SBCC Reads 2018: The Little School

    The Little School by Alicia Partnoy

    Book cover for The Little School

    April 13

    Come hear a free reading and lecture by the author! You can even get your book signed! No tickets needed; seats are on a first-come, first-served basis. The event will be held at SBCC.

    About the Book

    “One of Argentina’s 30,000 “disappeared”, Alicia Partnoy was abducted from her home by secret police and taken to a concentration camp where she was tortured, and where most of the other prisoners were killed. Smuggled out and published anonymously, The Little School is Partnoy’s memoir of her disappearance and imprisonment.” Start Midnight, LLC – World

    About the Author

    “Alicia Partnoy is a survivor from the secret detention camps where about 30,000 people ‘disappeared’ in Argentina. She came to the US as a refugee, after three years as a political prisoner. A human rights activists and poet, she is best known for The Little School: Tales of Disappearance and Survival. She presides over Proyecto VOS-Voices of Survivors, an organization that brings survivors of state sponsored or tolerated violence to lecture at U.S. universities. She currently teaches at Loyola Marymount University.” From TEDx Talks

    SBCC Events

    January 30: Free Book Giveaway

    Luria Library gave out free copies of the book to interested students starting January 30. Though all the books have been taken, we will have a book donation basket to help others share the completed SBCC Reads book with other students.
    The Official Story

    March 20: Film Screening

    “The Official Story” – A movie that documents the sudden realization of a middle class Argentinian woman that her adopted daughter might be a child of one of the disappeared in Argentina’s Dirty War of the 1970s.
    Movie screening on Tuesday, March 20th, 4:00-6:00 p.m., in PE 218
    Sponsored by the School of Modern Languages and the Spanish Club.

    April 13: Author Talk and Reading

    Alicia Partnoy will speak at SBCC on Friday, April 13 at noon in BC Forum. This event is co-sponsored by the Student Equity Committee and the SBCC School of Modern Languages. Refreshments and book signing afterward!

    Learn More

    About La Guerra Sucia (the Dirty War) in Argentina, 1970s-80s

    About the Genre of Testimonio, or Testimonial Literature

    • Can Literature Promote Justice? Trauma Narrative and Social Action in Latin American Testimonio, by Kimberly Nance – 868 N176c
    • “Testimonial Writing”, by Emil Volek, from the Concise Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature (ebook)
    • “Testimony”, by Bella Brodzki, from the Encyclopedia of Life Writing: Autobiographical and Biographical Forms (eBook)

    Books Similar to The Little School

    • Against All Hope: A Memoir of Life in Castro’s Gulag, by Armando Valladares and Andrew Hurley (eBook)
    • Hear My Testimony: María Teresa Tula, Human Rights Activist of El Salvador, by María Teresa Tula and Lynn Stephen – 323.092 T917h
    • I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemala, by Rigoberta Menchú and Elisabeth Burgos-Debray – 920.07281 M536m
    • My Invented Country: A Nostalgic Journey Through Chile, by Isabel Allende – 863 A432Pe
    • Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number, by Jacobo Timerman – 365.45 T583p
    • Surviving Mexico’s Dirty War: A Political Prisoner’s Memoir, by Alberto Ulloa Bornemann, Arthur Schmidt, and Aurora Camacho de Schmidt (eBook)

    Fictional Works Related to Argentina’s Dirty War

    SBCC Reads

    In collaboration with the School of Modern Languages and the Student Equity Committee Luria Library will be hosting a number of events and activities to explore the issues raised as we read The Little School together.

    Purposes of SBCC Reads

    • Explore interdisciplinary issues sparked by the selected book through conversations, readings, displays, and other activities. Free copies of the book will distributed to interested students.
    • Generate informed discussion of key issues by promoting the reading and discussion of books on the broad themes in the book.
    • Focus on academic disciplines at SBCC which provide us with a broader understanding of the issues raised in the book.
    • Create further campus appreciation of the library and the role it plays in education and research.
    • Encourage the exchange of ideas in our community.

    Previous SBCC Reads Titles

    In conjunction with UCSB, Westmont College, Antioch University and/or the Santa Barbara Public Library: