Language Moves: Translation and Educational Consulting

Some Thoughts on Language and Consciousness

2008-06-05T07:50:00.000-07:00

Language is a tool for communication (though it often backfires and un-tools its toolhood). It is always changing and moving, and as such, it carries references to histories of change and movement. It is a living recorder that reflects the remains, traces, and ruins of cultures in contact, cultures that have journeyed.

Language is double-edged, double-voiced, and the meanings it carries often double and multiply. It can unite people/separate people; can lead to understanding/misunderstanding (some linguists have said that 70% of our communication is misunderstood!); create war/peace; it can entrap/open possibilities; it can lock us into a mode of seeing/allow for new ways of seeing; it can empower/be a tool of oppression.

Some say that human language pre-conditions the way we view the world. That it creates a framework for people to understand the world; a structure of seeing and hearing and experiencing the world that determines the way we observe. Others say that language pre-disposes us to a whole range and structure of feeling that differs between groups.

Language gives new life to ideas. It is our experience of the world encoded in systems of grammar and phonetics. The great Caribbean writer and philosopher Wilson Harris states that “The concept of language is one which continuously transforms inner and outer formal categories of experience, earlier and representative modes of speech itself... The peculiar reality of language provides a medium to see in consciousness... and to hear with consciousness." (From "Tradition, the Writer, and Society") It determines and “transforms” what we experience and the categories through which we perceive -- both internal categories that we create for ourselves and external categories that are passed down through philosophy, religion, and the concepts that language carries in a “mere” word. Through language we can “see” in/into consciousness; both our own and a collective consciousness. We can “hear” and experience the world through language, and perhaps only through language. Language allows us to “hear” and “see” the workings of the self, our cultures, our histories, and the relationship between them.

Language opens windows into/onto history and the forces and influences that have shaped our cultures. It is inseparable from our structures of power, our hierarchies, the practice and “location” of our cultures [see Bhabha], our values and the ideas that have impacted our worlds. To understand the way our cultures and consciousness shifts, we have to look at the ways in which our languages move. And that movement can also sharpen our understanding of the past: the meeting and re-meeting spaces of cultures in contact is iconified by our languages. Language, then, can refer to a space and time of contact. Its carries that history with it.

Encoded in language is our appreciation of time and the ways in which we perceive time. It codifies the ways we measure time (preterite, imperfect, pluperfect, historical present, future) and as such, the ways in which we remember. Language provides a structure and life to/of memory. Likewise, the structure and life of memory is linked to the ways that our language systems categorize time and allow time to have a life and meaning of its own. In other words, the ways in which we perceive memory and allow it to transform our present and future is intricately connected to the ways in which language understands and transmits temporality.

Language always transforms and creates new meanings. It is a generative code that spawns new codes. It carries ideas from ancient history to unimagined futures.

Language is the consciousness of of our consciousness, and the consciousness of our cultures and societies.

Jacob Dyer-Spiegel @ www.lenguamente.com (2008)

Language in a "Post"-colonial Context

2008-06-05T07:30:00.000-07:00

Writers often struggle, debate, toil within, and explore the links between language and the ways in which it determines our perceptions and establishes a structure for seeing, hearing, and living. In a Postcolonial context in which one or more languages have been imposed, others oppressed or systematically destroyed, others so effectively stamped out via policy and force that the “native” speakers no longer use it, writers often face a common situation: “to give names to one’s experience... to describe a nature you have no words for, a reality outside of the logical encoded in your language” (139 “The Empire Writes Back”)

In that situation, the writer develops a new strategy of naming experience and of describing that bends the structure and quality of the imposed language. Nature must somehow twist the imposed language, break it apart, and force it into the processes of the land and sea. To describe a reality not encoded in the imposed language, one must refashion that language, subvert the code, posit a new one that carries the reality that the writer knows or intuits.

That ability to re-shape language, to force it into the process of a new nature, a new relationship to land and sea gets deep into an intrinsic property of language: that it can always generate new meanings, that it can always transmit new ideas and concepts, that it is in constant flux.

Jacob Dyer-Spiegel @ www.lenguamente.com (2008)

Bhaktin and Language's Tyranny

2008-06-05T07:24:00.000-07:00

Bhaktin wrote that “only polyglossia fully frees consciousness from the tyranny of its own language and its own myth of language.”

But does consciousness have a language? Are all thoughts, experiences, perceptions, emotions encoded in language?

Some say that language pre-determines the ways in which we perceive the world. The ways that language encodes time and provides conscious and unconscious ways of categorizing experience and knowledge, according to that hypothesis, shapes our lives and our cultures. Following that idea, polyglossia would grants us access to multiple systems of encoded experience, thought, and perception; we need to refer to some examples to see if the hypothesis works.

If English does not distinguish a completed past activity from an ongoing past activity (the difference between preterite and imperfect tenses in languages like Spanish and Portuguese) does it mean that monolingual English speakers do not value that distinction? Does it mean that monolingual English speakers do not comprehend the difference between an ongoing past action and a completed past activity? Does it mean that monolingual (if this ever existed I am not sure) English-speaking cultures are forward-thinking, future-oriented, uninterested in categorizing the past into different spheres of influence? Are these alleged monolingual cultures insensitive to the transformative roles of history?

It seems dubious to jump to these conclusions.

Jacob Dyer-Spiegel @ www.lenguamente.com (2008)

On Violent Translations

2008-06-03T06:50:00.000-07:00

The “violence of translation” has been a key concept floating around national literature departments and it seems to be a way of overlooking the process of translation and its central role in the construction of the very national literatures that professors profess.

