Fall 2024

Scenes of Birth and Death in 19th-century Afro Latin America

Ingrid Brioso Rieumont, Assistant Professor of Spanish and Portuguese, Dartmouth CollegeWednesday, October 9, 2024
4:30 – 6:00pm
Reese Room, Smith House

Join us Wednesday, October 9, at 4:30 pm at Smith House as Dr. Brioso, shares her expertise on Latin American abolitionist literature and its vivid representations of black life and death. Dr. Brioso will discuss her work on Afro-Brazillian author Joachim Maria Machado de Assis and the Cuban novelist Cirilo Villaverde.

 

Fall 2024: Hispanic Studies Film Series

  • WHEN: The first Thursday of every month
  • FILMS:
    1. Mar adentro – Sept. 5th
    2. Goyo – Oct. 3rd
    3. No – Nov. 7th
    4. Pelo malo – Dec. 5th
  • WHERE: Seabury N 130
  • TIME: 4:30 PM
  • Light snacks will be provided

Hispanic Studies OPEN HOUSE!!

Meet the faculty; talk to students who had studied abroad in Spanish speaking countries; explore our major and minor; learn about La Voz Latina and about our Spanish film series:

  • Tuesday, October 1st
  • 12:00:1:30 PM
  • Underground Café
  • Pizza and beverages (coffee, tea, hot choc) provided by Hispanic Studies

Click here for photos of the event

PAST EVENTS

Spring 2024

The Alphabet in my Hands: A Writing Life by Marjorie Agosín

Tuesday, April 16, 2024
4:30pm-5:30pm
via Zoom

Marjorie Agosín is known for her poetry that conveys the core of human experiences, especially those impacted by historical and cultural circumstances relevant to human rights. Agosín has been the recipient of multiple accolades and distinctions in recognition of her literary contributions and contributions as a proponent of human rights. Notably, she has been honored with the Jeanette Rankin Award in Human Rights and the United Nations Leadership Award for Human Rights. And was bestowed with the Gabriela Mistral Medal for Lifetime Achievement by the Chilean government.

 

This event kicks off the 25th anniversary of the Human Rights Program. Thanks to Christina Bleyer (College Librarian, Associate Vice President of Libraries and Digital Learning; Director of Special Collections and Archives, Watkinson Library) there will be a book exhibit in Raether Library (main lobby) starting next week highlighting the collection of books we have of Marjorie Agosín. The exhibit also highlights Chilean artist María Verónica San Martín who has shown her work at Trinity in the past.

Spanish Film Thursdays Presents

Location: SEABURY 130
TIME: 4:30
Light refreshments will be served.

February 1, 2024
La sociedad de las nieves (The Society of the Snow).
Synopsis:In 1972, the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, chartered to fly a rugby team to Chile, catastrophically crashes on a glacier in the heart of the Andes. Only 16 of the 45 passengers survived the crash and finding themselves in one of the world’s toughest environments, they are forced to resort to extreme measures to stay alive. (IMDb)


March 7, 2024

100 días con la Tata / 100 Days With Tata (Spain, 2021) [Documentary]
Directed by: Miguel Ángel Muñoz
Synopsis: The parents of actor Miguel Ángel Muñoz had to turn to “Tata” (Luisa Cantero) to take care of their son while they worked. Since then, Tata (97) and Miguel Ángel (38) have never been separated. But after several health complications for Tata, Miguel Ángel realizes that their love story may end and decides to carry out all the things he has pending to do with her: a road trip, learn about Luisa’s origins and even shoot a film together. An adventure that is interrupted by the arrival of the pandemic. A twist that, far from saddening them, will make both of them more united and enjoy more than ever 100 days together in the 35m2 apartment. But it will also force Miguel to face his greatest fear: separation from the most important person in his life. (FILMAFFINITY)

April 4, 2024
La lengua de las mariposas / Butterfly (Spain, 1999)
Directed by: José Luis Cuerda
Synopsis: For Moncho, it’s an idyllic year: he starts school, he has a wonderful teacher, he makes a friend in Roque, he begins to figure out some of the mysteries of Eros, and, with his older brother, a budding saxophone player, he makes a trip with the band from their town in Galicia. But it’s also the year that the Spanish Republic comes under fire from Fascist rebels. Moncho’s father is a Republican as is the aging teacher, Don Gregorio. As sides are drawn and power falls clearly to one side, the forces of fear, violence, and betrayal alter profoundly what should be the pleasure of coming of age. (imdb.com)

Fall 2023

Book Celebration and Conversation: Asaltos al escenario: Humor, género e historia en el teatro de Sabina Berman

Wednesday, December 6, 2023 at 4:15 pm
Rittenberg Lounge, Mather Hall

Light refreshments will be served.

Hispanic Studies is hosting a public presentation in English of the book Asaltos al escenario: Humor, género e historia en el teatro de Sabina Berman (Assaulting the Stage: Humor, Gender, and History in the Theater of Sabina Berman) written by  Priscilla Meléndez.

