Kirwan Institute Brown Bag - June 2010
June 11 - From the Margin to the Center: How Bomba and Soccer Re-shaped Racial Prejudices in Today's Ecuador
by Diana Ruggiero, PhD, Spanish & Portuguese Department at OSU
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Location: 423 Mendenhall Laboratory |
Based on ethnographic research involving the production of a documentary film (Más allá del fútbol) the program addresses the question of cultural change among the highland Afro-Ecuadorian communities of Chota-Mira valley region through a discussion of La Bomba: a local song and dance genre of African origin. Though once marginalized and neglected, this oral tradition is now celebrated nationally as a symbol of Afro Choteño identity. Considering La Bomba’s relation to Afro-Choteño identity, Diana Ruggiero, PhD, examines, “How do we make sense of and understand the junction of history and recent development of La Bomba in Ecuador?”
Join us Friday, June 11, at noon, as Ruggiero engages the audience on what its revival and reinterpretation tell us about the relationship between tradition, identity, and the struggles of such historically marginalized groups as the Afro-Ecuadorian
Diana Ruggiero, originally from Argentina, has undergraduate, masters and PhD degrees from The Ohio State University, with main focus on visual Latin America: the visual as a form of narrative. She filmed an ethnographic film as part of her dissertation, which explores issues of race, national identity, and cultural change in Ecuador through a discussion of La Bomba. Currently Diana Ruggiero is a Graduate Teaching Associate in the Spanish and Portuguese department, and by August 2010, she will be teaching at Monmouth College, Illinois.
For more information, please contact Elsadig Elsheikh or Rajeev Ravisankar.
