Anna Roosevelt - February 07, 2011

Professor of Anthropology, University of Illinois, ChicagoPhoto of Anna Roosevelt

"Human Rights and the CIA: The Case of the Assassination of Patrice Lumumba"

8:00 PM Monday, February 07, 2011
University Theatre

The New York Times has described Professor Roosevelt as a leading archaeologist who is bringing new luster and controversy to her famous family name. A great-granddaughter of Theodore Roosevelt, she has stirred controversy with her fieldwork in the Middle Amazon, challenging conventional scholarship about the peopling of America and where and how some of the first Americans lived. She will be at the heart of an even bigger storm because of the evidence that she has unearthed concerning the CIA's involvement in the assassination in 1960 of Patrice Lumumba, the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Republic of Congo.  

Please note: These lectures will not be posted online and a podcast will not be made available.

"Long-Term Human Environment Interaction in Amazonia: From 11,000 Years Ago to the Present"

3:10 PM Monday, February 07, 2011
Gallagher Business Building 123

You are cordially invited to attend a seminar with Anna Roosevelt.  A Stanford University graduate with a 1977 Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University, she has been a long-time faculty member at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and has also served as the Curator of Archaeology at the Field Museum. Her principal research interests involve human ecology and evolution, specifically long-term human-environmental interaction in the tropics. She currently directs the Lower Amazon Project in Brazil and the Congo Basin Project in Africa.

  The New York Times describes Professor Roosevelt as a leading American archaeologist who is bringing new luster and controversy to her famous family name. A great-granddaughter of Theodore Roosevelt, she caused a stir with her fieldwork in the Middle Amazon by challenging conventional thinking about the peopling of America and where and how some of the first Americans lived. The arguments over her work no doubt will surface during the seminar. Her research in the South American lowlands, principally in Venezuela and Brazil, has resulted in the publication of important books, including Parmana: Prehistoric Maize and Manioc Substance Along the Amazon and Orinoco (1980), Moundbuilders of the Amazon: Geophysical Archaeology on Marajo Island, Brazil (1991) and The Excavations at Corozal, Venezuela Stratigraphy and Ceramic Seriation(1997). Her articles have appeared in leading scholarly journals and anthologies. She has received a five-year MacArthur Fellowship for her interdisciplinary research, as well as numerous other honors, including the Explorers Medal, the Society of Women Geographers’ Gold Medal, the Order of Rio Branco and Bettendorf Medals (Brazil), and honorary doctorates from Mount Holyoke and Northeastern University, Boston.

  As a result of her fieldwork in the Congo Basin, Professor Roosevelt has developed wide-ranging interests in Africa. She will be at the heart of another storm, with the imminent publication of the evidence that she has unearthed concerning the CIA’s involvement in the assassination in 1960 of Patrice Lumumba, the first legally elected prime minister of the Republic of the Congo. This instance of state terrorism against a foreign population will be the subject of her evening lecture.