'Study Space' en Rio de Janeiro

Una o dos veces al año, la Escuela de Derecho de la Universidad de Georgia, la organización Latinas y Latinos Critical Legal Studies y el Centro de Estudios Comparados del Desarrollo Metropolitano reúnen a un grupo de trabajo de 10 a 15 personas en diferentes ciudades en una iniciativa conocida como “Study Space”. En estos "Study Space" un número de académicos de diferentes disciplinas y de diversas partes de las Américas se reúnen por una semana para analizar a profundidad temas de Derecho, política pública, justicia social y equidad, democracia participativa, ciudad y multiculturalismo, entre otros, utilizando como contexto de estudio la ciudad en que estamos. Además, el trabajo de análisis, teórico y de estudio de los contextos se publica permitiendo así una recopilación de temas a hilvanar y comparar y produciendo recomendaciones de políticas públicas sobre estos temas.

El enfoque y metodología del seminario es intensivo y permite que los y las participantes puedan llevar a cabo visitas intensivas a escenarios que permiten ver en contexto los aspectos teóricos que se abordan en el mismo seminario. La experiencia es realmente extraordinaria y única. Hasta el momento estos encuentros se han llevado a cabo en la Ciudad de Panamá, Bogotá, Denver y Medellín. El próximo Study Space se celebrará en Rio de Janeiro en julio de este año.

El director del proyecto, Colin Crawford y el equipo de trabajo les convoca a participar de este próximo Study Space. A continuación los detalles de este proyecto, los requisitos para participar y el itinerario por temas, días y lugares del 'Study Space Rio', este año dedicado a los temas de diversidad cultural, propiedad y medioambiente.

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Study Space V

Evaluations of Human Habitats and Habits in the 21^st Century

Inclusive and Sustainable Rio: Cultural Diversity, Property and the Environment

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

July 11-18, 2010

Study Space is an intensive series of workshops, held at diverse locations, the goal of which is to acquire a deeper understanding of the legal, policy and human challenges posed by the global growth of megacities. Study Space intends to provide a vehicle for progressive scholars and graduate students from varied backgrounds and disciplines to study and seek to understand this trend in all of its implications – for identify and self-determination, for participatory democracy, for equality and social justice, for human health, for the environment, for livable cities and for manageable land use. The emphasis of each Study Space week is on applied learning, supplemented by lecture and group discussion. The Study Space weeks are demanding but, participants report, deeply rewarding.

Study Space V: Inclusive and Sustainable Rio: Cultural Diversity, Property and the Environment will give participants a first-hand look at some of the most pressing issues in Rio de Janeiro. Specifically, the workshop will examine three central questions: (1) the degree to which Rio’s unique physical environment is threatened by demands to develop its resources; (2) ways in which historical, social and economic property claims conflict in legal, social and political terms; and (3) the extent to which cultural diversity goals can both promote and impede resolution of property and environmental goals. All of these issues are ever timelier with the impending changes associated with the World Cup (2014) and Olympic Games (2016).

The director of the Study Space project is Colin Crawford, Professor of Law and Co-Director, Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth, Georgia State University College of Law; the project team consists of Professor Daniel Bonilla Maldonado (University of the Andes Faculty of Law, Bogotá), Professor Érika Fontánez-Torres (University of Puerto Rico School of Law, San Juan), Professor Carmen G. Gonzalez (Seattle University School of Law), Professor Tom I. Romero II (Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul) and Professor Francisco Valdes (University of Miami School of Law). Professor Rômulo S.R. Sampaio, an expert on Brazilian environmental law at FGV Direito-Rio, is the local coordinator of Study Space V.

The schedule for Study Space V: Inclusive and Sustainable Rio: Cultural Diversity, Property and the Environment will require participants to observe two daily commitments: (1) attend the morning lectures and daily field study experience and (2) attend the evening’s study dinner. In addition, participants will be required to (3) read a packet of background legal and other materials prior to Study Space V and (4) research and prepare an essay for publication following the workshop.

