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Puppets are a powerful tool to stir imagination, teach literacy, and motivate children and adults. Following the Mexican Revolution, the government launched a rural literacy program using puppetry to raise literacy and to communicate vital information on health and nutrition. Over time, however, this pedagogical tool morphed into mere (and enjoyable) entertainment. Libros para Pueblos, in collaboration with master puppeteers from La Bruja puppet theater in Humantla, Tlaxcala, has revived this tradition to promote reading among children, adolescents and adults in communities throughout the State of Oaxaca with tremendous impact. This presentation will focus on different themes: You’ll see a brief slide show illustrating the 1920s Mexican literacy campaign, videos of children in different communities responding to the puppet presentations, a live puppet show, and a testimonial about the project’s impact.  For more information, contact info@librosparapueblos.org Presenters: José Luis Zárate, Executive Director, Libros Para Pueblos. José Luis has more than 20 years of experience working for the non-profit sector in programs that contribute to improving the quality of life of socially and economically disadvantaged people. Alberto Orozco, internationally recognized master puppeteer and founder of puppet theater and workshop, La Bruja, in Humantla Tlaxcala. https://www.facebook.com/labrujahuamantla/ Michael Bronn, member of Board of Directors, Libros Para Pueblos. After working in “family literacy” programs in the Oaxaca district of Los Angeles, Mike has six years of involvement with Libros Para Pueblos.

The Sistine Chapel is certainly the most popular destination for visitors to the Vatican in Rome with, of course, the possible exception of the massive Basilica dedicated to the Apostle Peter. The chapel’s popularity is undoubtedly due to the spectacular and powerful paintings by Michelangelo on its ceiling and altar wall. Few visitors, however, know how this chapel came into being or why it is so important to the papacy that created it. Nor do they know that Michelangelo’s work in the chapel came very late in the chapel’s origins and history. This longer, more complex history of the chapel’s creation is the subject of this presentation. John Hunter will give an illustrated presentation that explains the Sistine Chapel’s origins in the history of Christianity and the papacy at Rome. It is a long, complicated story that requires time and patience to understand but it promises to be a revealing story that is pertinent to all. The presentation is subtitled “It’s not just about Michelangelo” because that justly famous artist, whose work is the main attraction of the Sistine Chapel, was simply one of many artists who, with the help of many theologians and clerics, made the chapel what it is today. Therefore, to truly understand the Sistine Chapel, it is essential to know the contributions of the many who created this fabulous building.

Since the 1980s, San Antonio Arrazola has garnered international acclaim as the  birthplace of the colorful woodcarvings known as alebrijes. However, few tourists and  folk art collectors are aware that it is also the home to a group of artisans who make and  sell replicas of pre-Hispanic artifacts at nearby Monte Albán, the largest archaeological  zone in Oaxaca and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Yet, while Arrazola woodcarvers  are promoted as skilled craftsmen for the tourist art market, replica artisans and  vendors, often from the same households as the carvers, have historically been viewed  by archaeologists and some tourists as an unwanted presence at the site. By focusing  on the case of replica makers and vendors, this talk reconsiders what it means to make  a living in Oaxaca's tourism-driven economy that is built around ideas of cultural  heritage. Bio: Dr. Ronda Brulotte is Associate Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at  the University of New Mexico. She received her PhD in Anthropology and MA in Latin  American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a two-time Fulbright  García-Robles Fellow to Oaxaca, Mexico, where her research focused on local craft  economies. She is the author of Between Art and Artifact: Archaeological Replicas and  Cultural Production in Oaxaca, Mexico and co-editor of Edible Identities: Food as  Cultural Heritage. She recently finished a book on mezcal in Oaxaca, to be published  early next year by the University of Texas Press.

For the last 4 years, Tomy O'Brien and John Gregor have avidly explored and photographed the birds in Mexico. This presentation is an overview of some of the over 300 species they have photographed. Besides looking at striking photographs of birds, Gregor will discuss how he photographs and give tips on how to improve your bird photography. BIOS: John Gregor has a Master of Education through St. Scholastica College with an emphasis on photographic literacy. He earned his BA from the University of Minnesota with a degree from the University Without Walls program. His degree was entitled “Documentary Expression of American Culture Through Photography,” a combined degree of Social Sciences and Fine Art Photography. Gregor currently lives in Minnesota, Utah, and Mexico. Tomy O’Brien has been a full-time career professional photographer since 1982. He grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota, where he raised his three children. He graduated from the University of Minnesota and studied at the University of Fine Arts in San Francisco where he began a career as a fashion and portrait photographer. He retired from studio photography in 2018 and began to travel with his cameras. He quickly discovered that Mexico and its incredible people and landscapes would become an enduring passion and obsession. To that end he has spent as much time as he possibly can learning Spanish and living in Mexico.

Learn about the Zapotecs who founded the mountain-top city of Monte Albán and the Mixtecs who created the vibrant and compelling art-style expressed most vividly in their codices or screen-fold books which record the exploits and deeds of great leaders like Lord 8 Deer Jaguar Claw.

One of the more enigmatic artifact types found at the ancient Zapotec city of Monte Albán is the bat and jaguar-claw drinking cup. The immediate questions that spring to mind are: What were they imbibing from these vessels? And why? Larger issues emerge: what did the jaguar and bat signify to members of this venerable civilization? The answers to these queries take us to the dark side. Come and find out about them and the Zapotec dark side! Speaker Bio: Dr. Robert Markens: Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Teresa Díaz, a museumologist and art historian, delights us with a very entertaining and enlightening presentation about art in Mexico with the focus on abstract art. Find out what is referred to when talking about “abstract art,” where it came from, who were the key players and how it evolved in Mexican art culture.

The community museums of Oaxaca represent a ground-breaking movement that currently brings together twenty indigenous and campesino communities of the state and leads initiatives to expand national and international networks. This movement is based on the decision-making power of grassroots structures of community organization, and fosters a collective, creative process of self-representation. Bio: Together with her husband, Cuauhtémoc Camarena, Teresa Morales Lersch has helped establish 24 community museums in the state of Oaxaca, providing tools for local communities to create sites to strengthen identity and collective memory. Both have also helped create grassroots networks, including the Union of Community Museums of Oaxaca, the National Union of Community Museums and Ecomuseums of Mexico, and the Network of Community Museums of America.

Against the background of the linguistic and cultural diversity of Oaxaca’s Zapotecan communities, Bob will use extracts from the dictionary to discuss the challenges of learning and documenting dhīxhnde’e. Issues to be covered include: working with native speakers, confronting personal and cultural biases, promoting respect for ‘Village Spanish,’ handling sensitive community information, cultural appropriation, agrarian disputes, and the possible impact on the language and community of the new superhighway from Oaxaca to Puerto Escondido.