Every year, Universities and communities across the country are eager to celebrate Hispanic Heritage month: often, they do so under a culturalist lens, sharing what is perceived as typical “Latinx” food, speaking Spanish, or wearing what might amount questionable Halloween costumes. Moving beyond oversimplified celebrations of “heritage” and cultural traits, this presentation argues that heritage month commemorations offer an opportunity to learn about the histories, structural challenges and struggles of US-born Latinas and Latinos that helped solidify the field of U.S. Latina/o Studies (now evolving into Latinx Studies) within an ethnic studies framework (which is different from Latin American area studies).

Salvador Vidal-Ortiz is at UB this year as one of ten Distinguished Visiting Scholars in the College of Arts and Sciences to write a book on racialized sexual minorities in Santeria. He is Associate Professor of Sociology at American University.

Traditional Caribbean Food will be provided, plus refreshments!

For more information, contact Donte McFadden, Director of the Distinguished Visiting Scholars program at dontemcf@buffalo.edu.