Carleton College

Costa Rica At the Crossroads April 25-26, 2008

Foro Latinoamericano 2008

SPONSORED BY:

Office of the Dean of the College Latin American Studies Program Biology Department Environmental and Technology Studies Program Department of Spanish Distinguished Women's Visitors Fund

All Events Are Open to the Public

* Dinner and lunch will be hosted for alumni, majors, concentrators, faculty and special guests of the Latin American Studies Program at Carleton College. Please RSVP for dinner and/or lunch to Mary Tatge at mtatge@carleton.edu or at 507-222-4252 by April 7, 2008. For further questions, contact this year's Foro Latinoamericano organizer, Professor Silvia L. López, at slopez@carleton.edu or 507-222-4240.

At the Crossroads…

Each year, the students, faculty and alumni of the Latin American Studies Program convene to share in an academic experience that brings to the fore and to campus a major topic, event, and country of Latin America. Originally designed as a capstone experience for the students of the program, we have expanded the Foro to include our alumni and the program’s entire faculty in order to give it a truly communal sense. The Foro will also provide the Carleton community at large with the opportunity to participate in a major event involving contemporary Latin America.

The 2007-2008 Carleton Foro Latinoamericano focuses on Costa Rica, the longest consolidated democracy in Latin America, and the current social, political and environmental challenges it faces in light of the recently passed Central America Free Trade Agreement.

FORO LATINOAMERICANO Program

All events at Athenaeum Gould Library

Friday, April 25 4:00 p.m. Opening Remarks Beverly Nagel, Associate Dean of the College 4:30 p.m. "Hearts and Minds: The CAFTA referendum in Costa Rica" Janet Seiz, Grinnell College

Reception to follow Dinner* 8:00 p.m. Writing as Resistance: a conversation with Anacristina Rossi Moderator: Silvia L. López, Director of Latin American Studies Dessert reception to follow Saturday, April 26 10:00 a.m. Coffee and rolls 10:30 a.m. "The Long Road Back: Challenges and Opportunities in Conservation" Christopher Vaughan, University of Wisconsin, Madison 11:45 p.m. Closing Remarks Lunch*

Anacristina Rossi Writer, public intellectual and ecological activist. She gained international stature as a novelist with her book Limón Blues, the first in a trilogy about life on the Costa Rican Afro-Caribbean coast. Her novels have been translated into several languages, including French and English, and she has received numerous and prestigious national and literary awards.

Christopher Vaughan

Co-founder and Director for many years of Latin America's first Wildlife Management/ Conservation graduate program at the Universidad Nacional of Costa Rica. He currently coordinates the Chocolate Biodiversity and Productivity Project (Milwaukee Public Museum-University of Wisconsin-USDA) in Costa Rica and he teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Janet Seiz

Professor of economics at Grinnell College. She teaches courses on economic development and income distribution, and researches feminist economics and economic methodology. Along with Eliza Willis, professor of Political Science at Grinnell College, she has been studying the health of Costa Rican democracy and the process of the Central America Free Trade Agreement referendum.