Every year the US celebrate Hispanic / Latinx Heritage Month from September 15 through October 15. Beginning on Tuesday, September 21st, we will have a long month conversation around decolonizing our Latinx heritage. These will take place at the West Lecture Hall from 6pm - 7:30pm.

RSVPs are much appreciated so that we can plan for food. You can do it on here or by emailing cc@hampshire.edu.

(PAST) September 21st: Color, Race, and In/Equality with Dr. Roosbelinda Cárdenas

(PAST) September 28th: Suicide Prevention with Ysabel Garcia

October 5th: Art, Spirituality, & Decolonization with Esteban Jimenez and Dr. Gloria Caballero-Roca

We look forward to seeing you at one of our events.

More about the speakers:

Dr. Roosbelinda Cárdenas holds a B.A. in economics and anthropology/sociology from Swarthmore College, an M.A. in Latin American studies from the University of Texas, Austin, and a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Her teaching and research focuses on identity and rights for Afro-descendants in Latin America and social theory of race and racism, social movements, place and displacement, and human rights. She takes an engaged ethnographic approach to teaching and is particularly interested in the intersections of knowledge production and activism.

Ysabel Garcia is a first-generation Dominican immigrant who identifies as a psychiatric system survivor and experiences suicidal thoughts since childhood. By telling her story through public speaking engagements, social media, and leadership roles, she inspires others to be vulnerable and break the sanism around suicide and mental health. Ysabel earned a Bachelor's in Child Psychology and a Master's in Public Health from Bay Path University.

She currently serves the Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention (MCSP) Equity Alliance. She has helped develop their toolkit, "Widening the Lens: Exploring the Role of Social Justice and Racial Equity in Suicide Prevention" and participated in their Facebook video campaign #SuicideDoesntDiscriminate in Spanish.

Dr. Gloria Caballero Roca has been an educator, researcher and activist for more than two decades. Cuban born, raised and educated in Havana, her global experience throughout her career took her to explore topics on translation, Latin American, Latinx and Caribbean studies, Women ́s and Gender and Gender and Diversity studies. With two Ph.D ́s, two MA ́s degrees, her mission in education has been to form sophisticated critical thinkers who can recognize our interdependency and connectedness among ourselves and with Mother Earth. Her publications and international talks focus on the intersectionality of diaspora, imperialism and transnational experience.

Esteban Jimenez was born in La Habana, Cuba.  In 2011 he obtains the BFA degree from the National Academy of Fine Arts “San Alejandro” in Havana. A year later, Jiménez Guerra opened his own studio gallery in Havana called the “Almost Famous Gallery.” He used the space to exhibit his work, create art and hold workshops for children in the community.

Esteban’s work challenges racial and gendered stereotypes that circulate in popular culture by offering transformative and liberating representations of the body. He sees the body as a vessel and as a complex map of inflicted memories that are conditioned by lived experiences. Esteban uses Afro-Cuban symbolism from the Abakuá, Lucumí, and Palo Monte religions and their parallels with life to re-signify the histories and contemporary structures that sustain racism and sexism. Esteban’s paintings are mystical, Black-centered and confrontational. Black, white, reds and yellows predominate in his works, which are mostly large-format paintings that mix techniques such as collagraph and cyanotype.