Cultural Conflict and Community Artifact: Ethnopolitical experimentation through information and communication technology
October 8, 2009 from 3:30-5:00 pm
Deutz Room, Copley International Conference Center, Institue of the Americas Complex, UCSD

Andrés Gómez Seguel is a CILAS Visiting Scholar and received his PhD in Sociology at the University of the Basque Country in Spain. He will discuss a field of study that focuses on the intersection of ethnic conflict, the loss of central symbols in the modern state, globaliztion and cultural reflexitity -- all contemporary aspects that constitute identity.

For a full description and event information, click here.

Talk will be in Spanish

The Social Construction of Citizenship: Social Movements and Political Parties in the Spanish Transition to Democracy
Thursday, October 1, 2009 from 3:30-5:00 pm
Deutz Room, Copley International Conference Center, Institue of the Americas Complex, UCSD

Enrique Laraña is Professor of Sociology at the University Complutense of Madrid (UCM). He obtained his Ph.D. and M. A. in Sociology from the University of California Santa Barbara with a dissertation on the student movements of the sixties based on his research at Berkeley.

Laraña’s presentation will focus on the process of transition to democracy in Spain, which has been viewed as a model for non-democratic countries due to its pacific nature. From an action perspective grounded on his research of voluntary organizations, their framing activities and political opportunities, he analyzes a process of social change by which certain civic organizations have reached a strong definitional power in these controversies, promoted a new civic culture and have laid the grounds for an efficient fight against the Basque terrorist organization.

For a full description and event information, click here.