Statements regarding translation and it’s problematics come out in many ways, often with stern looks and visible scholarly agitation with the translator (i.e. furrowed brow, the look on one’s face that some kind of intellectual doom is near, finger resting upon forehead, etc.): “Yes, the erasure of dialect, is violent in this text. The translator is engaging in an act of violence.” (Of course the use of the word “dialect” is often equally “violent” -- “language” is a dialect with an army after all -- but that can be the subject of another piece).

What is at stake here is the convenient excuse for sticking to one’s own language, culture, geographical location: ‘I can’t teach in translation because it’s always an act of violence.’ or ‘It’s never the same text’. ‘It is a re-write, and a violent one.’

But let’s face it: only reading in English (or whatever dominant language), only teaching books originally written in English -- even if under the pretense that going beyond entails violence -- is perhaps a greater violence. It is to isolate and prevent students (and the self) from exploring, from going outside of the “myth of their own language” (Bhaktin), outside of the assumptions that their nation or group has constructed for the “outside” world. It stifles interest in travel, in moving beyond norms; it prevents questioning oneself, and seeing oneself or one’s nation as part of a greater picture.

That is not to say that translating does not entail violence. Translators have long been linked to colonial expansion, massacre, exploitation, and destruction. And the texts they produce are always problematic because it is impossible to duplicate meaning between languages, to transfer the full range of emotive, linguistic/kernel/core meaning, cultural meaning, metaphor, double-entendre, phonetic meaning from language one into language two. Translators manipulate texts, choose which meanings they want or need to transfer. The effects can be destructive (the translation of Jorge Amado tells the English-reading audience that Brazilians are a bunch of oversexed, superstitious people who live in the middle of nowhere) or positive (suddenly the English-reading audience realizes that what they thought was the height of Modernism had been done 2,000 years ago in a small fishing community). What I am getting at is that translation may be violent, but it is not an excuse to not work with translated texts, and to study the process of translation itself.

Further, violence is everywhere. Not only does all representation and re-representation run the risk of violence (especially in the world of inequality in which we live), life too is violent. We are violent by nature, and our societies, arts, and thought processes reflect that. Turn on PBS at 7pm: lion stalks gazelle, separates it from the heard, and has his feast; baboons beat each other senseless to prove that they have enough energy stamina and “machoness” to be a good mate; some female species even eat their male mates after they engage in the reproductive process (that is, unless the male proves he is good enough or strong enough to be of some use)

Like our animal counterparts, we are violent. Our daily life is violent. That doesn't stop us from wearing tee-shirts made in sweat shops, from driving on busses fueled with gas from illegally invaded countries where innocent people are dying every day. I’m not trying to say that violence is acceptable or that we should just accept it without a fight. I’m saying that the fight against violence will surely entail violence, and that avoiding texts in translation under the pretense that they are “violent” is to not look at violence objectively. Further, if we believe the idea that humans are less likely to go to war with a group whose language, culture, and arts are known, the “violent” translation work with texts may lead to a less violent world.

Jacob Dyer-Spiegel @ www.lenguamente.com (2008)

Theory and Practice of Translation: Which "Gap" is Bridged?

2008-06-03T06:34:00.000-07:00

Apparently universities all over the U.S. are starting to offer translation and interpretation services without providing any training to students on the science, art, craft (or whatever else you decide to call it) of translation. Nor is there an interest in training. At a recent conference on the ethics of translation at UMass-Amherst, participants pointed out that the gap between theory and practice is also on the rise on a global scale, where translators (if trained at all) are often certified after a non-intensive 6-week course that covers basic techniques such as “mapping” or consistency in translating the same word. It is of interest to note that many of these instant professional translators are sent to war zones, the U.N., to courts, to places where accuracy is key, and ethics are perhaps even more key.

Why are ethics key? Translators are always caught between two or more camps and they must be prepared to negotiate between their personal views, what is expected of them via a contract/commission, and they need to realize that they are always asked to do the impossible: to find equivalent words between two languages, so that text one means the same thing as text 2 as is received by the audience in the same way. Basically, the untrained translator is doomed to fail, and in that failure he/she may start doing things without a plan, things that can backfire and have “real” consequences for people and entire groups of people.

Do we need theory?

The logic seems intact: better trained translators will make better informed translations, and the world will be a safer place to live in. But there are holes that need to be addressed and responded to: we need to openly look a the other side to create a recorded dialogue on the topic.

The first hole appears in relation to theory. College-student translators and professors of translation, folks enrolled in one of the few translation studies programs in the U.S. or somehow connected to those programs, seem to defend theory and theorizing translation. The idea is that you can’t be a good translator if you don’t explore the theory, the position of the translator, the roles that the translator has played in shaping literary and cultural systems, in fashioning change. Likewise, you can’t be a good translator if you don’t reflect on the ethics of translation; if you don’t constantly remind yourself that you might be doing violence to a text or a language or a culture. Simply stated, you ned to know the implications of your translation, your location, and your position in order to put out “ethical”, good translations.

But my first question is, can we recognize this and then move on? And more importantly, is insisting upon theory/theorizing our discipline making translation an exclusive practice? Is saying that people should equip themselves with theory also saying, “you really need to go to school and ‘get white/Western’ in order to do this”? Is demanding a role for theory filtering out the people who really should be translating -- those from the so-called “margins” whose lived experiences have trained them at negotiating between camps far better than any university could do -- those who have a “real” command over multiple languages and the ways those languages are used on a daily basis?

