docDominicans in the US Prior to 1970
download 
Report Transcription
Dominicans in the US Prior to 1970
The Dominican Studies Association (DSA) / Asociación de Estudios Dominicanos & Division of Academic Affairs at Hostos Community College Present The 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies La Segunda Conferencia Internacional e Interdisciplinaria sobre Estudios Dominicanos Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos antes de 1970 Dedicated to Camila Henríquez Ureña and Tito Cánepa “Mencía Acevedo (second from left) and Friends” In Riverside Park, New York City, circa late 1950s. From The Anthony Stevens-Acevedo Collection, Dominican Archives CUNY Dominican Studies Institute at The City College Dedicated to Camila Henríquez Ureña and Tito Cánepa The 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos antes de 1970 April 30, 2008 Dear Friends: Welcome to Eugenio María de Hostos Community College and to the Second International Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies: Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence. This conference is dedicated to Camila Henríquez Ureña (1894-1973), a leading Latina-Caribbean intellectual of the twentieth century, and painter Tito Enrique Cánepa Jimínez (b. 1916), both of who maintained their Dominican identities while residing in the United States. Events such as this are frequent occurrences at Hostos Community College, due in large part to the ongoing efforts of Dr. Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs. Every spring and fall, scholarly conferences are held here to explore important educational issues and celebrate the literary and cultural heritage of our students and the community we serve. For example, last year’s Eighth International Conference on Women Writers of the Spanish Caribbean: On Diaspora and Homecoming focused on the important contributions of many contemporary Spanish-Caribbean and Latina writers. Previous conferences at Hostos honored the legacies of Eugenio María de Hostos, José Martí, Miguel Cervantes, Pablo Neruda, and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Other events have allowed us to explore our African and Jewish cultural heritages and their enduring influence throughout the Americas. The college also sponsors annual conferences on the challenges of educating English language learners (PreK-16), and a steady stream of outstanding performances and exhibits are offered by the Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture. On behalf of the Hostos family, I thank you very much for joining us for this two-day celebration of the Dominican presence in the United States. We look forward to seeing you again at many forthcoming activities. My very best regards, Dolores M. Fernández President 2 Dedicated to Camila Henríquez Ureña and Tito Cánepa The 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos antes de 1970 OFFICE OF THE PROVOST AND SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS EUGENIO MARÍA DE HOSTOS COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK 500 GRAND CONCOURSE, BRONX, NEW YORK 10451 TELEPHONE (718) 518-6660 ● FAX (718) 518-6829 April 30, 2008 Dear Colleagues, Students and Friends: It is with great joy and anticipation that we welcome you to the 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies which is themed, Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence / Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos antes de 1970, and is dedicated to one of the finest Latina-Caribbean intellectuals of the twentieth century, Camila Henríquez Ureña (1894-1973), and the consummate painter and artist, Tito Enrique Cánepa Jiménez (b. 1916). In her time, Camila Henríquez Ureña was an activist, founder of a feminist cultural organization, founder of the HispanicCuban Institute, academician and administrative leader, to say the least. Her life long commitment to learning and incredible talents and abilities with music, song, dance, and language is not only evidenced by her written work, but also has been documented by scholars including Mirta Yañez, and Mirta Aguirre, some of Camila’s most distinguished students. Presently, Tito Enrique Cánepa Jiménez is a remarkable case of a Dominican migrant who traveled to New York as a young man in the late 1930s, became an extraordinary painter, and remained in New York City for the rest of his life without ever losing his sense of Dominicanness. Mr. Cánepa is a pioneer of the large stream of Dominican immigrants that began arriving en masse in NY during the 1960s. He became a fundamental part of the City’s human fabric, 600,000 of which today trace their origin back to the Dominican Republic. His entire life and artistic production in New York are a prime example of how Dominicans have been able to settle in our City, find in it a new home, and contribute to its enormous richness without losing the fundamental cultural traits that make them unique. This conference promises to bring together the old with the new. On behalf of