LIBROS PARA PUEBLOS LIBRARY TOURS:
Would you like to read with Oaxacan children in a Libros Para Pueblos supported library? Join us in one of our next tours...

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February 21, 2020 10 am to 5 pm - Library tour to Asunción Nochixtlán. For more information CLICK HERE.

March 12, 2020, 10 am - Library tour to San Luis Beltrán. For more information CLICK HERE.

March 26, 2020 10 am to 3 pm - Library tour to Ocotlán de Morelos. For more information CLICK HERE.

 

LECTURE:
The Political Economy Of Indigenous Peasant Communities Of Oaxaca

Presented by Ronald Waterbury, PhD
Emeritus Professor of Anthropology
Queens College, City University of New York

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17
MX$90 (M) MX$130 (NM) PER LECTURE*
This is the last in a series of three lectures. 
Sign up separately for each. It is not necessary to attend all three.

This series of three lectures will explore the economic and political dimensions of social and cultural life in the indigenous peasant communities of Oaxaca. Throughout, attention will be given to the interrelationships with the wider socioculural system of which these communities have been a part since the Spanish Conquest. 

THIS THIRD LECTURE will tie it all together with a focus on the "modernizing"  forces that are transforming the "traditional" systems, as well as attempts to resist those forces. 

*The proceeds from these lectures will be shared equally with The Welte Institute for Oaxacan Studies 

  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR LECTURE #3  

TALK:
DOLLS: SACRED and CEREMONIAL FIGURES of the WORLD

Presented by Ellen Benson

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 5 PM

MX$90 (M), MX$130 (NM)

For hundreds of years and in cultures around the world, dolls have been objects of power, healing, protection, identity, and story-telling as well as of play. 

Dumpster Diva Ellen Benson will show us how she uses recycled materials to create her own mixed media art dolls. She will share the costumes, street art, African and Mexican figures, fiber artists, teachers and doll makers that continue to amaze and inspire her.

  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP  

TALK:
BEYOND FRIDA KAHLO:
THREE MEXICAN WOMEN ARTISTS
Presented by Andrea Fairchild

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 5 PM
MX$90 (M) MX$130 (NM)

The early 20th century saw the arrival of many different artistic movements in Mexico, one which was Surrealism. The conjunction of the Mexican heritage, worldwide interest in the unconscious mind and a liberation from classical painting styles brought about flowering of creativity. We will look at the art of Remedios Varo Uranga, Leonora Carrington and Bridget Bate Tichenor. What did they find in Mexico and what did they contribute to the artistic scene?

Dr Andrea Weltzl Fairchild, Concordia University, (ret.). Department of Art Education,Faculty of Fine Arts . She has been interested in how the general public “makes meaning” during the museum visit and what that implies for museum educators and teachers. Lately, her interest includes how the design of exhibition facilitates learning in a museum. Member of CECA (Committee on Education and Museums) and SIGEM ( Special Interest Group on Museum Education in Canada) .
Contact: afairchild4@gmail.com

  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP  

TOUR:
THE RED POTTERY of SAN MARCOS TLAPAZOLA

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 9 AM - 4 PM
MX$350 (M) MX$400 (NM)

The inhabitants of San Marco almost all busy themselves with the making of the red clay pottery the village is famous for. Perhaps the most illustrious of these is Macrina Mateo Martinez, whose work has been featured in exhibits on all five continents. She will welcome us to her home and workshop to explain the art which has kept her village alive for centuries. We will enjoy lunch at the central market in Tlacolula on the way back to Oaxaca. (Note: tour price does not include lunch.)

  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP  

GAME NIGHT:
JEOPARDY @ the OLL...
LET THE GAMES BEGIN
Presented by Tanya Lapierre and Sally Sell

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 5 PM, FREE

Jeopardy's coming to the OLL. Think your Mexican facts are up to snuff? Do you bore your dinner guests with Mexican trivia? This is your time to shine!

