cfp.english.upenn.edu

The negotiation of Latin@ identities within space—cities, universities, homes, exile, —requires an understanding of ethnicities, language(s), religion(s), social class, gender, as well as the psychological spaces where one needs to defend him/herself in the face of a pejorative labels from the dominant group or from a more powerful member of one’s own group. How do Latino/a authors represent their worlds through the use of space whereby each character or voice must negotiate his/her identity markers within a specific space to claim “self-recognition”?

Papers that address any aspect of Latino/a identity in narrative, poetry or theatre are welcome for this panel.

Latina/o Studies and Latina Feminist Studies are by their very nature interdisciplinary fields which study the cultural products and experiences of the peoples of the Americas. Latino peoples represent a variety of ethnicities: African, Asian, Indigenous, and European. Moreover, they are linguistically diverse, speaking English, Creole, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Spanglish, African, Asian and Indigenous languages. Heterogeneity characterizes Latina/o Studies as it encompasses and incorporates the cultural products as well as the socio-economic and political experiences of such diverse peoples. The negotiation of self as one moves through space is a useful category of analysis as there are many layers that allow one to shed light on the complexity within the fields of Latino and Latina Feminist Studies.

Deadline: September 30, 2012
Please include with your abstract:
Name and Affiliation
Title of paper
Email address
A/V requirements (if any; $10 handling fee with registration)