Featuring Dr. Lea Ramsdell
For this year’s Dr. Belgrad Speaker series, it is our privilege to host Dr. Lea Ramsdell. Please join us on Monday, March 9th 2020, in the College of Liberal Arts, Room 4310, from 6:00pm-8:00pm. The Department of Political Science, The Office of Civic Engagement, and the Undergraduate Research Club will be co-sponsoring the event. Light refreshments will be provided after the event.
The Latin music genre known as cumbia first emerged in the Afrodescendant communities on the Atlantic Coast of Colombia. From there, it was appropriated by national elites in the interior then exported both south and north, where it was re-appropriated by marginalized working class and immigrant communities from Buenos Aires to Chicago. This talk traces the transnational movement of cumbia and its transformations along the way.
Professor Lea Ramsdell teaches Spanish and Portuguese language classes as well as courses on Latin American literature and culture. Her research interests include contemporary Latin American women writers, Latinos in the United States, and music and performance as expressions of identity and protest. Her recent publications include articles on the Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska, Cuban hip-hop, and the Cuban performance artist Tania Bruguera.
Offered under the auspices of the Towson University Journal of International affairs, the goal of this speaker series is to shed light on a timely issue in the general field of international relations, broadly construed. In keeping with the spirit of the man in whose honor it was created, the speakers will seek to guide the audience to think more clearly about the topic of their talk rather than present predetermined conclusions meant for the sterile kinds of ideological “debate” that is unfortunately so prevalent today. We are particularly interested in inviting a broad spectrum of students to attend the talks in hopes of generating conversations and independent analysis. The opening remarks of the speakers will be published in that semester’s issue of the journal and will be featured prominently on the journal’s website.