A fun filled free evening of competition, Mexican and Oaxacan trivia you may never use again. There may even be prizes.

Tanya Lapierre and Sally Sell, who have no relationship to Alex Trebek or any other trivia or game show qualifications, are hosting this fun, light evening.

  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THIS FREE EVENT  
 

TALK:
TAKE a WALK THROUGH MORELIA, MICHOACAN with a WORLD HISTORIAN
Presented by Tom Mounkhall

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 5 PM
MX$90 (M) MX$130 (NM)

Join World Historian Tom Mounkhall as he takes us on a virtual walk through the beautiful and historic colonial city of Morelia — learn about World History, Morelia Colonial Architecture and comparisons to Oaxaca.

Tom Mounkhall has spent over 50 years studying and teaching World History. He has given at least 10 lectures at the OLL, always to a sold out audience,  in the past.

  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP  

WALKING TOUR:
Presented by Tom Mounkhall

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 9:00 - 10:30 AM — FREE
Limited 25, must sign up in advance 

Take a Walk Through the Oaxaca Centro with a World Historian, Tom Mounkhall. On our walk we will relate the streetscapes and architecture to Mexican and World History. The walk will be a stroll starting at the OLL and ending at the Zocalo. 

  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP   

TALK:
OAXACAN COFFEE: A crash course on how to distinguish its flavors and become a coffee connoisseur in town.
Presented by Kate Avansino

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 5 PM
MX$90 (M) MX$130 (NM)

Coffee is indeed a fruit and each region of Oaxaca certainly has different flavors!  In this crash course we'll talk about the 5 factors that influence the final taste of your morning cup of joe.  We'll get into a little chemistry and science before tasting different roasting profiles, experimenting with different potential coffee flavor expressions and finally trying coffee from various regions in Oaxaca!

Kate is the owner of Cafébre on M. Bravo 108 and has been living and working in Oaxaca since 2008. She is the 15th place holder nationally in Brew Bar, roasts more than 100 pounds of coffee a week and really likes to get techncial about everything coffee.

  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP  
 

TOUR:
SHROVE TUESDAY in
SAN MARTIN TILCAJETE

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 9 AM - 5 PM
MX$350 (M) MX$400 (NM)

The citizens of Tilcajete know how to celebrate Shrove Tuesday, and we are invited to join in the festivities! Hundreds of noisy merry-makers roam the streets in all manner of home-made costumes. Curious tourists come to town to take part in the fun. Participants are encouraged to have lunch in local restaurants or sample the wares of food vendors lining the streets.

Caution: visitors should wear old clothes, as merrymakers delight in “tagging” tourists, leaving greasy handprints behind.

  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP  
 

LECTURE/SING ALONG:
ON THE ROAD AGAIN:
10 of the BEST TRAVELING SONGS
Presented by Stephen Richer

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 5 - 6:30 PM
MX$90 (M) MX$130 (NM)

If you were lucky enough to be here last year and to enjoy Stephen's "The Life and Times of Pete Seeger and the Power of Protest Songs", this lecture/sing along will be just your cup o'tea. Like the Seeger lecture this lecture combines history with the biographies of song writers, and of course involves the audience in singing.

Stephen Richer is a Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He's been giving a series of courses on the social history of protest music at Carleton's Institute for Learning in Retirement.

This lecture/concert will be repeated on March 12th.

  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP  

TALK:
ART, MUSIC, WAR and REVOLUTION:
GREENWICH VILLAGE 1956-71
Presented by Ken Ludmer

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 5 PM
MX$90 (M) MX$130 (NM)

The presentation starts with the 1950's...Beatniks, Alan Ginsberg and the poetry of free speech. The cafes of Macdougal Street with Lenny Bruce. The Washington Sq. Park folk music protest scene with Pete Seeger. The impact of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. The Art explosion of Andy Warhol: street Art, happenings and Be-Ins. The Hippies and the Fillmore East. Anti-Vietnam movement. Gay rights and the Stonewall. Betty Freidan/Bella Abzug and the women's rights marches and much more.

