Beginning Monday April 13, Villa Esperanza will be hosting a lecture series designed to encourage public awareness about the issues of poverty and inequality which our organization works to improve.  Increasing our knowledge about the context and causes of the problems faced by other members of our global community is the first step towards the kind of action that can help break the cycles of poverty and inequality.  Therefore, we are so pleased to present the first lecture in our new series: “Ecuador, its people, culture and social realities”, a conversation with Michelle Wibblesman, Ph.D.

Michelle is a cultural anthropologist from Ecuador who now performs research among indigenous populations in the Andean highlands.  Her recently published book with University of Illinois Press, /Ritual Encounters: Otavalan Modern and Mythic Community/, describes the Otavalan ways of life centered on ritual celebrations and shows that Otavaleños—indigenous people who live in the region of northern Ecuador—have maintained ritual practices not in spite of modern influences but rather /because/ ritual is uniquely suited for symbolically capturing cultural changes and exploring them critically.

Monday April 13th at 6:30 PM
Garden District Coffee House
2810 S Congress Ave
Austin, TX