the Dominican Studies Association Executive Board and Planning Board as well as the conference Planning Committee, it is with great pride that we offer this bi-annual conference that began in spring 2006 under the auspices of the Dominican Studies Association (DSA). Our organization is focused on the dissemination and preservation of Dominican history and culture, and to the advancement of our people. Our leaders are ascending to the highest ranks in academic organizations, community groups, and governmental agencies. Our spirit is that of looking to the past to find pathways to the future, for our generation, and for generations to come. We welcome you to our conference, and wish you an enjoyable and rewarding experience on the Hostos campus. Warm regards, Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Ph.D. President, DSA Ramona Hernández, Ph.D. Vice President-Treasurer, DSA 3 Dedicated to Camila Henríquez Ureña and Tito Cánepa The 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos antes de 1970 Schedule At A Glance Wednesday, April 30, 2008 450 Grand Concourse (C Building) 4:00pm-4:30pm Registration in C building lobby, 450 Grand Concourse 4:45pm-5:25pmConference Opening - Art Gallery Moderators: Daisy Cocco De Filippis and Ramona Hernández 5:30pm-7:30pmPedro Henríquez Ureña: Exilio Y Tradiciones Intelectuales - Art Gallery Keynote Presenter: Arcadio Díaz Quiñones, Princeton University Moderator: Silvio Torres-Saillant, Syracuse University Sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs, Hostos Community College 7:30pm-9:30pmDinner and Entertainment - Faculty Dining Room (Dinner Fee & RSVP Required) Andreina Hidalgo (vocalist) & Michelle Marie Néstor (guitarist) Thursday, May 1, 2008 450 Grand Concourse (C Building). All sessions are in the Art Gallery. 9:30am-7:00pm Registration in C building lobby 10:00am-10:45amRoundtable Discussion—A Status Report on Dominican Women in Government: Legacy & Vision Moderator: Ana García Reyes, Hostos Community College Sponsored by the Office of International Programs and Community Relations, HCC 11:00am-12:45pmTribute to Tito Cánepa’s Legacy Moderator: Sarah Aponte, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute at The City College Sponsored by CUNY Dominican Studies Institute at The City College 1:00pm-2:00pm Lunch Break 2:00pm-3:30pmCamila Henríquez Ureña’s Legacy: Educar a la mujer para una ciudadanía plena Moderadora: Sonia Rivera-Valdés, York College Auspiciada por Latino Artists Round Table (LART) 3:45pm-4:15pm Break 4:15pm-5:15pmDominican Communities in the U.S.: Challenges from the Environment Moderator: Carlos Sanabria Sponsored by the Humanities and Natural Science Departments, HCC 5:30pm-6:45pmLegado Literario de Nuestros Pioneros Moderador: Ángel Estévez, The City College Auspiciada por el Comisionado Dominicano de Cultura en los Estados Unidos 7:00pm-8:30pmDominicans in the U.S. Then and Now: Evolution of Identities Moderator: Silvio Torres-Saillant, Syracuse University Sponsored by Latino/Latin American Studies Program, Syracuse University 4 Dedicated to Camila Henríquez Ureña and Tito Cánepa The 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos antes de 1970 About the Conference The Asociación de Estudios Dominicanos / Dominican Studies Association in collaboration with: The Office of Academic Affairs at Hostos Community College, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute at The City College, The Office of International Programs and Community Relations at Hostos C.C., Latino Artists Round Table (LART), El Comisionado Dominicano de Cultura en los Estados Unidos, Latino/Latin American Studies Program at Syracuse University, Humanities and Natural Science Departments at Hostos C.C. presents its second major interdisciplinary conference on Dominican Studies, hosted at Eugenio María de Hostos Community College on April 30 - May 1, 2008. Rationale • To bring together Dominicanists of every generation to continue the conversation on the status of Dominican Studies. • To contribute to the professional development of young scholars in the field. • To contribute to the recovery and integration of the Dominican experience to studies on the Latino experience in the United States. • To discuss and investigate the important role that the Dominican contribution has played in Latin America and the Caribbean. • To celebrate and disseminate Dominican history and culture throughout the continental United States, the Caribbean, Latin America and elsewhere throughout the world. • To strengthen Hostos and The City University of New York’s commitment to education and their link to the public school system in the Bronx and throughout New York City. • To provide opportunities for cultural enrichment and intellectual growth for faculty and students throughout the city. Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Ph.D., Asociación de Estudios Dominicanos, President Ramona Hernández, Ph.D., Asociación de Estudios Dominicanos, Vice President Recording Policy All material presented during this conference are the property of the individual presenting. All recordings of this conference are the property of the Division of Academic Affairs at HCC and the Asociación de Estudios Dominicanos. Recording, videotaping or otherwise copying the proceedings of this conference is not permitted without express consent of the presenters, Division of Academic Affairs, and Asociación de Estudios Dominicanos. The proceedings will be recorded and may be viewed by individuals wishing to do so by submitting a written request to Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Hostos Community College, CUNY, or Ramona Hernández, Dominican Studies Institute at The City College of New York, CUNY. 5 Dedicated to Camila Henríquez Ureña and Tito Cánepa The 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos antes de 1970 Detailed Conference Schedule Wednesday, April 30, 2008 450 Grand Concourse 4:00pm-4:30pm Registration Lobby 4:45pm-5:25pm Conference Opening Art Gallery GreetingsDolores M. Fernández, President, Hostos Community College, CUNY Héctor López, Hostos Community College, CUNY Ángel Miranda, President, Student Government Association Representative from Serrano Scholars Program Representative from the CUNY/Dominican Republic Scholarship Program (SEESCyT) ModeratorDaisy Cocco De Filippis, Hostos Community College, CUNY Ramona Hernández, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute at The City College 5:30pm-7:30pm Presenter Moderator Pedro Henríquez Ureña: Exilio y Tradiciones Intelectuales Arcadio Díaz Quiñones, Princeton University Silvio Torres-Saillant, Syracuse University Art Gallery Me propongo hablar del recorrido intelectual de Pedro Henríquez Ureña a partir de tres líneas. La primera es el marco de la tradición nacional dominicana y las tradiciones caribeñas. La segunda es su identidad como intelectual del exilio y las marcas, a veces contradictorias, que dejaron en él las experiencias de su vida en los Estados Unidos, México y la Argentina. La tercera es su pasión hispanoamericanista y su deseo de armonizar la cultura letrada con la función pública del intelectual. 7:30pm-9:30pm Dinner and Entertainment (Dinner Fee & RSVP Required ) PerformersAndreina Hidalgo, vocalist Michelle Marie Néstor, guitarist Faculty Dining Room Sponsored by Office of Academic Affairs, Hostos Community College, CUNY Thursday, May 1, 2008 450 Grand Concourse 9:30am-7:00pm Registration 10:00am-10:45amRoundtable Discussion—A Status Report on Dominican Women in Government: Legacy & Vision Panelists Aneiry Batista, Office of Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat Karina Cabrera, Office of the Comptroller, NYC Lilliam Pérez, Office of NY State Senator Eric T. Schneiderman Gabriela Rosa, Office of NY State Assemblyman Herman D. Farrell, Jr. Seny Taveras, Office of the Governor Venecia Fernández, New York State Office of the Comptroller Moderator Ana García Reyes, Hostos Community College, CUNY A panel of high-ranking Dominican women, who work in government, will share their experiences and challenges. Sponsored by the Office of International Programs and Community Relations, HCC 6 Lobby Art Gallery Dedicated to Camila Henríquez Ureña and Tito Cánepa The 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos antes de 1970 11:00am-12:45pm Tribute and Panel Discussion on Tito Cánepa’s Legacy PanelistsScherezade García, Artist Ramona Hernández, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute at The City College Freddy Rodríguez, Artist Moderator Sarah Aponte, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute at The City College Art Gallery This panel observes Tito Cánepa’s artwork and the relevance of his early migratory experience and lifelong residence in New York City as transcendental for his development as a consecrated painter and humanist, and for the preservation of his Dominicanness. Sponsored by CUNY Dominican Studies Institute at The City College 1:00pm-2:00pm Lunch Break 2:00pm-3:30pmCamila Henríquez Ureña’s Legacy: Educar a la mujer para una ciudadanía plena PanelistasDinorah Coronado, Autora & dramaturga Margarita Drago, York College, CUNY Moderadora Sonia Rivera-Valdés, York College Art Gallery A Spanish-language discussion on Camila Henríquez Ureña’s essays on education and on women’s rights. Auspiciada por Latino Artists Round Table (LART) 4:15pm-5:15pm Dominican Communities in the U.S.: Challenges from the Environment PanelistsMarcos Charles, Physician Rafael Lantigua, Columbia University Medical Center Vladimir Ovtcharenko, Hostos Community College, CUNY Moderator Carlos Sanabria, Hostos Community College, CUNY Art Gallery Prof. Carlos Sanabria will moderate a panel on environmental conditions and health issues in Dominican communities in New York City. He will begin by discussing the migration and socio-economic profile of Dominicans in New York, and will identify the major Dominican neighborhoods in the city. Prof. Ovtcharenko will then discuss some of the environmental conditions in these communities, which