Latin American Studies

Paul Julian Smith, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures and Languages at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, will continue a line of inquiry developed in his recent book Mexican Screen Fiction by discussing the intersection of popular cinema and “quality” television in contemporary Mexico.

Lee Schlenker and Marcel Lueiro Reyes, a Cuban popular educator, will talk about their work with Witness for Peace and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center in Havana, Cuba. Both are engaged in the struggle for a more inclusive and democratic socialism. Marcel is eager to discuss the perception of U.S. policies on the island as well as the influence of people from the U.S. on Cuban baseball, music and film.

“Lupe Under the Sun” is a neorealist film following an aging migrant worker living in California, who longs to return to Mexico before it is too late. Featuring a cast of nonprofessional actors, real farmworkers and authentic locations, Lupe Under the Sun tackles issues of depression, homesickness and the immigrant myth of the American Dream.
2016
Dir. Rodrigo Reyes
In Spanish with English subtitles

Ana Portnoy Brimmer, poet and organizer from Puerto Rico, will be talking about and reading from her debut poetry collection, To Love An Island. This book offers the stark recognition that disaster is political and colonialism the most violent of storms. Beginning with the aftermath of Hurricane María and spanning the summer insurrection of 2019 and subsequent earthquakes in Puerto Rico, To Love An Island is an exploration of collective trauma, an outpour of amassed grief, a desire for unleashed mourning, a fuck-you to resilience, a brandishing of resistance.

Mónica García Blizzard (Assistant Professor of Spanish at Emory University) will give a talk based on her recently published book The White Indians of Mexican Cinema: Racial Masquerade throughout the Golden Age (Albany: SUNY Press, 2022).

Sponsored by the Latin American Studies programs at Macalester and Middlebury, Toward New Latin Americanisms is envisioned to be a space in which generative thinkers question the current state of Latin American studies (in the United States and beyond) and speculate as to which direction(s) we may go in the future. In this talk, Claudia Milian (Professor of Romance Studies at Duke University) will discuss the intersections between Latin American studies and Latinx Studies.

Sponsored by the Latin American Studies programs at Macalester and Middlebury, Toward New Latin Americanisms is envisioned to be a space in which generative thinkers question the current state of Latin American studies (in the United States and beyond) and speculate as to which direction(s) we may go in the future. In this talk, Marla Pérez Lugo and Cecilio Ortiz García (both of Universidad de Puerto Rico-Mayagüez / Macalester College) will give the talk “Observing the Observer: Reflections on Decolonizing Academia.”

Sponsored by the Latin American Studies programs at Macalester and Middlebury, Toward New Latin Americanisms is envisioned to be a space in which generative thinkers question the current state of Latin American studies (in the United States and beyond) and speculate as to which direction(s) we may go in the future. In this conversation, Nicolas Shumway (Professor Emeritus of Spanish at Rice University and the University of Texas at Austin.

Participants include Sarah Rogerson, Clinical Professor of Law, Director of Immigration Law Clinic, Director of Law Clinic and Justice Center at Albany Law School, Dr. Andrea Green, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the New Americans Clinic at University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine, Migrant Justice, Hannah Krutiansky ‘19, and Meron Benti ‘19

The work featured at Poetry Is Busy tackle issues of racial disparity, prejudice, and violence within queer communities. This collaborative event between the Poetry Is Busy organization and the MILC initiative Verbal Onslaught would be conducive to the long sought after representation at Middlebury thought-provoking conversation surrounding intersectionality.