While Iraq is on the minds of many U.S. citizens, Latin America's violence was the heart of discussion inside Oklahoma Memorial Union last weekend.
The School of International and Area Studies presented its 2003 symposium entitled "Violence, Memory and Reconciliation," focusing on the Latin American region.
Various speakers during the three-day event discussed the historical violence in specific regions. Alma Guillermoprieto, writer for The New Yorker magazine and author of three books on Latin America, discussed the Colombian violence of the past and present on Thursday. Her presentation was followed by a Latin band to begin the symposium.
During the rest of the event, speakers focused on Nicaragua, Peru, Argentina and the Yucatan Peninsula. As historians and anthropologists spoke, the audience, which ranged from about 100 to more than 225 for each speech, learned more about the historical context behind the wars and violence that have affected the Central and South American countries.
Steve Bourget, University of Texas art history professor, explained that the violence of the Moche culture was more symbolic than territorial expansion. Through his archaeological digs to uncover pottery of the Moche, Peruvian people that lived from 100 to 700 A.D., Bourget said there was a systematic way that the Moche fought and buried their victims.
The buried people in Huaca de la Luna, in the northwestern coasts of Peru, were placed in specific places, almost symbolizing a dance of skeletons, Bourget said.
After Bourget's presentation, Carlos Ivan Degregori, anthropology professor at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, gave a historical perspective on the violence in Peru, focusing on the Shining Path, a communist organization that tried to take over the Peruvian government.
Degregori told a story about his time on serving on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Peru. He said there was a woman speaking during a hearing in a native tongue no one entirely knew. The translator also had trouble understanding the language.
"There are the kinds of gaps where violence comes in," Degregori said.
What received the warmest ovation from the attendees of Saturday's leg of the conference was Tulio Halperin Donghi's speech about Argentina's violent past. Donghi is an emeritus professor of history at the University of California at Berkeley and considered by historians as the most distinguished Latin American historian. He explained that Argentina's history is unlike other Latin American histories.
"This is a country where the violence never ceased," Donghi said. He spent a large part of the time explaining the violence continued during Juan Peron's leadership.
hello there & you too