Bridging the gap between theory and practice sounds like a good project, but is there an edge of classism, racism, and arrogance in that call?

Jacob Dyer-Spiegel @ www.lenguamente.com (2008)

On Faithfully Unfaithful Translations

2008-06-03T06:19:00.000-07:00

How many times do I have to hear professors say, “yeah, there are some good translations out there.” Or, “sure, that is a good translation” without any indication that they know why or think they might know why it’s a good translation, beyond the realm of “it captures the meaning of the original language” or it’s “faithful.”

The faithful vs. unfaithful debate regarding translation is over. There is not such thing as a faithful translation (at least not in terms of linguistic “accuracy” as has been the criteria pre-Venuti, pre-Benjamin, ad pre-all the others who thought outside the box). Moving from language 1 into language 2, we see that meaning always shifts, that new meanings arise, target languages and literary systems are altered, ideas and preconceptions are always shattered, violence occurs, and more. A “good” translation has to do with the translator’s plan. It has to do with the reading of the source text and the translator’s knowledge of the target language and culture -- how to negotiate those two worlds. A “good” translation also has to do with the individual reader’s conception of what should be transfered; the meaning that the reader of the source text believes should be transfered from language 1 into language 2 (is it the core meaning, kernel meaning, is it emotive meaning, is it the transfer of “difference”?). We all have a different reading of a text, a different way of interpreting it. A translator is another reader, but his/her interpretation is forced to crystalize (or move closer to a static state) when he/she represents it in a new language. A “good” translation also has as much to do with the target language reader’s interpretation: does the reader perceive that the target language reads awkwardly, is that estrangement actually part of the translator’s plan -- to bend the new language and manipulate it so that the source text can carve open a new space?

The “good” vs. “not good” translation is an old debate just like the debate between good and bad literature. We can’t objectively determine what is a good translation, just like we can’t objectively determine what is a good poem. But at least professors, academics, critics, and readers have developed a language with which they attempt to describe “what a good poem is” and why. Those descriptions of “good poetry” go beyond, ‘it’s good because it meant something.’ When assessing a “good poem” there is discussion on form, content, rhyme, intertextuality, musicality, image, etc. The point is, “good” or “not good”, “faithful” or “unfaithful” seems to be the limit for discussions on translation even after 30 years of ground-breaking concepts that have changed the ways in which we understand language, culture, the process of translation, and the function of translated texts. It’s time to add to the vocabulary.

The moral: translation and translated texts have played fundamental roles in the shaping of national literatures, social movements, philosophies, ways of understanding the world. Translation and translated texts have introduced new genres, new tropes, new conceptualizations of language. They say the process involves some of the most advanced thought processes known to mankind. The translation of a single word (“fire”/”fired”/”refrain”) could lead to all out war or peace, and in the context of nuclear politics, we all know the implications (see Gentzler and Tymoczko’s “The Power of Translation”). It is time to get with the times and develop a way to talk about the phenomenon that is translation.

--Jacob Dyer-Spiegel @ www.lenguamente.com (2008)

Transferring Meaning

2008-05-07T20:17:00.000-07:00

One question that translators almost always find themselves asking is if “words have meanings that are unique to certain groups/cultures and [if they are] therefore experientially inaccessible to members of another culture”? (“The Empire Writers Back” 42)

Let’s take a word that any Massachusetts “native” will know well: “trailer-park.” OK, two words, but the concept remains in-tact: that different levels of meaning are inside of this word/phrase. Class, assumptions of social background, education level, speech performance of trailer-park inhabitants, race, quality of life, eye-sore (another word concept that won’t translate “easily”), even religion. You get the point. And what about the whole rich vocabulary that is associated with this word: “trailer-trash”, “white- trash”, and other word/phrases that point at different cultural activities and hierarchies?

Are people from “other” cultures unable to fathom the possibilities of “trailer- park” if they don’t have the word and its host of cultural referents?

What about the task of the translator in transferring this word/cultural space into Brazilian-Portuguese, for example? Does one translate the trailer-park as “favela”? As “white favela”? Will the Portuguese-reading audience comprehend the unique nature of the trailer-park if they don’t share the word? Does the translator create a space that does not exist in Brazil?

These questions point at another: “Do words have the ability to mean in the same way across cultures?” (“The Empire Writes Back” 43)

Jacob Dyer-Spiegel @ www.lenguamente.com (2008)

Teaching Writing in a Multilingual Classroom

2008-02-09T08:51:00.000-08:00

I thought I’d post up my response to a question posed during the Language and Diversity practicum offered to the instructors of the expository writing courses taught at UMass-Amherst: “How do we as teachers of writing/composition benefit by having L2 and/or multilingual students in our classrooms.” The answer was only supposed to be a paragraph-long (hence the apologetic tone) so I deleted things like “speakers of multiple languages draw from a wider range of experiences and outlooks” and tried to concentrate on things more easily overlooked. Let me know what you think -- it would be nice to keep adding to the list. Outside of “foreign” language programs, this country / universities in the U.S. tend to treat multilingual students as “issues” and “problems”, as if multilingualism is some kind of thing to work out and monolingualism is preferable! Here is where I started...

