2020 Dominican Studies Association Conference

THEME: Crisis of Truth, State of Emergency, and Social Responses: The Urgency of Dominican and Ethnic Studies in the Present Hour

Research on the experience of people of Dominican ancestry—in Hispaniola/Dominican Republic, the United States, and elsewhere globally—has produced an indispensable body of knowledge and critical perspectives in multiple disciplines inside and outside the academy. On this 9th edition of the biennial conference, the Dominican Studies Association (DSA) seeks to stimulate dialogue among scholars, artists, and cultural activists worldwide who are working on Dominican subjects that shed light on the complex issues of social relations in countries across the Western hemisphere. How has this field of study informed the prevailing inequity and injustice in the Americas connected with class, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexualities, politics, disability, claims to national belonging, citizenship, and cultural heritage?

Click here to watch Video Recordings

Click here to view Conference Program

Click here to view Conference Program (PDF)

Click here to view Call-for-Papers/Proposals

Presione para leer convocatorio de ponencias

Presione para leer comunicado de prensa

Message from the DSA Co-Chairs:

Dean Ana García Reyes & Dr. Silvio Torres-Saillant

On behalf of the Dominican Studies Association (DSA), welcome to our IX Biennial Conference DSA2020 Virtually@Hostos entitled “Crisis of Truth, State of Emergency, and Social Responses: The Urgency of Dominican and Ethnic Studies at the Present Hour.” We urged speakers to tackle the “State of Emergency” created by the COVID-19 era and the polarization spurred by the 2020 U.S. presidential election. They took our call seriously as shown by their quickness to examine structural inequities that preceded the pandemic and made disempowered populations less able to survive it.

Organizing an ambitious conference during a global health crisis has required fortitude especially since the organizers inhabit academia, where teaching and learning have become stressful. Doing our jobs has involved monitoring variable health and safety norms, budget cuts, and campus morale to tailor our modes of instruction—in-person, remote, or hybrid—accordingly. We have coped with a constant state of alert that limits us to plan for a short future and to recalibrate as needed.

Despite these odds, we celebrate the response that the CFP for DSA2020 Virtually@Hostos elicited. The number of submissions exceeded that of any previous iteration of our biennial conference. The conference program consists of 41 panels featuring nearly 200 speakers representing the arts, environmental studies, law, the humanities, medicine, and popular culture, among other disciplines. The institutional affiliations of speakers include universities, Pre-K-to- 12 schools, NGO’s, and advocacy organizations in Latin America, the Caribbean, Canada, the United States, and Europe. Message from the DSA Co-Chairs Ana I. García Reyes Silvio Torres-Saillant 5 The speakers represent a cross-section of generations, fields of interest, and stages of professional growth (students, junior colleagues, and seasoned scholars), perhaps a sign of productive rotation in the field of Dominican studies.

The conference would not have happened without the dedication of our Executive Board, whose members thought it possible and strived to make it so. They are: Evelyn Fernández Ketcham, social work scholar at Hostos Community College; Luis Álvarez López, historian at Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra; Mercedes Fernández-Asenjo, literary scholar at Binghamton University; Luana Y. Ferreira, linguist at Hunter College; Neici M. Zeller, historian at William Paterson University; Norma Fuentes-Mayorga, sociologist at the City College of New York; Ofelia Rodríguez, formerly at Broadway Housing Communities; Marleny Sarante, physician at Nasry Michelen Foundation; and Nelson Santana, library studies scholar at Bronx Community College. His taking on a greater share of the labor than DSA could ask of Board members has earned Professor Santana a special commendation. DSA2020 Virtually@Hostos owes a large debt to his tireless work.

We feel enormous gratitude to Interim Hostos Community College President Dr. Daisy Cocco De Filippis for hosting the 2020 DSA conference. Besides hosting, she also accepted roles in the program despite huge demands on her time as she assumed leadership of the campus in the midst of the pandemic. President Cocco De Filippis will participate in a panel on translation that includes the renowned Dominican American poet Rhina P. Espaillat, the dedicatee of the 2018 DSA conference, and will join other spokespersons for postsecondary education in the Plenary “Higher Education Leaders on the Challenge of their Mission during the Global Pandemic.” The interlocutors will be The City University of New York Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez; President of Purchase College (SUNY) Milagros Peña; President of Ithaca College (Ithaca, NY) Shirley M. Collado; Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology of the Dominican Republic Franklin García Fermín; and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Instituto Superior Pedro Francisco Bonó (Santo Domingo) Pablo Mella Febles.

