Experiencing Authenticity in La Modelo, a Prison Education Initiative in Colombia, the documentary.

Speakers: Lee Perlman, PhD, Co-Director of The Educational Justice Institute (TEJI) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Maria Paula Avila Vera, anthropologist, researcher, and filmmaker; Sang J. Cho, Associate Producer, Harvard Kennedy School; Colin Conwell, Postdoctoral Researcher, Harvard University's Vision Sciences Laboratory; Ana Lucía Merla López, Integral Designer, Harvard University Graduate School of Design; Jonathan Chinen, Researcher, Harvard Business School; Paul Wehner, Technologist, Harvard Kennedy School
Moderated by: Doris Sommer, Ira Jewell Williams Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures Director of the Cultural Agents Initiative

Colombia is renowned for its efforts in achieving peace, and its correctional facilities serve as the stage for an impactful cultural and social accord. However, they also mirror the contradictions of the country, including its bureaucracy and violence.

In line with these perspectives, Lee Perlman, the founder and Co-Director of The Educational Justice Institute at MIT (TEJI),  in partnership with Colombian filmmaker María Paula Ávila Vera, conducted an adaptation of the MIT humanities course 'Authenticity' at La Modelo prison facility. The philosophy class, which poses questions about what it means to live an authentic life and delves into subjects such as cruelty, manipulation, radical honesty, courage, and forgiveness, was presented to a group consisting of incarcerated students (prisoners) as well as students from MIT, Harvard, and Wellesley. A documentary was filmed to highlight the power of this encounter and the complexities and impact of education in prison environments.

At this event, Professor Doris Sommer will moderate a conversation about this experience with Professor Lee Perlman, filmmaker Maria Paula Avila Vera, and Harvard students who participated in this course. The official teaser of the documentary, which is currently in the production stage, will also be screened.

Lee Perlman earned his B.A. from St. John’s College (Annapolis) and then pursued graduate work in philosophy at the Catholic University of America. He completed an M.A. in political philosophy at Georgetown University. Before earning his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lee spent eight years working in the political arena as a public interest lobbyist and political organizer. In 1978 Baltimore Magazine named him “the most feared lobbyist in Maryland.” He has taught at Harvard University, Brown University, Swarthmore College, Phillips Academy (Andover), and, for over 30 years, at MIT. Lee considers himself to be primarily an educator, and prides himself on designing and teaching a number of courses at MIT, which offer students an integrated view of the humanities and sciences in the western tradition. Among these are “Ancient Greek Mathematics and Philosophy” and a course jointly listed in the Philosophy Department, “A Philosophical History of Energy.” His other signature course is “Philosophy of Love.” Lee has been awarded the Irwin Sizer Award for Most Significant Improvement to MIT Education three times (1997, 2015, and 2019). He was also awarded MIT’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Award in 2018. Lee is a composer and musician, and the Music Director of the Deborah Abel Dance Company, which has toured in the US and India.

Maria Paula Ávila Vera is an anthropologist, researcher, and filmmaker. She began her career working for Protozoa Pictures, Darren Aronofsky's company, and as a Visiting Researcher in the Department of Economics at The New School. Her work as a video artist has been exhibited in the MIT Museum and various galleries and film festivals in Latin America. Her first feature-length films, "MIEMBROS," about a group of Colombian military personnel with amputations who are hired as action movie extras, and "ANTI-CONTACTO," in which a young pedophile woman explores her will and desires, are in the postproduction stage. She has worked as a writer for films produced by the Colombian Truth Commission, as well as for both narrative and documentary projects that have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, Cannes, and Netflix.

Sang J. Cho, holds a MPA from Harvard Kennedy School & MBA from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management. Sang is the Co-founder and President of Rounded, a US-based manufacturer company, and Haymaker Coffee Company located in Jacksonville, Florida. He previously worked at a Private Equit portfolio company that IPO on the NYSE in 2016. Sang is also the founding board member, and former Chair of Bloom Academy Charter School based in Houston, Texas.

Colin Conwell is a postdoctoral researcher in cognitive neuroscience and machine learning. He studied International Relations and Comparative Literature during his undergraduate years. He earned his Ph.D. in Cognition, Brain, and Behavior from Harvard University's Vision Sciences Laboratory within the Department of Psychology. As a postdoctoral researcher in Harvard's Vision Sciences Laboratory, Colin's work spans the realms of computational cognitive neuroscience and machine learning (AI), with a specific emphasis on the convergence of perception and language in comprehending and reverse engineering human and nonhuman intelligence. His current overarching research inquiry revolves around how the mind assigns significance to the sensory chaos it encounters and subsequently conveys this significance to other minds.

Ana Lucía Merla López is a Mexican integral designer with a diverse background in graphic, product, and strategic design. She is interested in circular, inclusive, and social design and the intersections that could be found between these areas and the public policy-making process. Ana has accumulated extensive multidisciplinary professional experience, spanning from urban development to neuromarketing research and consultancy. She has engaged with the public, nonprofit, and private sectors, the latter involving projects for clients such as Heineken and Starbucks. Prior to enrolling as a student and research assistant at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Ana Lucía completed her studies in Mexico City. She graduated as a valedictorian from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, with her National Design Biennale award-winning thesis titled: "Access to Justice for People with Disabilities." Ana Lucía has received prestigious grants, including the Fulbright Grant, the JUMEX Foundation Grant, and the FONCA-CONACYT Grant.

Jonathan Chinen is originally from Hawai'i and has a background in visual design, mechanical engineering, and interaction design. After completing a Master of Engineering degree with a focus on human-centered design from the University of California, Berkeley, he worked in Singapore as an Interaction Designer. Upon returning to the US, he worked as an Interaction Design Engineer at the Renault-Nissan Innovation Lab in Silicon Valley, where he designed and prototyped novel experiences for future mobility and smart city contexts. Jon joined the 2024 Master in Design Engineering cohort at Harvard to explore how to scale design strategies at the intersection of design and technology in urban contexts. Since coming to Harvard, Jon has worked as a Researcher at the Harvard Business School and metaLAB at The Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. His research interests also include design justice, designing for the margins, and methodologies towards decolonizing design.

Paul Wehner is an experienced technologist with a passion for Blockchain technologies as well as AR/VR. Paul is a full-stack developer and has worked at One Long House previously. He is a Co-Founder of SFB Technologies, Inc., developing the technology platform to issue sovereign digital currencies. A former co-founder & CEO of Marble AR, Paul has also held the position of Director at MyLife, where he built the first version of the platform and Founder at Music Video Machine. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Management Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as a certification in Writing & Directing for Film & TV from UCLA Extension. Paul also holds a certification from the University of Cambridge in Fintech Innovation: Disrupting the Financial Landscape, and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Doris Sommer, Director of the Cultural Agents Initiative at Harvard University, is Ira and Jewell Williams Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and of African and African American Studies. Her academic and outreach work promotes development through arts and humanities, specifically through “Pre-Texts” in Boston Public Schools, throughout Latin America and beyond. Pre-Texts is an arts-based training program for teachers of literacy, critical thinking, and citizenship. Among her books are Foundational Fictions: The National Romances of Latin America (1991) about novels that helped to consolidate new republics; Proceed with Caution when Engaged by Minority Literature (1999) on a rhetoric of particularism; Bilingual Aesthetics: A New Sentimental Education (2004); and The Work of Art in the World: Civic Agency and Public Humanities (2014). Sommer has enjoyed and is dedicated to developing good public school education. She has a BA from New Jersey's Douglass College for Women, and PhD from Rutgers University.

Presented in collaboration with The Educational Justice Institute (TEJI) at MIT