Ken Ludmer's first coffee was at the Cafe Figaro in 1956. He worked in The Village as a waiter, cook, actor with the Wooster St. Players, bartender, environmental activist and Village Neighborhood Television cable TV host. A graduate of Columbia Univ. School of Social Work, he was a family therapist for 50 years, and taught in the Graduate Schools of Columbia, Fordham and Yeshiva Universities.


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TALK:
EARTHQUAKES EXPLAINED
Presented by Ian Lange

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 5 PM
MX$90 (M) MX $130 (NM)
The goal of seismologists is to accurately predict earth quakes (E.Qs.). But what if they eventually succeed? They may open a Pandora box of problems such as: where to put all the evacuees, how to feed them and who wants to be left behind to prevent looting in the affected region. What is the latest info regarding earthquake prediction? Where are the safest places to live?

We shall look at why earthquakes occur, where they happen, and why some “relatively” small ones, in terms of magnitude, such as the recent earthquake in Turkey, create so much loss of life, havoc, and damage. We shall also look at ways to mitigate structural damage and some positive aspects of E.Qs. What is the latest scientific information today regarding temblores?

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TALK:
MODERN MEXICAN ART:
REVOLUCIÓN A RUPTURA 1920 -1970
Presented by John Harvey Williams

MONDAY, MARCH 2, 5 PM
MX$90 (M) MX$130 (NM)

This presentation will cover the early modernists such as Carlos Orozco Romero and Rufino Tamayo, followed by the post WWII RUPTURA movement. Many well know Oaxacans were very important in this movement such as Rodolfo Nieto and Francisco Toledo.

John Harvey Williams has BA from the University of Texas in Art History where he was a student of Linda Schiele, Richard Townsend and Terrance Grieder among other internationally recognized experts in the field of Mesoamerican Art History and was a long time protege of the late Dr. Thomas Mabry Cranfill the author of IMAGES OF MEXICO, University of Texas Press 1968. John has continued to study and explore since his graduation from UT in 1978. He is a naturalized Mexican Citizen and completely bilingual and bicultural.

  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP  
 

TALK:
DIARIO de OAXACA, 2006-2008
Presented by Peter Kuper

TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 5 PM, FREE

When award-winning cartoonist Peter Kuper and his family moved to Oaxaca in 2006, they planned to spend a quiet year or two enjoying a different culture and taking a break from the U.S. political climate under the Bush administration. What they hadn't counted on was landing in the epicenter of Mexico's biggest political struggle in recent years. 

Peter will talk about that tumultuous period which lead to his book Diario de Oaxaca: A Sketchbook Journal of Two Years in Mexico. In it he presents an artistic vision of Oaxacan life — from explorations of the beauty of the environment to graphic portrayals of the fight between strikers and government troops that left more than 20 people dead, including American journalist Brad Will.

Peter Kuper's illustrations and comics have appeared in newspapers and magazines around the world including Time, The New York Times and MAD where he has written and illustrated SPY vs. SPY every issue since 1997. He is the co-founder of World War 3 Illustrated a political comix magazine and has remained on its editorial board since 1979.

  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THIS FREE EVENT  

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TOUR:
MONASTERIES and ARTISTS of HUITZO and YANHUITLAN

THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 9 AM - 4 PM
MX$350 (M) MX$400 (NM)

Both Huitzo and Yanhuitlan boast restored monasteries from the colonial era, and both are home to well-known contemporary artists. We’ll tour the monasteries and drop in on the studios of the painter Enrique Flores in Huitzo and the ceramic artist Manual Reyes in Yanhuitlan. Lunch at a restaurant in Yanhuitlan. (Note: tour price does not include cost of lunch.)