This question has triggered a lot of thought and “journal” writing. I’ll take “the fifth” on how many pages were filled in my little notebook/drawing pad (and “the fifth” as a term/concept shows us how language carries political references and cultural values... oh dear, here I go....), but I realize that we’re all reading too much as it is and will spare you the long winded response. “Anyways” (another word that carries all kinds of interesting meanings that L2 speakers will often perceive – the connections between “any” and “ways” and the constant utterance of “anyways” or “anyway” as bridge/point of changing the topic may be overlooked by the “native speaker”), it’s probably more effective to just jump into a few examples from the College Writing 112 course...

One semester I started out with “what the hell is ‘the self’ anyways?” Multilingual students were able to compare the word “self” (we’re inquiring into the “self”/ “selves” for unit 1) as used in different language systems and they showed us as a group how that concept changes. “Self” could be “inner being” and its endless labyrinth of meanings in English, and in Yoruba it can be “Ori”, implying a connection to one’s destiny, one’s inner potentiality, and “inner head.” So the multilingual students become the teachers of “self” and we see through the many languages how a concept like “self” shifts between cultures. That blows open endless discussions on “the self” and how to inquire into it.

On our discussion of “language”, multilingual students were also able to explore the word that signifies a “method of communicating” and brought in some fascinating observations on how the Latin root “langue” implies “the tongue” -- that language is connected to speech and not necessarily to “movement” or “life-force” or “spirit” as it is in other language systems.

Those two brief examples show us how language and perception and philosophy are intricately tied. Also, language conjures up a whole range of contexts (we see it in “I’ll take the 5th on that one”) that point at “different” social constructs that can be compared in a classroom. By tapping into the different ways of perceiving a text/phenomenon (by looking at concrete words or by exploring open questions like “the contexts that make me”) our classroom becomes much richer.

One last thing: L2 students bring in different approaches to creating things like a thesis statement/arguable claim/whatever we call it. For example: in U.S. universities it may be acceptable to start with “This paper will look at ....” Try starting off with “El presente trabajo analizará...” in Cuba and you will see a red circle around the introduction with something like “no” written next to it. Our approach to writing and our methods are linked to aesthetic sensibilities and values and those are cultural as well: the multilingual student in 112 classes is a great reminder of that. How do we benefit from that? I guess we see that to enforce some kind of “you must start a paper by doing x,x, and x”-rule is actually preventing some students from exploring a topic in the way they want to. It can become, in some situations, a cultural imposition that will NOT benefit the student. Also, by embracing multiple approaches to something like an introduction we learn more about the different options we have as writers. That’s all for now.

More to come....

Jacob Dyer-Spiegel @ www.lenguamente.com (2008)

a GREAT international program and scholarship site

2008-02-04T14:12:00.000-08:00

Back to school means less time to post good leads for all of you trying to study abroad or get funding to do research abroad. But... I did find a really good site that offers QUALITY links and information @ the University of Michigan: http://www.internationalcenter.umich.edu/swt/study/studyabroad1.html

If you know of any good programs or scholarships/grants, feel free to post a comment. There is a lot of $ out there for study abroad/work abroad/volunteer abroad/research abroad. It is just a mater of finding it and applying. Most deadlines for Fall/Spring, 2008-9 are between now and 3/1/08...

For all you travelers...

2008-01-14T09:15:00.001-08:00

Here is a link to a writing contest for those of you who have "studied abroad"... You can win $500 and enrich our lives with your recollections. (please send your essays to jds@lenguamente.com too! I'll post them up even if you don't win!)

Here's the link:
http://transitionsabroad.com/information/writers/student.shtml

National Scholarships to Study Abroad

2008-01-14T09:10:00.000-08:00

These scholarships (for undergrads and grads) are harder to get but they will give you more money to study abroad. They also look VERY good on a resume and can open future doors. Not all of these apply to Granada. (courtesy of UMass IPO office)

Fulbright Program: The 2008-09 U.S. Student Competition
Application Deadline: October 19, 2007The Fulbright Program aims to increase mutual understanding between the peoples of the United States and other countries, through the exchange of persons, knowledge and skills. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, equips future American leaders with the skills they need to thrive in an increasingly global environment by providing funding for one academic year of study or research abroad, to be conducted after graduation from an accredited university. (Applicants lacking a degree but with extensive professional study and/or experience in fields in which they wish to pursue a project may also be considered.) The U.S. Student Program awards approximately 1,400 grants annually and currently operates in over 140 countries worldwide.The deadline for submission of the online application is October 19, 2007. Institutional deadlines might differ from the official deadline. To find your institutional deadline, log on and find your U.S. university.

Kathry Wasserman Davis Scholarships [Middlebury]
These scholarships will cover the full cost of a summer of language study from beginner to graduate in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese and Russian at the Middlebury College Language Schools during the summer of 2007. These merit-based scholarships are part of the "100 Sumer Scholarships for Peace Program" made possible by a $1 million gift from Kathryn Wasserman Davis. Application deadline is February 15, 2007.

Institute of International Education
Non-profit organization is publisher of the standard reference directories for study abroad offices, Academic Year Abroad and Short-Term Study Abroad, which are available as books or online. IIE's scholarship book, Financial Resources for International Study, is online too. Open Doors, another IIE publication, provides comprehensive, up-to-date statistics about international educational exchange.

National Security Education Program NSEP
NSEP Boren Scholarships are available to degree-seeking undergraduates planning to study abroad in spring 2007. Emphasized world regions include Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, the NIS, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East. For more information or to request application materials, please contact Professor Susan Whitbourne on campus or via email

Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship
This program enables students who have limited financial means to participate in study abroad opportunities worldwide. To be eligible students must be receiving a Federal Pell Grant. The program provides awards of up to $5,000 for U.S. citizen undergraduate students at two- and four-year institutions to pursue semester or academic-year long study abroad opportunities in other countries. UMass Amherst campus contact for Gilman and NSEP Undergraduate on-campus applications: Carol Lebold, International Programs, William S. Clark International Center, 4th Floor Hills South, Phone: (413) 545-2710.

