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lucy

Aug 02
0

The Cartoneras Community Engagement Project: A Collaboration with “Cross Language Dynamics”

By | Events, Workshop

On 17 May 2019, the Cartonera Publishing team facilitated a cartonera workshop at the British Library, in collaboration with María Soledad Montañez and Rahul Berry (Translator-in Residence, British Library/IMLR). The event brought the Cartonera Publishing project together with the AHRC Open World Research Initiative project ‘Cross Language Dynamics: Reshaping Community’ from the Institute of Modern Languages Research, University of London, led by Professor Catherine Davies.

Our team, which joined forces with the OWRI project thanks to Patrick O’Hare, is delighted to have provided training and inspiration for the ‘Cross Language Dynamics’ strand. This has enabled them to develop their own Cartonera project – one strand of their action-research on community engagement with the Latin American community in Southwark led by Dr María Soledad Montañez (Research Fellow in Community Engagement, OWRI/IMLR). The engagement project explores creative tools and resources for an effective and sustainable approach to improve service access and engagement by the Latin American community in South London.

The Cartoneras Community Engagement Project in London was delivered in partnership with the Latin American Youth Forum (LAYF) from the Indoamerican Refugee and Migration Organisation (IRMO). The LAYF is a youth-led initiative for young people (age 13-19 years old) to become more actively involved in their community. LAYF aims to help participants to maximise their potential and move into education, training and/or employment.

The creative workshops were delivered every Friday from May to June, and closed with a public exhibition designed and presented by the participants.

The Cartonera Community Engagement Project explored notions of community, identity and language through a series of workshops, from creative writing to book making. Participants produced texts about their experience of being a Latin American in London, which were then made into bilingual cartonera books. The workshops were delivered at a crucial time in history: the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU. This development in political history will have a significant –yet unpredictable- impact on migrant communities in the country.

Participant feedback on the workshop at the British Library includes:

“This was an excellent workshop- rich in content and very approachable and accessible”

“Brilliant context at the beginning of the event, and excellent accessible hands-on element”

“Brilliant project from some brilliant researchers! And a great exposure to a different side of Latin American culture and cultural production”

“Very well planned and executed! Big thank you to the British Library for offering this!”

“I like the combination of information about current research and hands-on creative activity. It brought the impact of this research area to life”

“Cartoneras is a very important area of grassroots support, both for recycling and literacy. Wonderful to hear about about how Cartoneras developed in Latin America, and how has begun to spread world-wide. This community based initiative embodies values that can benefit all communities whatever their cultural or socioeconomic level. Everyone can recycle, everyone can be creative, everyone can promote literacy and build community”

May 09
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In this feature report by C7 Jalisco from Mexico’s second-largest prison complex (Puente Grande, Jalisco), prisoners talk about their experiences of corruption, abuse, and even rape during their encounters with the Mexican justice system. But they also tell of a “dream come true” in the form of a cultural project led by La Rueda Cartonera (Sergio Fong) and Viento Cartonero (Israel Soberanes), which has seen the launch of the book Espejo y viento (Mirror and Wind) where the women tell their stories through poetry and narrative. This is part of a broader project, led by José Antonio Pérez Juárez, Social Reintegration: A Second Chance, that seeks to break cycles of violence and revenge, rehabilitate prisoners, and facilitate their reinsertion into society as valued human beings and not degraded “criminals”. En este reportaje de C7 Jalisco desde la Comisaría de Reinserción Femenil (que integra el segundo complejo penitenciario más grande de México: Puente Grande, Jalisco), los presos hablan de sus experiencias de corrupción, abuso e incluso violación dentro del sistema de justicia mexicano. Pero también hablan de un "sueño hecho realidad" en forma de un proyecto cultural liderado por La Rueda Cartonera (Sergio Fong) and Viento Cartonero (Israel Soberanes), que ha visto el lanzamiento del libro Espejo y viento, donde las mujeres cuentan sus historias por medio de la poesía y de la narrativa. Esto forma parte de un proyecto más amplio, dirigido por José Antonio Pérez Juárez, Reinserción social: Segunda oportunidad, que busca romper los ciclos de violencia y venganza, rehabilitar a los presos, y facilitar su reinserción social como seres humanos valiosos y no “criminales”.  

May 02
0

How do grassroots cartonera publishers work together across national, cultural and linguistic barriers? How do they break down walls of stigma and exclusion? What impact has their work had in Latin America over the last two decades, especially in relation to vulnerable communities affected disproportionately by violence, poverty and exclusion? What are they working on right now, and how are they effecting social change in the present? This new documentary by Isadora Brant supplements the previous Cartoneras film by highlighting some of the outcomes of the Cartonera Publishing project in collaboration with cartoneras from Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Paraguay. Do watch, share, and join us in the cartonera movement! ¿Cómo trabajan juntas las editoriales cartoneras para romper fronteras nacionales, culturales y lingüísticas? ¿Cómo combaten el estigma y la exclusión? ¿Qué impacto ha tenido su trabajo en América Latina en las últimas dos décadas, especialmente en relación con comunidades vulnerables afectadas de manera desproporcionada por la exclusión, la violencia, y la pobreza? ¿En qué están trabajando ahora y cómo están produciendo cambio social en el presente? Este nuevo documental de Isadora Brant complementa la película anterior (Cartoneras) al resaltar algunos de los resultados del proyecto Cartonera Publishing en colaboración con cartoneras de Argentina, Brasil, México y Paraguay. ¡Ve nuestro documental, compártelo y súmate al movimiento cartonero!

Cartoneras es un documental de Isadora Brant que ahonda en las realidades urbanas de América Latina y el movimiento editorial cartonero que surgió de estas en el siglo XXI. Reflexionando sobre los diferentes contextos que impulsaron las actividades cartoneras, como la crisis económica argentina en 2001, la escena artística independiente y los movimientos que se formaron alrededor de los recicladores, la narrativa de la película se desarrolla a través de conversaciones con importantes actores del mundo cartonero.

“Cartoneras” permeia as realidades urbanas de Argentina e Brasil e se debruça sobre a história e a produção dos livros cartoneros. A partir de contextos diversos, como a crise econômica em Argentina nos anos 2000, a cena de artistas independentes, e movimentos surgidos a partir catadores de papelão, o filme desenvolve sua narrativa através de conversas e depoimentos de importantes atores do meio cartonero.

Cartoneras is a documentary by Isadora Brant that grapples with Latin America’s urban realities, and the cardboard publishing movement that has emerged from these in the 21st century. Reflecting on the different contexts that propelled this form of community publishing, like Argentina’s 2001 economic crisis, the independent art scene, and the movements which formed around waste-pickers, the film’s narrative is developed through conversations with important actors from the cartonera world.