Latino/a Crossings: Towards a Relational Understanding of Latin@ Pluralities in the United States and Beyond.

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Our panel explores the concept of Latinidad as a cultural category for understanding notions of race, ethnicity, belonging and representation in a transnational context. Setting from a historically grounded understanding of Latino/a as a U.S. political and cultural concept, our panel explores the historical and cultural crossings of people of Latin American heritage from the beginning of WWII to the present. Focusing on six different locales: Chicago, L.A., Mexico, Austin, Santo Domingo and Milan, our panel creates a new cartography for understanding the borders of present-day Latinidad, which extend across the Atlantic. Some of the questions our panel raises are: What is the relationship between the production of U.S. Latinidad and the narration of Latino/a experiences in the United States and beyond? How is the emergence of Intra-Latinos ---Latinos carrying multiple national identities--- changing local and global representations? What is the significance of U.S. Latino politics and cultural production in shaping Latinidad beyond the hemisphere? How are these social changes affecting academia: departments, fields of inquiry, and academic tracks?

Sub Track

• Latino(as) in the United States and Canada

Session Organizer

• Lorgia H García Peña, Harvard University

Chair

• Nicole M Guidotti-Hernández, University of Texas at Austin

Individual Presentations

• Eastside Imaginaries: Towards a Relational and Transnational Chicana/o Cultural History - Luis Alvarez, University of California/San Diego

• "Moving into the Transnational Latino/a Studies Framework: CMAS and MALS at the University of Texas at Austin." - Nicole M Guidotti-Hernández, University of Texas at Austin

• The New American(o)s: Intralatino/as and the Utopia of National Hybridities - Frances R Aparicio, Northwestern University

• Translating Dreams: Italo-Dominican Youth and Translatino Struggles in Milan. - Lorgia H García Peña, Harvard University