Caption: Photographer Gabriel Osorio will speak about his work (at right), with Miguel Vásquez in the Conversatorio on Sept. 25.  Photo ©Gabriel Osorio. Published with permission.
 

Cornell’s Department of Romance Studies, alongside Trópico Absoluto magazine and the Universidad Complutense Madrid, invite you to “(Re)pensando a Venezuela: Conversatorio Interdisciplinario Online,” a global gathering of scholars and artists dedicated to “(re)thinking” Venezuela’s current sociopolitical context as the country experiences ongoing health, economic and political crises.

Initially conceived as a symposium that was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, “(Re)pensando a Venezuela” has expanded into a discussion series ­– an ongoing, online interdisciplinary conversation – to take place in eight one-hour sessions. All sessions will be held from 12-1 p.m. (ET) on Zoom, beginning September 18 and ending December 11.

“This would serve as an opportunity to have a less formal, less structured, and more dynamic way of talking about the latest works published – or in the making – about Venezuela from many different fields,” said Irina Troconis, Assistant Professor of Latin American Studies, and one of the series’ organizers.

The discussions will be conducted in Spanish, with an option of switching to English for the Q&As at the end of each session. They will be held on the first and last Fridays of each month, with some exceptions (see schedule/horario, below). A second series is planned for the spring semester, with the original symposium to be held at a later date.

“The objective is to create a space that will serve as a point of contact and discussion for constructive exchange, one that permits the fine-tuning of proposals and perspectives as well as discovering and debating new strategies and methods to (re)think the country from both inside and outside its geographical borders," Troconis said.

Troconis organized the discussion series with Manuel Silva-Ferrer, the editor and director of Trópico Absoluto who will kick off the first session, and Miguel Vásquez, a professor in the Departamento de Filosofía y Sociedad at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Trópico Absoluto will be uploading the discussions and vignettes to its platform.

The digital format of the series will allow it to move forward in a unique way, as both the original symposium and ongoing discussion series were always intended to reach across time zones and continents.

“With the support of new digital platforms, we aspire to incorporate innovative forms of conducting and sharing discussion, expanding our networks so that we may launch new projects and opportunities for exchange and collaboration,” Troconis said.

The schedule of discussion panels is below. For copies of the materials that will be discussed in each section, please email Irina Troconis (Irt23@cornell.edu). The materials for the individual panels will be available one week before each session.

To contact the organizers:
Manuel Silva-Ferrer: msilvaferrer@gmail.com
Miguel Vásquez: miguelev@ucm.es
Irina R. Troconis: irt23@cornell.edu

Horario:
  Presentación                                                    Fecha/Hora: 12 p.m. (ET)