Upcoming Events (View the Spring 2008 Flyer):
Friday, April 11, 2008: “America at the Crossroads” Annual Spring Lecture Series
12:00-2:00 p.m., Architecture Room 1111
Dr. Ricardo Ortiz presents “The Queers of Hispaniola: Atrocity, Memory and Sexuality in Narrative Fiction by Edwidge Danticat and Junot Diaz.”
Join us for a post-lecture reception in honor of the inaugural issue of Latinidades, a working paper series on U.S. Latinidad.
Past Events:
April 11, 2008: LSWG publishes “Latinidades: A Working Paper Series on U.S. Latina/o Studies” (Spring 2008): 1.
September 10, 2007: “Disrupting Latinidad” and LSWG is the feature cover story of “Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education” Magazine.
August 6 – September 13, 2007: Visualizing El Barrio: Eight artists interpret the local landscapes of D.C.’s Latino neighborhoods, UMD Stamp Union Gallery.
http://www.union.umd.edu/gallery/visualizing/visualizingpr.html
Friday, April 20, 2007: Disrupting Latinidad: Critical Perspective on U.S. Latina/o Studies
UMD Scholars and invited guests from universities across the U.S. including University of California, Santa Cruz, Columbia and Georgetown interrogated the burgeoning field of U.S. Latina/o Studies. Event included panels of faculty and graduate student research and a keynote roundtable on “Envisioning Latina/o Studies” from program founders across the country.
http://www.amst.umd.edu/images/latinidad%20poster.pdf
Monday, December 4, 2006: Faculty research presentation featuring Dr. Ana Patricia Rodriguez, Associate Professor of Spanish and Portuguese, 4:30-6:00 in the Women’s Studies Conference Room, Second Floor, Woods Hall.
Friday, November 10, 2006: Latina/o Graduate Research Exchange Session, Friday, November 10th at 4:00 p.m. in Taliaferro Hall 2110.
Research Presentations include Ana Perez’s (Ph.D. Student, WMST) discussion of “Emergent Modernities” and the NACO T-Shirt Phenomenon in Mexico and Tina Zarpour’s (M.A. Student, ANTH) ethnographic work on Latin American Migration in Langley Park, MD.
Friday, September 29, 2006: Faculty research presentation featuring Dr. Randy Ontiveros, Assistant Professor of Chicano/Latino Literature and Cultural Studies, 4:00-6:00 in Taliaferro Hall 2110.
His talk entitled, "The Chicano Movement: Art and Memory" will outline his book project on Chicano political manifestos and set the tone for our examination of cross-disciplinary research in Latina/o Studies.
Thursday, September 21, 2006: CRGE Graduate Colloquium Guest Speaker, Dr. Salvador Vidal-Ortiz, Assistant Professor of Sociology, American University, 12-2:00 in the Maryland Room, Mary Mount Hall.
His talk, “Bringing the Orishas Forward: Transforming Santeria Spaces as Sacred” is the first CRGE Colloquium speaker and co-sponsored by the Material Culture/Visual Culture Research Program Area and the Latina/o Studies Working Group.
Mission Statement
The U.S. Latina/o Studies Working Group is a bi-monthly, interdisciplinary gathering of University of Maryland graduate students, usually but not strictly in the humanities, arts and social sciences, interested in discussing, reading and thinking through issues in Latina/o Studies. As a critical discussion, reading and research working group, some of our past monthly topics included: Black Latinidad, migration, globalization, cultural theory, social movement history, Latina feminist thought, criminalization and the visual arts. We eagerly anticipate the formation of a Latina/o Studies Program at the University of Maryland and the opportunity to spotlight, support and strengthen new Latina/o scholarship. The meetings involve one or a combination of the following:
- A short reading on a Latina/o Studies topic
- A discussion of a newly published book, anthology or journal article
- A visiting speaker from another university in the D.C./MD/VA area
- A presentation by a Latina/o Studies scholar from the UMD faculty.
- A graduate student work/work-in-progress sharing session
The Working Group is informal and intended to give graduate students the opportunity to engage in new works, lively debates and support new critical scholarship in U.S. Latina/o Studies.
Background
The Latina/o Studies Graduate Working Group in the Department of American Studies grew out of conversations for a Latino Studies Program at the University of Maryland, College Park in the Fall of 2005. Following Provost Destler’s charge for a special Latino Studies Task Force composed of faculty, students and staff, the LSWG met in December 2005. In this introductory meeting, we laid the foundational groundwork for the working group emphasizing graduate student led discussions, guided readings and involvement in academic affairs including the new faculty hire in Chicano/Latino Literature in the Department of English. Throughout the Spring of 2006, the Working Group hosted a series of topical discussions usually in relationship to recent Latina/o Studies scholarship ranging from Latino racial formations, Chicana feminist epistemology in education, the intersections of Latinidad and Asian Americans and African slavery in the Caribbean. Some members were involved in the writing and endorsement of the Latino Studies Program Proposal and the hire of a Chicano/Latino Literature specialist in the Department of English. Joining a long lineage of Working Groups in the Department of American Studies including the Visual Culture/Material Culture Working Group, the Life Writing Group, the Media Studies (formerly Cyberculture) Working Group and the Carceral Studies Working Group, this graduate student-led initiative marks a critical intervention and offers to build a community of Latina/o Studies scholarship for years to come.
Latino Studies Working Group Members (Working Group):
Leandro D. Benmergui, History
Mark Brimhall-Vargas, College of Education
Nina Candia, English
Yanique Edmond, Family Studies
Najah Gabriel, Historic Preservation
Robb Hernandez, American Studies
Jessica Marie Johnson, History
Rigo Marquez, Education Policy and Leadership
Dora Elias McAllister, College of Education
Ana Perez, Women’s Studies
Cristina Risco, Counseling Psychology
Ana Romero, College of Education
Carlos Garcia Saldana, College of Education
Marcia Bebianno Simoes, American Studies
Maritza Solano, Spanish and Portuguese
Tina Zarpour, Anthropology
Latina/o Studies Related Faculty at U. of Maryland (Working List):
Alfred Amado, Assistant Professor, College of Education
Judith Friedenburg, Associate Professor, Anthropology
Victoria-Maria MacDonald, Associate Professor, Education Policy and Leadership
Angel David Nieves, Assistant Professor, Historic Preservation (Advisor)
Randy Ontiveros, Assistant Professor, English
Phyllis Peres, Associate Provost for Academic Planning & Programs, Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese Comparative Literature Program
Ana Patricia Rodriguez, Associate Professor, Spanish and Portuguese
Ruth Zambrana, Professor, Women’s Studies
Please check back often for updates! For more information, please contact Robb Hernandez.
