Before the earthquake devastated Haiti, seven young men and three young women from Cité Soleil had been selected to receive scholarships to study in Brazil. They had the highest academic credentials and financial need. Each student chosen demonstrated a dedication to community service, leadership and a commitment to give back to Haiti. The students dream of being a biologist, engineers, agronomists, a nutritionist and communications expert. They need our financial assistance to insure that their dreams are not deferred.
As part of Artists for World Peace: Children of Peace Projects, we at Artists for World Peace, will be joining forces with Gina Athena Ulysse for a benefit to help make the dreams of these 10 children come true. Join us for an evening in celebration of Haiti.
Date: Friday, March 19th, 2010
Time: 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Ticket Price: $40.00
*100% of proceeds from the evening will be donated to INURED Cite Soleil Scholarship Program
Location: The Hubbard House
377 Ridge Road
Middletown, Connecticut
To reserve your tickets please contact Artists for World Peace, at wendyblacknasta@aol.com or mail $40.00 to
Artists for World Peace
P.O. Box 95
Middletown, Ct. 06457
BIO
Gina Athena Ulysse is an anthropologist, poet/performance and multi-media artist. Born in Haiti, she migrated to the States in her teens. She earned her doctorate in anthropology at the University of Michigan in 1999. Ulysse engages in public scholarship mainly through her performance and other artistic works. Even before receiving her Ph.D. in anthropology, she has been pushing the boundaries of cultural anthropology with her spoken word, which she considers an “alterednative” form of ethnography. She uses this medium to capture the visceral that is often absent in structural accounts. With this genre, she dramatizes and addresses issues of social (in)justice, her intersectional identities, spirituality and her rage at the dehumanization of Haitians and other marked bodies. Her performance work clearly outlines the persistent impact and horror of colonialism.
Some of her poetry and prose publications include: “A Poem About Why I Can’t Wait: Going Home Again and Again and Again: Why I Prefer the Term Incarcerated When Talking about Agency” in The Butterfly’s Way: Voices From the Haitian Diaspora in the United States, edited by Edwidge Dandicat; A series of her poetry entitled “I Came of Age Colonized Now my Soul is Tired and I am Feeling All this Rage” was published by Jouvert: Journal of Postcolonial Studies; “Homage to Those Who Hollered Before Me” in Meridians: Feminism, Race and Transnationalism; “Water Spirits and Revolutionary Barbies” and “Ode to the Metres: On Going Home and Learning How to Glide” in Ma Comere, Journal of the Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars. Her work has also appeared in several anthropological anthologies: “Concepts of Home” in Women on the Verge of Home, edited Bilinda Straight (SUNYPress) and “My Country in Translation” in Resisting Racism and Xenophobia: Global Perspectives on Race, Gender, and Human Rights, edited by Faye V. Harrison (AltaMira Press).
A dynamic and riveting performer, described as by a reviewer as “a fantastic whirlwind of word and emotion, transforming Haiti from an objective abstract to a subjective reality,” Ulysse has performed her one-woman show “Because When God is too Busy; Haiti, me and THE WORLD”—a monologue that weaves spokenword with Vodou chants— throughout the States as well as Bluestockings Bookstore, The Bowery, Brecht Forum, LaMaMa, Lyric Stage Theatre in Boston, Center Stage in Santa Barbara among others. She has also performed at conferences including the American Anthropological Association Meetings, American Ethnological Association Meetings, PRISM conference and in various colleges and universities including Bates College, Berry College, Brown University, Emerson College, New School for Social Research, Oberlin, University of Florida, University of Miami, Williams College among others. She has also performed in Europe. She was invited to close the Berlin’s House of World Cultures Black Atlantic Project in 2004 with a performance of her poetry. Her first book, Downtown Ladies was published by the University of Chicago Press in 2008. When she is not expressing her rage on the stage, she is an Associate Professor of Anthropology, African-American Studies and Feminist Gender and Sexuality Studies at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. She is the co-founder and director of the Haiti Illumination Project (HIP).
For more info:
http://www.ginaathenaulysse.com/
http://works.bepress.com/gina_ulysse/
