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"The Power of Intercultural Dialogue:
Octavio Paz between Mexico and India"

Oct 21, 2026 l 4:00 p.m.
Rolfe Hall, Rm 4302 (Lydeen Library)
Details: ucla.in/3VSDAGM

Indranil Chakravarty speaks about how Octavio Paz became a cultural bridge between two parts of the Global South: India and Mexico.

Cosponsored by the UCLA Center for Mexican Studies, @uclacisa and @uclaspanport

#interculturaldialogue #globacultures @GlobalSouth #mexico #India

cc: @uclacollege @ucla_lai @uclahistory @ucla_csrc @latinobruins @latinobruins @lasoxucla @isu_ucla @icc_ucla @lsfa_ucla

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Enjoy a special Story Time on Sunday, October 25, presented in conjunction with "Paths of Memory, Paths of Healing: Shipibo-Konibo Kené Art." Our guest storyteller, Erick (Ronin) Arias Silvano, will bring to life the histories of mythical beings—from river serpents to forest spirits of Amazonian oral traditions—that move through Shipibo-Konibo cosmology and the wider Amazon. The program will be in both English and Spanish.

With Olinda Silvano’s luminous kené murals alongside the ceramics and textiles on view, children and families will have a chance to listen, imagine, and connect ancestral stories to the flowing geometric patterns around them. Kené designs are more than visual art: they are pathways of memory, protection, and healing. This storytelling hour will offer young visitors an accessible and joyful way to step into that world.

Story Time: Amazonian Myths and Kené
Sunday, October 25 | 2-4pm
In person, English and Spanish / En persona, Inglés y Español
RSVP at the link in bio!

Presented in partnership with the UCLA CMRS Center for Early Global Studies as part of its ‘Race in the Global Past through Native Lenses’ grant, in collaboration with the UCLA American Indian Studies Center, the UCLA Latin American Institute, the Consulate General of Peru in Los Angeles, and the Fowler Museum at UCLA.

Photo by Jhonatan Cortegana Velarde

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For the Shipibo-Konibo, kené patterns are not only visual forms but pathways activated through sound, song, and intention. As Silvano paints, she sings, bringing her work into resonance as a multisensory experience.

Participants in this artist workshop will explore kené as an embodied practice connecting drawing, listening, and cultural knowledge, receiving hands-on guidance in drawing kené designs and learning about their artistic techniques and cultural meanings. Each participant will create and take home their own artwork inspired by this living Shipibo-Konibo tradition.

Learn more and RSVP at the link in bio!
$80 members/ $100 nonmembers

Presented in partnership with the UCLA CMRS Center for Early Global Studies as part of its ‘Race in the Global Past through Native Lenses’ grant, in collaboration with the UCLA American Indian Studies Center, the UCLA Latin American Institute, the Consulate General of Peru in Los Angeles, and the Fowler Museum at UCLA

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"Paths of Memory, Paths of Healing: Shipibo-Konibo Kené Art" invites visitors into the vibrant world of Shipibo-Konibo artist Olinda Silvano.

Her intricate kené designs—flowing geometric patterns rooted in ancestral knowledge—are more than visual art: they are pathways of connection, memory, and healing. As Olinda Silvano paints, she sings, activating each line with sound and intention, transforming the space into an immersive sensory experience.

Beginning on November 6, we invite you to journey through the artist’s mural, alongside ceramic and textile works from the Fowler Museum’s collection, all featuring kené patterns.

This exhibition is co-presented by the Fowler Museum, UCLA CMRS Center for Early Global Studies, UCLA American Indian Studies Center, UCLA Latin American Institute at UCLA, “Race in the Global Past through Native Lenses” Grant, and the Consulate General of Peru in Los Angeles.

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Shipibo-Konibo artist and cultural leader Olinda Silvano will be at the Fowler producing a mural in our galleries later this month and you have the opportunity to participate in a paid hands-on workshop with her on kené, the intricate geometric design system of the Shipibo-Konibo people of the Peruvian Amazon on Saturday, October 24. $80 members/$100 nonmembers

For the Shipibo-Konibo, kené patterns are not only visual forms but also pathways activated through sound, song, and intention. As Silvano paints, she sings, bringing her work into resonance as a multisensory experience. Participants will be invited to engage with kené as an embodied practice that connects drawing, listening, and cultural knowledge.

In collaboration with Erick (Ronin) Arias Silvano and Sadith Esther Silvano Inuma, Silvano will guide participants through drawing practices rooted in kené while sharing its meanings as a living language of memory, healing, and connection.

