NewsPress Release - 3/21/2000

MARLBORO, VT -- The lecture series, "El Medio Ambiente: Cultural and Environmental Landscapes of Latin America," continues with the presentation "Body Paint, Feathers, and VCRs: Aesthetics and Authenticity in Amazonian Activism" by Dr. Beth A. Conklin at 7 p.m. Monday, April 10, in Marlboro College's Drury Gallery.

The lecture explores the relationships among indigenous body images, high technology, and Western notions of cultural authenticity. Focusing on Amazonian Indian activism in Brazil, Conklin examines how the rise of environmentalism and the spread of new communication technologies in the 1980s transformed Amazonian interethnic politics and the self-representations of native activists.

Conklin is a cultural and medical anthropologist and director of undergraduate studies at Vanderbilt University. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of California at San Francisco and Berkeley.

The lecture series is made possible in part by a Department of Education Title VI grant to enhance student and faculty expertise in international environmental issues. The event is free and open to the public. Whittemore Theater is fully accessible. For more information, call (802) 257-4333. The Marlboro College events calendar can be found on-line at http://www.marlboro.edu/calendar/calendar.html.