News from SUNY Cortland

For more information contact: Jean Palmer, 607-753-2232

Jorge Estevez To Describe Caribbean Before Columbus

Member of Taino Indigenous People To Speak Feb. 5

CORTLAND, NY (01/29/2008; 0823)(readMedia)-- Jorge Estevez, a representative of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in New York, N.Y., will give a lecture titled “Who Discovered Columbus?” on Tuesday, Feb. 5, at SUNY Cortland.

Estevez, a Taino from the Dominican Republic, who now serves the Smithsonian as a workshop coordinator of public programs, will reveal the other point of view about Christopher Columbus’ famous “discovery.” His presentation of the panorama of Taino culture and cultural revival in the Caribbean begins at 4 p.m. in the Corey Exhibition Lounge. Estevez will be available for questions following the talk. The event is free and open to the public.

The Taino were pre-Columbian indigenous inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles and the northern Lesser Antilles. During the time of Columbus’ arrival in 1492, five Taino kingdoms thrived in what would become modern-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Estevez is a frequent contributor to the Smithsonian Museum’s magazine and has written for Native Peoples, as well as for the soon-to-be published Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions. He is also an editor with the Caribbean Amerindian Centrelink and a member of the editorial board of Kacike: The Journal of Caribbean Amerindian History and Anthropology.

He is the co-author of Indigenous Resurgence in the Contemporary Caribbean, which was published in 2006. He worked as a Taino historical and cultural consultant in 2003 for the Discovery Channel program “In Search of Columbus.”

Estevez has given presentations about the Taino to school groups in New York State and abroad, including a visit to the Dominican Republic in 2003 to address an educational conference on indigenous revival.

The talk is sponsored by the Provost’s Office, the Office of the Dean for the School of Arts and Sciences, the International Communications and Culture Department and the James M. Clark Center for International Education.

For more information, contact event organizer and Lecturer in Spanish Susan Kather at (607) 753-2026.

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