Sabina Berman (1955) is a well-known Mexican-Jewish writer who has penned novels, poetry, plays (for which she has received the most prestigious theater awards in Mexico), and is also a cultural icon through her television interview programs, among them, Largo aliento. In Asaltos al escenario Meléndez explores the way in which Berman (1955) confronts the history of her country and brings to the theater its social and political crises by means of humor, gender, and history. Through an analysis of eight works (seven plays and one film script), Meléndez focuses on Berman’s capacity to create dramatic worlds in which humor coexists and simultaneously collides with the sublime, uncovering at the same time the pleasure and the pain that run through the sociohistorical reality of an individual or a country, as well as through theatrical fiction itself. Berman’s theater carries out its critical project through the theatricalization of historical figures such as Hernán Cortés, Molière and Racine, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Pancho Villa, Leon Trotski, and events and concepts such as the conquest of Mexico, the Inquisition, the Mexican Revolution, the assassination of Trotski, machismo, feminicides, and narcotrafficking. In addition to the Preface and Introduction, the book is divided into two parts:

Part 1: Humor, Caricature, and Sex on the World’s Stage: From Colonial Suffering to Revolutionary “Pleasure”

Part 2: Mexican Historical Crises and the Culture of Death: From the Inquisition to Drug Trafficking

We will be joined by Professors Jacqueline Bixler from Virginia Tech (Editor of the journal Latin American Theatre Review) and Gail Bulman from Syracuse University, who will be participating in this book presentation. We are certain that the Trinity community will benefit from the discussion of this book centered on the theater of Sabina Berman.

Spanish Film Thursdays Presents

Location: SEABURY 130
TIME: 4:30
Light refreshments will be served.

October 5
Argentina 1985 (Argentina, 2022)
Directed by Santiago Mitre Starring: Ricardo Darín, Peter Lanzani,
Alejandra Flechner, Norman Briski

‘Argentina, 1985’ is inspired by the true story of Julio Strassera, Luis Moreno Ocampo in their David-vs-Goliath battle to prosecute Argentina’s bloodiest military dictatorship.

November 2
La Celestina (Spain, 1996)
Directed by Gerardo Vera
Starring: Penélope Cruz, Juan Diego Botto, Maribel Verdú,
Terele Pávez, Jordi Mollà

The young nobleman Calisto falls in love with Melibea, the daughter of a rich merchant. Calisto’s servant Sempronio suggests they get the sorceress Celestina to further the romance.

December 7
La jaula de oro (México, 2013)
Directed by Diego Quemada-Díez Starring: Brandon López

Juan, Sara, and Samuel, three teenagers from the slums of Guatemala, travel to the United States in search of a better life. Traveling together in freight trains and walking on railroad tracks, they soon have to face an odyssey that will change their lives forever.

 

Hispanic Studies Open House

Monday, September 25, 2023
Dangremond Family Commons 104
5:00-6:00 PM

  • Come meet our Majors and Minors and our faculty.
  • Learn about study away opportunities,
  • Career paths
  • La Voz Latina.
  • And enjoy good food.

 

STUDY ABROAD!
Orientation with Prof. Claudio González Chiaramonte
Director of the Buenos Aires/Uruguay Middlebury Program

Friday, September, 22, 2023
12:00pm-1:00pm
Seabury 215

Find out detailed information about the Spanish Study Abroad Middlebury Program in Buenos Aires and Uruguay

  • Buenos Aires- Tango & Identity (Middlebury Program & UBA-Facultad de Filosofía y Letras)
  • Buenos Aires Public Health (UCA & UBA-Facultad de Ciencias Sociales)
  • Montevideo- Neuroscience (Univ. de la República-Facultad de Psicología & ORT University
  • Montevideo- Architecture (Universidad ORT Uruguay)

Pizza, cookies and refreshments will be served


Spring 2023

Jewish Theatre in South America 1930-1960
Paula Ansaldo, Universidad de Buenos Aires

Tuesday, April 25, 2023
Common Hour
Reese Room, Smith House

Paula Ansaldo is a theatre historian who specializes in Latin American Jewish theatre and culture. She holds a Ph.D. in History and Theory of Arts from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). She is currently a Harry Starr Postdoctoral Fellow in Judaica at the Center for Jewish Studies of Harvard University. Her articles have appeared in Latin American Theatre Review, Revista Brasileira de Estudos da Presença, Nuevo Mundo Mundos Nuevos and Anagnórisis. Her book “Broyt mit Teater”. Historia del Teatro Judío en Argentina/A History of Jewish Theatre in Argentina will be published in 2023 by EUDEBA, University of Buenos Aires Press. Her research has been supported by grants from the National Council for Scientific Research of Argentina (CONICET), Fordham University-New York Public Library, Coimbra Group Universities, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, American Philosophical Society, and the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.