This workshop will offer an immersive introduction to kené as both artistic practice and living system of relations, inviting participants into a space where drawing, song, and cultural memory come together, while also serving as a preview of Silvano’s mural installation, "Paths of Memory, Paths of Healing: Shipibo-Konibo Kene Art," opening in the Fowler Museum’s Intersections Gallery on Friday, November 6.

Learn more and RSVP at the link in bio!

This program is co-presented by the Fowler Museum, the CMRS–Center for Early Global Studies, the UCLA Latin American Institute, and the Consulate General of Peru in Los Angeles

Photos by Jhonatan Cortegana Velarde

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Join us on Friday, October 30, to hear from José Marengo, a renowned modeler of El Niño, and Ane Alencar, an expert on environmental change in Amazonia, about the looming effects of El Niño on the Amazon region. Information on October 30 webinar at UCLA on the effects of El Niño on the Amazon. Friday, October 30, at 12:00 PDT

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EVENT / Tomorrow Wednesday, October 7, Andean Lab member Solsiré Cusicanqui will be giving an in-person talk titled "Los objetos y sus comunidades: arqueología, saberes vivos y prácticas �museísticas del Perú a UCLA." This talk has been organized by the Latin American Institute at UCLA as part their new series on Peru. The talk will be delivered in Spanish!⁠
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EVENTO / Mañana miércoles 7 de octubre, Solsiré Cusicanqui, miembro del Andean Lab, impartirá una charla presencial titulada "Los objetos y sus comunidades: arqueología, saberes vivos y prácticas museísticas del Perú en UCLA". Este evento ha sido organizado por el Latin American Institute de UCLA como parte de su nueva serie sobre Perú. ¡La charla se impartirá en español!⁠
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More info / Para más información: https://www.international.ucla.edu/LAI/events/17779⁠
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#AndeanLab #AndeanWorkingGroup #LatinAmericanInstitute #UCLA #CMRSCenterForEarlyGlobalStudies #FowlerMuseum #SolsireCusicanqui #Ponencia #Arqueología #Comunidad #SaberesVivos #Museos #Curadoría #Investigación

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Congratulations to UCLA historian Robin Derby for winning the Gordon K. and Sybil Lewis Book Award of the Caribbean Studies Association!

The award is the first of what promises to be many honors for her new book: “Bêtes Noires: Sorcery as History in the Haitian Dominican Borderlands” (Duke, 2025).

An historian of the Caribbean, Derby is the former director of the Program on Caribbean Studies of the UCLA Latin American Institute. Read the article: ucla.in/3QgFO05

cc: @ucla_lai @uclacollege @uclaspanport @uclahistory @uclacomplit

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From poems on napkins to songs on the radio. Strange little world.

Still trying to wrap my mind around hearing Falso camino on actual FM radio across Los Angeles this weekend. Grateful to @imjesthebest and Soul Rebel Radio for the generous review and to KPFK 90.7 FM, KQBH 101.5 FM, and KRQ Radio Ollin for the support, and for making space for independent art, poetry, memory, longing, and all the things that resist articulation and yet insist on being felt.

Thank you for listening. And thank you, especially, for what returns.

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🎥 Join UCLA Library for a screening of “Ojalá Supieras” (I Wish You Knew), a documentary excavating the long-suppressed history of Islam in colonial Mexico. Drawing on unpublished manuscripts and inquisitorial records, director Mariam Saada reconstructs the lives of those persecuted for crypto-Islamic practice and reveals the intertwined presence of Muslim, Jewish, Christian and Indigenous peoples at the heart of colonial society.

📢 The screening will feature a Q&A with Dr. Saada and a curated display of UCLA Library holdings.

RSVP at link in bio or ucla.in/3O36Y9J movie poster
Ojalá Supieras (I Wish You Knew)
Tuesday, May 5
5:30 p.m.
Charles E. Young Research Library
ucla.in/3O36Y9J
UCLA Library

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Check out our next webinar, on the environmental and human impacts of oil exploration in the Amazon!

While attention has focused on the Middle East, the Amazon region actually holds the largest oil reserves. This includes the Andean foothills, the Venezuelan holdings in the Arco Mineiro, Brazil's offshore holdings at the mouth of the Amazon, and Guyana, which now the highest per capita income on the planet and now ranks among the world’s top oil exporters. The security crises of the Middle East have put these resources in the global spotlight, especially since they already export to the EU, China and the US. While the planet seeks just energy transitions, the lure of Amazonian oil has proved irresistible, in spite of its horrific record or deforestation, toxic oil spills, and widespread illness in a context of limited regulation.

Registration Link in bio

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