Luso-Hispanic Studies

A conversation in Spanish with Alina Duarte

With the Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, the recent U.S. invasion of Venezuela, and the current blockade on Cuba, several Latin American countries have entered a new stage of threats to their sovereignty. In this context of vulnerability, the dearth of non-diasporic Latin American perspectives on the news we consume becomes increasingly problematic. 

A large, multi-generational family reunites for a single day at the grandmother’s home near a Veracruz beach. Over the course of this gathering, characters come together and drift apart, revealing hidden tensions, personal secrets, and the complex ties that bind them. Directed by Miguel Fernández and produced and performed by the students of Spanish 498. 

This event is FREE!

A large, multi-generational family reunites for a single day at the grandmother’s home near a Veracruz beach. Over the course of this gathering, characters come together and drift apart, revealing hidden tensions, personal secrets, and the complex ties that bind them. Directed by Miguel Fernández and produced and performed by the students of Spanish 498. 

This event is FREE!

On the eve of the English language publication of her debut novel, Afro-Ecuadorian writer, poet, teacher and DJ, Yuliana Ortiz Ruano will be joined by her literary agent, Elianna Kan ‘10.5, in a broad-ranging conversation about translation. They will discuss the literal process of Yuliana’s experience working with a translator to convey her novel from Spanish into English, as well as translation across media: how does Yuliana approach the work of translating carnaval—its movements and sounds—from the corporeal experience into words?

Presented by Clara Kriger, Universidad de Buenos Aires/CONICET

Mexican women writers are driving an affective rearrangement of aesthetic practices, places of enunciation, and the “lettered city” — a shift that is shaking up ideas about the canon, the functioning of national literature, and the role of the intellectual in the 21st century. As Cristina Rivera Garza has pointed out, we are witnessing a transformation in literature where the book is no longer the endpoint, nor is there a singular figure of the author.

Over three decades, Robert Nickelsberg shot photos of insurgents and counter-insurgents in El Salvador, Iraq and Afghanistan for Time magazine.  For this event, he will present B&W images of the Salvadoran civil war and go into what they tell us about the choices facing Salvadorans.  U.S. support for a rightwing dictatorship not only motivated many to flee to the U.S., Nickelsberg will argue, but also laid the groundwork for present-day chaos at the southern border.

Presented in Spanish by Ana Cabana Iglesia, Associate Professor of History, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (Spain).