power in various countries in this hemisphere, I imagine many of us are reeling in the face of assaults on virtually everything we care about.  If elected, I would focus on the following issues, encouraging LASA to be a vocal advocate for:  sexual and reproductive rights; asylum-seekers and immigrants; and environmental justice.  I would recommend we have a speaker’s bureau of scholar-practitioners ready to respond quickly and insightfully to the barrage of reactionary propaganda being generated throughout the region.  One goal is to drive the narratives and policy responses on these issues rather than merely conduct triage.  The role of public intellectuals in Latin America is something scholars situated in the Global North should emulate, and LASA can more effectively harness both the media and social media to the cause of social justice.

On the issue of sexual and reproductive rights, I would suggest LASA take a stand on “gender ideology” and the ways in which this concept is being used to restrict women’s rights, exacerbate homophobia, and use “sex panics” to generate and deploy a politics of fear.  The gender-based violence that plagues the region — and I most certainly consider the forced recruitment of boys and young men into armed groups and gangs to be a form of GBV — requires alliances across regions and borders to mount a progressive response.

Alliances across regions and borders are also necessary to address the plight of asylum-seekers and immigrants.  LASA members have already been speaking out forcefully about the crisis in Venezuela, and about the brutal politics of the US along the border with Mexico.  If elected, I would suggest LASA use its networks to work with other organizations throughout the region that are conducting policy-relevant research on this issue.  LASA can serve as a conduit for furthering collaboration and using the strength of numbers via its membership.

Finally, I think the environmental humanities are one of the most exciting areas of inquiry.  From climate refugees to the “developmentally displaced,” from lead leaching into waterways to extractive industries and their detritus — I advocate that LASA address not only political and criminal violence, but also the slower forms of violence that distorts lives and livelihoods throughout the region.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/un-general-assembly-laughs-in-trumps-face-when-he-touts-his-administration

Thank you to my wonderful students past and present. I took the awards ceremony as an opportunity to address professorial sexual harassment and the pervasive silence within academia with regards to this issue. I suggested that in addition to the more obvious elements of mentoring, we should add the fight for an educational environment in which all of our students can study without the pressure of sexually harassing professors. That  is mentoring too!