COST AND TRAVEL DETAILS

The total cost for this week, which includes double occupancy accommodations (seven nights total in clean but basic lodgings), breakfast daily, events admissions, materials, gratuities, speaker honoraria, and ground transport while in Rio de Janeiro for Study Space V events is $1,000.00 US. For a private room and bath, the fee is $1,200.00 US; the quantity is limited and rooms will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Airline tickets must be purchased separately; airport ground transportation not included.

Persons from the Global South or those with no or limited institutional support may apply for limited subsidies to help offset the cost of participation. To be considered for such a subsidy, or if you have special concerns or circumstances, contact Professor Colin Crawford at ccrawford@gsu.edu.

LANGUAGE

Most lectures will be in English. Where they are not, there will be English translation. Many presentations will be in Portuguese, with English translation. Although Portuguese language ability will be helpful, it will not be necessary to participate fully.

WEATHER

Winters in Rio de Janeiro are relatively mild; daily temperatures during July average 21 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit); nights can be slightly cooler. Rain is possible. Dress will be casual. A good pair of walking shoes and a light rain jacket is recommended.

POST-PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENT

In addition to the participation requirements outlined above, Study Space participants are expected to produce a piece of original scholarship (minimum 5,000 words), suitable for publication. These papers will be collected and published together in symposium format either in hard copy print (in book or review) or published in electronic form on the websites of the Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth, Georgia State University College of Law, and/or that of Latino & Latina Critical Theory, Inc. Drafts will be due on March 15, 2011.

DAILY SCHEDULE

Participants should arrive by midday on Saturday, July 10, 2010 to allow time to rest and prepare for the week. Those who cannot begin on the morning of Sunday, July 11, 2010 should elect not to apply to attend Study Space V and instead consider attendance at future Study Space seminars.

Sunday, July 12

9:00 am Rio de Janeiro City and security briefing

9:30 am Lecture on the history and land use development pattern of Rio de Janeiro

11:00 am Van tour of historical Rio de Janeiro, beginning with a visit to Corcovado (Christ the Redeemer monument) to appreciate the city’s physical organization, followed by a tour of the port redevelopment area, Saúde and Gamboa neighborhoods, Imperial and Republication Rio (the Paço Imperial and Cinelândia);

late lunch in the Santa Teresa neighborhood.

7:00 pm: Lecture on Rio’s demographic profile: class, race, ethnicity and the environment

8 pm: Group discussion and study dinner.

Monday, July 13

9:00 am: Lecture: use and Rio’s environment – the case of Guanabara Bay

10:30 am– 4:30 pm: Boat tour of Guanabara Bay (with lunch and lecture)

7:00 pm: Group discussion and study dinner

Tuesday, July 14

9:00 am: Lecture: cultural diversity, law, land use and the environment

11:00 am: Roundtable discussion on cultural diversity in Rio de Janeiro, followed by optional small group field visits to social projects throughout the city

7:00 pm: Group discussion and study dinner

Wednesday, July 15

9:00 am–9:30 am: Protected areas briefing: law, policy and competing property claims

9:30 am – 10:30 am: Lecture: environmental claims and the property titling debate

11 am: Visit to community engaged in property titling debate

7:00 pm: Group discussion and study dinner

Thursday, July 16

9:00 am-10:00 am: Lecture on Atlantic Rainforest in Rio and

development pressures on natural resources

10:30 am-3:30 pm: Visit to and lecture in the Tijuca National Forest

7:00 pm: Group discussion and study dinner

Friday, July 17

8:30 am–4:30 am: Lecture and field visit on property, environmental change and social and economic change: Development and Destruction: case study on the Bay of Sepetiba (with lunch).

Saturday, July 18

9 am – 12 noon: Group discussion: research and publication agenda

12 noon: Some participants depart.