Bridging Scholarships for Study in Japan
Scholarships toward travel and living expenses for students studying abroad in Japan. Deadlines: Oct 3 (spring); April 3 (fall/year).

Freeman/IIE Asia Scholarships
Assistance for students who wish to study in East and Southeast Asia. Deadlines: October 17 (spring); April 4 (fall/year); March 7 (summer).

Kathry Wasserman Davis Scholarships [Middlebury]
These scholarships will cover the full cost of a summer of language study from beginner to graduate in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese and Russian at the Middlebury College Language Schools during the summer of 2007. These merit-based scholarships are part of the "100 Sumer Scholarships for Peace Program" made possible by a $1 million gift from Kathryn Wasserman Davis. Application deadline is February 15, 2007.

More Undergraduate Scholarships to Study in Granada

2008-01-14T09:06:00.000-08:00

The following are for UMass-Amherst students only: that means you have a better chance of getting one. (Courtessey of UMass IPO program).

IPO Financial Assistance Awards: Fall, Spring, Year Abroad [PDF]
Eligibility: In-state Umass Amherst undergraduatesUmass programs onlyDeadline: April 21 for Fall/Year 2007-08; December 1 for Spring 2008Award: Up to $2000 per student

SIT/UMass Amherst Scholarships
The School for International Training is providing up to ten (10) $1500 scholarships to qualified in-state University of Massachusetts undergraduates. Umass students are automatically eligible when applying to an SIT program.; In addition, all UMass students are encouraged to apply for additional scholarships offered by SIT. For more information, visit SITEligibility: In-state UMass Amherst undergraduatesSIT programs onlyDeadline: May 1 for Fall 2007; Nov 1 for Spring 2008Award: $1500 (5 awarded each semester)

Barbara B. Burn Scholarship for Fall [PDF]
Eligibility: In-state Umass Amherst undergraduatesDeadline: April 15 for FallAward: $750 (1 scholarship per year for study abroad)

Ansin Study Abroad Fellowship Award
Affiliated with the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences. Deadlines: Dec. 1 (spring); April 15 (summer or fall). Applications available through: Karen Schoenberger, Assistant Dean, South College (413-545-4173).

International Scholars Program (ISP)
Affiliated with Commonwealth College, 504 Goodell. Applications for ISP program must be submitted by March 9 of the freshman year.

Citizen Scholars Program (CSP)
Affiliated with the Commonwealth College, 504 Goodell. Some scholarships may be available specific to service learning and study abroad.

Sarah's Wish Foundation
Specialized scholarship available for UMass student in the Pioneer Valley, in memory of Sara Schewe and Dr. Barbara Burn. Deadlines: Dec 1 for spring; April 1 for summer/fall.

Departmentally-based awards
Many departments have internal scholarships available for eligible students. Ask about potential scholarships or funding that could be applied to a study abroad experience.

Region XI: Study Abroad Scholarship
Qualification: Undergraduate or graduate MA residentAward: $700 for summer, semester or year program in 2007-2008Requirements: an official transcript; letter of reference from department chair of major on original college letterhead; personal statement of no more than 500 words addressing: "What I hope to gain from this experience"; completion of the one-page application.Direct questions to Marta DiBenedettoDeadline: March 1, 2007

Scholarships to Study in Granada, Spain

2008-01-09T06:45:00.000-08:00

The link below will connect you to scholarships specifically for study in Spain. Students interested in the UMass-Amherst Granada program can use these links. You should also remember that your UMass financial aid package almost always applies to UMass Study Abroad programs (like the Granada program). Other scholarships that you may already have can also be applied -- you are still a UMass student and the credits will be applied to your UMass/5-College degree.

http://www.studyabroadfunding.org/Spain/

Graduate Fellowships and Grants

2008-01-09T06:20:00.000-08:00

Courtessy of UMass-Amherst's GSGS page:

Ford Foundation - Predoctoral Fellowships for Minorities. The $21,500 fellowships are awarded to individual minority students who demonstrate superior scholarship and show greatest promise for future achievement as scholars, researchers, and teachers in institutions of higher education. November deadline. http://www.nationalacademies.org/fellowships

American Sociological Association - Minority Fellowship Program. An annual stipend of $14,688 for up to three years for minority graduate students in the early stages of sociology graduate programs with emphasis on mental health issues and research. December deadline. http://www.asanet.org/student/mfp.html

Dartmouth College - Thurgood Marshall Dissertation Fellowship. This fellowship provides $25,000 to African-American doctoral candidates from any discipline taught in the Dartmouth Undergraduate Arts and Sciences curriculum and who are planning a career in college or university teaching. February deadline. For more information: e-mail Ms. Dorothea French, Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies at: dorothea.french@dartmouth.edu

United Negro College Fund & Merck Foundation Science Initiative - Graduate Science Research Dissertation Fellowships. $30,000 fellowships to assist African-American graduate students in completing coursework, conducting research, and preparing the dissertation for the doctoral degree in the life or physical sciences. January deadline. http://www.uncf.org/merck/programs/grad.htm

Academy for Educational Development and National Security Exchange Program - Graduate International Fellowships. Up to $10,000 per semester to support the study of languages, cultures, and world regions that are critical to U.S. national security, but which are less frequently studied by U.S. graduate students. January deadline. http://www.aed.org/nsep