With DSA2020 taking place virtually, we have relied heavily on key personnel’s expertise in the Office of the President and the Office of Communications at Hostos. Their guidance enabled this conference to materialize. We gratefully acknowledge Director of Communications Soldanela Rivera and Brand & Communications Associate José R. García. We deeply value the work of the Assistant to the President and Director of the President’s Office Diana Kreymer, Conference Center Coordinator Nelson Ortíz, Administrative Assistant Gerson Peña, and IT Assistant Victor Santana. Mr. Santana overextended himself to make the virtual space a reality for this DSA conference to occur online, and we are grateful. Beyond Hostos, we thank CUNY Dominican Studies Institute (DSI) Graphic Designer Javier Pichardo, and we acknowledge the unconditional support of DSI Director Dr. Ramona Hernández.

Given our extraordinary circumstances, we have made admission and participation free for all speakers and audience members. We do welcome your donations to ensure DSA’s continued existence, but you do not need to donate to be able to join us.

We dedicate this year’s conference to Front Line Health Care Workers throughout the United States and around the world. We honor those who have sacrificed much to save COVID-19 patients or to make their demise less lonely. They have often worked without sufficient resources and, in the United States, facing the animosity of some key government officials.

Program

Day 1: Friday, December 04

I. 8:30-9:45 AM (Eastern Time) | 9:30-10:45 AM (Hora Rep. Dom.)

Panel 1: Importancia de los ecosistemas transfronterizos y socio-ecológicos
Chair: Carol Franco Billini, Virginia Tech
Presenters:
Carol Franco Billini, Researcher, Forest Resources/Environmental Conservation, Virginia Tech
Víctor Gómez-Valenzuela, VP/Researcher, Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC)
Solhanlle Bonilla Duarte, Basic Science, Ecology, and Climate Change, INTEC, Santo Domingo
Laura Rathe, Directora Técnica, FUNDACION PLENITUD, Santo Domingo, RD
“Climate Change, Health, and Resilience at Community-Level Social Justice”

Panel 2: Internships and Mentoring: Keys to Dominican College Students’ Success
Chair: Anselma Rodríguez, Graduate Center for Worker Education, Brooklyn College, CUNY  
Moderator: Luis Cuneo, High Tech Consultant, Mojavié Inc., Greater New York City area
Presenters:
Luis Cuneo, Co-founder and CEO of Mojavié Inc., Greater New York City area
Carlos Sierra, PSC-CUNY Bronx Organizer, Community Liaison for CUNY Citizen Now!

Panel 3: Dominican Politics 2020: Continuity and Change
Chair: Jacqueline Jiménez Polanco, Bronx Community College, CUNY
Presenters:
Jacqueline Jiménez Polanco, Bronx Community College, CUNY
“The Odebrecht Fraud: An Analysis of Corruptive Practices in the PLD Cartel Politics
Ana Belén Benito Sánchez, Researcher, Universidad de Salamanca, Spain
“Distributive Politics: Clientelism and Social Public Expenditure In Dominican Republic”
Ernesto Sagás, Ethnic Studies, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
“We Want to Be Counted, Too: The Evolution of Dominican Overseas Voting, 2004-2020”
Leiv Marsteintredet, Comparative Politics, University of Bergen, Norway
“When Term Limits Are Not an Obstacle: Analyzing Term Limits in the Dominican Republic”
Carlos Morel, Director, Instituto de Investigación Social para el Desarrollo, Santiago, RD
“Incomplete Elections: Continuities and Disruptions in Dominican Electoral Politics”

II. 10:00-11:15 AM (Eastern Time) | 11:00 AM-12:15 PM (Hora Rep. Dom.)

Panel 4: Toward a Pan American Poetry: Translating Pedro Mir, Juan Matos, Julia Alvarez and Robert Frost from Spanish into English or Vice Versa
Moderator: Silvio Torres-Saillant, English Department, Syracuse University
Convener:
Jonathan Cohen, Poet, Translator, Essayist, and Inter-American literature Scholar
Presenters:
Rhina Espaillat, Poet, Translator, and Poetry Teacher
Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Interim President, Hostos Community College, CUNY
Roberto Márquez, Emeritus, Latin American/Caribbean Studies, Mount Holyoke College

Panel 5: Anthologizing the 1937 Haitian Massacre
Chair: Megan Myers, Iowa State University
Presenters:
Megan Myers, Associate Professor of Spanish, Iowa State University
Rosa Iris Diendomi Alvarez, Human Rights Activist, Reconoci.do, Santo Domingo, DR
Edward Paulino, Associate Professor of Global History, John Jay College, CUNY
Cynthia Carrión, Director, Community Development, School in the Square, New York City

Panel 6: Language and the Construction of Dominicanidades across Geographic Space
Chair: Almeida Jacqueline Toribio, University of Texas, Austin
Presenters:
Almeida Jacqueline Toribio, Professor of Linguistics, University of Texas, Austin
Molly Hamm-Rodriguez, Ph.D. Candidate, School of Education, University of Colorado, Boulder
Aris Clemons, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, U of Texas, Austin
Amber Teresa Domingue, Doctoral Student, Anthropology Department, U of South Carolina
Yasmiyn Irizarry, Assistant Professor, African/African Diaspora Studies, U of Texas, Austin

