Tony Keffler

Photograph by Karla Vargas, March 2008

Tony Keffler is a native of Amarillo and a third year student majoring in Latin American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. In 2007-2008, he interned at the
Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice at UT's Law School, working on the center's disparate projects as it builds a multidisciplinary community engaged in the practice and study of human rights. Mr. Keffler is the Alumni Relations Director for the Queer Students Alliance (QSA) and a Committee Chair of the Gender and Sexuality Center's Advisory Board. In this capacity he helped organize the University of Texas' first successful Lavender Graduation. He is also a committee member of the Voices Against Violence program and a student outreach promotional assistant for the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival.

The photograph shows Tony in Brazil in March 2008. Tony was part of an interdisciplinary student group that went to interview activists in African-descendent communities, as well as other government officials and academics, concerning land rights. The Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice sponsored the project and reported its findings.

Tony records and interviews and also -- with amazing discipline, focus, and patience -- transcribes them.