“Any Enemy of the Black [woman and] man is an enemy of mine”: Departures and Definitions of Afro-Latino and Afro-Latin American Identity in the New Millennium

Friday, 17 March 2006 8:30am – 8:00pm

The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York
365 Fifth Avenue, The Concourse Level
New York, New York 10016

Sponsored by the Africana Studies Group and The Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean

Conference Schedule

8:30-9:30 Concourse Lobby: Coffee and Registration

9:30-9:45 Proshansky Auditorium: Greetings and Opening Remarks
Anamaría Flores, Ph.D. Candidate, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Dr. Gail Smith, Director of The Graduate Center’s Office of Educational Opportunity and Diversity Program

Dr. James de Jongh, Director of the The Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean

9:45-10:45 Proshansky Auditorium: Keynote Address
Rosa Clemente “Who is Black? A Puerto Rican Claims Her Place in the African Diaspora.”

Session I: 11:00-1:30

1) Room C198: Explorations of Identity: Latino/a Performance and Hip-Hop
Moderator: Nick Powers, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Bernadette Marie Calafell, Assistant Professor, Syracuse University
“Performing Latinidad: Affective Connections Across Latina/o Groups and the African Diaspora”

Crystal-Elisa Aldamuy, Undergraduate, Queens College, CUNY
“Islands and Bridges: Afro-Puerto Rican Identity”

Amari Chris Johnson, Undergraduate, Columbia University
“Loma y Machete: Cimaronismo and the praxis of Cuban Hip-hop”

2) Room C203: Latino/a Ethno-scapes: Musical Elaborations of Place
Moderator: Emma Antobam-Ntekudzi, Queens College, CUNY

Noriko Manabe, Ph.D. Candidate, The Graduate Center, CUNY
“Musical Characterization of Mixed-Blooded Femme Fatales in Cuban Zarzuelas”

Micaela Diaz-Sanchez, Ph.D. Candidate, Stanford University
“‘Me Pongo y Me Quito’: Afro-Xicano/a Diasporic Aesthetics”

Kristie Dorr, Ph.D. Candidate, University of California, Berkeley
“Not-here to Stay: The De-localization of Place in Afro-Peruvian Musical Performance”

3) Room C204: Educational Reflections: Visions, Movements and Afro-Latinidad
Moderator: Devin Zuber, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Adjoa Jones de Almeida, Research Assistant, The Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, CUNY
“Unveiling the Mirror: Afro-Brazilian Identity and the Emergence of a Community School Movement”

Bianca Ivette Laureano, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Maryland, College Park
“Doing it and Doing it, and Doing it...Well? Does Sexuality Education Do Race?”

4) Proshansky: Predicaments of Afro-Latinidad: Cultural Crisis, Literary Histories, and the Politics of Race
Moderator: Jorge Soriano, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Oilda Martinez, M.A., City College of New York, CUNY
“Black and Cuban: the Black Cuban Problem and the Black Cuban’s Problem”

Antonio López, Assistant Professor, George Washington University
“Lo negro, lo mulato and Cuban-American Literary History”

Christina Violeta Jones, Ph.D. Candidate, Howard University
“‘Creating' A Nationality: Race and Gender in the Dominican Republic, 1930-1961”

5) Room C205: Reading, Writing, and Race
Moderator: Dr. Duncan Faherty, Queens College, CUNY

Khamla Dhouti, Assistant Professor, California State University, San Bernardino
“Testing the Colorline: Multi-consciousness and Language in Down these Mean Streets”

Susan Mendez, Ph.D. Candidate, University of California, Riverside
“‘required blood’: Combatting Violence in Loida Maritza Perez’s Geographies of Home”

Jill Toliver, Ph.D. Candidate, The Graduate Center, CUNY
“Dominican Women and Dominicanyork: Alternative Constructs of Race, Home, and Identity in How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents, Geographies of Home, and Soledad"

6) Room C201: Questioning Cuba’s Black Question
Moderator: Freddy Fonseca, Queens College, CUNY

Odette Casamayor Cisneros, Ph.D., Visiting Research Scholar, SUNY Stony Brook
“Lo negro como arma de sobrevivencia ética en la
sociedad cubana actual”

Michelle Hay, Ph.D. Candidate, The Graduate Center, CUNY
“‘I have been black in two countries’: Afro-Cuban Identity in the US”

Judith Mulcahy Ph.D. Candidate, The Graduate Center, CUNY
“The Contest for Cuba in the Nineteenth Century African American Imagination”

7) Room C202: Establishing Roots or Seeing the Invisible
Moderator: Stacie McCormick, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Wellinthon Garcia
“Latino Politics From the Vantage Point of the ‘Other’: The Case of Dominicans”

Sandor John, Ph.D. Candidate, The Graduate Center, CUNY
“African Slavery in Bolivia”