Panel 7: Forgotten Kinships: African American Emigration to Hispaniola
Chair: Sophia Monegro, University of Texas, Austin
Presenters:
Sophia Monegro, Ph.D. Student, African/African Diaspora Studies, U of Texas, Austin
“The Afterlives of Slavery in Santo Domingo: African American Women in the Fugitive Montes of the Dominican Republic and Haiti”
Jhensen Ortiz, Librarian, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute, The City College of New York
“We Choose Freedom’: Documenting African American Presence in the Dominican Republic”
Ryan Mann-Hamilton, Department of Social Science, LaGuardia Community College, CUNY
Lauren W. Hammond, Assistant Professor of History, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois
Sara Fanning, Associate Professor of History, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas
“African Americans and the Emigration Movement to Haiti in the 1820s”
Christina Davidson, Danforth Center on Religion and Politics, Washington U, St. Louis, MO

III. 11:30 AM-12:45 PM (Eastern Time) | 12:30-1:45 PM (Hora Rep. Dom.)

Welcome (Open to All)

Interim President Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Hostos Community College, CUNY
Trustee Mayra Linares, City University of New York Board of Trustees
U.S. Congressman Adriano Espaillat, 13th District, NY

Assemblyman Victor Pichardo, District 86, New York State

Aldrin Bonilla, Executive Vice-President, Fund for the City of New York
Guillermo Linares, Ed.D, President of the New York State Higher Education Services Corporation

Poet, fiction writer, and essayist Julia Alvarez
Poet, playwright, and essayist Scherezada “Chiqui” Vicioso

Poet, fiction writer, and essayist Julia Alvarez

Comisionada de Cultura Dominicana en EUA Lourdes Batista
Associate Dean Ana García Reyes, Hostos Community College, CUNY
Professor Silvio Torres-Saillant, Syracuse University

IV. 12:55-1:55 PM (Eastern Time) | 1:55-2:55 PM (Hora Rep. Dom.)

Open to All

Please take some time to stop by the following breakout rooms:

• Ongoing Art Sale to Benefit DSA Biennial 2022 (throughout and post-conference)

• Booksale by Word Up: Chat with Emmanuel Abreu and Sandy Jimenez

V. 2:00-3:15 PM (Eastern Time) | 3:00-4:15 PM (Hora Rep. Dom.)

Panel 8: Spatial Negotiations and Contemporary Dominican Letters
Moderator: Inmaculada Lara Bonilla, Humanities, Hostos Community College, CUNY
Presenters:
Krystale Tremblay, Ph.D. Student, Centre for Comparative Literature, University of Toronto

“Sirens, Seduction and Sea Anemones: Tourism in Mayra Santos-Febres and Rita Indiana”
Vialcarys Crisóstomo, Ph.D. Candidate, Caribbean/Latino Literature, University of Connecticut
“Entre cuevas y parques: tácticas espaciales en la obra literaria de Aurora Arias”
Lucía Stecher, Associate Professor, Literature Department, Universidad de Chile, Santiago
“Cronistas citadinos de su época: Santo Domingo en los textos de Aurora Arias y Frank Báez”

Panel 9: Institutions, Movements, and Social Projects
Moderator: Eve Hayes de Kalaf, Modern Languages & Cultures, University of Liverpool, UK
Presenters:
Saudi García, Ph.D. Student at New York University
“In Cultured Company, Decolonizing Dominicanidad via Public Scholarship and Activism”
Michelle Bueno Vásquez, Political Science Ph.D. Student, Northwestern U, Evanston, IL
“Black Consciousness Raising through Social Media from the U.S. to the Dominican Republic”
Kristina Medina-Vilariño, Associate Professor, Spanish, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN
“Dominican Studies Virtual & Civically Engaged Scholarship: Caribbean Studies Network”

Panel 10: Migración y Nación
Moderator: Ana García Reyes, Associate Dean, Hostos Community College, CUNY
Presenters:
Carlos Andújar Persinal, Sociólogo, Profesor Titular, Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo
“Los sitios de la memoria: rutas del comercio de esclavos en Santo Domingo”
Irma Nicasio, Socióloga, Catedrática jubilada de la Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo 
“La formación étnica y cultural en la República Dominicana”
Fernando I. Ferrán, Profesor Investigador, Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, RD
“Visión histórica y panorámica de la identidad dominicana”

Panel 11: Animal Fictions
Chair: Lisa Paravisini, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York
Presenters:
Maria Cristina Fumagalli, Professor of Literature, University of Essex, Colchester, England

