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Film above : Cría Cuervos (Raise Ravens) 1976. Directed by Carlos Saura
New! Cinemateca Series
August 29 - October 2, 2008
Ruth Sokolof Theatre, 14th and Webster Streets
More than two years ago, Film Streams and UNO’s Office of Latino and Latin American Studies (OLLAS) began talking about the wonderful possibilities of a collaborative, Spanish-language film series. The first of what we hope will become an ongoing cultural event, Cinemateca presents an exciting opportunity for people to reach beyond their own cultures of origin and to become more globally, socially, and artistically conscious through the transportive power of cinema. For the Latino community in and around Omaha, the series offers a chance for many to connect with their roots, and for children to experience an authentic product of their own cultural heritage on the big screen, perhaps for the first time. Seven different countries are represented in this series, with each producing various alternatives to what we’re commonly exposed to in mainstream American cinema. Nevertheless, it would be inaccurate to say this series is about cultural or creative “differences,” as these films explore ssues and topics and concerns that transcend borders and speak straight to the unifying effect of art.
- Steven L. Torres (OLLAS)
Series generously sponsored by Sam Walker and Elizabeth Emlen Walker.
For more information call Lucy Garza Westbrook at 554-3835. For information on ticket pricing visit www.filmstreams.org. or call (402) 933-0259.
Latin America Study Abroad: Lima, Peru!
Student Blog of OLLAS in Peru
Click here:
Video Clip of Service Learning Project in Peru
LLS 4950/8956-850
cross-listed with SOC 4800/8806-850
A Study Abroad, Service Learning, and
Distance Education Course
View Flyer
Instructor: Olga Celle, Ph.D.
Summer Session A
(May 12-June 27, 2008)
Travel Dates: May 18-June 1, 2008
Click here: Peru Student Bulletin
The course examines the effects of globalization on the urban population of Lima, Peru. This country’s pre-Columbian heritage and multicultural makeup constitute an intriguing site for exploring development, underdevelopment, and the reality of modern Latin American cities today.
Students will gain new insights into issues such as the power of culture as it receives and transforms transnational media images; the transformation and destruction of nature; the role of organized urban neighborhoods and their accomplishments; and the challenge facing Latin American policy-makers as they try to reconcile different views of “modernity” in a multicultural environment.
Classes started on May 12 via Distance Education. On May 18, students traveled to Lima, the capital city of Peru. Final paper and reflections took place back in Omaha and the course concluded on June 27. The course has an applied and service learning component.
This program is supported by the U.S. Department of Education, the Service Learning Academy, Distance Education, and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.
OLLAS to Cosponsor International Workshop on Migration and Development
View Spanish Program
April 24-25, 2008
Caracas, Venezuela
Omaha - As a member of the board and executive council of the International Network on Migration and Development, Lourdes Gouveia, director of the Office of Latino/Latin American Studies (OLLAS) at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), has co-organized a workshop on migration and development in Caracas, Venezuela, April 24-25.
The main objective of the workshop, the second in a series funded by the MacArthur Foundation, was to contribute to policy agendas that effectively re-link the artificially separated issues of economic development and migration.
“For too long we have failed to understand migration as an integral part of socioeconomic development and globalization processes,” Gouveia said. “Instead, especially in the United States, the ideological discourse has derailed us into looking at migration simply as a problem that needs to be solved."
She added: "We need to understand the root causes of this phenomenon; and the changes it then causes in sending and receiving communities, to best address the fact that migration is not going away in the context of globalization and development policies that lead to precarious employment and new motivations to migrate, both internally and internationally.”
Gouveia said OLLAS is honored to have been selected as one of the international cosponsors of the workshop, adding that the event brought further international prestige to the group’s work and will encourage additional OLLAS partnerships of scholars, students, and policymakers interested in this issue, as well as funders to continue to support OLLAS.