Sonia Robertson, M.A. Candidate, Clark Atlanta University
“The People of Loiza, Puerto Rico and the Legacy of Cimarronaje”

1:30-2:45 Lunch

Session II: 2:45-4:15

8) Room C201: Labors of Identity: Cultural Hiding Places of the Afro-Latino
Moderator: Dr. Robert Reid-Pharr, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Jonathan Scott, Assistant Professor, Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY
“The Demonization of Pan-American Nationalism”

Kellie Jean Hogue, Ph.D. Candidate, Indiana University
“‘Not a Zoot Suit Boy’: Labor and Afro-Latino Identity, 1942-1947”

Talia Weltman, Ph.D. Candidate, Duke University
“La chingada meets el jarocho: (Re)Mapping Afro Identity in Contemporary Mexican Culture”

9) Room C204: Seeing Ourselves: Reclaiming Representations
Moderator: Alan R. Takeall, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Cecilia Salvatierra, Ph.D. Candidate, The Graduate Center, CUNY
“Ungovernable Haiti: Image Making and the US Occupation”

Ayana V. Jackson, Photographer, and Marco Villalobos, Poet
“African By Legacy, Mexican by Birth”

Anthony Ratcliff, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Massachusetts
”Shared Cultural Spaces: The Black and Puerto Rican Arts Movements in Chicago, 1960s-1970s"

10) Room C202: Reading, Writing, and Race (El Segundo)
Moderator: Dr. Meena Alexander, The Graduate Center, CUNY

María DeGuzmán, Director of Latina/o Studies, UNC-Chapel Hill
"The Case of Cecile Pineda's Cara: The Implications of Latina/o Studies for African Diaspora Studies and Vice Versa"

Atreyee Phukan, Ph.D. Candidate, Rutgers University
“Rural Culture and Urban Migrations: West Indian Identity in Wilson Harris and David Daabydeen”

Dorsía Smith, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Puerto Rico
“The Negative Portrayal of Puerto Ricans’ African Heritage in Rosario Ferré’s The House on the Lagoon”

11) Room C205: Blackness and Latiness: One? None? Both? Between?
Moderator: Jill Toliver, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Wilfredo Gomez , Undergraduate, Haverford College
“Soy Boricua y Muero Pa' La Isla Bonita: Living & Dying Red, White, and Blue”

Jameelah Medina, Ph.D. Candidate, Claremont Graduate University
"Afro-Latin Identities: Cutural Schizophrenia and Ethno-Racial Tug-of-Wars"

Diana Rios
“Black and Brown Communication: Women at the Grassroots in Hartford, Connecticut”

12) Room C197: All Mixed Up? Discussions of Mestizaje
Moderator: Alliyah Sharif, Fisk University

Lisa Calvente, Ph.D. Candidate, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
“Isn’t This My Home Too?!?: Between Latinidad and the Black Diaspora, A Puerto Rican’s Story”

Vielka Cecilia Hoy, Ph.D. Candidate, University of California, Berkeley
“Y Tu Abuela, Donde Esta?- The Process of Racialization, Ethnicity, and Identity for Black Latinos”

Tianna Paschel, Ph.D. Candidate, University of California, Berekely
“Fighting the Invisible: Racial Politics and Mobilization among
Afro-Colombians”

13) Room C203: Drumming Up Our Past, Present, and Future
Moderator: Angelique Harris, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Petra Raquel Rivera, Ph.D. Candidate, University of California, Berkeley
“Bomba Ideology: Cultural Representations of Race and National Identity in Puerto Rico”

Monika Gosin, Ph.D. Candidate, University of California, San Diego
“Celia Cruz and the Complexity of Panlatinidad”

Angelina Tallaj, Ph.D. Candidate, The Graduate Center, CUNY
“Drumming for Blackness: Vudu, Palo Music and the Creation of an
African Identity in the Dominican Republic”

14) Proshansky: The Afro-Latino Project: Research, Documentation, Activism
Moderator: Dr. Barbara Webb, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Miriam Jiménez Román, Coordinator, The Afro-Latino Project

Juan Flores, Associate Professor in the Department of Africana and Puerto Rican/Latino Studies at Hunter College, CUNY, and Professor of Sociology at the Graduate Center, CUNY

George Priestley, Director of Latin American Studies at Queens College, CUNY

4:30-5:15 Proshansky Auditorium
Performance by the Iliana Santamaría Orchestra

5:30-7:00 Proshansky Auditorium
Afro-Latina/o and Afro-Latin American Identity in the New Millenium: A Roundtable
Introduction: Richard Pérez, Ph.D. Candidate, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Moderator: Juan Flores