American Councils for International Education - Combined Research and Training. This $12,000 award is for graduate students interested in studying and conducting research in the humanities or the social sciences in Russia or the former Soviet Republics. April deadline. For more information consult the web site at: http://www.americancouncils.org/home.asp?PageID=1

Belgian American Educational Foundation - Graduate Fellowships for Study in Belgium. $17,000 fellowships for study at a Belgian university for the 2002 to 2003 academic year. January deadline. http://www.baef.be/content/fellow_us_to_bel.html

The Camargo Fellowship - Camargo Fellowship Grant. Graduate students in art, music, and writing who are interested in using the foundation's collections in Cassis, France, and who are studying some aspect of French and francophone cultures are encouraged to apply. February deadline. For more information call Ms. Sheryl Mousley at the American headquarters office in St. Paul, MN at (651) 290-2237 .

Council of American Overseas Research Centers - Fellowships for Advanced Multi-Country Research. Eight fellowships of $9,000 will be awarded to U.S. doctoral candidates who wish to carry out fieldwork in the Near and Middle East or South Asia to research broad questions in the fields of humanities, social sciences, and related natural sciences. December deadline. http://www.caorc.org/fellowships/

French Embassy - Chateaubriand Fellowships. $10,500 fellowships for more than 25 American graduate students to conduct research (in a variety of fields) in French laboratories for six to twelve month periods. December deadline. http://www.ambafrance-us.org/sst/chateaubriand/
Institute of International Education - Fulbright Full Grants. Provides funds for one year of graduate student study or research in a country outside the U.S. Awards include round-trip transportation, language courses, tuition, living allowances, and health insurance. October deadline. http://www.iie.org/fulbright/us/#overview

Kobe College Corporation - Cross Cultural Institute Graduate Fellowship Program. $24,000 fellowships to support American graduate students for one year of research or study in Japan. January deadline. http://www.crossculturalinstitute.org/fellowships.htm

U.S. Department of Education - Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Program. $10,000-$70,000 awards to Ph.D students to conduct research in the following geographic areas: Africa, East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, South Asia, the Near East, East Central Europe and Eurasia, and the Western Hemisphere (Canada, Central and South America, Mexico, and the Caribbean). Projects focused on Western Europe are not eligible. October deadline. http://www.ed.gov/programs/iegpsddrap/index.html

Academy of American Poets - Walt Whitman Award. Established in 1975 to encourage the work of emerging poets, the Whitman Award offers a first-book publication to an emerging poet, a cash prize of $5,000, and a one-month residency at the Vermont Studio Center. November deadline. http://www.poets.org/awards/whitman.cfm

Humanities Fellowships at the New York Public Library. Fellows receive a stipend of $50,000 and a housing allowance. Open to scholars, researchers, scientists engaged in the humanities, and creative writers whose proposed subjects will benefit directly from access to the collections at the library's Center for the Humanities. October deadline.
http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/scholars/scholars1.html

Institute for Humane Studies - Film and Fiction Scholarship Competition. $10,000 awards from George Mason University for students pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree in filmmaking, fiction writing, or playwriting. January deadline. http://mason.gmu.edu/~ihs/mfa.html

U.S. Department of Education - Jacob K. Javits Fellowship Program. $11,000- $25,000 fellowships to eligible students of superior ability, financial need, and exceptional promise to undertake graduate study leading to an advanced degree in the arts, humanities, or social sciences. November deadline. http://www.ed.gov/programs/iegpsjavits/index.html

Multicultural History of Granada

2008-01-07T18:00:00.000-08:00

Granada has a fascinating history of cultures in contact: Berbers, Moors, Romani (mistakenly called "Gypsies"), West Africans, and Sephardic Jews (among other groups) all transformed the city. You can see it in the architecture, aesthetic philosophy, in the food, in music, dance, the literary traditions, and in the andaluz language. Al-Andaluz: an Arabic term referring to the region of Andalusia -- "the land of light."

Granada was at the center of the Islamic world from 711-1492 -- a period that spans over thirty generations and conjures up Spain's most lasting contributions to the world of science, mathematics, philosophy, astronomy, medicine, architecture, and fine arts. And though many non-Catholics were brutally forced out of Spain in 1492, that date by no means marked an end to North African, Roma, Sephardic, and West African influence on Granada. People headed for the mountains, and neighborhoods like Sacramonte, far from the oppressive rule of the Catholic kings. Some officially converted to Christianity but continued to practice Islam, Judaism, other Romani, Berber, and West African religions undercover and into the New World where many were forcefully relocated and enslaved. 1492 marked a change in political rule but North African, Berber, Sephardic, and Roma cultural traditions remain intact even today.

