Call for Panel Members: The Works of Gustavo Perez Firmat
   
  International Conference on Caribbean Studies, November 2-5, 2006, University of Texas-Pan American. Website: (http://www.panam.edu/dept/modlang/caribe1.htm)
   
  Keynote Speaker: Gustavo Pérez Firmat
   
  In his book, On Becoming Cuban: Identity, Nationality, & Culture (1999), Louis Perez Jr. has noted that Cuban– and subsequently, Cuban-American– identity is "almost always in flux," and that it is, "as it were, a work in progress." As the relationship between Cuba and the United States grew, these two cultures "converged on each other, interacting and merging, and fused in dynamic adaptation and accommodation" (Pérez 6).
   
  Perez highlights the notion that the birth and formation of Cuban identity and nationalism has always been influenced by the United States. Because of its tenuous, and often times, antagonistic relationship with the U.S., Cuba's nationalism and its citizens' identity has been, in part, shaped and affected by its struggle to free itself of U.S. culture. However, since the social and political relationships between Cuba and the U.S. have been so strong and conflicting, the formation of Cuban identity cannot help but be powerfully connected to the United States. These tensions and conflicts can be seen manifesting in the work of many Cuban-American writers, especially Gustavo Perez Firmat's. Throughout his works, Firmat explains that because of his dual ethnicity, he is not entirely Cuban or American, but rather that he is a new, ethnically hybridized being, possessing links to both cultures and struggling to consolidate the two.
   
  I am looking for three to four panel members interested in discussing any of Gustavo Pérez Firmat's work. Possible topics might include, but are not limited to:
   
  Bilingualism
  Life on the Hyphen
  The Cuban Diaspora
  The 1.5 Generation
  Cuban-Bred-American (CBA) Identity
  Cuban Identity in Popular Culture
  The Life of Exile
  The Cuban Condition
  Please send all abstracts (250-300 words) to: nmansito_at_yahoo.com, by 4/15/06.

Nicolas Mansito III

Illinois State University

Address all correspondence to:

nmansito_at_yahoo.com

or

Nicolas Mansito III
300 East Shelbourne Drive, #83
Normal, Illinois 61761

Phone:(352) 216-5974
                
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Received on Sat Mar 18 2006 - 13:38:43 EST