Africana studies professor to discuss Brazil for 2015 Great Decisions

Oscar de la Torre, assistant professor of Africana studies, will discuss Brazil as the third speaker in the 2015 Great Decisions lecture series. This talk, scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 28, at UNC Charlotte Center City, will be a joint networking event with the Magellan Society, the young professionals of the World Affairs Council of Charlotte.

As a specialist in Latin American history with a keen focus on Afro-Brazil, de la Torre’s research focuses on the history and current political movements of black peasants in Amazonia and throughout the Americas. Last fall, as a postdoctoral fellow of Yale University’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition, he worked on his current book manuscript “Leaving Behind the Big Snake: A History of Black Amazonia, 1850-1950.” Working with scholars and activists from the United States, Brazil and Europe, de la Torre is interested in the study of comparative race and racism across the diaspora and in the broader fields of Atlantic and environmental history.

The Office of International Programs coordinates the annual Great Decisions lecture series for the Charlotte community in January and February to discuss issues foreign policy issues selected as pressing by the Foreign Policy Association. The series is coordinated in collaboration with Charlotte Country Day School and the World Affairs Council of Charlotte.

More information, including online registration, is available on the Web.

Bojan Cukic from the University’s Department of Computer Science will discuss biometrics and privacy in the digital age on Feb. 4 as part of the lecture series.