February 8, 2002 - 4:00 PM
Ruth Behar
University of Michigan
Ruth Behar was born in Havana, Cuba and came to New York in 1962 with her family. She received her B.A. in Letters (1977) from Wesleyan University, and her M.A. (1980) and Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology (1983) from Princeton University. She resides in Ann Arbor and is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan. Ruth has written several books, among these are The Presence of the Past in a Spanish Village: Santa María del Monte (Princeton, 1986; expanded paperback edition, 1991), Translated Woman: Crossing the Border with Esperanza’s Story (Beacon Press, 1993), The Vulnerable Observer: Anthropology That Breaks Your Heart (Beacon Press, 1996), book of essays, she has recently completed a documentary Adio Kerida (Goodbye Dear Love), about the Sephardic Jews of Cuba. As a Cuban woman of the diaspora, Ruth Behar is committed to seeking reconciliation and a common culture and memory with Cubans on the island. In that spirit, she edited Bridges to Cuba/Puentes a Cuba (University of Michigan Press, 1995). The anthology paved the way for more interchanges and became a highly praised forum for the voices and visions of Cubans on the island and in the diaspora. She also wrote the Foreword to the anthology Cubana: Contemporary Fiction by Cuban Women (Beacon Press, 1998). For more information about her work please go to www.ruthbehar.com. (The film, Adio Kerida (90 minutes), will be shown at the 92nd Street on Saturday, 2/9/02 at 7 P.M.)
