2021 LATI Colloquium

The NJCU Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies hosted the virtual 2021 LATI Colloquium on Wednesday, March 31 and Thursday, April 1. Each year, the Colloquium highlights scholarly and creative work of faculty, staff, students, and alumni from NJCU and from other colleges and universities in the area. Please see the videos below for all Colloquium programming.

For more information about the LATI Colloquium, please contact LATI Center co-director Dr. David Blackmore at dblackmore@njcu.edu.

COLLOQUIUM ORGANIZERS:
Dr. David Blackmore, LATI Center Co-Director
Dr. Cora Lagos, LATI Center Co-Director
Dr. Virginia Ochoa-Winemiller, Assistant Professor of Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Colloquium Videos

Opening Ceremony

Morning Scholarly Sessions

Afternoon Scholarly Sessions

Afternoon Creative Writing Sessions

Closing Ceremony

2021 LATI Colloquium Schedule

Wednesday, March 31

5:00 - 5:20 pm Opening Ceremony: Dr. Tamara Jhashi, Provost and Dr. David Blackmore, Co-Director of the LATI Center
5:20 - 5:30 pm Honoring Hugo Morales: Remarks by CHA officers
5:30 - 5:40 pm Honoring Sheila Kirven: Remarks by Venida C. Roman Jenkins
5:40 - 6:00 pm Diana Lee Santamaria: DLee's World Book Series presentation
6:00 - 6:10 pm Graduating LATI Minors 2020-2021: Dr. Virginia Ochoa-Winemiller
6:10 - 7:00 pm Alva Toledo and Cesar Omar Sanchez: NJCU Student Virtual Art Exhibition: Nuestra Lucha: Pandemic and Social Decay

Thursday, April 1

10:00 - 10:15 am Jacob A. Zumoff: Days of Indignation: The Washington Heights ‘Riots' of 1992 (Individual)
10:15 - 10:30 am Kyle Hernandez: Cuba and Racism towards Cubans of Color (Individual)
10:30 - 10:45 am Christopher Shamburg: Women of Color Who Podcast (Individual)
10:45 - 11:00 am Question & Answer
11:00 - 11:15 am Sabine Roehr: Hubert Fichte - a Bisexual Writer's Journey into the Afro-American Religions (Individual)
11:15 - 11:30 am Nancy Berenice Vera: Witches & Tricksters: Feminine Forms of Resistance in Afro-Mexican Folklore (Individual)
11:30 - 11:45 am Ericka Collado: Bruja: The Intersectionality of Scholarship, Culture and Latinx Identity (Individual)
11:45 - 12:00 noon - Question & Answer
12:00 - 12:30 pm - Lunch Break
12:30 - 12:45 pm Alex Trillo: When Core Communities Get Complicated: The Dynamics of a Hyper Pan-Latinx Community (Individual)
1:00 - 1:15 pm Rosalinda Ponce: Latino(a) Identity (Artwork)
1:15 - 1:30 pm - Question & Answer
1:30 - 1:45 pm Marcelo Fuentes: Like Beautiful and Innocent Beasts: The Racism of Imperialism in the Letters of Discovery by Columbus and Caminha (Individual)
1:45 - 2:00 pm Jennifer McDevitt and David Weiss: Measuring Attitudes toward Mediation in Puerto Rico (Individual)
2:00 - 2:15 pm Romanovski Zephirin: Caribbean Immigrants' Spatial Distribution and Local Political Participation in New York City (Individual)
2:15 - 3:00 pm - Question & Answer
3:00 - 3:45 pm Panel 1: Ethan Bumas, moderator. Creative Writing in Our America (Panel)
3:45 - 4:00 pm - Question & Answer (Panel)
4:00 - 4:15 pm Alva Toledo: Once Upon a Dream Journey (Individual)
4:15 - 5:00 pm Theta Pavis-Weil and Vincent Toro: Tertulia: Pan-Latinx poetry (performance)
5:00 - 5:15 pm - Question & Answer
5:15 - 5:30 pm Closing ceremony: Dr. Adrian Franco, Executive Director of the Guarini Institute for International Studies
5:30 - 6:30 pm Musical Performance by Rolando Morales-Matos and his Latin American Ensemble

