Rose Cromwell

Rose Marie Cromwell is a photographer based out of Panama and New York. She was named one of 25, Under 25 Up and Coming American Photographers by powerHouse Books and The Center for Documentary Studies. She is a Meyers Traveling Photography Fellowship recipient and a Fulbright Fellowship Scholar. Recent publications of her work are included in Vision Magazine (China), Latin American and Caribbean Ethnic Studies Journal published by Routledge, Pology Magazine: Online Travel and Culture Magazine and HIP Magazine (Panama). Her first solo show was at the Diablo Rosso Gallery in Panama City.

She is currently working on her MFA in Photography under Doug Dubois with a Full Fellowship from Syracuse University. Cromwell is the master darkroom printer for the renowned Panamanian photographer, Sandra Eleta.

To see more of Rose Marie Cromwell’s work, please visit her website at www.rosecromwell.com.

Raul Houlstan

Raul was born in Bocas del Toro, Panama in 1952. Although most of his family is also from Panama, his background does contain a mixture of several cultures; his paternal grandmother was from Jamaica, his paternal grandfather was from Cuba, and his stepfather was Chinese. Raoul can also trace his Panamanian heritage back to be founders of Bocas, the Browns. Raul trained to be a teacher and received his law degree in 1979. He later earned a graduate degree in Latin American Studies at the Political Science Department at UNAM in Mexico City. While living in Mexico he met his wife, a native of Holland, and together they have two children. Raul has been a teacher, a defense counselor, a cultural attaché in Brussels, Belgium, and has also published poetry under the name Urá del Drago. He now works as a litigator and promoter of popular culture in Bocas, and he is active in many community organizations. Raul calls himself Afro-Antillano—a Black West Indian—but does not ask others to see him as such. He says, “me siento bien en mi piel, pero no es mi bandera. Yo soy un hombre universal” [I feel good in my skin, but it is not my banner. I am a universal man].

Gabriela Jones de Mariño

Gabriela Jones de Mariño is a professional photographer and graphic designer. She earned her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Panama, where she also earned her Master’s in Business (2004). Besides being a professional photographer and graphic designer, Gabriela has published pedagogical materials, and taught practical seminars about the art of taking non-professional pictures as well as about art criticism. Her workshop for children on African-West Indian Art has been a great contribution to the Voices from Our America project’s work in Panama, as has her design work on the project’s exhibition banners.

Lucius T. Outlaw (Jr.)

Lucius Turner Outlaw (Jr.) is Professor of Philosophy and of African American and Diaspora Studies. Outlaw has also been a member of the faculties of Fisk University and Morgan State University; a visiting professor at Spelman College, Howard University, and Hamilton College. For the 1996-98 academic years Outlaw was the David S. Nelson Professor of Boston College. Outlaw teaches, researches, and writes about race and ethnicity, African Philosophy, African American Philosophy, Marx, Critical Social Theory, Social and Political Philosophy, and the history of Philosophy in the “West.” Born in Starkville, Mississippi, he is a graduate of Fisk University (B.A., Philosophy, 1967, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Boston College (Ph.D., Philosophy, 1972). His essays have been published in Philosophical Forum, Journal of Social Philosophy, Man and World, Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal, The Journal of Ethics, and a number of anthologies. A collection of several of his essays, On Race and Philosophy, was published by Routledge (1996). Another book, Critical Social Theory in the Interests of Black Folk, was published by Roman & Littlefield (2005).

Outlaw became interested in photography as a kid, began to immerse himself in the medium during his undergraduate years, and continued to do so through his years of graduate studies. After a twenty-year hiatus from photography, Outlaw returned to his passion and in recent years has devoted substantial effort to developing his craftsmanship and artistry as a fine art, social documentary, and environmental portraitist. Several of his photographs have been selected for a number of juried international group exhibitions (The Center for Fine Art Photography (Fort Collins, Colorado) and Project Basho (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), for example). He has been invited to present solo exhibitions in the Pryor Gallery of Columbia State Community College, the Library of George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, and The Arts Company in Nashville, Tennessee. To see more of Lucius Turner Outlaw’s work, please visit his website at www.lououtlawphotography.com.

College of Arts and Science at Vanderbilt University

Initial funding for VFOA was provided by the College of Arts and Science and the Center for the Americas at Vanderbilt University.

Center for Latin American Studies at Vanderbilt University

CLAS was designated a National Resource Center by the U.S. Department of Education in 2006 and has since fostered a lively research community on campus by sponsoring colloquia, conferences, films, and a speaker series featuring distinguished scholars and government and business leaders. CLAS also reaches thousands in Nashville, Tennessee and in surrounding regions through various outreach programs to the educational, business, medical, and media communities.

Department of English – Vanderbilt University

The Department of English offers over fifty courses in both undergraduate and graduate curricula, of various designs and aims reflecting the diversity among its faculty, to train students in the history of British and American literature, in Anglophone literature from other countries, in literary theory, and in creative writing.