 

Latin American Film Series: Jueves de Cine

 Organized by José Carlos Díaz Zanelli ([email protected]) and Camila Torres-Castro ([email protected])

The Hispanic Division of the Department of Language and Culture Studies offers the Latin American film series Jueves de Cine with the interest of promoting the Spanish language and Latin American culture among Trinity College students and providing them with a varied space for intellectual and cultural formation inherent. The films selected and programmed below offer a diverse, intercultural, and critical perspective of the current Latin American reality. Furthermore, these films are a great opportunity to provide linguistic and cultural exposure to Latin American social diversity.

February 2, 2023; 4:30pm; Seabury S-201
“Los tiburones,” directed by Lucía Garibaldi (Uruguay- Argentina, 2019)
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf3KuDWe3VA

March 2, 2023; 4:30pm; Seabury S-201
“Nudo Mixteco,”
directed by Ángeles Cruz (Mexico, 2021).
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1Aq8v51L0c&t=14s

April 6, 2023; 4:30pm; Seabury S-201
“Ixcanul,”
directed by Jayro Bustamante (Guatemala, 2015)
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOJSDxdrvdE

May 4, 2023; 4:30pm; Seabury S-201
“Pacarrete,”
directed by Allan Deberton (Brazil, 2019).
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J414mkEnDf0

Narratives in Migration by Yuri Herrera

March 7, 2023
4:30 PM-6:00 PM
Rittenberg Lounge, Mather Hall

Join us for a conversation with Mexican novelist Yuri Herrera. Participating in the round table are professors Priscilla Meléndez, Diana Aldrete, Sara Kippur, and Gabriel Salgado.

Fall 2022

“A Proposito de la Duda”  by Patrica Zangaro. Performed by the students of HISP-319

Thursday, December 8, 2022 @5 pm
Library Level 1 – Engelhard Reading Room

This play is about the search for truth in Argentina after a turbulent period of political repression, that is, the euphemistically called Process of National Reconstruction, or more clearly, the Dirty War from 1976 until 1983. It is estimated that approximately 30,000 people died or disappeared during those years particularly young activists that were willing to die for their country, and many did. In the process, numerous young women who were pregnant at the time, were kidnapped and their children were born in captivity. Under the auspices of the military government these children were secretly given to families who supported the regime and they grew up not knowing their real identity. The well-known Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo –who still gather every Thursday to demand justice for their disappeared children– initiated a campaign to locate and identify their grandchildren through DNA tests. A propósito de la duda portrays this search for justice and truth as Grandmothers confront the false parents, the accomplices who argued that they were just following orders, and the children/now adults who are trying to understand who they are.

Play will be performed in Spanish

THE ANNUAL ANN PLATO LECTURE
“Scoring Failure: Reflections on Technobanda and Death” by Camila Torres-Castro

Wednesday, November 9, 2022 @ 4:30 PM
Dangremond Family Commons

This presentation examines how the rise of technobanda in Mexico, a once-experimental genre that draws from techno music and banda music, unknowingly scored a watershed moment in Mexican history: presidential hopeful Luis Donaldo Colosio’s murder (1994). This tragedy, considered by many a pivotal event in Mexico’s politics, is now immortalized in a YouTube video that has become a cult audiovisual product, an omen of the eventual fate of the country. This study analyzes how the merging of music and image creates an audiovisual rhetoric of failure that has embedded itself into Mexican media consciousness. Drawing from Alexander Weheliye’s conceptualization of “phonographies” (2005)—where he ties sound, technology, and Black culture together—as methodology, Colosio’s video is placed within the analytical category of “sound event” to argue that its existence and continued referencing proposes an acousmatic experience of nationalism, failure, and neoliberalism.

“Representations of Protest and Dissent in Colombia: Reflections on the state of siege in Daniel Ferreira’s Rebelión de los oficios inútiles”  by Carlos Gardeazábal Bravo

Thursday, November 3, 2022 @Common Hour
Rittenberg Lounge

This presentation will explore the portrayal of protest and the state of exception in contemporary Colombian literature. Carlos will focus on Daniel Ferreira’s novel Rebelión de los oficios inútiles [Rebellion of the Useless Trades] (2014), showing how it breaks with the established reading pacts of human rights narratives and their sentimental grammars through a historical plot centered on land tenure, the state of exception, and its connections with the right to protest and freedom of expression. This exploration underscores how Rebelión defies certain tropes in the history of violence behind fundamental human rights struggles in Colombia’s past and present, including a dialogue of Ferreira’s work with Colombia’s Truth Commission. The novel points at the Frente Nacional and the Guerra de los Mil Días as sources for vestiges of the current debates about historical memory in Colombia. Carlos will explain how Ferreira’s novel resists the sentimental commercialization of violence and memory in the Colombian (and Latin American) cultural market while representing dissensual subjects outside the customary figures of the victim and the hero.

(Co-Sponsored by Human Rights, Hispanic Studies, Dept of Language and Culture Studies & International Studies)