OPTIONAL FOUR-DAY RAIN FOREST TRIP

Itatiaia National Park, created in 1937, is Brazil’s first national park and is located in Rio de Janeiro State approximately three hours by road from the city of Rio de Janeiro in prime Atlantic Rainforest. Study Space is offering a special four-day educational visit to Itatiaia. The group will leave at noon on Saturday, July 18, returning late afternoon on Wednesday, July 21. The all-inclusive price of $450.00 US per person includes transportation, three-night accommodations and all meals in a comfortable mountain lodge, and tours led by university biology faculty and local guides. Subsidies are not available for this tour; friends and family are welcome.

Interested applicants should inform Professor Crawford.

el multiculturalismo y la alteridad

La Constitución colombiana de 1991 es, al decir de Daniel Bonilla, una constitución multicultural, que reconoce la diversidad de identidades y realidades colombianas como las de los diferentes grupos indígenas y de los afrocolombianos. Esto sin duda, ha sido clave y ha representado un poder concreto y simbólico importante, pero la realidad es que todavía el 'ser colombiano' se asume como 'lo blanco', por lo tanto en la ciudad se asume a quien no lo sea, al 'otro', como extraño a la conformación de la ciudad y de la identidad colombiana, la alteridad. El tema del multiculturalismo en Medellín es un tema de vital relevancia.

Las comunidades de indígenas (Emberas, Quechuas, Zenú, Inga y Coconuco), las comunidades Afro y las gitanas continúan en la invisibilidad y víctimas de la exclusión, la pobreza, la discriminación y el olvido. Entre los motivos para el desplazamiento y las condiciones de dureza de estas comunidades están las amenazas contra la vida, la falta de oportunidades de educación y la falta de atención y servicios de salud. Es un tema dificil, de mucha dificultad si se atiende además al hecho de que las politicas del neoliberalismo han sido un obstáculo para implantar políticas a favor de las diferencias étnicas y comunidades desplazadas y reinsertadas.

En Colombia, según los censos y cifras conservadoras, hay 1.392.623 indígenas (3.4%), 4.311.757 (10.62%) afrocolombianos y una población gitana de 4,858 personas para el .01%. Pero tanto la construcción de una identididad colombiana como 'blanca' como los imaginarios que se tienen, por ejemplo, de las comunidades indígenas, dificultan la implantación de políticas que reconozcan esa Constitución multicultural y los derechos que le asisten a estos grupos como colombianos.

Sin entrar en muchos detalles, un tema problemático es la forma en que el Estado y los antropólogos definen, para fines de la implantación de derechos y políticas, quién es indígena. Grupos indígenas de la ciudad, por ejemplo, han sido descertificados como tales porque el imaginario del indígena no lo ubica en la ciudad sino fuera, no lo ubica sin territorio sino en territorios indígenas o resguardos, no ubican a un indígena tecnológico. De acuerdo con los criterios del goberno para certificar a un cabildo indígena la comunidad debe tener instituciones sociales, culturales y políticas propias, un territorio definido y estar regidos total o arcialmente por sus costumbres. La inflexión en estos criterios atada a un positivismo desde la antropología y el derecho, plantea dificultades para, por ejemplo los indígenas en la ciudad y que, para poner un tema, los planes urbanos no sean de beneficio para estas comunidades.

Como nos decía una de las líderes de la comunidad Coconuco, "En el Plan (de ordenación) territorial las comunidades indígenas son relleno para un gasto. La política pública continúa siendo para blancos que buscan poder". Al cabildo Chibcariwak, por ejemplo, se le revocó su posesión de 'cabildo' por considerar criterios identitarios únicos e inflexibles para su clasificación como indígenas. Esto, como consecuencia tiene la implicación de que se le niegan los derechos y se les mantiene en una condena a la invisibilidad y exclusión.

El tema del multiculturalismo es un asunto a atender en una ciudad que no empece sus proyectos y la apuesta por enfrentar grandes retos, se sigue percibiendo blanca y los grupos que la componen siguen como 'la alteridad', con graves consecuencias para éstos últimos.

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Algunas fuentes bibliográficas:

*Fernando Flórez Giménez, Líneas básicas de la jurisprudencia de la corte constitucional colombiana y derechos indígenas, in Diversidad cultural: conflicto y derecho (2006).