Presenters

(alphabetical)

Bumas, Ethan S. (NJCU). Panel 1 moderator, email: ebumas@njcu.edu. Title: Creative Writing in Our America. This panel presents several snapshots of Latinx life in Hudson County. These are all personal works that might appeal to our audiences both for the writers' Latinidad, and for their humanidad. Even more so, their appeal is in their expert style of writing. These are stories of love and loss, romantic and familiar, during the latest pandemic and in less viral times. They describe what it is like to live in our part of the world.

Collado, Ericka. (NJCU). Poster presenter, email: ecollado@njcu.edu. Title: Bruja: The Intersectionality of Scholarship, Culture and Latinx Identity. This poster presentation will engage participants in a unique journey of self-discovery. After creating a spoken word piece for a VDay event, the writer decided to incorporate elements of the Puerto Rican musical tradition known as Bomba in the performance. The result? A powerful collaboration between three educators: a scholar, a dance instructor, and a drummer, that threads ancestral history, poetry, music, dance, and cultural identity. The session will exhibit the creative process in merging poetry and dance, videos of the performance, as well as anecdotal data, all anchored in history and the Puerto Rican diaspora experience.

Fuentes, Marcelo (NJCU). Presenter, email: mfuentes2@njcu.edu. Title: Like Beautiful and Innocent Beasts: The Racism of Imperialism in the Letters of Discovery by Columbus and Caminha. Among the similarities between the letters of discovery by Christopher Columbus and Pêro Vaz de Caminha, their descriptions of the indigenous peoples of the West Indies and Brazil are especially striking: both explorers depict the natives as beautiful and peaceful, while paying particular attention to their skin color, facial features, and nakedness. The authors’ intention to present natives as easily colonizable is explicit when they emphasize how their docility bodes well for their conversion and conquest. But other indications of that purpose can only be understood in the context of previous colonialist discourses, such as the portrayal of the inhabitants of the Canary Islands and West Africa in Portuguese and Castilian logbooks and chronicles. Instead of writing candid and plain accounts, Columbus and Caminha exploit a textual genre that, at the service of imperialist and racist views, presents entire peoples as ideal candidates to subjugation because of their character and bodily features.

Hernandez, Justin. (NJCU). Panel 1 presenter, email: jhernandez21@njcu.edu. Title: Growing Up on Broadway.

Hernandez, Kyle. (NJCU). Presenter, email: khernandez4@njcu.edu. Title: Cuba and Racism towards Cubans of Color. Cuba has a reputation, especially in the US, for treating American tourists with more respect than its own citizens. Cuba, in response, has repeatedly called out the U.S. on its hypocrisy when it comes to racial issues. While the U.S. has struggled to atone for its bigoted history, Cuba boasts that it has a better track record for its treatment of POCs, or people of color. However, the Cuban government does have a racism problem and refuses to admit it. The truth of the matter is that Cubans of color are still facing ostracism to this day. This is not helped by the fact that the Cuban media tends to paint them in a negative light while glorifying lighter skinned Cubans. Fortunately, while the government continues to ignore the race problem, the oppressed refuse to remain silent and have done what they can to combat systemic racism.