Humanities Tennessee

Founded in 1973 through funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Humanities Tennessee is dedicated to developing a sense of community through educational programs in the humanities across Tennessee. An organization that began with a focus on grant-making and cultural development of the state’s museums and historical organizations has grown into a multi-faceted not-for-profit with two distinct focuses: studies of community history and cultural life and studies of language and literature.

Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities

The Robert Penn Warren Center promotes interdisciplinary research and study in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Because cooperative study in higher education is crucial to the modern university and the society it influences, the center is designed to intensify and increase interdisciplinary discussion of academic, social, and cultural issues.

Vanderbilt International Office

The Vanderbilt International Office was established in 2006 to facilitate individual and institutional connections among Vanderbilt faculty, researchers, staff, students, alumni, and the larger world. VIO also oversees the Global Education Office and the English Language Center.

Other Sponsors

• The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
• Chancellor’s Higher Education Fellowship
• Trans-Institutional Program Grant
• Vanderbilt Library Dean’s Fellowships
• The Meharry-Vanderbilt Community Engaged Research Core
• Collaborative Interdisciplinary Research Grant
• American Studies Association
• Vanderbilt Institute for Digital Learning Faculty Innovation Grant
• Vanderbilt International Office Curriculum Development Grant
• Venture Fund Grant for Creativity in Curricular and Pedagogical Approaches
• Center for the Americas International Incubator Research Grant
• Center for  the Americas Working Group Grant
• Center for Latin American Studies Curriculum Development Grant
• Center for Latin American Studies K-12 Education Digital Resource Grant
• Faculty Development Grant
• Research Scholars’ Grant Program
• Undergraduate Summer Research Program Grant
• Poindexter Grant

• Melva Lowe de Goodin
• Raul Houlstan
• Ricardo Maxwell
  Ricardo Maxwell was born in Puerto Armuelles Chiriquí. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in Education with a focus in English at La Paz Profesorado. He also has university coursework completed at OTEIMA as a superior technician in English, and in C.E.T.E.S where he obtained a technical degree in Psychology of Education. Recently he has been taking classes in Management and Legislative Education. He participated in various seminars on education given by Panamá TESOL, the Universidad Latina, as well as in a seminar titled “Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling” (TPRS) MEDUCA. He has been recognized by the Ministry of Education for his active participation in the development of education in his province in 1998 and 1999. Among other activities, he has been a Preacher for more than 30 years in the Methodist Church, has been a member of the Association of Friends of the Ethno-Caribbean museum in Bocas del Toro (AAMECAB), in addition to participating in and being very supportive of the project Voices from Our America in Bocas del Toro.
• Society of Friends of the Afro-Antillean Museum of Panama (SAMAAP)
• Ethel Record
• Ivan Jolly
  Ivan Rogelio Jolly Miller was born in Almirante Bocas Del Toro, Panama in 1948. He has a certificate in Business with a specialization in Accounting from the Nocturnal Commercial Institution. He has completed all the coursework at CERPA for the degree of Technician in Higher Education, and is currently taking classes at the ISAE Institute to obtain a certificate in English with a focus on translation. He worked for almost thirty years for the Chiriqui Land Company in Bocas holding many positions such as assistant of construction, office secretary, and mechanic. During all these years he has been very active as a union leader, holding positions such as secretary of the union of mechanics, and of workers in general of the C.L.Co. Ivan has combined his knowledge of English and his interest in political activism to visit, as a union leader, the United States on many occasions. During his many visits, he has spoken to other union leaders and workers in the U.S, and has built cooperatives and alliances between Panamanian and American workers. He has given classes in Labor Education, Cooperation and Worker Rights, on almost all the banana plantations, and in industries of Almirante, Provincia de Bocas del Toro.
• Esteban Lan
• Lilian Brown
• Bridget Warren
• Dalvis Robles
• Gerardo Maloney
  Gerardo Maloney – sociologist, writer, poet, film and television creator – graduated from the UNAM and FLASCO-Ecuador. He has been the Director of the School of Sociology at the University of Santa Maria la Antigua (USMA) 1974-1979 , Director of the Department and School of Sociology of the University of Panama 1985-1990, Director and Creator of the Panamanian Journal of Sociology 1985, Creator of the National Award of Sociology 1986, General Coordinator of the academic vice-presidency of the University of Panama-2001-2003, Coordinator of the Center of Investigations of the Humanities School of the University of Panama 1985-1989, Research Coordinator of the University Experimental Cinema Group (GECU)…1985-2005, creator and Director of the Center of Afro-Panamanian studies (CEDEAP) 1980, General Director of the state television, radio and educational programs (Canal Once) 1994-1999, Vice President of the Central American Association of Sociology 1988-1990, President of the II Congress of Black Culture of the Americas (Panama City 1980), Vice President of the first Black Panamanian Congress and President of the Second Congress, Ambassador of the Republic of Panama in Trinidad and Tobago 2005-2009, Permanent Representative of the Association of Caribbean States (AEC) 2006-2009, member of the National Council of the Black Ethnicity 2007- to present, creator and member of the Organizational Commission of the Afro-Panamanian forum 2003-to present, member of the Directional Council of the program FLASCO-Panama, Coordinator of the extension and publications 2009 to present. (More information about the author on Google.)