Greetings, Please join the Year of Brazil<http://brazil.qc.cuny.edu/>'s Speaker Series: A Refuge in Thunder:<http://brazil.qc.cuny.edu/event/a-refuge-in-thunder/> The Evolution and Significance of Brazilian Candomblé Candomblé is a religion that embraces a rich, poetic complex of ritual action, cosmology, and meaning. It has deep roots in several religious traditions of West Africa and West Central Africa, especially Aja-Fon, Bantu, and the Yoruba Orisha practice. It is a (re)creation of these traditions, in addition to synthesizing aspects of Islam, Indigenous Indian spiritual practices and Catholicism. Candomble evolved within the matrix of slavery, colonialism and mercantilism, which characterized Brazil from the sixteenth through nineteenth century. Speaker: Rachel Elizabeth Harding, is a specialist in religions of the Afro-Atlantic diaspora and studies the relationship between religion and social justice activism in cross-cultural perspective.She holds an MFA in creative writing from Brown University and a PhD in history from the University of Colorado. Date: Wednesday, December 4th, 2013 Time: 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm Location: Campbell Dome Download flyer here<http://brazil.qc.cuny.edu/files/2013/10/YoB_Flyer_RacheHarding_Dec-4th.pdf>. Important note: Recommended Readings are available on demand from Edisa Weeks, (edisa.weeks@qc.cuny.edu<mailto:edisa.weeks@qc.cuny.edu>) Best regards, Cecilia Britez, Program Assistant Center for Teaching and Learning 718-997-4650 Writing Across the Curriculum 718-997-4695 316 Razran Hall, Queens College / CUNY