  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP  
 

BOOK PRESENTATION BY AUTHOR:
Tom Dunham
What You Have Is This

FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 5 PM, FREE

From the start of the Vietnam war, these eleven stories play out over five decades; beginning with “Receiving,” and a young man’s enlistment; ending with a veteran’s recollection of the only day of his tour he clearly remembers. With “Bodine,” there’s a deadly confrontation that ends with a short-sighted, “It’s over. Nobody hurt.” The title story tells of a machinist awaiting a lab result finding comfort in a ten year-old combat memory. These are heartfelt stories whose dark and lighter moments will draw you in, stir your thinking, and stay with you. Available in the OLL library collection, and in paperback and ebook from online vendors.

Tom Dunham grew up in Hawaii and stateside, east-coast; military service; Cal and NYU; 20 years a photographer; on to Oaxaca; been writing ever since, with a 12 stretch teaching, middle school. Best of all, Ana. Without this library I'd be lost. A loaf.

  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THIS FREE EVENT  

BOOK PRESENTATION BY AUTHOR:
Lewis Erenburg
The Rumble in the Jungle: Muhammad Ali and George Foreman on the Global Stage

MONDAY, MARCH 9, 5 PM, FREE

The 1974 fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, staged in the young nation of Zaire and dubbed the Rumble in the Jungle, was arguably the biggest sporting event of the twentieth century. The Rumble in the Jungle orbits around Ali and Foreman, placing them at the convergence of the American Civil Rights movement and the Great Society, the rise of Islamic and African liberation efforts, and the ongoing quest to cast off the shackles of colonialism. With his far-reaching take on sports, music, marketing, and mass communications, Erenberg shows how one boxing match became nothing less than a turning point in 1970s culture.

Lewis A. Erenberg is professor of history at Loyola University of Chicago. 

  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THIS FREE EVENT  
 

TALK:
GLASSBLOWING and SUSTAINABILITY
Presented by Christian Thornton

TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 5 PM
MX$90 (M) MX$130 (NM)

Christian Thornton, started the company, Xaquixe, a sustainable artisan glass factory in Oaxaca in 2002. His constant work has been deserving of diverse support and recognition. The most recent awarded by the Social Economic Environmental Design (SEED) Network and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in the contest "Public Interest Design Mexico" for the project titled "Artisanal activities as catalyzers for sustainable Urbanism" (Craft activities as catalysts for sustainable urbanism). It also has support from CONACYT for the development of a sustainable plant. "Our plant is a sustainable plant model, it is an eco-friendly company, as we create our own technology appropriate to the machines that can be used in a blown glass manufacturing plant. We want to replicate the use of eco-friendly technology within industrial processes."

  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP  
 

TOUR:
GLASS BLOWING WORKSHOPS of CHRISTIAN THORNTON and JASON PFOHL and CENTRO de la ARTES

THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 9 AM - 4 PM
MX$350 (M) MX$400 (NM)

Christian Thornton established Xaquixe, his glass blowing studio, in 2002. From its inception the workshop was intended to be a sustainable, earth-friendly place. It has since won numerous awards for both its environmental innovations and its contributions to the local economy. Jason Pfohl’s nearby workshop, Gorilla Glass, boasts similarly enchanting 
glass artifacts. 

Our tour will also include a stop at the very impressive old textile mill in San Agustin Etla, (founded in 1883) which Francisco Toledo converted into the Centro de las Artes (CASA). The center hosts traveling exhibits of art from Mexico and countries of central America.

We will stop at the Hacienda Santa Marta for an incredible buffet lunch on the way back to Oaxaca. (Note: tour price does not include lunch.)

  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP  
 

LECTURE/SING ALONG:
ON THE ROAD AGAIN:
10 of the BEST TRAVELING SONGS
Presented by Stephen Richer

THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 5 PM
MX$90 (M) MX$130 (NM)

If you were lucky enough to be here last year and to enjoy Stephen's "The Life and Times of Pete Seeger and the Power of Protest Songs", this lecture/sing along will be just your cup o'tea. Like the Seeger lecture this lecture combines history with the biographies of song writers, and of course involves the audience in singing.