“Humans and Animals at the Centre of the World: Pets, Pests, Pigs and Shape-shifters”
Fernando Valerio-Holguín, Language, Literatures, & Cultures, Colorado State U, Fort Collins
“Los animales sin nombre de Rita Indiana”
Lisa Paravisini, Professor of Hispanic Studies, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York
 “Animals in Dominican Fiction”
César Zapata, Professor of Literature, Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo, DR

“Animales fantásticos en las letras dominicanas”

VI. 3:30-4:45 PM (Eastern Time) | 4:30-5:45 PM (Hora Rep. Dom.)

Panel 12: Enhancing Remote Learning: Open Source Materials with Covid-19 and Beyond
Chair: Sarah Aponte, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute at City College
Presenters:
Sarah Aponte, Chief Librarian, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute at City College
“Distance Learning: Open Source Materials on the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Website”
Jhensen Ortiz, Librarian, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute, City College, CUNY
Paul Austerlitz, Visiting Professor, The City College of New York, CUNY
“Dominican Music in the United States: An Interactive Site”
Edward de Jesus, Senior Researcher, The City College of New York, CUNY
“Visual Representation of Washington Heights: Dominican Culture and Legacy”

Panel 13: Streetwalking: LGBTQ+ Activists in the Dominican Republic and its Diaspora
Chair: Ana-Maurine Lara, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
Presenters:
Rosanna Marzán, Executive Director, Diversidad Dominicana, Santo Domingo, DR  
Deivis Ventura, Founder, Red de Voluntarios de Amigos Siempre Amigos, Santo Domingo, DR
Carlos Rodríguez, Individuos Unidos por el Respeto y la Armonía (IURA), Santo Domingo, DR
Ana-Maurine Lara, Assistant Professor, Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR

Panel 14: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the 1521 Santo Domingo Slave Revolt
Chair: Seth Jacobowitz, Senior Research Associate, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute
Presenters:
Lissette Acosta-Corniel, Center for Ethnic Studies, Borough of Manhattan Community College
“Genesis of Blackness in the Americas: Santo Domingo in Atlantic Slavery Historiography”
Allison Guess, Ph.D. Candidate, Earth and Environmental Studies, CUNY Graduate Center
“16th Century Hispaniola and the 1521 Rebellion: A Pivotal Hidden Black Geography”
Pauline Kulstad-González, Archeologist, Leiden University Ph.D., Independent Scholar
“The Archaeological Search for 16th Century Afrodescendant Lifeways in Hispaniola”

Panel 15: Animal Histories
Chair: Kyrstin Mallon Andrews, U of California, Irvine
Presenters:
Kyrstin Mallon Andrews, Department of Anthropology, U of California, Irvine
“Mistrust in Multispecies Methods: Swimming with Fish and Fishermen in Dominican Waters”
Lauren Derby, Associate Professor, History, University of California, Los Angeles, CA

“Preternaturalia: Talking Cows and Other Bêtes Infernales”
Elizabeth Gansen, Assistant Professor of Spanish, Grand Valley State University, Michigan

“Water Cows & Land Fish: Representation in Fernández de Oviedo’s Historia (1535)”
Luisa Rollins Castillo, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Anthropology, U of Illinois, Chicago
“Endangered Species & Emergent Livelihoods: Ecological Labor in the Dominican Southwest” 

VII. 5:00-6:15 PM (Eastern Time) | 6:00-7:15 PM (Hora Rep. Dom.)

Open to All

Poet Elizabeth Acevedo, National Book Award Winner, in Conversation with José R. García, Brand and Communications Associate, Hostos Community College, CUNY Moderator: Professor Silvio Torres-Saillant, Syracuse University

VIII. 6:30-7:45 PM (Eastern Time) | 7:30-8:45 PM (Hora Rep. Dom.)

Roundtable: Transnational Legacies of Chavoneras
Chair: Rachel Afi Quinn, Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies and Cultural Studies, U of Houston, Texas
Presenters:
Rachel Afi Quinn, Women’s Gender & Sexuality Studies and Cultural Studies, U of Houston
Dulcina Abreu, independent curator, artist, and museum advocate, Washington D.C.
Scherezade García, visual artist, co-founder of the Dominican York Proyecto/Gráfica

Julia Santos Solomon, artist, New York City

Panel 17: La flor en un campo de cizañas: Resisting Social Control in los Doce Años Part 1
Chair: Pauline Kulstad-González, Archeologist, Leiden University Ph.D., Independent Scholar
Presenters:
Elizabeth Manley, Kellogg Endowed Professor, Department of History, Xavier U of Louisiana
“Las bellezas naturales del Caribe: Balaguer, Tourism, and the Dominican Pageant Queen”
Rene Cordero, Ph.D. Candidate, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
“The Politics of History in the DR during the 1970s”
Pauline Kulstad-González, Archeologist, Independent Scholar
“Borrando a Bosch: Balaguer’s Archaeology in Condemnation of Memory”  
April Mayes, Chair, Department of History, Pomona College, Claremont, California
“The Formation of Black Studies for Hispaniola, 1960s-1980s”

