Posts
ORIAS UPDATE 9-23-08
(Print view at http://orias.berkeley.edu/oriasnews.html)
IN THIS UPDATE:
1. Exhibit and programs at Hearst museum: Traje de la Vida: Maya Textiles of Guatemala opening September 25.
2. Service learning: San Francisco’s Blue Planet Run Foundation
3. Exhibit: Doctors Without Borders: A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City - October 15-19, 2008
4. On-line Resource: African Access and Africana Book Awards
ON CAMPUS
Exhibit and programs: Traje de la Vida: Maya Textiles of Guatemala
Where: Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley – Kroeber Hall on campus at Bancroft and College Avenues.
Hours: Opening September 25 - Wednesday to Saturday 10:00am - 4:30pm Sunday 12:00pm - 4:00pm
The exhibit explores weaving and artistry in Guatemala. Opening to the public on September 25, 2008, the spectacular works in this exhibit offer visitors a unique look into Maya culture through textiles collected over a hundred year period. Film footage by videographer Kathleen Mossman Vitale of Endangered Threads Documentaries is featured in the exhibition as well as photography by renowned documentarian, Jeffery Foxx.
Curated by Margot Blum Schevill, Traje de la Vida explores the story of the Maya from the highlands of Guatemala. Through their weaving, they tell a narrative of culture, personal identity and of social and political transformation, with themes illustrating the resilience of the Maya people and the ability to tell their stories.
Through this exhibition, we hope to offer visitors a unique look into Maya culture, both traditional and contemporary. Rich colors and textures fill the galleries as visitors are treated to a visual cornucopia. Engaging hands-on activities for all ages and are interspersed throughout the exhibition. Learn to weave on a loom, or try on a colorful huipil and pantalones.
The Hearst will host a year of Guatemalan educational programs including weaving demonstrations, family days, film nights, and dynamic lectures, and kick off with our exhibition opening event, scheduled for the evening of September 25, 2008.
Information on programs associated with the exhibit at
Information on school visits at: http://hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu/outreach/schoolvisits.html
Contact: Akiko Minaga, Museum Educator minaga@berkeley.edu| 510-643-7649
OFF-CAMPUS EVENTS:
A service learning opportunity combining science, human rights, and international studies: Blue Planet Run Foundation
San Francisco’s Blue Planet Run Foundation is dedicated to creating global awareness of the safe drinking water crisis worldwide. They have a number of youth programs including a “school action kit” and a hip-hop video online at <http://blueplanetrun.org/youthboard>. Currently, they are sponsoring a 30-Mile Challenge (30 miles in 30 days run, walk, or cycle) to build wells for bringing safe water to 1200 students in Tanzania. Local students are encouraged to participate and can find out more at http://blueplanetrun.org/30-mile.
Contact: Sabrina Walasek
Program Director
Blue Planet Run Foundation
500 Sansome Street, Suite 205
San Francisco, CA 94111
www.blueplanetrun.org
415-762-4345
Exhibit: Doctors Without Borders: A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City - October 15-19, 2008
This free exhibit, co-sponsored in SF by World Savvy, is made up of materials used by Doctors Without Borders in its medical work around the world. Guided by aid workers, students will explore real shelters; see how food is distributed; taste the high-energy biscuits distributed to combat malnutrition; understand basic health care and epidemic control in emergency settings, and more. For more information on our 2008 California tour to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and San Diego, and to find some resources to use with your class, click here:
http://doctorswithoutborders.org/education/refugeecamp/home. School groups are encouraged to attend! Sign up now to bring your class in October 2008, go to: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/109549666.
Note: A great curriculum companion piece for this exhibit is available online at the Exploring Human Rights virtual classroom from the ICRC - module 5B
http://www.ehl.icrc.org/images/stories/explorations_pdfs/5_comp.pdf
RESOURCES
Africa Access – was founded in 1989 to help schools, public libraries, and parents improve the quality of their children's collection on Africa.
http://www.africaaccessreview.org/aar/research.html
In addition to reviews and activities you can find this year’s winners of the Africana awards including this “Best books for Older Readers” awardee:
Aya
Marguerite Abouet & Clement Oubrerie (illus.)
(Drawn & Quarterly, 2007)
The graphic novel Aya tells the story of its 19-year old heroine, the studious and clear-sighted Aya, her easy-going friends Adjoua and Bintou, and their meddling relatives and neighbors. It's a breezy and wryly funny account of the desire for joy and freedom, and of the simple pleasures and private troubles of everyday life in Yop City, a suburb of Abidjan in Ivory Coast. An unpretentious and gently humorous story of an Africa we rarely see-spirited, hopeful and resilient.
Marguerite Abouet was born in Abidjan in 1971. At the age of 12, she was sent with her older brother to study in France under the care of a great uncle. She now lives in Romainville, a suburb of Paris, where she works as a legal assistant and writes novels she has yet to show to publishers. Aya is her first comic. It taps into Abouet's childhood memories of Ivory Coast in the 1970s, a prosperous, promising time in that country's history.
Clement Oubrerie was born in Paris in 1966. After a stint in art school he spent two years in the United States doing a variety of odd jobs, publishing his first children's books and serving jail time in New Mexico for working without papers. Back in France, he went on to a prolific career in illustration. With over 40 children's books to his credit, he is also co-founder of the 3-D animation studio, Station OMD. A drummer in a funk band in his spare time, he still travels frequently, especially to Ivory Coast. In Aya, his first comic, Oubrerie's warm colors and energetic, playful line connect expressively with Abouet's vibrant writing.
__________________________________________________
Michele Delattre, Program Representative
University of California Berkeley
ORIAS (Office of Resources for International and Area Studies
2223 Fulton Street Room 338 #2324
Berkeley CA 94720-2324 orias@berkeley.edu 510-643-0868 http://orias.berkeley.edu
