Community as Intellectual Space 2007
Our Barrio, Our Stories, Ourselves:
The Role of Oral History in Community Building
PRELIMINARY PROGRAM
3d Annual Symposium
June 15-17, 2007
Juan Antonio Corretjer Puerto Rican Cultural Center Auditorium
Paseo Boricua, Chicago, USA
2700-2704 West Haddon Street
http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/programs/cpd/CIS2007/
Presented by
Juan Antonio Corretjer Puerto Rican Cultural Center, Chicago, USA
Graduate School of Library and Information Science
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (GSLIS/UIUC)
Sponsors
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University of Illinois Extension
UIUC Office of the Chancellor
UIUC Latina/Latino Studies Program
UIUC La Casa Cultural Latina
UIUC Center for Global Studies
UIUC Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at Urbana-Champaign
Indiana University, School of Library and Information Science
Michigan State University, Writing in Digital Environments Research Center
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, School of Information
University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Library and Information Studies
Universidad del Turabo, Puerto Rico
UIC School of Public Health
UIC School of Public Health, Maternal and Child Health Program
Program Committee
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Alejandro Luis Molina (Puerto Rican Cultural Center)
Laura Ruth Johnson (College of Education, Northern Illinois University)
Ann Peterson Bishop (Graduate School of Library and Information Science,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Michele Kelley (School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago)
Andrea Telli (Chicago Public Library, Humboldt Park Branch)
Symposium Overview
The theme for the 3rd annual Community as Intellectual Space Symposium
acknowledges the essential role that individuals’ experiences play in the
development, maintenance, and survival of the Puerto Rican community, in the
diaspora as well as on the island; we also look outward to understand how
these experiences are part of the larger sphere of oral history at the
community level. Experiences are encapsulated in community members’ stories
and narratives, which include important historical, cultural, and familial
knowledge and memories.
The types of information contained within these narratives are varied:
traditional home remedies, stories of migration, spiritual and religious beliefs,
perspectives on work, childrearing practices, values, cultural engagement, and
participation in grassroots social movements are all forms of knowledge that
make up the community’s collective memory. Because it fosters and reinforces
a positive social-cultural identity in the face of covert racism, gentrification,
and globalization, this collective memory plays a crucial role in community
building. Oral history can even serve as a protective factor against a variety of
health risks.
Traditionally, community stories are transmitted intergenerationally, from
elders to youth, and often exist solely as oral narratives. Over the years, this
type of knowledge and memory has been in danger of being lost and destroyed
by hegemonic and homogenizing forces, such as colonialism, cultural and
linguistic assimilation, and gentrification. At the same time, there are many
other instances of traditional knowledge and stories from the past being
reclaimed, reimagined, and integrated with other forms of knowledge and
within new contexts. New media and technologies provide opportunities to
transmit and share oral and written histories and narratives in new ways and
reach audiences worldwide. It is in this spirit that this year’s Community as
Intellectual Space symposium seeks to share, celebrate, discuss, and explore
the multiple stories and narratives of community members and groups on Paseo
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Boricua, and to consider how such narratives are important in other
communities, as well.
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Symposium Highlights
The symposium celebrates the first anniversary of the Community Informatics
Corps, a masters program developed by the UI Graduate School of Library and
Information Science and the Puerto Rican Cultural Center.
CIS 2007 kicks off with a preliminary event sponsored by the Chicago Public
Library:
Historic Memory and Literary Tradition in Humboldt Park:
The Intersection of Puerto Rican and Jewish Experience
Saturday, June 9, 2007
1:00-4:00 p.m.
Humboldt Park Branch Library
1605 N. Troy St., Chicago, IL
(312) 744-2244
Alderman Billy Ocasio opens this free event, which highlights public library
service to the Humboldt Park community and the recent 10th year anniversary
of the present library. The program includes readings by authors Elaine Soloway
(The Division Street Princess), Hazel Rochman (Against Borders: Promoting
Books for a Multicultural World), and Carlos Quiles and Josefina Rodriguez
(Memorias de Josefina). Also featured are poets David Hernandez (The Urban
Poems), Eduardo Arocho (The 4th Tassel), and members of Café Teatro Batey
Urbano.
