CLACS is proud to present a conversation with Miyela Riascos moderated by Roosbelinda Cardenas, CLACS Visiting Scholar 2018-19. This event is hosted in collaboration with Witness for Peace.

About Miyela Riascos:
This amazing woman is a Colombian ethno-educator and anthropologist who works with various social organizations and victims’ groups in the area of territorial and human rights, peace and environmental education, and community organizing. She had to flee her territory 17 years ago due to the threat of armed paramilitary groups in the rural areas near Buenaventura (Anchicayá River) and knows the situation of internally displaced persons in Buenaventura from personal experience.

Miyela is an organizer of the Buenaventura Committee for the Civil Strike to Live in Peace and Dignity. She is also a spokeswoman representative in the negotiations that were achieved with the Colombian government regarding equitable distribution of the state’s health care resources.

Miyela is also the co-founder of the ARIBI Socio-Environmental Foundation which supports the organizing processes of local Afro-Colombian communities dedicated to the implementation of sustainable development.

About Roosbelinda Cardenas:

Roosbelinda Cárdenas is a cultural anthropologist and Assistant Professor of Latin American Studies at Hampshire College in Massachusetts. Her current book project looks at Black political mobilization following the institutionalization of multicultural reforms in Colombia and the onset of armed violence on the Pacific region. More broadly, she interested in identity and rights for Afro-descendants in Latin America and social theories of race and racism, social movements, place and displacement, and human rights.

This event is free and open to the public, seating is limited. ID is required to access the building.