Panel 18: Perspectives on the Use of Spanglish in Literature
Chair: Marilyn Ramírez, Educator and Writer, Dominican Writers Association
Presenters:
Fior Plasencia, artist and poet
Gaby Comprés, educator and poet
Amanda Alcántara, activist and writer, co-founder La Galería
Roxana Calderón, poeta y activista cultural
Edwin Mazara, activista cultural y escritor

Day 2: Saturday, December 05

IX.  8:30-9:45 AM (Eastern Time) | 9:30-10:45 AM (Hora Rep. Dom.)

Panel 19: Historias subalternas: perspectivas críticas frente a la historia oficial dominicana
Moderator:  Thelma Ithier-Sterling, Humanities Department, Hostos Community College
Chair: Elissa Lister, Letras, Universidad Nacional de Colombía–Sede Medellín
Presenters:
Elissa Lister, Letras, Universidad Nacional de Colombía–Sede Medellín

“Luchas subalternas en el siglo XX: del magnicidio al historicidio”

Catherine Bourgeois, Lab. Mixto Internacional MESO; Free University of Brussels, Belgium
“Érase una vez…Reconstrucción de una historia en la zona fronteriza dominicana en el siglo XX”
Ana Féliz, Investigadora, Instituto de Investigación Social para el Desarrollo, Santiago, RD
“Narraciones sobre la identidad cultural dominicana: datos y giros discursivos en el siglo XXI”

Panel 20: Imaginarios de la ruina en la producción cultural dominicana
Moderator: Mercedes Fernández-Asenjo, Romance Languages, SUNY, Binghamton U, NY
Chair: Néstor Rodríguez, Director, Caribbean Studies Program, University of Toronto, ON
Presenters:
Catherine Sawyer, Ph.D. Student and Teaching Assistant at the University of Toronto, ON
Ramón A. Victoriano-Martínez, French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, U of British Columbia
Olga Nedvyga, Assistant Professor, Literature and Languages, Université de Montréal, Québec

Néstor Rodríguez, Director, Caribbean Studies Program, University of Toronto, ON

Panel 21: Diversity and Dominicans in New York’s Judiciary
Chair: Llinét M. Rosado, New York State Supreme Court Justice, Bronx County
Presenters:
Rolando T. Acosta, Presiding Justice, New York State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division
Manuel J. Mendez, Associate Justice, New York State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division
Rita Mella, Judge, Manhattan Surrogate Court
Lourdes Ventura, Justice, New York State Supreme Court, 11th Judicial District
Bianka Perez, Judge, New York City’s Civil Court in Bronx County
Fidel Gomez, Judge, New York City’s Civil Court in Bronx County
Angela J. Badamo, Judge, New York City’s Criminal Court, New York County

Panel 22: Hacia una agenda de investigación feminista descolonial en el Caribe
Chair: Yuderkys Espinosa Miñoso, escritora e investigadora, fundadora de GLEFAS
Presenters:
Celenis Rodríguez Moreno, docente, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Buenos Aires
Jeannette Tineo, Psicóloga clínica y doctoranda en Estudios interdisciplinares de género
Narcisa Núñez, Ph.D. Student, Latin Am., Caribbean, and Latino Studies, SUNY Albany
Ochy Curiel, Docente/Investigadora, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Bogotá

Yuderkys Espinosa Miñoso, escritora e investigadora, fundadora de GLEFAS

X. 10:00-11:15 AM (Eastern Time) | 11:00-12:15 PM (Hora Rep. Dom.)

Panel 23: La flor en un campo de cizañas: Resisting Social Control in los Doce Años Part 2
Chair: Sharina Maillo-Pozo, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Presenters:
Maja Horn, Associate Professor, Spanish and Latin American Cultures, Barnard College
“’Disco Free’: Queer Nightlife during the Balaguerato”
Ana S.Q. Liberato, Graduate Studies Director, Sociology Department, University of Kentucky
“Los Doce Años: How Dominicans Remember It”
Sharina Maillo-Pozo, Spanish and Latinx Studies, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Los “Doce Años” Revisited: Rita Indiana Strikes Back
R. Victoriano-Martínez, French, Hispanic & Italian Studies, U of British Columbia, Vancouver
“‘La tristeza nos precede’: Poetry and Resistance in the Works of Norberto James Rawlings