Lyn Di Iorio Sandín, City College of New York, CUNY, author of Spanish is Dead

Miriam Machado-Cooper, Co-producer of BET Latin-Jazz

Esperanza Martell, Coordinator of the ProLibertad Campaign to Free Puerto Rican Political Prisoners/POW's and end US colonialism in Puerto Rico

Ariel Fernandez, Cuban Minister of Hip-Hop

Closing Remarks: Ejima Baker, Ph.D. Candidate, The Graduate Center, CUNY

7:00-8:00 Concourse Lobby
Closing Reception featuring Armonia 4:

Participant Biographies

Keynote Speaker: Rosa Clemente

A much sought after commentator, political activist, community organize and independent reporter, Rosa has been delivering workshops, presentations and commentary. Called by Chuck D “When you need a dynamic, stylish sister to get your campaign going or to get your organization excited about activism, Rosa is the person you are looking for, she speaks from the heart with truth, fire and passion. She is one of this generations’ most important political voices and community organizers.”

Rosa is a 31 year old Puerto Rican of African descent. She is dedicated to scholar-activism and it was her academic and leadership experiences at the University of Albany and Cornell University that led her to become a leading progressive voice for her generation. Rosa’s academic work has been dedicated to researching national liberation struggles inside the United States, with a specific focus on the Young Lords Party and the Black Liberation Army. While a student at SUNY Albany, she was President of the Albany State University Black Alliance (ASUBA) and Director of Multicultural Affairs for the Student Association. At Cornell she was a founding member of La Voz Boriken, a social/political organization dedicated to supporting Puerto Rican political prisoners and the independence of Puerto Rico.

Rosa has written for Clamor Magazine, The Ave. magazine, The Black World Today, The Final Call and numerous websites. She has been the subject of articles in the Village Voice, The New York Times, Urban Latino, and The Source magazines. She has appeared on CNN, C-Span, Democracy Now and Street Soldiers. In 2001 she was a youth representative at the United Nations World Conference against Xenophobia, Racism and Related Intolerance in South Africa and in 2002 was named by Red Eye Magazine as one of the top 50 Hip Hop Activists to look out for.

In 1995 she developed Know Thy Self Productions, seeing a need for young people, particularly young people of color to be heard and taken seriously she began presenting workshops and lectures at colleges, universities, high schools, and prisons. In the past ten years she has presented at over 200 colleges, conferences and community centers on topics such as; African-American and Latino/a Intercultural Relations, Hip-Hop Activism, The History of the Young Lords Party, and Women, Feminism and Hip Hop. KTSP now includes an expanded college speakers bureau which has produced three major Hip Hop activism tours, Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win with M1 of dead prez and Fred Hampton Jr.; The ACLU College Freedom Tour with dead prez, DJ Kuttin Kandi, Mystic and comedian Dave Chapelle; and the Speak Truth to Power Tour a collaborative tour of award winning youth activists.

In 2003 Rosa helped formed and coordinate of the National Hip Hop Political Convention that drew over 3000 activists brought together to create a national political agenda for the Hip Hop generation. Currently she is a radio host and producer with WBAI’s (99.5 FM/NYC), an organizer with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, a Malcolm X Fellow with the Institute of the Black World, coordinator of the State of the Black world forums and the national spokesperson for the R.E.A.C.H. Hip Hop Coalition, www.hiphopliveshere.com.

Roundtable Participants

Lyn Di Iorio Sandín is an Assistant Professor of English at the City College of New York. Her specialty is U.S. Caribbean and Latina/o literatures. She is also a fiction writer and the author of Killing Spanish: Literary Essays on Ambivalent U.S. Latino/a Identity published by Palgrave Macmillan, the global imprint of St. Martin's Press, in 2004. She is currently working on a novel titled The Girl From Somewhere about a witch in Manhattan who unwittingly channels a spirit from Puerto Rico. At the same time, she is editing the first collection of U.S. Latino/a literary theory and criticism called New Waves in U.S. Latino/a Literary Criticism, to be published as part of the Palgrave Macmillan new American Studies series. This semester Dr. Di Iorio is teaching a class at the CUNY Graduate Center called "Latino Textures."

Ariel Fernandez Díaz is a DJ/journalist/concert promoter/talent manager and is the founder and contributing editor-in-chief of Movimiento, the first and only magazine in Cuba dedicated to Hip Hop culture. He has interviewed BlackStar, Common, The Roots, Steve Coleman, Roy Hargrove, Dead Perez, Tony Touch and Harry Belafonte. His articles have appeared in magazines such as Hip Hop Nation (Spain), In the House (Puerto Rico), and Touch (England). He himself has been interviewed and featured in The Village Voice, The Source, One World Magazine, Vibe, Black Book, Trace Magazine, Stress, Juice (Germany) and Liberation (France).As DJ Asho, he has DJed in Havana's premier nightclubs including Infanta y Carlos III, Casa de la Cultura in Central Havana, Club La Red, Club La Rampa, Club Las Vegas and at Cafe Cantante in the landmark Teatro Nacional. He also created and hosted Cuba's only national radio show dedicated to Hip Hop called Microfonazo. He is also a member of the organizing committee of The International Hip Hop Festival of Havana and is the executive producer of three CD compilations: "Havana Hip Hop All Stars Vol. 1. (Papaya Records 2001), "Latin Flow" (Avoid Records 2001) and "Con los Punos Arriba (Egrem Records).

