PROJECT ATLANTEA: From Chrysalis to Butterfly

by Javier Ortiz and Suzanna Engman

THE WINGSPAN OF THE BUTTERFLY ATLANTEA, indigenous to the Caribbean region, measures mere inches, but symbolically, through the Atlantea Project, its wings span many academic disciplines within the Greater Caribbean.

The goal of the project, beginning in 1994 at the University of Puerto Rico, is to promote academic exchange between UPR and other Caribbean universities. Somos uno (We are one) is the project's motto.

Francisca Corrada Del Río, general coordinator of the Atlantea Project from 2001 to 2003 and Nilsa M. Burgos, project network coordinator, point out the many commonalities shared among the nations of the Caribbean: colonization, African roots, slavery associated with sugar cane, migration patterns, and common economic situations.

Before the project began, “UPR had much academic interchange with the United States and Europe,” says Corrada, “but not much involvement with our closest neighbors in the region.” Now, largely because of the project, the Greater Caribbean is crisscrossed by many networks of collaborative research, publications, and academic discourse connecting Caribbean universities. Altogether, Atlantea supports 24 projects representing at least as many disciplines, from biology and public health to music and social work.

One of these projects, directed by historian Carlos Altagracia and geographer Ramón Corrada, tackles issues related to the emergence of the Dominican-Haitian border as a natural and irreconcilable division between the two countries.

"Historical-geographical discourse assumes borders to be natural. The State is seen as a growing organism with an epidermis, and the epidermis is the border though which enter evil, illnesses, and everything that contaminates or alters the essence of the nation," says Altgracia.

This way of contemplating the border forms the background for a conflict-ridden history between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. But another view of the border reveals a dynamic place of exchange where inhabitants subvert and resist attempts at control. For example, coffee bean harvesting in the Dominican Republic depends almost exclusively on Haitian migrant workers. The Dominican growers in Baní ask the government to open the border to allow Haitian migrants to enter during harvest season.

In order to soften traditional discourse on this phenomenon, Altagracia and Corrada prepared a photo exhibit that explores border crossing. They hope their exhibit displayed to viewers the porosity and elasticity of borders, to emphasize tolerance and living together in harmony.

Another one of Atlantea's goals is to support academics through regional conferences and lectures, which led to the 13th Caribbean Composers Forum and the Primer Encuentro de Musicología del Caribe (First Caribbean Musicology Conference). Both events were organized by composer and UPR, Río Piedras music professor Carlos Vázquez, Ph.D. "Although we belong to a culturally rich geographic location, especially in music, there was no communication about what was happening," says Vázquez, about the limited exchange of information between musicians in the Caribbean before the Caribbean Composers Forum was founded. The first Caribbean Composers Forum was an experiment to bring together composers and scholars of contemporary classical music. This year's conference was held in Panama and included concerts, workshops, lectures, master classes, and other cultural activities.

In addition, musicologists, scholars, scientists, and academics of various Caribbean musical backgrounds came together to perform their works at the First Caribbean Musicology Conference.

Concerts are the primary force of the forum. The Symphonic Orchestra of Panama debuted works of Caribbean composers celebrating the centennial of the founding of the Republic of Panama. Vázquez played his piece for guitar and orchestra for the first time publicly at the forum.

Another project sponsored by Atlantea, Anglo Caribbean Island Culture and Shakespeare, began when Joan Fayer, Ph.D., a professor of linguistics, and Joan McMurray, Ph.D., a professor of literature specializing in Shakespeare, read a newspaper article about the phenomena of Shakespeare Mas' (Masquerade). At carnival time on the small island of Carriacou, troupes of men display their verbal skills in street performances. Dressed in colorful costumes, they recite speeches from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. If a player recites incorrectly, a challenger will beat him with a whip as the audience cheers. It's a competitive verbal duel to see who has memorized the most speeches.

The professors traveled to Carriacou several times to film the performances and created three documentaries on them. They also published an article on Shakespeare Mas' in the Journal of American Folklore (1999), vol. 112, pages 58-73, and their research is cited in The World Shakespeare Bibliography Online and in Shakespeare Quarterly. In addition, Fayer wrote a chapter for Contact Englishes of the Eastern Caribbean, edited by Michael Aceto and Jeffrey P. Williams.

Their research spurred communication among other university researchers, including Peter Roberts, Ph.D., at the University of the West Indies in Barbados. The three professors began work on the Encyclopedia of Caribbean Island Culture and An Illustrated History of Caribbean Social Life.

As the network of alliances in the Caribbean increases, the connections it has created generate more research. For example, Fayer and another professor from the Department of English, María Soledad Rodríguez, Ph.D., traveled to the island of Anguilla in 2003 to conduct interviews about local traditions, folktales, children´s games and performances. They were assisted by two doctoral candidates in the Caribbean Language and Literature program at UPR, RP, Sonia Fritz, an independent filmmaker who filmed the interviews, and Don Walicek. Walicek plans to return to Anguilla to complete his dissertation fieldwork.

This year the Atlantea Project held the Sexta Jornada de Afirmación de Estudios Caribeños y en Red...o (the Sixth Conference of Caribbean Studies and Networks) at UPR, Arecibo with a keynote speaker, presentations, and expositions to celebrate a decade of research and collaboration in the Caribbean region. The Atlantea Project also publishes monographs of works developed throught the networks of Caribbean universities.

Each year, during the celebration of Carnaval in Carriacou, independent theater groups--made up exclusively of men--dress in colorful costumes to recite from William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

http://www.upr.edu/atlantea