< strong > "Cultural identity," central theme of university congress < / strong >

With his paper "The Development of Cultural Identity in the Republic of Panama," the Minister of Culture, Giselle González Villarrué participated in the opening of the II Scientific Congress and the First International Congress, both events organized by the Regional University Centre of San Miguelito (CRUSAM) as part of his 30-year Founding.

The Minister of Culture began his participation with a dynamic to feel the power of music, accompanied by the "Jazz Lady" Idania Dowman who gave to the members of the audience a series of songs that reaffirmed that national identity as the pieces "Panamanian, Panamanian," "Viva Panama," "I will save" among others, that are part of the repertoire of the Panamanian artist and that were greatly applauded and cheered by them.

The highest cultural authority, González Villarrué, continued to highlight the figure of educator Onelia Fernández Camargo, whom they call as the "20th century Alchemist," and where students, administrative personnel and university authorities dedicated this academic training event.

Likewise, the incumbent of the cultural portfolio explained to the participants the concept of identity, its characteristics, its components and qualities and emphasized that "the history of a people, cultural traditions, heritage and its historic events are an important role in the development of identity, narrative, legends, myths, religion and beliefs that are transmitted from generation to generation, help to define who we are."

"The ways we report our environment and how we translate them into the history of the future and build that identity and so we are all responsible for how we put that concept into the narrations we do, that's what's about to be part of that building of an identity that's part of today," González Villarrué said.

In this framework she also referred to what is being undertaken from MiCultura to rescue the mother tongues of the native peoples as part of strengthening that identity as well as to the proposal submitted to the UNESCO of the Transistmic Colonial Route and the rescue of the Races of Portobelo and the Afro-American memory museum.

González Villarrué closed his presentation by stating that "Culture is everything, each and every one of you is a thread of a color that knits a great multicolored hammock and that makes us the Panamanian we are today, I invite you to reflect on how we felt about what we went and what we wanted to get at and what we want to become."

It should be noted that prior to the intervention of the Minister of Culture, María Lucía Alemán, executive director of the Museum of Contemporary Art of which MiCultura is a benefactor and who addressed the importance of museums as spaces for the enjoyment of citizenship was introduced.

The space to develop both themes indicates the importance for university and educational authorities of the importance and added value of culture in the training of new Panamanian professionals.