University - Friday, March 17, 2023

Faculty of Human and Social Sciences of Unicauca commemorates International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

The teaching team of the Afro-Colombian Chair of the University of Cauca held a day commemorating 21M, an event that took place on Wednesday, March 15, where more than 120 students from all undergraduate programs participated.

On March 21, 1960, police opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against the apartheid pass law being practiced in Sharpeville, South Africa. In tribute to all the victims of this terrible event, the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) proclaimed by resolution 2142 of October 26, 1966, March 21 as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Since then, events and mobilizations have been held throughout the world in an effort to eradicate all forms of racism in our societies.

 This year, the teaching team of the Afro-Colombian Chair of the University of Cauca convened a day to commemorate 21M that took place on Wednesday, March 15 in the afternoon, attended by more than 120 students from all undergraduate programs.

Since 2015, the University of Cauca has among its curricular offerings Afro-Colombian Chair courses that are taught at the Popayán and Santander de Quilichao campuses. These courses specifically aim at anti-racist citizen training that contributes to ensuring that in our university community we eradicate all behaviors and acts of racial discrimination.

“With the FISH courses of Cátedra Afrocolombiana we have worked during these seven years with more than 3,000 students of all the undergraduates of Unicauca covering topics that include the history of the Afro-Colombian peoples and the contemporary expressions of their cultures throughout the country. This is the way in which we prepare the new generations in an anti-racist perspective”, pointed out Professor José Antonio Caicedo, from the Department of Intercultural Studies, in his speech at the opening of the event.

The Afro-Colombian Chair is a component of the FISH Integral Socio-Humanistic Training program of the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences coordinated by Professor José Antonio Caicedo and the teachers Ginna Liceth Ramos Castillo and María Elena Anchico Solís, who teach the courses at the of Popayán and Santander de Quilichao respectively.

The event was attended by a large presence of teachers from the Comprehensive Socio-Humanistic Training Program (FISH) and the Department of Intercultural Studies. For the second semester of this year, the IX version of the Afro-Colombian Chair "Rogerio Velásquez Murillo" will take place, dedicated to commemorating the 30th anniversary of Law 70 of black communities.

Website: www.centromemoriasetnicas.org