Author: ems040

(Jan. 12, 2023) National Humanities Center features Archival Activism project

My research was highlighted by the National Humanities Center this January, alongside the work of my fellow fellows, Martha M. F. Kelley and W Jason Miller. Every month the Center highlights a set of fellowship projects that share a common theme, in our case, “the influence of the artist.”

Rather than ask us for abstracts of our research in progress, the Center requested that we respond to questions that provide deeper insight into why we think our scholarship matters.

The prompts included, ‘”What was the initial spark that led you to this project? What are the big questions that you are considering?”, “In the course of your research have you run across anything that genuinely surprised you? What can you tell us about it?”, and “What new avenues of inquiry do you hope this research will prompt or make possible in your field?”

Check out our answers here: https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/featured-research-the-influence-of-the-artist/

(Oct. 22, 2022) Critical Dialogues in Latinx Studies wins Best Edited Book Prize

The New England Council of Latin American Studies awarded Critical Dialogues in Latinx Studies the D. Scott Palmer Best Edited Book Prize.

Want to learn more about Critical Dialogues in Latinx Studies? Listen to the New Books in Latinx Studies Podcast interview with Ana Y. Ramos-Zayas and Mérida M. Rúa. Host Jonathan Cortez remarks that “Critical Dialogues is a culmination of their friendship and a love letter to the field of Latinx Studies, launching us toward a new way to explore history, culture, and identity.”

(Sept. 29, 2022) Settling in at the National Humanities Center

My residency at the National Humanities Center began in September and I am simply astounded by the resources available for fellows. The librarians on staff are amazing: they have obtained all the books I need for my research as well as archival materials that I thought were completely out of reach.

During my first couple of weeks, I listened to my fellow fellows describe their research projects and drafted some points of dialogue, a shared vocabulary that might enrich our individual projects: power dynamics, ownership/authority & cultural capital, racial hierarchy/racism, performance, embodiment, memory of resistance & absence/silence/gaps, witness/redress, postcoloniality, decolonization, institutions, hunger for representation, longing for social justice, spatial politics, relationship between art and audience, challenging mainstream discourses, canonization, proximity to white power, and market popularity.

I know that I think best in the company of others so I am very much looking forward to listening and learning from my colleagues during our lunchtime conversations and project workshops.

(May 19, 2022) Publication in TikTok Cultures Book

My chapter, “Hype it Up: US Latinx Theater on TikTok,” appears in the just published TikTok Cultures in the United States collection, edited by Trevor Buffone. The book focuses on “the role of TikTok in US popular culture, paying close attention to the app’s growing body of subcultures.” Use discount code ADC22 for 30% off when you purchase your own copy from Routledge here.

As platforms like TikTok emerge, there is much to learn about the many people and ideas it gives voice to, as well as silences and suppresses. Boffone has given us a must-read collection for those working to make the pressing issues of internet culture and community legible. This work further expands the urgent need for a disciplinary field of internet studies as digital media platforms are remaking our worlds.
Safiya Umoja Noble, author of Algorithms of Oppression

(Mar. 28, 2022) John G. Medlin, Jr. Fellowship of the National Humanities Center

I’ve been fortunate enough to be awarded John G. Medlin, Jr. Fellowship by the National Humanities Center, which means I’ll be in residence there for the 2022-2023 academic year.

I’ll be working on my research project, “Staging Activism in US Latinx Theater,” and enjoying the support provided by the National Humanities Center, which includes a fellowship stipend, library services, a private office, common hour meals, and a wonderful community of over 30+ fellows. Learn more about the class of 2022–23 and their projects below:

Class-List_2022-23Download

(Dec. 30, 2021) Latinx Forum and the Modern Language Association Convention

This is my final term as chair of the LLC Latina/Latino Forum, so I’m looking forward to attending the virtual panels we are hosting at the 2022 MLA Convention!

Thursday, 6 January 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:15 PM

Session 163 Democracy and the Latinx Novel

Presider: Alberto Varón

Recent events have demonstrated the simultaneous vulnerability and resiliency of democratic projects and of our need for cultural frameworks for imagining the norms and processes of those institutions. Panelists address the relation between democracy and the novel across historical, linguistic, and ethnic ranges and discuss the novel form’s ability to imagine a more just democratic society.

Panelists: José de la Garza Valenzuela , G.R. Andrés Guzmán, Carmen Lamas, Carlos Alonso Nugent, Kristy L. Ulibarri

Friday, 7 January 2022, 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM 

Session 331V Performing Borders / Performances on the Border

Presider: Marion Christina Rohrleitner

Presentations:

“Crossing Geographies: Guadalupe Maravilla’s Utopian Gestures,” Amanda Macedo Macedo, Brown U

“Gloria Anzaldúa and María Cristina Mena’s Brown Performances,” Renee Hudson, Chapman U

“Like a Puzzle: Fragmentation, Horror, and the Grotesque on the United States–Mexico Border,” Maia Gil’Adí, U of Massachusetts, Lowell

“Cenicienta: A Bilingual Rasquache Performance to Promote Access and Representation,” Adriana Dominguez, U of Texas, El Paso

Executive Committee Members

(Dec. 13, 2021) Featuring Latinx Studies at NYU Press

On Monday, December 13, 2021, The Latinx Project held a feature of NYU Press books on Latinx Studies; including Jesica S. Fernández, author of Growing Up Latinx: Coming of Age in a Time of Contested Citizenship; Mary Beltran, author of the forthcoming Latino TV: A History; and Ana Y. Ramos-Zayas and Mérida M. Rúa, authors of Critical Dialogues in Latinx Studies.

My essay, “In pursuit of property and forgiveness: Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton and In the Heights,” appears in Critical Dialogues in Latinx Studies. The collection “offers a multidisciplinary, social-science oriented perspective on Latinx studies, including the social histories and contemporary lives of a diverse range of Latina and Latino populations.”