McDevitt, Jennifer. (NJCU). Presenter, email: jmcdevitt@njcu.edu. Title: Measuring Attitudes toward Mediation in Puerto Rico. Despite its international growth and promotion as a desirable means for resolving disputes over the last few decades, mediation remains largely misunderstood and underutilized throughout the world. Alternative dispute resolution, specifically mediation, has the power to save time and money while preserving relationships, ultimately improving process efficiency, when it comes to conflict resolution. This presentation will detail the team’s current research, which aims to gauge Puerto Ricans’ general understanding and perceptions of mediation. The investigators will contextualize the research by defining and describing mediation before providing an overview of the project’s objectives, scope, methodology, limitations, and long-term goal to promote a sustainable mediation culture in Puerto Rico and the Greater Caribbean Basin. This mixed methods study is composed of two parts, and the researchers will likely have the data analysis pertaining to the first stage by the time of the colloquium. They will therefore report on preliminary findings and projections.

Pavis-Weil, Theta. (NJCU). Panel 2 moderator, email: tpavisweil@njcu.edu. Title: Pan-Latinx poetry. Our session will feature poet Vincent Toro, author of the new book Tertulia, and other poets for a pan-Latinx poetry reading. The authors will share work and talk about the poetic legacies and entwined histories of the people of the Caribbean diaspora. With the launch of his new book, Toro has been creating a series of community-focused, virtual tertulias in the spirit of the Latin American social gatherings from which his book takes its title. Toro is a Puerto Rican poet, playwright, director, and educator. He is the author of two poetry collections: STEREO. ISLAND. MOSAIC. and TERTULIA. Vincent has been awarded the Poetry Society of America’s Norma Farber First Book Award. He is a professor of English at Bronx Community College. The event will open with a reading conducted in the mode of a hip-hop cypher, with poets performing one poem at a time in cycles, followed by a discussion that will eventually open up to include all attendees.

Ponce, Rosalinda. (NJCU). Artwork, email: hermanitas.rosalinda@gmail.com. Title: Latino(a) Identity.

Reyes, Krystal. (NJCU). Panel 1 presenter, email: kreyes5@njcu.edu. Title: My First Love.

Roehr, Sabine. (NJCU). Presenter, email: sroehr@njcu.edu. Title: Hubert Fichte - a Bisexual Writer's Journey into the Afro-American Religions. This proposal comes in reaction to the renewed interest in the German author Hubert Fichte (1935-86), who was the first openly homosexual—or as he would insist, bisexual—German writer. From 2017 to 2019, an international project titled Hubert Fichte: Love and Ethnology organized events and exhibitions in several cities around the world: Lisbon, Salvador de Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago de Chile, Dakar, New York, and Berlin (projectfichte.org). I propose to present an introduction into his writings as they relate to his study of Afro-American religions such as Santería and Candomblé in the Caribbean and South America and focus on the connection he establishes between his own “hybrid”—half-Jewish, bisexual, etc.—identity, or, in his own words, lack thereof, and the syncretistic religions found in countries such as Cuba, Haiti, and Brazil. This syncretism permeates his research method, his style of writing, and also the photographs his partner in life and work, Leonore Mau (1916-2013), took during their travels.

Sanchez, Cesar Omar. (NJCU). Art show curator, email: csanchez11@njcu.edu. Title: Nuestra Lucha: Pandemic and Social Decay. This is an Art Exhibition Show on some of the past and current situations occurring in Black and Latino communities in the United States, Latin America, and Caribbean Today due to a rigged socio-economic system...Capitalism. Despite the myth of human progress under the “Free Market” Capitalist system, it is clear now that this same system is destroying not only the livelihood of many people in the United States and Latin American countries but the world as well.

Santamaria, Diana Lee. Performer, email: dleesworld@gmail.com. Title: DLee's World Book Series. DLee’s World is a bilingual children’s book series written by Award-Winning, Latinx, Self-Published, Children’s Author and Early Childhood Educator, Diana Lee Santamaria. Created to mirror the author’s childhood image, with a storyline incorporating the author’s experiences as a child, adult and teacher, this series aims to represent various ethnicities that are underrepresented in today’s children’s literature while focusing on important concepts and objectives for early childhood aged children. The DLee’s World book series is geared for children age’s two to five but incorporates themes that can be enjoyed by older children as well.

