On September 10, Daira Quiñones, an Afro-Colombian singer, storyteller and peace-builder, performed on the UMD campus as part of a series of events titled “Songs & Stories of Resistance” with the Latin American solidarity group Witness for Peace Midwest.
Daira told her story as one of 8 million internally displaced persons in Colombia. Forced by violence to leave her ancestral territory of Tumaco for the capital city of Bogota eighteen years ago, she became a leader of a women’s movement to fight for the rights of Afro-Colombians, indigenous persons and rural farmers.
She uses song as a powerful tool in organizing, communicating the problems of her country, connecting across cultures, and imagining hope for the future.
Daira with Liz Moldan, regional coordinator for Witness for Peace Midwest
Daira came to Minnesota as a guest of the Augsburg College Nobel Peace Prize Forum in Minneapolis to speak to the ongoing struggles following the signing of a peace accord between the Colombian government and FARC rebels.
The UMD event was co-sponsored by the Royal D. Alworth Institute for International Studies, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and the Department of World Languages and Cultures.
Daira with UMD professors Pat Farrell (Geography) and Carol Wallace (WLC Hispanic Studies)
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