OLLAS (pronounced "oy-yas") The Office of Latino/Latin American Studies of the Great Plains at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), was established in the summer of 2003 as the result of ongoing efforts by the faculty, staff, and students of the UNO Chicano/Latino Studies (CLS) Program and a federal appropriation made possible by the U.S. Department of Education and the support of the Greater Omaha community. |
| other news. |
New!UNO program expands students' horizons
Nine UNO students participated in the Latino Studies center's first international trip to Peru, which combined study with service, such as helping to build a child care center. Read more ... Third International Colloquium on Migration and Development OLLAS Honored by the State of Nebraska for Outstanding Contribution to Latino Community For its outstanding contribution to the state's Hispanic community, the UNO Office of Latino/Latin American Studies (OLLAS) was recognized at the First Annual Hispanic Heritage Month State Commemoration October 12, 2007, at the State Capitol in Lincoln. The event was themed "Embracing Diversity," and it allowed Nebraska residents to learn more about and embrace the diverse cultures and contributions of Hispanics/Latinos. The award will be given annually. "It is such an honor to be recognized by our peers for all of the effort that has gone into making OLLAS such a success," said Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado, OLLAS's assistant director. "It is the combined endeavors of faculty, students, and staff working across the community that have garnered the most attention, and this recognition will only serve to inspire everyone to work even harder on issues about which we feel so passionately." OLLAS was established in 2003 as a center that would contribute new knowledge and understanding of Latino and Latin American communities and migrants within the state and across the region. OLLAS offers programs in Chicano and Latino/Latin American Studies and has received major funding for research that serves to inform public policy and effect change while engaging with community and academic partners locally and in Latin America. Lourdes Gouveia, director of OLLAS, accepted the award on behalf of the center's faculty, students, and staff during the ceremony. Religion and Community: Mexican Americans in South Omaha (1900-1980) This report provides a historical account of three Christian churches in South Omaha: the Virgin of Guadalupe Catholic Church, Gethsemane Lutheran Church, and the First Assembly of God Church. Chronologically, the congregations were organized between 1918 and 1948. These churches first were small community gatherings in family sitting rooms and rented shops. All of them were and still are located in South Omaha, and all were established by the Mexican community. Today these churches serve those who reside in the area or attend ceremonies and rituals: old and new Latinos, the most recent generations of immigrant origin (Czech, Hungarian, Italian, Poles, Russians, Lithuanians, et al.), and recent refugee communities from Africa. Read more . . . Second-Generation Latinos in Nebraska: A First Look Nebraska's foreign-born population grew faster than that of any other midwestern state between 1990 and 2000. The state also experienced the second-highest increase in the number of children of immigrants in prekindergarten to fifth grade during the same period. This report sheds light on the second generation's progress in the country's heartland. Read more . . . Immigration's New Frontiers: In the midst of the fiery debate regarding undocumented immigration, assimilation returned to the front seat it occupied during the early decades of the twentieth century. The main purpose of this report is twofold: (1) to take stock of the policies and accompanying community responses of the State of Nebraska, and (2) to inform policies and programs designed to address challenges and opportunities posed by a growing immigrant population. Read more . . . |
Cumbre pictures. Click on the sessions to view. The theme for Cumbre 2007 was Understanding Immigration and the Changing Communities of the Americas: Lessons from New Destinations across the Globe. The conference was held April 26-29, 2007, and was sponsored by the Office of Latino/Latin American Studies (OLLAS) with the support of La Red Internacional de Migración y Desarrollo. The conference brought together scholars, policymakers, NGOs, and community representatives interested in exchanging views about the failures and successes of immigration policy reforms as well as immigrant integration efforts across the country and around the globe. While the focus of Cumbre 2007 continued to be on Latino/Latin American populations, OLLAS increasingly emphasized presentations that contribute to the comparative and transnational understanding of these issues across receiving and sending nations, localities, history, and population groups (e.g., Latin Americans, Africans, or Arabs in Europe). In addition, the conference spotlighted Latin American and other sending countries and how government policies, relations with receiving countries, and economic and political realities contribute to migration and its impact on local communities here and there. A major goal of the conference was to publish, along with selected papers, a clear set of policy recommendations directed at various levels of policymakers, researchers, institutions, local governments, and community organizations. The 2007 Cumbre consisted of a combination of panel, plenary, and thematic sessions and featured a number of national and international speakers.
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