Shamburg, Christopher. (NJCU). Presenter, email: cshamburg@njcu.edu. Title: Women of Color Who Podcast. This presentation shares research on women of color who produce independent podcasts that seek to educate others. It is estimated that in 2019 more than half of Americans will have listened to a podcast (Edison Research, 2019a), and the main reason people give for listening to a podcast is to learn something new (Edison Research, 2019b). One of the salient characteristics of podcasting is that the content is relatively easy to produce and distribute, giving independent producers a potentially powerful medium. Nevertheless, podcast host are overwhelmingly white males (Locke, 2015; Morgan, 2016), and with the growing reach of podcasting as a medium for informal education, the low numbers of women of color is concerning. For this research 10 women of color who podcast were interviewed for approximately an hour. Information from the interviews were supplemented and triangulated with follow up questions in email, a review of their podcasts, and documents such as their websites and show notes. This paper presents three illustrative cases, thematic analysis, and conclusions drawn from the material from all women who participated. The purpose of the research is to look why and how these women started their podcasts and what sustains them in their work. This is exploratory research in which I hope to illuminate an under-researched and important phenomenon in informal education.

Toledo, Alva. (NJCU). Art show curator, email: atoledo@njcu.edu. Title: Nuestra Lucha: Pandemic and Social Decay. This is an Art Exhibition Show on some of the past and current situations occurring in Black and Latino communities in the United States, Latin America, and Caribbean Today due to a rigged socio-economic system...Capitalism. Despite the myth of human progress under the “Free Market” Capitalist system, it is clear now that this same system is destroying not only the livelihood of many people in the United States and Latin American countries but the world as well.

Toledo, Alva. (NJCU). Presenter, email: atoledo@njcu.edu. Title: Once Upon a Dream Journey. I will take the audience on a journey into searching for answers in a cold lost world. Upon my journey I am constantly being called by a familiar but unknown voice. Once I have reached the light a new world exposes itself to me and invites me in. When I enter this new world it delivers a message of motivation and self-love. I will describe this new world in a poetic scenery to make audience understand its beauty. Lastly, when returned to reality, I begin to realize the real meaning of my experience has a deeper meaning than anticipated which will delivered within the poem.

Toro, Vincent. (Bronx C.C). Panel 2 presenter. Title: Pan-Latinx poetry. Our session will feature poet Vincent Toro, author of the new book Tertulia, and other poets for a pan-Latinx poetry reading. The authors will share work and talk about the poetic legacies and entwined histories of the people of the Caribbean diaspora. With the launch of his new book, Toro has been creating a series of community-focused, virtual tertulias in the spirit of the Latin American social gatherings from which his book takes its title. Toro is a Puerto Rican poet, playwright, director, and educator. He is the author of two poetry collections: STEREO. ISLAND. MOSAIC. and TERTULIA. Vincent has been awarded the Poetry Society of America’s Norma Farber First Book Award. He is a professor of English at Bronx Community College. The event will open with a reading conducted in the mode of a hip-hop cypher, with poets performing one poem at a time in cycles, followed by a discussion that will eventually open up to include all attendees.

Trillo, Alex. (St Peters U). Presenter, email: atrillo@saintpeters.edu. Title: When Core Communities Get Complicated: The Dynamics of a Hyper Pan-Latinx Community. This paper examines if and the extent to which Bergenline is a pan-Latinx core community. We begin with an overview of core community development. We then conduct a quantitative analysis of Census data to demonstrate the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity, as well as the geospatial arrangement of different groups. We conclude with resident interviews and field observations to highlight multiple sites of hyper panlatinidad and communal support including the built environment and language practices, which are both influenced by intense entrepreneurship, and community events. In doing so, we also find divides along the lines of social class, ethnicity, race, and generation.