*Sergio Andrés Coronado Delgado, El territorio: derecho fundamental de las comunidades afrodescendientes en Colombia, Revista Controversia, no. 187 (2006).

P. Kahn: un abordaje cultural a la propiedad

Continúo con mis lecturas y análisis sobre 'la propiedad' y en esta ocasión comparto algo del profesor Paul W. Kahn, de Yale Law School, profesor que analiza el Derecho desde abordajes culturales y humanistas. En 'The Cultural Study of Law' (1999) en su capítulo 'Imagining the rule of Law', Kahn diserta un poco sobre un abordaje cultural a la propiedad. Al introducir el tema y para ilustrar lo que es un abordaje cultural, señala (veran abajo) que un abordaje cultural al Derecho pretende exponer las estructuras de pensamiento que permiten que un proyecto en particular sea posible (!!), pero luego advierte que por ejemplo en el caso de la propiedad, este abordaje no estaría interesado en el tema de la justicia o injusticia de la propiedad ni con creencias sobre lo correcto o incorrecto de los reclamos propietarios. Es una distinción importante para quienes todavía no tienen clara la diferencia entre los abordajes normativos de los descriptivos, en este caso culturales o los sociológicos. Pero sobre la distinción, tendría que decir esto:

Bueno, cierto Profesor, pero lo que sucede, diría yo, es que -como bien diría Foucault-, el advertir sobre la producción de verdades, los procesos culturales, conocerlos, abordarlos y develar su creación, su construcción, afincamiento y repetición -en este caso, la creación de 'verdades' sobre 'la propiedad'- permite ser más, mucho más efectiva en lo primero, es decir, en la parte de develar la justicia o injusticia de los reclamos propietarios. El asunto no está separado, más bien, lo último depende de lo primero. (Creo que Kahn no estaría en desacuerdo, creo). :-)

Aquí va un extracto de su explicación:

‘There is no space to which legal claims of ownership cannot be made: all of the state’s territory is property. Indeed, modern government under law’s rule comes to be seen as another owner of property. It is often the first property owner –the originator of a particular claims to property –and the last owner—the owner by default when other property claims fail. In between, it appears as a property owner like everyone else, owning discrete parcels of property ownership, it must pay for its acquisitions the same as anyone else. There is no power of eminent domain apart from “just compensation”.

Spatial relations under law appear, therefore, as relations among property holders. This is a relationship that makes no appearance to those outsiders of the state’s law. They see only the political territory of the nation, not an aggregation of particular property interests. Under law, however, the question of where is always a predicate to the question of who: who owns it?. Property claims need not to be absolute; there may be multiple claims of ownership centered on the same subject or place. Other legal relationships to property are built out of this conception of ownership –e.g., questions of responsibility and use.

The metaphor of a grid suggests the mappable character of property. All property can be located in relationship to all other property. This is not however, a relationship of one geographic space to another. Law’s space is not discoverable in the world; it is rather a particular form of discourse among those who share a common set of relieves relating space to persons. Property claims rest on a historical narrative that traces ownership. Thus, to describe space under law we trace title. Titles move simultaneously across a horizontal and vertical dimension. The deed describes one property in terms of its relationship to surrounding properties. The transfer of title sets this synchronous narrative of place in relationship to a diachronic narrative of personal succession.

As with law’s time, these share beliefs about property can support competing and contradictory claims. Just as there is always more than one available precedent, there are often multiple stories of ownership. Any particular narrative is always exhausted before it reaches an incontrovertible foundation. It simply recedes into the past where, eventually, explanations fail. Law’s space is not just a distribution from first principles. A property regime is an ongoing project in which the distribution has always already occurred. The cultural approach to law seeks to expose the structures of thought that make this project possible. It is not concerned with the justice or injustice of property, nor with correct beliefs about particular property claims.’

-Paul W. Kahn,  The Cultural Study of Law: reconstructing legal scholarship, págs. 64-65 (University Chicago Press, 1999).