Stephen Richer is a Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He's been giving a series of courses on the social history of protest music at Carleton's Institute for Learning in Retirement.

  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP  

TALK:
MINING in EARLY COLONIAL OAXACA
Presented by David Gitlitz

TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 5 PM
MX$90 (M) MX$130 (NM)

This talk will review the history of mining in Mexico prior to the arrival of Europeans, the earliest attempts by settlers to locate the sources of silver and gold, their struggles to mine it, and the 1550s Mexican innovations in refining metallic ores that changed the course of mining world-wide. The description how the early Mexican mining haciendas were laid out and how their various parts worked will help you have a knowledgeable eye when you visit colonial mining reales all over Mexico. The talk is based on David's book, Living in Silverado: Secret Jews in the Mining Towns of Colonial Mexico, published in fall, 2018, by the University of New Mexico Press, will be available for purchase at this talk.

David Gitlitz worked for a number of universities in the US, Latin America, and Europe as a professor (literature, history, anthropology) and an administrator (program director, department chair, dean, academic vice president). His writing, some of it in conjunction with his late wife Linda Davidson, has been on topics of Spanish culture and literature, pilgrimages and holy places, Spanish-Jewish interrelations, and Renaissance cuisine. His first trip to Oaxaca was in 1960 (!), and he's been living full time in Santa Cruz Etla now for five years and considers it his home for the duration. 

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NOTE: There will be an Out & About in Oaxaca tour to the Cinco Señores Mines on Thursday, March 19.

TOUR:
CINCO SENORES MINE RUINS

THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 9 AM - 6 PM
MX$350 (M) MX$400 (NM)

The Spanish conquistadores came to the New World seeking fame and fortune. The Aztec Great Speaker, Monctezuma II, told Cortés that most of his gold came from Oaxaca, which prompted Cortés to claim this region of Mexico as his personal fiefdom. Today’s tour will take us through the ruins of the 18th century Cinco Señores hacienda near Lachatao.

Motion sickness alert! The drive to and from the mountains may make some people queasy.

Lunch at a trout restaurant on the way back to Oaxaca. (Note: tour price does not include lunch.) 

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TOUR:
SAN BARTOLO COYOTEPEC: COCHINEAL, BLACK POTTERY and MUSEUM

THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 9 AM - 3 PM
MX$350 (M) MX$400 (NM)

The nearby village of San Bartolo Coyotepec is world-famous for its spectacular black pottery, and Doña Rosa’s workshop there is one of the best known. It is also home to a quaint facility dedicated to keeping alive the story of cochineal, source of a precious red dye once as valuable as gold. 

Our tour will conclude with a stop at the local museum, which features traveling exhibits of art by local artists. Before returning to Oaxaca we will have lunch at Casa Coyotepec. (Note: tour price does not include lunch.) 

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LECTURE:
SAINT THOMAS and the FIRE SERPENT: 
Prehispanic Rock Art in Santo Tomás Jalieza, Oaxaca

FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 5 PM
MX$90 (M) MX$130 (NM)

Presented by Dr. Robert Markens, Archaeologist, Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
 

Santo Tomás Jalieza is a traditional Zapotec town on the road to the Friday market center of Ocotlán. Tourists stop there to buy weavings made by the town’s women on backstrap looms. Less well known is the fact that Santo Tomás was a major center of urban development during the Prehispanic era. Lying in a field at several kilometers from the town center is a boulder covered with enigmatic designs which, over the years, has aroused the curiosity of historians, archaeologists and the public alike. Come to the lecture and learn of the foundational myth it transmits and how the Spaniards succeeded in erasing it from the collective memory of the town’s residents.

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