AUSTIN, Texas—Spain’s Judge Baltasar Garzón, best known for bringing charges against General Augusto Pinochet for human rights violations in Chile, will be the keynote speaker at 3 p.m., March 25 at “Culture and Peace: Violence, Politics and Representation in the Americas,” a conference at The University of Texas at Austin School of Law, Connally Center Eidman Courtroom.
The conference, scheduled for March 24-25, is hosted by the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies in the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin.
Garzón, widely known for his vigorous defense of human rights and international law, will speak on “Freedom and Terrorist Violence.” Other speakers include world-renowned scholars from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and the United States who will explore the intersections between violence and culture. All public lectures will be conducted in Spanish with a simultaneous English translation.
The conference will examine the different kinds of violence that plague the Americas, including crime, state violence, and conflicts between nations, classes and ethnicities. Conference attendees also will consider the role of cultural production, including film, television, literature and news media, and cultural policy as they contribute toward understanding and controlling violence. Participants will not only describe these issues, but also will formulate specific recommendations toward reducing the violence that afflicts every American nation.
This conference is the first of three organized by Arte Sem Fronteiras (Art Without Borders) on related topics. The other two conferences will be in Montevideo and Santiago de Chile. Participants from these three conferences will also take part in the Foro Cultural of Barcelona in 2004.
The conference is free and open to the public. For more information about attending, contact Joanne Gully at 512-232-2409.
For more information contact: Robin Gerrow, College of Liberal Arts, 512-232-2145.
