Ohio University to host seventh Ohio Latin Americanist Conference March 1, 2008
Cuban scholar to present keynote address on transnational Caribbean culture
The recent stepping down of Cuban President Fidel Castro and renewed interest in the future of this island nation makes a visit by Cuban scholar Eliana Rivero both timely and pertinent. Rivero will deliver the keynote address for the Ohio Latin Americanist Conference taking place March 1 in Gordy Hall. Other highlights of the conference will include seventy-five paper presentations by faculty and students and a Latin dance with music by Latin Jazz.
Hosted by OHIO’s Latin American Studies Program – the only program of its kind in the state of Ohio offering a master’s degree focused on the region - the conference will coincide with the 12th Annual Spanish Colloquium, an annual event of the Department of Modern Languages. Previously organized by The Ohio State University, the gathering provides a unique opportunity for students and faculty in Ohio and surrounding areas to share research being conducted on Latin America. The conference will be held at OHIO again in 2009 before moving on to the University of Cincinnati in 2010.
Director of Latin American Studies and Associate Professor of Modern Languages Betsy Partyka believes having the conference at OHIO is advantageous. “In the last six years, OHIO students – both graduate and undergraduate students in Spanish and Latin American Studies - have participated heavily in this conference,” she said. “When the opportunity arose to host the conference here, we didn’t give it a second thought. This is an amazing opportunity for Latin American specialists at OHIO.”
José Delgado, also Associate Professor of Modern Languages, is co-convener of the conference.
Born in Cuba in 1961, keynote speaker Eliana Rivero is professor of Spanish and adjunct professor of Women’s Studies and Latin American Studies at the University of Arizona. She has published extensively on the experience of Chicanos and U.S. Latinos and her research has been supported with grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Rockefeller Foundation. Her keynote lecture “Cosa Nostra, Mare Nostrum: Mafia Motifs in Transnational Caribbean Culture” will take place at 1:00 in the Ballroom at the Ohio University Inn.
Rivero is also the featured speaker at the International Studies Forum on Friday, January 29 at 3:00pm in Walter Hall 145, where she will present “Divas and Chicas: The New Latina Boom.”
A Latin dance with music by Latin Jazz - whose music combines rhythms of Latin America with contemporary jazz - will conclude the conference at 8:00pm on March 1 in the Walter Hall Rotunda. The dance is being organized by OHIO’s Organización LatinoAmericana (OLA) with support from the Student Activities Commission (SAC) and The International Student Union (ISU).
The full conference schedule and registration information can be found on the Latin American Studies website at http://www.ohiou.edu/latinamerican.
Contact: Director of Latin American Studies Betsy Partyka at 740-593-2764 or partyka@ohio.edu; Assistant Director of the Center for International Studies Karla Schneider at 740-593-1842 or schneidk@ohio.edu.
Yamada International House, 56 E. Union Street, Athens OH 45701 (740) 593-1840