Granada was the last city to be "conquered" by the Catholic kings from the northern part of the country. And it is the site of the last gift given by Berbers, Moors, Roma, and Sephardic Jews to Spain and the rest of the world -- a living memory of Granada's thirty plus generations, a monument that attests to the breadth of scientific, mathematical, astronomical, and architectural innovation that came out of Granada: La Alhambra

Jacob Dyer-Spiegel @ www.lenguamente.com (2008

Lenguamente Short Story

2008-01-01T11:23:00.000-08:00

Cuentos / Short-Stories / Contos

Afrodita
En el precinto número 34 de la policía de Nueva York, la teniente Rodríguez y el sargento Smith investigan cautelosamente la muerte de un joven de veinticinco años que fue encontrado muerto en su apartamento el 20 de diciembre del 2003. El reporte de la policía indica que pudo ser un suicidio pero también tienen sospechas de que pudo ser un homicidio. Ellos no saben la causa o el causante de la muerte de Antonio Pelegrino, pero según el reporte de esa mañana negra, el joven estaba inerte en el piso de la sala, desnudo, con la cabeza de color púrpura, los brazos extendidos, las manos muy blancas y las uñas de los dedos muy moradas, no hubo ningún indicio de golpes en su torso, sus piernas despatilladas de este a oeste y en su mesita de café dos copas. Según los familiares y amigos de Pelegrino, el era un joven muy inteligente, graduado de Ingeniería en cómputos en la universidad Columbus en Manhattan. Era un muchacho muy simpático, muy elegante (un buenmozo) y rico. Su familia es oriunda de un pueblo llamado Great Neck en Long Island, Nueva York. Tenía el cabello rubio, los ojos azulados, la nariz muy perfilada y la boca de color rubí. Era de casi seis pies de estatura y delgado. Tenía unos gluteos envidiables, sus piernas largas y afeminadas, y tenia las manos delicadas como el papel. Antonio Pelegrino a su poca edad era el director del departamento de cómputos de la compañía telefónica Verizon. Todos sus compañeros lo respetaban y todos según las entrevistas de la policía lo querían mucho.

No tenía muchos amigos cuenta su madre, María. Desde niño nunca había tenido muchas amistades, y siempre fue muy reservado con su vida privada. Cuando Antonio estaba en la adolescencia tuvo problemas de depresión , pero nada más dijo su madre. María, quien quedó viuda muy joven, es de Italia de una familia muy religiosa y muy conservadora y para ella era un orgullo que su único hijo fuera un barón.

En el aparamento de Antonio la policía encontró ropa de mujer en su coqueta y en su armario, maquillaje y perfumes muy caros de mujer. Todo daba indicio de que una mujer vivía con él, pero nunca se supo de que tuviera novia. Su madre viajaba bastante a Italia y no sabia mucho de su vida privada y en trabajo dicen que aunque era muy atractivo siempre era muy respetuoso y prudente. En el lugar de los hechos encontraron dos copas pero parece que una de ellas no fue usada.
La muerte de Antonio Pelegrino encerraba muchos misterios que la familia y la policía querían descifrar. La teniente Rodríguez investigó muy meticulosamente por medio de las cuentas bancarias de Antonio Pelegrino que compraba billetes de viaje de ida y vuelta a San Francisco, California, una vez al mes. ¿Por qué iba Antonio a San Francisco? ¿A quién visitaba y por qué?.

El reporte de la teniente indica, después de entrevistar a algunos de los trabajadores del hotel, que el señor Pelegrino se registraba con el nombre de Afrodita y que nunca llegaba vestido de hombre sino de mujer. Ellos nunca lo conocieron como hombre. Los que les tuvieron cerca dicen que era una mujer muy bella y muy educada. El taxista del hotel dice que la llevaba a una discoteca llamada Atlantis que está localizada en el centro de San Francisco. La teniente Rodríguez fue a ese lugar de libertinaje donde iba mucha gente de esa ciudad. Ya sabia que el señor Pelegrino se hacía pasar por mujer y que alguien que lo conociese lo identificaría como Afrodita. La teniente pregunto a mucha gente en la discoteca si habían oído hablar de una joven muy hermosa llamada Afrodita y muchos respondieron que era una cliente fija de la disco. Dicen que era muy bella y que todos la deseaban pero que con la única persona que ella se trataba era con el dueño de la disco. Ellos la describieron como muy joven, de muy buena estatura de ojos luminosos y misteriosos a la vez pero con una sonrisa incomparable. El barman dice que era muy simpática y muy coqueta con los hombres, pero que todos sabían que era la mujer del dueño Don Donald Manello. El señor Manello era una persona muy rica del estado de California que tenia mucha influencia política y tenía muchas discotecas en esa ciudad. El era un hombre de negocios.
Después de muchos días la teniente Rodríguez pudo por fin obtener una entrevista con Don Manello. En verdad, no pudo obtener mucha información por parte de él pero sí declaró que conocía al joven como todos los demás, como una mujer y que por supuesto nunca tuvo ninguna otra relación que de amistad. Dijo Manello que Afrodita era una muchacha muy bonita pero que él la trataba como todos los demás muchachos del bar.
Unos meses después, se encontraron unas cartas de amor en el apartamento de Antonio que fueron dirigidas a Afrodita pero la firma era de alguien que se hacia llamar Hefaistos. Por suerte fueron escritas a mano y la policía pudo deducir por medio de los estudios de la letra que pertenecían a nada más y nada menos que a Don Manello. Era obvio que tenían una relación sentimental. ¿Pero por qué lo niega Don Manello? ¿Sería él responsable de la muerte de Antonio Pelegrino? Ese fue el trabajo de la teniente Rodríguez y del sargento Smith investigar el por qué de las cosas.
Ellos descubrieron que en una carta que estaba en los archivos de la computadora de Antonio que éste había terminado la relación con Don Manello un mes antes de su muerte. Don Manello no estaba de acuerdo con el rompimiento y viajó a Nueva York el diecinueve de diciembre del 2003.

