Michael Grow
History
Specialization: Lati n American history, US-Latin American Relations
Office: Bentley Annex
(740) 593-4359
mgrow1@ohio.edu

Daniel Torres
Modern Languages
Specialization: Colonial and Contemporary Latin American Poetry.
Office: Gordy Hall 263
(740) 593-2769
torres@ohio.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Invasión de Ternura (19 poemas de amor y distancia)
By Daniel Torres
La Candelaria, 2004

This is a publication of the UNESCO Project Society and La Candelaria in New York, a collective effort of Puerto Rican poets looking for new avenues to publish their poetry headed by poet Lourdes Vazquez from Rutgers University.

"Merida, my love"
I want to memorize the bench on Mentejo
where I brushed against your knee,
the downtown street where I war you go by
and that first dreamy glance.

The kiss you stole from me at Izimna Park
one night full of words
without any caress nor bed...

The destiny that resolved itself between Santa Lucia and Santa Ana
and that night when we separated near the bus station:
I was leaving in a taxi
and your back was disappearing little by little
around the corner.

That's why I need to memorize
the certainty of your embrace,
the stillness of your eyes
and also all the letters that form "Carlos."

Excerpt translated by Daniel Torres
 

Alejandro Tsakimp: A Shuar Healer in the Ma rgins of History
By Steven Rubenstein
University of Nebraska Press, 2002, ISBN: 0803239297

In his own words, Alejandro Tsakimp tells of his lives and relationships, the practice of shamanism, and the many challenges and triumphs he has encountered since childhood. He was born at the time when Shuar were first confronting the impact of Ecuadorian colonialism, which had trigge red devastating intertribal conflict over the production and trade of shrunken heads and intra-tribal feuding fueled by accusations of witchcraft. Anthropologist Steven Rubenstein, who began working with Tsakimp in 1989, has skillfully edited Tsakimp's stories and provides essential background information. Rubenstein argues that although these stories reveal tensions between individual and collective autonomy on the colonial frontier, they also resist simplistic dic hotomies such as state versus indigene and modern versus traditional. Alejandro Tsakimp provides a revealing look at the relationship between anthropologist and shaman and an insightful glimpse into the complicated lives of South American Indians today.