Panel 24: Legados y anti-legados del trujillismo
Moderator: Neici Zeller, History Department, William Paterson College, NJ
Presenters:
Dagoberto Tejeda Ortíz, Social Science and Folklore, Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo
“Cultural, represión, e identidad en la dictadura trujillista”
Juan Alfonseca, Instituto Superior de Ciencias de la Educación del Estado de México
“Escuela rural y encuadramiento social del campesinado durante el trujillato, 1930-1940”
 Raj Chetty, English Department, St. John’s University, New York
“La negritud clandestina: Carmen Natalia Martínez Bonilla’s El hombre tras las rejas”
Gabriela Ramos Ruiz, Art Historian, Arts and Science Faculty, Universidad de la Habana, Cuba
“Las artes en contienda: el Frente Cultural constitucionalista en la Revolución de Abril de 1965”
Franklin Gutiérrez, World Languages, Literatures, and Humanities, York College, CUNY
“Trujillo odió a su abuela haitiana aún después de muerta”

Panel 25: Cross-Disciplinary Cultural Production in the Caribbean and its Diaspora
Moderator: Ofelia Rodríguez, former Director, Rio II Gallery Rooftop Patio Event Space
Presenters:
Julie Sellers, Associate Professor, Benedictine College, Atchison, Kansas
“From Radio Guarachita to El Tieto eShow: Bachata’s Imagined Communities”
Leonardo Herrera, actor, stage director, and secondary school theater teacher  
“Religiosidad popular como espectáculo: sobre un caso de escenificación del Gagá dominicano”
Ana Baez, Assistant Professor of Spanish, Chicago State University
“The Status of Caribbean Studies against the Archipelago as Paradigm”
Roland Alum, Research Associate, Center for Latin American Studies, University of Pittsburgh
“Emerging Trends in the Ritual/Spiritual Kinship of Compadrazgo in the Dominican Republic”

Panel 26: Social and Cultural Perspectives on COVID-19
Moderator: Norma Fuentes-Mayorga, Sociology/Latin American-Latina/o Studies, City College
Presenters:
Lina N. Cordero, Sociologist, Events Coordinator, Verania Consulting, Santo Domingo
“Muerte, cultura funeraria, entierros masivos y dolientes ausentes en la pandemia”
Stephen Ippolito, University at Albany Ph.D. Student/School of Professional Studies Instructor
“Killer Pandemics: Diabetes and COVID-19 Crisis”
Nelson Santana, Assistant Professor/Reference Librarian, Bronx Community College, CUNY
“The COVID-19 Dominican Oral History Project”
Maria Cristina Fumagalli, Professor of Literature, University of Essex, Colchester, England
“Stranger than Fiction: Toward a New Haitian-Dominican Narrative under Covid-19”
Bridgette Wooding, Director, Caribbean Migrants Observatory (OBMICA), Santo Domingo
“Stranger than Fiction: Toward a New Haitian-Dominican Narrative under Covid-19”

XI. 11:30 AM-12:45 PM (Eastern Time) | 12:30-1:45 PM (Hora Rep. Dom.)

Panel 27: The Politics of Identity Part 1
Moderator: Lissette Acosta Corniel, Center for Ethnic Studies, BMCC, CUNY 
Presenters:
Fiordaliza Ippolito, University at Albany Ph.D. Student, Hostos Community College instructor
“Marginación en la representación y la autorepresentación del lenguaje dominicano”
Livia Santos de Souza, Literature, Federal University of Latin American Integration in Brazil

“Dominicanyorks in Translation: Dominican Diasporic Literature in Portuguese”
Jennifer D. Rudolph, Associate Professor, Hispanic and Latinx Studies, Connecticut College
“PonleAcento: Structural Racism and MLB’s Fraught Relationship with Spanish”

Panel 28: The Politics of Identity Part 2
Moderator: Ana Ozuna, Black Studies Coordinator, Hostos Community College, CUNY
Presenters:
Lemny Pérez, Clinical Psychologist, the Wright Institute; founder, Pure Lotus Wellness, NYC
“Dominican Hair Salons: Implications for an Ethnic Identity-Inflected Clinical Practice”
Kimberly Simmons, Anthropology and African American Studies, University of South Carolina
“Afros, Rizos, y Pajones: Natural Hair and Articulations of Dominican Blackness”
Jhoanna Méndez, Ph.D. Candidate, Spanish Program, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
“Flor de justicia: Performance & Spatial Reappropriation in Contemporary Dominican Texts”

Panel 29: Perspectives on the Novel Dominicana by Angie Cruz
Moderator: María Cano, Director, College Discovery, Hostos Community College, CUNY
Presenters:
Daniel Arbino, Librarian, Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas, Austin

“Together We’re Strong:” Intercultural Empathy as Resistance in Angie Cruz’s Dominicana”
Anne Brüske, Professor, Transcultural Studies, University of Heidelberg, Germany
“Dominican Spaces in New York: Food Cultures and Diaspora in Angie Cruz’s Dominicana”
Rey Emmanuel Andújar, Spanish Literature, Governors State University, Chicago, Illinois
“Dominicana soy”