Según el informe de su tarjeta de crédito, él había comido en un restaurante de la ciudad con Antonio Pelegrino esa misma tarde. Todo indicaba que Don Manello había sido el responsable de la muerte de Antonio pero éste declaró en su defensa que esa tarde él se despidió de Antonio y no volvió a verlo. La vecina de Antonio declaro que ella había visto a una joven salir del apartamento de Pelegrino varias veces pero nunca pensó que fuera extraño que una chica visitara a un chico. Aparentemente hubo alguien más en la vida sentimental de Antonio Pelegrino. Esta otra persona no era nada más y nada menos que uno de los compañeros de trabajo de Antonio, el cual tenía una relación secreta con el difunto. Estaba muy celoso de que Don Manollo hubiera venido a visitar a Antonio. En la noche del diecinueve Fabio, el nuevo hombre en la vida de Antonio, llegó al apartamento a reclamarle el por qué se había visto con Don Manello. Creía que Antonio le estaba engañando. Decidió que Antonio no podía ser de nadie, solo suyo. Cuando estaban en la sala del apartamento haciendo el amor Fabio dio de tomar a Antonio vino tinto mezclado con arsénico. La muerte fue instantánea. Fabio lavo las copas, las colocó donde iban y borró cualquier huella suya que podían allí encontrarse. La teniente Rodríguez y el sargento Smith ataron cabos y descubrieron que este homicidio se trataba de un crimen pasional.

La conclusión del reporte de la policía decía: “parece pero no es y eso pasa con frecuencia”.
_________________
Dejémonos de ignorancia y de una vez por todas terminemos con las desigualdades y la discriminación entre nosotros mismos!!

Carmen Luz Cosme Puntiel @ 2006

Lenguamente Short Story

2008-01-01T11:22:00.001-08:00

“Así me sentí tres días antes de nacer”
Yo me veo en un lugar desierto, sin gente, sin comida sin nadie. Despojada de todo lo que según mi abuela Luisa decía me pertenecía desde antes de la creación. Mi voz no se oía, mis ojos no veían, mis pies no soportaban el cuerpo que ya no existe.
Sí, la melancolía llena todo el espacio que mis pertenencias dejaron vacío. Mi boca no va a disfrutar de la dulzura de la miel congelada en la nevera de la tía Agustina. Mi nariz ha dejado de oler las Margaritas que tanto le gustaban a mi madre. Ya solo quedan recuerdos absurdos del pasado y un vació inmenso que no lo llena el universo. Mis manos anhelan tocar la suavidad del aire. El tiempo se ha parado en el reloj de la catedral primada de América. Las campanas no suenan a las seis de la mañana ni a las doce de la noche. Los pájaros no quieren cantar, el sol no quiere salir, la Luna deja de girar, el Mundo no tiene sentido y en fin todo en esta puta vida no es nada.
-Carmen Cosme 5 de Marzo del 1977

Lenguamente Poetry

2008-01-01T11:20:00.000-08:00

Poesía / Poetry / Poesia

jantando poesía
Trago o olhar com pura nicotina
Depois trago letras
Como um gole de cafeína
Engolido todos os dias
Após a primeira leitura
Uma dose de conhaque
Antecede pensamentos
Palavras são saboreadas
Num prato de sobremesa abstrata
Concretizo o poético
Poetizo um som talvez ácaro
Que não silencia.

--Aline Neponucemo
jovem poetiza integrante do grupo CRIAPOESIA
CRIA, Salvador, Bahia, Brasil.

La vida

Mañana, una mañana que nos despierta
Un día, un día dulce que empalaga las horas,
que cuentan la ansiedad.
El tiempo, donde no existe la hora,
el día o la mañana
Así es la vida.

-Carmen Luz Cosme Puntiel

El descanso

Está abierta la herida del corazón.
El ventrículo izquierdo ya no canta
La aorta se dispara
Y el pobre, el que es moribundo
Descansa.

-Carmen L. Cosme Puntiel

College Scholarships Grants

2008-01-01T11:17:00.000-08:00

Here is a list of links to scholarship opportunities for students. We highly recommend visiting your local Foundation Center (the first link below) -- they will give you a brief training session on how to look for funding for college, and you can use their extensive database to find the best matches for your academic interests. If the Foundation Center does not have a branch near you, a local public library may allow you to access the Center's online database. If you have any questions, feel free to post them and someone will respond.

http://fdncenter.org/
http://www.uncf.org/scholarships/scholardetail.asp?Sch_ID=173
http://www.blackexcel.org/25scholarships.htm
www.abetterchance.org
http://free-4u.com/african.htm
http://www.aapci.org/search/
http://www.alpfa.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageId=354
http://mati.eas.asu.edu:8421/p1000/whatis.html
http://www.chci.org/
http://chicanalatina.org/resources_print.html
http://www.collegelinx.com/collegegrants/
http://www.abetterchance.org/ReferralOrgs&Resources/res-coll_hispanic_schol2.htm

http://www.finaid.org/otheraid/minority.phtml
http://www.collegeonestop.com/scholarforum.htm
http://www.princetonreview.com/college/finance/default.asp
http://www.netaid.org/global_action_awards/
http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/grants/3educate.htm
http://www.hsf.net/
http://www.nul.org/
http://www.iefa.org/
http://www.fundsnetservices.com/latino.htm
http://scholarships.fatomei.com/hispanics.html
http://www.milligazette.com/misl/scholarship_muslim_students_organisations.htm

http://www.nacme.org/scholarships/
http://www.ribghe.org/fin-aid.htm
http://www.hsfi.org/facts/aid.asp
http://www.ronbrown.org/p-elig.htm
http://www.wtgrantfoundation.org/index.htm