Conference on the Americas begins Friday

Grand Valley’s Latin American Studies Program will host the 12th annual Conference on the Americas, set for March 15-16 in the Eberhard Center.

The theme is "Places, Bodies, and Practices in Latin America." Workshop sessions will explore the concepts of space, bodies and practices from different viewpoints.

Saskia Sassen, professor of sociology at Columbia University, and Ana Rosas Mantecón, a cultural anthropologist from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa in Mexico City, are the keynote speakers.

Sassen's research and writing focuses on the social, economic and political dimensions of globalization, as well as immigration, new technologies and changes within the liberal state that result from current transnational conditions. Mantecón will discuss the social impact of cultural access, creativity, and urban cultural policies in Mexico City.

Prior to the conference, a documentary film festival will be held March 12-14 at the DeVos Center, Loosemore Auditorium. All films will begin at 7 p.m. The conference will end with a Festival of Children Latin American Dance, March 16 at 6:30 p.m.

Admission is free for attendees. Contact Zulema Moret at (616) 331-2286 or [email protected], or Barb Blankemeier at (616) 331-8110 or [email protected].