Panel 30: The Status of Ethnic Studies in the Ivy League
Moderator: Norma Fuentes-Mayorga, Sociology/Latin American-Latina/o Studies, City College
Chair: George Lipsitz, Emeritus, Black Studies/Sociology, U of California, Santa Barbara
Presenters:
Ginetta Candelario, Sociology/Latin Am.-Latina/o Studies, Smith College, Northampton, MA 

Laura Briggs, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Elizabeth Manley, Department of History, Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans
Lourdes Torres, Latin American and Latino Studies, DePaul University, Chicago, IL

XII. 12:55-1:55 PM (Eastern Time) | 1:55-2:55 PM (Hora Rep. Dom.)

Open to All

Please take some time to stop by the following breakout rooms:

• Ongoing Art Sale to Benefit DSA Biennial 2022 (throughout and post-conference)

• Booksale by Word Up: Chat with Angela Abreu and Reynaldo García Pantaleón

• Open chat on recent Dominican publications facilitated by Dr. Juan Tineo

XIII. 2:00-3:15 PM (Eastern Time) | 3:00-4:15 PM (Hora Rep. Dom.)

Open to All

Plenary:
Higher Education Leaders on the Challenge of their Mission during the Global Pandemic Envisioning the Future
Convener: Interim President Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Hostos Community College, CUNY
Participants:
Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, The City University of New York, New York
President Milagros Peña, Purchase College, SUNY, Purchase, New York
Franklin García Fermín, Ministro de Educación Superior, Ciencia y Tecnología, RD
Vice Rector Pablo Mella Febles, Instituto Superior Pedro Francisco Bonó, Santo Domingo, RD
President Shirley M. Collado, Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York

XIV. 3:30-4:45 PM (Eastern Time) | 4:30-5:45 PM (Hora Rep. Dom.)

Panel 31: Form, Place, Ancestries, and Gendered Selves in Dominican Women’s Texts
Moderator: Nancy Kang, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Presenters:
Nancy Kang, Canada Research Chair, Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Manitoba
“Frenawp yutuhng”: Un-Easy Maternal Dynamics in Ana-Maurine Lara’s Kohnjehr Woman
Esther Hernández-Medina, Visiting Faculty, Sociology, Pomona College, Claremont, CA
“Joy, Autonomy, and Exploration in Carmen, the Graphic Novel by Josefina Báez”
Vanessa Melo, Doctoral Student, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of Toronto 
“Inebriated Honesty: An Analysis of Bilateral Identity in Chiqui Vicioso’s Whish-ky Sour”

Panel 32: Exchange and Cross-Cultural Issues in Higher Education and Grade School
Moderator: Rafael Torres, Office of Legal Affairs, Hostos Community College, CUNY
Presenters:
Stephanie Breen, Ph.D. Student Affairs concentration, University of Maryland, College Park
“The Road to High Literacy: Legacy of Dominican Americans in Higher Education”
Ana Jiménez Bautista, Office of Field Practice, School of Public Health, Columbia University
“Fostering and Adapting DR/US Academic Exchanges in the Face of COVID19”
Rocío Billini Franco, Director, Academic Exchange, Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo
“Remote Academic Field Practice Experience through UASD/Columbia Partnership”
Sophia D’Angelo, Teacher, Curriculum Developer, Ph.D. Student, Cambridge University, UK
“Dominican Grade School Pupils Compared with African American Students in the US”

Roundtable: Impacto psicosocial y clínico de COVID-19 en la comunidad dominicana
Moderator: Marleny Sarante, MD, Nasry Michelen Foundation
Presenters:
Cira Ángeles, Livery Base Owners Association, New York
Rafael Lantigua, MD, New York-Presbyterian Hospital
Manuel Acevedo, MD, Internal Medicine
Bienvenido Fajardo, MD, New York-Presbyterian Hospital
Amarilis Jacobo, DDS, Private Practice
Juan Tapia, MD, Pediatrician, Private Practice
Walid Michelen, MD, Private Practice
Yanissa Holguin-Veras, MD, CEDIMAT, Santo Domingo

Panel 34: Ethnic Studies in the Ivy League: A Roundtable Discussion
Chair: Lorgia García-Peña, Romance Languages and Literatures Department, Harvard U
Presenters:
Aracely Alicia García, student activist, ‘20 graduate, Stanford University
Alondra Ponce, student activist, currently attending Harvard University
Ana Ramos-Zayas, American Studies and Anthropology, Yale University
Jonathan Rosa, Center for Comparative Studies of Race and Ethnicity, Stanford University
Frances Negrón-Muntaner, English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University