This year’s symposium hosts two internationally acclaimed figures in the arts:
Ramon Lopez, renowned for his expertise in Afro-Caribbean and
Puerto Rican culture, comparative spirituality, popular culture, and
storytelling. Mr. Lopez is also a noted textile artist who has held
positions as an instructor in Anthropology at the University of Puerto
Rico and Director of the Research Center at the Institute for Puerto
Rican Culture. At the symposium, Mr. Lopez will present projects
that he is currently conducting in collaboration with children and
young women on Paseo Boricua. He will also open the Nuestro
Tambo performance on the first night of the symposium.
Tato Laviera is a leading figure in the Nuyorican poetry movement
and has been called one of the most influential and enduring voices
in Puerto Rican poetry in the U.S. Laviera has taught creative writing
at Rutgers and other universities. His poetry and plays are “linguistic
and artistic celebrations of Puerto Rican culture, African Caribbean
traditions, the fast rhythms of life in New York City, and of life in
general […] Laviera’s poetry is highly relevant to the study of
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bilingual and bicultural issues, for in it he documents, examines,
and questions what it means to be a Puerto Rican in the United
States. His texts have reflected the changes and transitions that his
community has undergone since the major migrations of the 1940s
and, moreover, offer a paradigm of what pluralistic America should
really be all about” (from the Heath Anthology of American
Literature). Mr. Laviera’s latest play, devoted to the 1977 Division
Street riots, is based in part on research conducted by the UIUC
Community Informatics Corps. Produced and performed by Paseo
Boricua’s Café Teatro Batey Urbano, the play will premier on the
closing day of the symposium.
Also featured is “La Casita de Don Pedro: Gentrification in El Barrio,”
an original installation created by Hector Arce-Espasas and students of the
Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos Puerto Rican High School, and a project of
Building Community Through the Arts.
Friday, June 15
3:00-5:30 p.m.
Registration
Exhibits/Posters and Community Walking Tours
Puerto Rican Cultural Center, 2700-2704 W. Haddon
5:30-7:00 p.m.
Dinner
Nellie’s Puerto Rican Breakfast and Lunch Restaurant
2458 W. Division
7:30-8:00 p.m.
Welcome and Opening Remarks: “Our Barrio, Our Stories, Ourselves”
Puerto Rican Cultural Center Auditorium
2700-2704 W. Haddon
Purpose and Context of Symposium: Program Committee
Welcome from PRCC: José López, Executive Director, PRCC
Welcome from UI: Linda Katehi, (Provost, UIUC); David Perry (Director, Great
Cities Institute, UIC)
8:00-9:00 p.m.
Performance by Nuestro Tambo, introduced by Ramon Lopez
Puerto Rican Cultural Center Auditorium
2700-2704 W. Haddon
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Saturday, June 16
8:00-9:00 a.m.
Registration and Continental Breakfast
Puerto Rican Cultural Center, 2700-2704 W. Haddon
9:00-10:30 a.m.
Panel: Children as Oral Historians
Puerto Rican Cultural Center, 2700-2704 W. Haddon
Presenters:
Ramon Lopez
The Urban Cat as a Humanizing Element: The Storytelling Project of the
Consuelo Lee Corretjer Day Care, PRCC
Alejandro Molina (Puerto Rican Cultural Center) and Irma M. Olmedo
(Latin American and Latino Studies Dept., University of Illinois-Chicago)
Between the Flags: The Coloring Book Project of Consuelo Lee Corretjer
Day Care, PRCC
*Discussant: Maurita Holland
11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Panel: Narratives in Community Health
Puerto Rican Cultural Center, 2700-2704 W. Haddon
Presenters:
Laura Ruth Johnson (College of Education, Northern Illinois University)
The Oral Tradition of Women’s Remedies (Lolita Lebron Family Learning
Center)
Ramon Lopez
Transforming Beliefs and Practices of Young Mothers through Personal
Narratives: A Project of the Lolita Lebron Family Learning Center
Michele Kelley (School of Public Health, University of Illinois-Chicago)
Culture as a Protective Factor In Community Health And Wellness
*Discussant: Jeff Grabill
1:00-2:00 p.m.
Lunch on your own in community venues and People’s Parade set-up,
corner of Division and Western
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2:00-4:00 p.m.
Puerto Rican People’s Parade, with the theme “Retire #21 (Roberto
Clemente), dedicated to the 30th Anniversary of the 1977 Division Street
Riots”
4:00-6:00
Panel: Construction of a Diasporic Puerto Rican Identity through Community
Narratives
Puerto Rican Cultural Center, 2700-2704 W. Haddon
Light refreshments served.
