Recent Events

October 13, 2021 - 9:30am - 5:30pm

Second Annual Fall Research Conference

"Living in Las Americas: Politics, Health, and Society Beyond Borders"

This year’s conference theme, “Politics, Health, and Society Beyond Borders,” offers an opportunity to more fully comprehend the impact of COVID-19 on our hemisphere in a broad historical, social, and political context.

Scheduled events at Hilltop Café at Central are open to Central students, faculty, and staff and will be broadcast online via WebEx. Events include two plenary lectures by visiting speakers José Sola, Professor of History, Cleveland State University, and Eduardo Moncada, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Barnard College, Columbia University. Dr. Sola will discuss the malaria eradication efforts in early twentieth-century Puerto Rico and Dr. Moncada compares the efficacy of recent social distancing policies in the U.S., Brazil, and Mexico.

This all-day conference includes additional panels, roundtables, and workshops featuring research on health and society in Latinx and Latin American communities presented by Central and other regional university faculty and researchers exploring the histories and social, political, and cultural impact of social movements and health inequalities across the Américas.

This event was made possible by a grant from Connecticut Humanities

October 11, 2021

The Quincentenary of the Fall of Mexico-Tenochtitlan. Osiris Sinuhe Gonzalez Romero, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Dr. Gonzalez Romero will analyze primary sources (codices, chronicles, and archaeological evidence) to understand the "clash of civilizations" related to the fall of Mexico-Tenochtitlan 500 years ago. This talk will address memory, resistance, and the future of indigenous peoples in Mexico. The analysis of memory related to ancient manuscripts or codices has a historical character that is at the core of indigenous cultural heritage. An analysis of resistance helps to challenge some myths and clichés regarding the fall of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, not only in the colonial period but also to understand contemporary struggles. Finally, the study of the future highlights that indigenous cultural heritage is still alive, despite colonization.

October 7, 2021

Documentary film, Port Triumph/Puerto Triunfo, and discussion with Dr. Jeff Gould

The LALCC will be showing and discussing Dr. Jeffrey Gould’s film Port Triumph/Puerto El Triunfo, about the experiences of the 1500 organized workers—mostly women—of El Salvador’s most important port and their experiences with neoliberalism and state repression. Here is the description: https://iupress.org/9780253046031/port-triumph/. The film was a finalist at the Central American International Film Festival and nominated for Best Cinematography at Queens World Film Festival. 

Dr. Gould, the writer and director, is James H. Rudy Professor of History and Associate Director of the Center for Documentary Research and Practice at IU/Bloomington. He holds a Ph.D. from Yale University and is the author of numerous scholarly books on Nicaraguan and El Salvadoran History. From 1995-2008, he was Director of the IU/Bloomington Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. For the last twenty years, rather than emphasize scholarly publishing, Dr. Gould has been making films based on oral histories, about working people in El Salvador.

This event was made possible by a grant from Connecticut Humanities

September 23, 2021 - 9:25 to 3:00 pm

Celebrating and Interpreting Jorge Morales' "Roots of the Caribbean" Mural

Co-Sponsored by the Africana Center
This event was made possible by a grant from Connecticut Humanities

An Interpretation and Celebration of Jorge Morales’ “Roots of the Caribbean” Mural. Jorge Morales’ “Roots of the Caribbean” mural at Central is named number 7 of the top 25 most impressive murals hanging in U.S. colleges and universities by Graphic Design Degree Hub. Commissioned in 1995 for the Center for Caribbean Studies, the painting highlights the history and culture of the Caribbean, including African influences, sugar and enslavement, coffee-growing labor, women market vendors, music, religion, and anti-imperialist thinkers. Among the specific historical figures in the mural are Puerto Rican intellectuals and Independence advocates Ramon Emeterio Betances, Eugenio Maria de Hostos, Mariana Bracetti, and Pedro Albizu Campos; Enslaved Afro-Jamaican revolt leader Samuel "Daddy" Sharpe; Cuban writer and independence activist José Martí; and Trinidadian scholar and political leader Eric Williams. Although the mural hangs in a highly visible location, the Central Student Center, few understand the complex story that it tells or can identify the individuals it recognizes or their contributions to Caribbean history. To help educate us all about the mural, we will spend the day interpreting the mural and exploring Caribbean history. Speakers over the course of the day include President Daisy Cocco de Filippis of Hostos Community College; Professor Jorge Luis Morales Torres, University of Puerto Rico, Ponce; Dr. Francisco Scarano, Emeritus Professor of History, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Fernando Betancourt, Executive Director of the San Juan Center in Hartford; Dr. Lissette Acosta Corniel, Borough of Manhattan Community College; Dr. Laura Lomas, Rutgers University/Newark; and Dr. Tanya Shields, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

The event was recorded and is available on the LALCC Youtube channel.