Lorgia García-Peña, Romance Languages and Literatures Department, Harvard U

XV. 5:00-6:15 PM (Eastern Time) | 6:00-7:15 PM (Hora Rep. Dom.)

Panel 35: Cultural Institutions, Memory, and the Creation of Inclusive Publics
Moderator: Ofelia Rodríguez, former Director, Rio II Gallery Rooftop Patio Event Space
Presenters:
Luis F. Rodríguez, Programas Culturales, Centro Cultural Eduardo León Jimenes, Santiago, DR
“Visión general de la programación del Centro León y su política de inclusión”
María A. León, Ph.D., Directora del Centro León y presidenta de la Fundación E. León Jimenes
“Un museo para el reconocimiento y la construcción de identidades”

Panel 36: Migración e identidad
Moderator: Luana Y. Ferreira, Language and Literacy, Hunter College, CUNY
Chair: Luis Álvarez, Centro de Estudios Caribeños, Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra
Presenters:
Luis Álvarez, Profesor Investigador, Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra
“La diáspora china: migración transnacional china y adaptación en la República Dominicana”
Sonia Bu, Coach Development and Training Specialist, Leadership Academy, New York City
“La diáspora china: migración transnacional china y adaptación en la República Dominicana.”
María de los Ángeles Méndez Roso, Poet and Prose Writer    
“Dominican Diaspora: Social Harm, Cultural Enrichment or Merely Economic improvement?”

Roundtable: Transnational Legacies of Chavoneras
Chair: Elena Valdez, Modern/Classical Languages & Literatures, Christopher Newport U, VA
Presenters:

Elena Valdez, Modern/Classical Languages & Literatures, Christopher Newport U, VA

Sharina Maillo-Pozo, Romance Languages Department, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Rachel Afi Quinn, Women’s Gender & Sexuality Studies/Cultural Studies, U of Houston, Texas
Scherezade García, Visual Artist, Co-founder of the Dominican York Proyecto/Gráfica

Dulcina Abreu, Independent Curator, Artist, and Museum Advocate in Washington D.C.

Julia Santos Solomon, artist, New York City

Panel 38: A New Agenda on Inclusive Research
Moderator: Evelyn Fernández-Ketcham, Hostos Community College, CUNY
Presenters:
Evelyn Fernández-Ketcham, Ph.D. Candidate, Yeshiva U Wurzweiler School of Social Work
“Dominicans In an Urban Community College Say What Makes Them Feel Like an Adult?”
Grigoris Argeros, Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology, Eastern Michigan U, Ypsilanti
“Housing and Dominicans in New York City, Generational and Racial Indicators”
James DeFilippis, Planning and Public Policy, State University of New Jersey, N. Brunswick
“Housing and Dominicans in New York City, Generational and Racial Indicators”
Nancy López, Sociology, Associate VP Equity and Inclusion, U of New Mexico, Albuquerque
“Your Street Race: A Dominican Studies Curricular Vision to Dismantle Anti-Blackness”

XVI.  6:30-7:45 PM (Eastern Time) | 7:30-8:45 PM (Hora Rep. Dom.)

Panel 39: Gender, Family, Kinship, and Youth
Moderator: Neici Zeller, History Department, William Paterson College, NJ
Presenters:
Stefan Bosworth, Lecturer, Department of Social Sciences, Bronx Community College, CUNY
“Courtship and Marriage Across three Generations of DR- and US-born Dominican Women”
Sabrina A. Méndez-Escobar, Education Department, Harry S. Truman College, Chicago, IL
“A Socio-historical Context to Interpret Research on US Dominican Families”
Jeovanny Pérez Corcino, Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña, Santo Domingo, DR
“Participación política de la mujer en la Cámara de Diputados 1942-2016”

Panel 40: Classroom Initiatives from Pre-K to Higher Education
Moderator: Juan Tineo, Hispanic Languages and Literatures, Queens College, CUNY
Presenters:
Yudi Lewis, Program Director, Latino Initiative, Utah Valley University, Orem, Utah
 “Buscándole la vuelta”: Effective K-16 Partnerships in the Time of COVID-19
Gilberto García, Office of Postsecondary Readiness, NYC Department of Education
“A Sustainable College Career Readiness Program for Dominicans in the Diaspora”

Bethsaida Garrido, Instituto Superior de Formación Docente Salomé Ureña, RD

Panel 41: Anticanon y fronteras de identidad, cultura y región en República Dominicana
Moderator: Soldanela Rivera, Director of Communications, Hostos Community College
Chair: Lauristely Peña-Solano, Proyecto Anticanon en RD
Presenters:
Lauristely Peña-Solano, poeta, activista cultural y co-fundadora del Proyecto Anticanon en RD
Michelle Ricardo, poeta, spoken-word performer, curadora de arte y emprendedora cultural
Ibeth A. Guzmán, narradora, docente en Letras, Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo

XVII. 8:00-8:30 PM (Eastern Time) | 9:00-9:30 PM (Hora Rep. Dom.)

Closing / Farewell / Open to All

Virtual toast, Directory of DSA2020 Virtually@hostos participants sent to all.
Projections for 2022