Presenters:
Margaret Power (Department of Humanities, Illinois Institute of
Technology)
Conversations with Puerto Rican Nationalists (and Notes on the
Methodology of Oral History)
Hector Arce-Espasas (Artist)
La Casita de Don Pedro: Gentrification in El Barrio (an original
installation created by a young Chicago artist at La Casita, the museum
and plaza devoted to art, music, and culture created in a vacant lot by
students of the Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School in 1997)
2625 W. Division St.
*Discussant: Jorge Felix
6:00 p.m.Dinner on your own. Fiestas Patronales in Humboldt Park
7:30 p.m.
Visit with Elvira Arellano: A Story of Solidarity and Resistance
Iglesia Unido Metodista Adalberto, 2716 W. Division
Ms. Arellano is the immigration rights activist named by Time magazine as “100
People Who Matter” in 2006. She has taken sanctuary in a Paseo Boricua
church.
Sunday, June 17
9:00-9:30 a.m.
Continental Breakfast
Puerto Rican Cultural Center, 2700-2704 W. Haddon
9:30 a.m.-11:00
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*Discussants Panel: Perspectives on Oral History and Community Building
Puerto Rican Cultural Center, 2700-2704 W. Haddon
Panelists are invited scholars from a variety of disciplines and universities
across the country who will introduce their own work and reflect on what
they’ve experienced at the symposium.
Presenters: Betsy Hearne, Sarai Lastra, Ellen Cushman, Louise Robbins
11:30 -1:00 p.m.
Premier of an original play on the 1977 Division Street riots by Tato Laviera
Puerto Rican Cultural Center Auditorium, 2700-2704 W. Haddon
The play is produced and performed by the Café Teatro Café Urbano. It will be
followed by discussion with the Cruz family and attorney Michael Deutsch.
1:00-2:30 p.m.
Brunch at Nellies with Symposium Reflections
Puerto Rican Cultural Center, 2700-2704 W. Haddon
*Symposium Discussants:
Jorge Félix (Institute for Puerto Rican Arts and Culture)
Betsy Hearne (GSLIS, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Jeff Grabill and Ellen Cushman (Writing in Digital Environments Research
Center, Michigan State University)
Louise Robbins (School of Library and Information Science, University of
Wisconsin-Madison)
Maurita Holland (School of Information, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor)
Sarai Lastra (Turabo University, Puerto Rico)
Student Posters
Students are invited to submit posters related to their work in community
informatics, especially any activities related to the Symposium theme of oral
history and community building. Space is limited to 12 posters and will be
allocated on a first come, first served basis. To reserve a space, submit poster
title, poster author name(s), and a 100-word description to Ann Bishop
(abishop@uiuc.edu).
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Sponsorship
We invite sponsorship from organizations that wish to collaborate with us in
presenting the third annual Community as Intellectual Space Symposium. The
names of sponsoring institutions will appear on conference materials.
Sponsorship also includes registration fee waivers as follows:
$500
1000
2000
3000
5000
2 people
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Please contact Ann Bishop (abishop@uiuc.edu)
Registration and Further Information
Registration for the three-day symposium is $95. The fee covers dinner on
Friday night, continental breakfast on Saturday and Sunday mornings, light
refreshments on Saturday afternoon, lunch on Sunday, and program materials.
It also includes the symposium performance by Grupo Bembeteo and the Tato
Laviera play performed by Café Teatro Batey Urbano.
Teacher Continuing Professional Development credit is available for attendees.
A limited number of scholarships is available for students and others with
limited income. Submit a paragraph describing your interest in the symposium
and the reason for your request to both Symposium Co-Chairs: Ann Bishop
(abishop@uiuc.edu; 217/244-3299) and Alejandro Molina (alejandro@prccchgo.org).
Lodging: 8 single beds are available at the PRCC hostel @ $30/night. For a
description of the facilities and to reserve, contact Saul Melendez
(melendezsaul@yahoo.com; 773/307-7346). Check the symposium website for
additional lodging information.
To register and for further information:
http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/programs/cpd/CIS2007/
Marianne Steadley, GSLIS Continuing Professional Development Program
Director (217/244-2751; steadley@uiuc.edu)
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