Abroadia Executive Director Tom Millington co-presented a session on “Mid-Career Professionals in International Education” at the Forum on Education Abroad conference in Chicago on March 25th.
A friend of Abroadia, who is currently studying in Havana, extends a warm invitation to American students to visit his country. Click on the link below to watch his greeting.
https://youtu.be/UZ1k-Zx6Ea0
Today, November 1st, marks the beginning of American Indian Heritage Month and Abroadia salutes our friends who are still struggling to maintain their voice in the vast echo chamber that is the American cultural and political landscape. We ask that you take a moment to reflect on the heritage and history of our American Indian friends.
Abroadia has reviewed numerous books about American Indians . Here are four that we recommend you read:
Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann
Killing the White Man’s Indian, by Fergus Bordewich
Empire of the Summer Moon, by S.C. Gwynne
The Death of James Loney, by James Welch
Internationally renowned mediator and consensus builder Luis Oré will be our first Global Thoughts during International Education Week (November 15-19, 2021). He is the former Deputy Secretary of Conflict Management for the Office of the Prime Minister of Peru during the transition and emergency government of Peru under the Francisco Sagasti Administration in 2021.
He is a member of Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBBI). During the 2010-2011 year he served as chair of the Association for Conflict Resolution’s International Section.
His presentation is titled: “The Field of a Consensus Building Practitioner”
Date: November 15th at 2pm Eastern time
Registration link: http://bit.do/global-thoughts-luisore
As part of our celebration of International Education Week 2021 (Nov. 15-19), Abroadia will host Elisabet Raquel García. She is a Global Education DEI Consultant Specialist for her company, Access Equitable Education. She was a first-gen, low-income student turned 4x scholar abroad and Gilman Awardee. She was also a 2x Study Abroad Peer Advisor and Liaison at the Division of Global learning at her Alma Mater, UC Santa Cruz, where she began her journey helping historically underserved students access global learning opportunities. Since then, she has been invited by the Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations to participate in a special Cultural Immersion and Volunteer Program for Scholars of Mexican Origin in 2019 and to work as a Bilingual On-Site mentor for the program in 2021. She and her work has been featured by UCEAP, UC Santa Cruz Global Learning, and Terra Dotta.
She will share her global thoughts with us on November 16th at 2pm Eastern time. Her presentation is titled "Gendered Experiences of Study Abroad Students". The registration link is: http://bit.do/global-thoughts-elisabetraquelgarcia. See you then!
Abroadia will host an international education fireside chat on November 17th at 2pm Eastern Time. The chat will feature two speakers with compelling and very relevant viewpoints about international education. Dr. Anthony Ogden from Gateway International Group will moderate the conversation between Rhia Moreno from Augustana University and Daniel Greenberg from Earth Deeds. This event is free and open to everyone.
Register via this link: http://bit.do/moreno-greenberg-firesidechat
Abroadia has released an update on the Covid Situation in Cuba. To read it, click here.
On May 19th Turkish pentathlete Sidal Aslan joined us to describe how she trains for competition and the challenges of being a practitioner of this so grueling sport.
If you missed the Global Thoughts talk, click here.
On Friday, February 19th Abroadia facilitated its second COIL program and one first one of 2021. We worked with students from the US and Bolivia who are participating in the Latin American-US Studies Certificate program. It went very well!
Ana Rivas, Associate Researcher at the Technical University of Munich, will be our Global Thoughts speaker on March 31st. Her talk is titled “Recovering public space for People with Street Experiments”.
There is no cost to participate and the event is open to everyone.
Register via this link:
http://bit.do/global-thoughts-anarivas
Remembering Juan Carlos Tabío.
You may not know the name Juan Carlos Tabío, but if you saw the highly acclaimed Cuban film “Strawberries and Chocolate” (1993), which lost out to “Burnt by the Sun” for the Best Foreign Language Oscar, you will know that he co-directed that film with fellow Cuban cinematic legend Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. Tabío also directed the Cuban classic “Se Permuta” (House Swap) in 1983 and Abroadia frequently showed this comedy to our students as a way for them to encounter the affable Cuban sense of humor as well as to study the then popular social mechanism of trading homes.
Sadly, on January 18th, Mr. Tabío passed away in Havana.
Abroadia salutes this iconic Cuban cineaste and hopes that one day Hollywood will recognize his enormous talent and vision.
Descansa en paz, leyenda.
Photo credit: Cuba Sí
Cuba has a rich tradition of literature and poetry. Here is a name you should know: Nancy Morejón, She is one of Cuba’s foremost poets . Here is one of our favorite poems:
OBRERA del tabaco
Una obrera de tabaco escribió
un poema de la muerte. Entre el humo
y las hojas torcidas y secas de la vega
dijo ver el mundo en Cuba.
Era el año 1999…En su poema
dijo tocar las flores
formadoras de una mágica alfombra
que circunvolaba La Plaza de La Revolución.
En su poema, esa obrera
palpó los días del mañana.
En su poema no había penumbras, sino lámparas
energéticas
En su poema, amigos, no había Miami ni
[reclamaciones;
no había mendicidad,
no había ruindades,
ni violaciones de la ley laboral;
no había interés por la Bolsa, no había lucro.
En su poema, había astucia militante, lánguida
inteligencia
En su poema, había disciplina y asambleas
En su poema, había sangre hirviendo del pasado.
En su poema, había hígado y corazones.
Su poema era un tratado de economía popular.
En su poema, estaban todos los deseos y toda la ansiedad
de un revolucionario contemporáneo suyo.
Una obrera del tabaco escribió
un poema a la agonía del capitalismo. Sí, señor.
Pero ni sus hermanos, ni sus vecinos,
adivinaron la esencia de su vida. Y nunca supieron
del poema.
Ella lo había guardado, tenaz y finamente,
junto a unas hojas de caña santa y cáñamo
dentro de un libro empastado,
de José Martí.