Latino Studies in the United States: An NEH Bridging Cultures Project

FAIN: ME-228652-15

Holyoke Community College (Holyoke, MA 01040-1099)
Monica Torregrosa (Project Director: August 2014 to December 2019)

A three-year program to create course modules and new courses in Latino studies at Holyoke Community College, in partnership with the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Holyoke Community College (HCC) offers a series of summer institutes, lectures, film screenings, and other activities that culminate in the development of course modules and new courses. Working with the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies (CLACLS) at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMASS Amherst), fifteen HCC faculty members engage in a three-year program of reading, discussion, and curriculum development. On the theme of migration, mobility, and "place making," they examine Latino migrations, especially that of Puerto Ricans to western Massachusetts and Holyoke. Readings for this first year include works by Gloria Anzaldua, Luis Alberto Urrea, Juan Flores, Junot Diaz, Julia Alvarez, and Mike Davis, among others. In the second year, participants consider manifestations of Latino cultures in the United States in works by Norma Gonzalez, Ana Celia Zentella, Guillermo Gomez Pena, Francis Negron Muntaner, Ramon Rivera-Servera, Alberto Sandoval, Frances Aparicio, and others. The final year takes up the theme of "Re-Imagining Borders," in connection with the impact of Latinos in U.S. communities. Readings for this last phase include works by Leo Chaves, Gilberto Rosas, Francisco Rosales, Arlene Davila, William Flores, Rina Benmayor, and others. Project directors Monica Torregrosa and Raul Gutierrez, both from HCC's Spanish department, are joined on the project team by HCC dean of humanities, Kim Hicks, as well as by CLACLS faculty members Sonia Alvarez (political science), Gloria Bernabe-Ramos (Spanish), Meghan Armstrong (Spanish), and Jonathan Rosa (anthropology). In addition to members of the project team, other scholars identified to lead sessions include HCC faculty members Jack Mino (learning communities coordinator) and Vanessa Martinez (anthropology); UMASS Amherst faculty members Luis Marentes (Spanish), Priscilla Page (theater), and Joseph Krupszynski (architecture and design); and Hilda Llorens (anthropology, Brown University), Alberto Sandoval (Spanish, Mount Holyoke College), Ginetta Candelario (sociology, Smith College), and Micaela Diaz-Sanchez (Latina/o studies, Mount Holyoke College). Readings are supplemented by the films Harvest of Empire, Latinos Beyond Reel, and Yo soy Boricua, pa'que tu lo sepas (I Am Puerto Rican, Just So You Know), and by a public lecture series.

Media Coverage

Esmeralda Santiago: "I'm with you" (Media Coverage)
Publication: The Republican
Date: 4/18/2018
Abstract: The article covered the visit to Holyoke Community College by author Esmeralda Santiago. http://www.hcc.edu/Documents/About/News/ESantiago-PLUS-4-18-18.pdf