Latino studies conference set for Oct. 11-12

The Puerto Rican and Latino Studies Institute at UConn will host an interdisciplinary conference to discuss the intersections of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, class, and sexuality on Oct. 11 and 12.

The conference, “Rethinking the Latin@ Intellectual Ecology” will take place in the Dodd Center and Rome Ballroom.

Guillermo Irizarry, director of the Institute of Puerto Rican and Latino Studies, says the program “locates UConn’s intellectual community at the center of a scholarly agenda that labors to understand the changing parameters of self and society, in the middle of a seismic demographic transformation.

“PRLS has gathered an impressive cohort of academics, artists, and activities,” he adds, “and has designed a conference that will allow students, faculty, and community members to interact dynamically and offer new insights into the significance of the Latin@ demographic and cultural explosion for the state, nation, and the Americas.”

Keynote speakers are: Tomás Almaguer, professor of ethnic studies at San Francisco State University, and author of Racial Fault Lines: The Historical Origins of White Supremacy in California; Elsa Núñez, president of Eastern Connecticut State University, professor of linguistics, and author of Pursuing Diversity; and Ilán Staváns, Lewis-Sebring Professor in Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College, and author of Dictionary Days and The Hispanic Condition.