Vera, Nancy Berenice. (U Maryland). Presenter, email: nvera@umd.edu. Title: Witches & Tricksters: Feminine Forms of Resistance in Afro-Mexican Folklore. When anthropologists set out to find the remnants of Mexico's African past, they happened upon several Black communities along the Costa Chica Coast that preserved their history in the form of folktales, myths, and legends. Once these tales were compiled and taken back for examination, Mexican scholars attributed the origin of these stories to Spanish and Indigenous folklore. Afro-Mexican folktales are not studied alongside the African folklore tradition. In this paper, I argue that trickster rabbit tales found in Afro-Mexican communities are representative of the African Diaspora in Mexico and of how gender norms for enslaved men and women changed in the New World. Through African folklore, enslaved men learned feminized ways of opposition that included trickery and collective mobilization. These traits, which were feminine in the Old World, became masculine in the New World. Women became removed as the protagonists of trickster tales and became associated with witchcraft.

Weiss, David. (NJCU). Presenter. Title: Measuring Attitudes toward Mediation in Puerto Rico. Despite its international growth and promotion as a desirable means for resolving disputes over the last few decades, mediation remains largely misunderstood and underutilized throughout the world. Alternative dispute resolution, specifically mediation, has the power to save time and money while preserving relationships, ultimately improving process efficiency, when it comes to conflict resolution. This presentation will detail the team’s current research, which aims to gauge Puerto Ricans’ general understanding and perceptions of mediation. The investigators will contextualize the research by defining and describing mediation before providing an overview of the project’s objectives, scope, methodology, limitations, and long-term goal to promote a sustainable mediation culture in Puerto Rico and the Greater Caribbean Basin. This mixed methods study is composed of two parts, and the researchers will likely have the data analysis pertaining to the first stage by the time of the colloquium. They will therefore report on preliminary findings and projections.

Zephirin, Romanovski. (NJCU). Presenter, email: yeszeph@yahoo.com. Title: Caribbean Immigrants' Spatial Distribution and Local Political Participation in New York City. During the past decades, the Caribbean community continues to grow in New York City and its five Boroughs. The Spatial distribution of the Caribbean immigrant population follows some socio-economic, ethno-socio-cultural and socio-political networks and patterns in New York. These factors which drive spatial distribution and local political participation, are not in isolation from the whole multi-cultural urban society, urban economy, urban politics and urban policy dynamics of New York. Consequently, in its diverse causes and effects, the Caribbean immigrants’ urban location/relocation patterns reflect to some degree the U.S. immigration policy and migrant policy in New York State.

Zumoff, Jacob A. (NJCU). Presenter, email: jzumoff@njcu.edu. Title: Days of Indignation: The Washington Heights ‘Riots' of 1992. In July 1992, New York City police shot and killed José “Kiko” García, a 23-year old immigrant from the Dominican Republic, on West 162d Street in Upper Manhattan. Washington Heights, one of the largest Dominican neighborhoods outside of Santo Domingo, erupted in days of indignation, known as the “Washington Heights Riots,” including the police laying siege to the neighborhood. This presentation will examine the events of July 1992, placing it in the context of police brutality in New York City, the increasing importance of the Dominican community in New York, and the political rise of Rudolph Giuliani who became mayor in 1993 in part because he depicted incumbent David Dinkins as antipolice based on his reaction to the events.

There are many people to thank, as the organization of this colloquium has truly been a group effort. In addition to thanking the presenters themselves, we would like to thank the following NJCU sponsors:

Office of the President, Dr. Sue Henderson
Office of the Provost and Senior VP, Dr. Tamara Jhashi
Associate Provost and C3 director, Dr. Nurdan Aydin
Interim Associate Provost for Undergraduate Experience, Dr. Maria Lynn
College of Arts and Sciences, Dean’s office, Dr. João Sedycias
Interim Associate Dean of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS), Dr. Jason Martinek
Office of Global Initiatives, Tamara Cunningham
Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies Academic Program
World Languages and Cultures Department
Graduate Assistant Christine Genthe