COMING UP

Rolfe Erickson Explains Geology of the North Bay

The present and past geology of the North Bay area will be discussed by retired geology professor Rolfe Erickson at 7 p.m., Monday, February 4 in Cotati as part of the Inside/Outside Nature Education series offered by the Cotati Creek Critters. Topics include earthquake and volcanic hazards, past animal life of the Bay area, and major events in the local geologic past. Some discussion of the geologic future will also take place. Erickson is presently researching possible local meteorite falls and unusual metamorphic rock units around the town of Cazadero. Refreshments are provided. The lecture takes place at the Stony Point Room, Ray Miller Community Center, 216 E. School Street, behind Cotati City Hall, 201 W. Sierra Ave. For further information, contact Jenny Blaker, 792-4422.    

Train Describes Spanish Language
Development in Sonoma County

Robert Train, Modern Languages & Literatures, presents “Reducing Spanish on the Margins of Empire:  A Historical  Perspective on Ideologies and Ecologies of Language in Sonoma County, California ” at the first Arts and Humanities Forum on February 7 at noon in Schulz 3001.

The talk offers a historical perspective on ideologies and ecologies surrounding the Spanish language in Sonoma County. The local context of Spanish language use in Sonoma County is framed in terms of a critical ecological perspective in which Spanish can be seen as fundamental to the emergence of world-systems. Special attention is given to the invention of 'the Spanish language' by way of standardization. 

Train says "the reduction of language and speakers is shown to be a key element in language education in California from the Spanish and Mexican imperial, national, and colonial projects of conquest and hegemony to contemporary globalization in which the United States currently plays an imperial role."