San Antonio College Library

Every year in Jacmel, on the south coast of Haiti,one of the most spectacular carnivals in the Caribbean takes place. In one of the world's poorest countries, that has endured slavery, bloody dictatorships, natural disasters and epidemics, festivities take on an intensity that is not found elsewhere.

In 1961, Penn State University archaeologist Bill Sanders traveled to the Teotihuacán Valley to film a documentary based on his 1957 Harvard dissertation, Tierra y Agua. His film captures an invaluable snapshot of land-use practices in the area just prior to the urban expansion of México City - one of the most explosive in human history. Cultural conservation was not the intention of the original film, but it is a sobering reminder of how quickly...

Paraguay's official submission for Documentary and International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards, this documentary tells the story of Mateo Sobode Chiqueno who walks across communities in the arid and desolate Paraguayan Chaco region to record the stories, songs, and testimonies of his Ayoreo people.

Ever since their first contact with the Western world in 1969, the Paiter Suruí, an indigenous people living in the Amazon basin, have been exposed to sweeping social changes. Smartphones, gas, electricity, medicines, weapons, and social media have now replaced their traditional way of life. Illness is a risk for a community increasingly unable to isolate itself from the modernization brought by white people or the power of the church. Ethnocide...

Salvadoran midwives, who delivered babies even during the Civil War, now fight to protect their ancestral role in the face of government repression. As people in El Salvador lose their right to give birth at home, dehumanizing hospital experiences become the standard way of ushering life into the world. The caretaking traditions of these midwives are at risk of being lost to future generations.

The distinct but extraordinary diverse ethnic and cultural identities of Afro-Latin Americans have received little official recognition. But today a growing movement is voicing pride in the Afro-Latin American heritage, asserting common identities and working to defend and advance collective rights. This fascinating book provides a major human-rights-focused survey that aims to reflect and be part of that process of rediscovery and renewal. Each chapter...

Tells the story of the Buendia family, set against the background of the evolution and eventual decadence of a small South American town.