Miriam Machado-Cooper is an award winning producer and President of TVA. The forty- something wife of a jazz musician & mother of two was born in Caracas, Venezuela. Raised in a bilingual Afro-Caribbean household, Miriam’s deep pride in her race & roots is the foundation upon which her television & film production company is built. Armed with a degree in Broadcast Journalism & Management from Howard University, Machado-Cooper’s career began in corporate & government video productions. She went into entertainment by assisting on music videos with famed music video turned movie director Bille Woodruff. Machado-Cooper then landed a job at BET where she has been working on and off for the past seventeen years. Established in 1993, TVA is a Washington, DC based film & video production company that specializes in projects that serve to “edutain” Latinas/os & African Americans primarily. With Machado-Cooper at the helm, TVA consistently creates quality productions to inform, entertain and engage an under-served & valuable population including “Calypso Cuisine,” a Caribbean cultural cooking show series, and the current TVA “Carib Adventure in Film & Video.” Miriam has produced many projects for a diverse group of clients. The Athletic Group creates video highlight reels for High School athletes vying for a university scholarship while “Confront Colon Cancer” and "Enfranta Cáncer Del Colon” were two award winning programs Miriam produced for the Maryland Department of Health to raise Colon Cancer awareness while targeting the African American & Latino communities. She also produced a PSA and documentary on Peace Journey, a global peace-seeking organization linking US teens to the rest of the world through travel adventures by setting up computer labs in Tanzania & Morocco, for example. Machado-Cooper has also directed and produced several bilingual documentaries including “Pasos Latinos: “Mambo-Mentary”; “In My Fathers Shoes; A Son’s Tribute To Tito Puente” (2004) for BET Jazz & “Cuban Music-Crossing Borders:, The Next Generation for Globe Star Media Entertainment” (2003) which aired on PAX television and CBS affiliates in Baltimore, San Francisco, New York, and in Canada.

Esperanza Martell is a human rights activist, educator, community organizer, trainer, life-skills counselor, mother, and poet/artist. She has a self-healing practice and teaches Community Organizing at Hunter College, and also works as a consultant. Ms. Martell specializes in organizational development, team building, leadership skills, conflict resolution, diversity training, and alternative healing. She facilitates healing circles and support groups using her own culturally based techniques for emotional self healing and empowerment. She is one of the co-founders of Casa Atabex Aché, a board member and teacher at the Brecht Forum, and one of the coordinators of the ProLibertad Campaign to Free Puerto Rican Political Prisoners/POW's and end US colonialism in Puerto Rico. Of Taino and African decent, Ms. Martell was born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico in 1946. At the age of four she was forced to leave her homeland, like thousands of Puerto Ricans who have been uprooted for economic and political reasons. Experiencing racism and discrimination in the public school system, Ms. Martell was discouraged from intellectual pursuits. Although she graduated from high school in New York City, she was functionally illiterate and taught herself to read and write over a twenty four year course of independent study. She holds a B.A. from City College and an M.S.W. from the Hunter College School of Social Work. She has published essays and poetry, including "In the Belly of the Beast - Beyond Survival" and The Puerto Rican Movement: Voices from the Diaspora, Temple University Press (1998). She has been honored with many awards recognizing her work in New York and Puerto Rico. In 2002 the Puerto Rican Working Women's Organization of Puerto Rico gave her the Peace & Social Justice Award. As a 2003-2004 Revson Fellow, she focused on peace studies, human rights, and women's studies in order to strengthen her capabilities as an organizer. Ms. Martell lives in Washington Heights with her son Amilcar Loi Alfaro-Martell.

Juan Flores is a writer of cultural and literary history and a university professor. His research and teaching focus on social and cultural theory, popular culture, and ethnicity and race, especially Puerto Rican and Latino studies. He is the author of a range of books and essays, including Poetry in East Germany (Choice magazine award), The Insular Vision (winner of the Casa de las Americas award), Divided Borders: Essays on Puerto Rican Identity, La venganza de Cortijo y otros ensayos, and From Bomba to Hip-Hop: Puerto Rican Culture and Latino Identity. Dr. Flores is a professor in the Department of Africana and Puerto Rican/Latino Studies at Hunter College and in the Sociology Doctoral Program at the Graduate Center, both of the City University of New York.