will be followed with a presentation by Dr. Marcos Charles and Dr. Rafael Lantigua on the health impact these conditions have on local residents. Sponsored by the Humanities and Natural Science Departments, HCC 5:30pm-6:45pm Legado Literario de Nuestros Pioneros PanelistasMarianela Medrano, Autora Texto: “El amor de las estrellas”, de Jesusa Alfau Galván [1916] Rubén Sánchez Féliz, The City College of New York, CUNY Texto: “La manía del tiempo”, de Gustavo Bergés Bordas [1925] Yrene Santos López, York College, CUNY Texto: “La mujer y la cultura” (fragmento), de Camila Henríquez Ureña Moderador Ángel Estévez, The City College of New York, CUNY Art Gallery This panel includes readings from the Dominican writers in the U.S. during the first decades of the XX Century. The authors whose works will be read are Jesusa Alfau Galván, Gustavo Bergés Bordas, and Camila Henríquez Ureña. This panel honors the legacy these authors passed on to our generation. Auspiciada por el Comisionado Dominicano de Cultura en los Estados Unidos 7 Dedicated to Camila Henríquez Ureña and Tito Cánepa The 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos antes de 1970 7:00pm-8:30pm Dominicans in the U.S. Then and Now: Evolution of Identities PanelistsCarlos Decena, Rutgers University Lorgia García-Peña, Dartmouth College Danny Méndez, Michigan State University Néstor E. Rodríguez, University of Toronto Moderator Silvio Torres-Saillant, Syracuse University Art Gallery Bringing together some of the most dynamic young scholars working on Dominican subjects in the United States and Canada, this panel will explore some of the new ways of constructing Dominicanness that become available to people in the diaspora. Having experienced the sense of deterritorialized national identity in host societies and acquired critical distance from Statesponsored protocols of allegiance in the ancestral homeland, Dominicans in the diaspora generally uphold consciously politicized categories of belonging that privilege a focus on equity and inclusion, race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, class and culture, among other sites that facilitate or impede a person’s attainment of full citizenship in the Dominican Republic, the United States, or elsewhere. The speakers will each approach the topic from the vantage point of their distinct areas of training, methodological emphases, and critical perspectives. Sponsored by Latino/Latin American Studies Program, Syracuse University 8 Dedicated to Camila Henríquez Ureña and Tito Cánepa The 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos antes de 1970 Camila Henríquez Ureña (1894-1973) By Daisy Cocco De Filippis The fourth child and only daughter of two prominent Dominicans, Salomé Ureña de Henríquez and Francisco Henríquez Ureña, Camila Henríquez Ureña is one of the finest Latina-Caribbean intellectuals of the twentieth century. She was born in the Dominican Republic three years before the death of her mother, the prominent poet and educator Salomé Ureña de Henríquez. Camila Henríquez Ureña’s figure has often been overshadowed by the presence of her two better-known siblings, the literary luminaries Pedro and Max Henríquez Ureña. Camila Henríquez Ureña spent a good deal of her life in Cuba, where she moved with her father and his second wife and family in 1904. Henríquez Ureña received her doctorate in philosophy, letters, and pedagogy from the University of Havana in 1917. Her dissertation was titled “Pedagogical Ideas of Eugenio María de Hostos,” honoring the memory of the illustrious Puerto Rican educator and her mother’s mentor and supporter of her founding the first normal school for girls in the Dominican Republic. From 1918 to 1921 Henríquez Ureña lived in Minnesota, where she studied and taught classes at the University of Minnesota. Returning to Cuba in the early 1920s, Camila Henríquez Ureña became a Cuban citizen in 1926. She lived in Paris and studied at the Sorbonne from 1932 to 1934. While living in Cuba in the 1930s, she was active in organizing feminists, as well as cultural institutions and events. Most notable among her activities is her role as cofounder and president of the Lyceum, a feminist cultural organization, and the Hispanic-Cuban Institute. In 1942 she moved to the United States and taught at Vassar College until 1959 in the Department of Hispanic Studies, where she served twice as chairperson and was a tenured professor. During a number of summers in her 19421959 residence in the United States, Henríquez Ureña was also on the faculty of the prestigious language and literature summer program at Middlebury College. Her contribution is notable, for she was one of the earliest instances of a Latina/Caribbean woman academic earning tenure and chairpersonship at a prestigious academic institution in the United States. Henríquez Ureña, however, gave up her pension as professor emerita at Vassar College to return to Cuba and to participate in the restructuring of the University of Havana, where she taught in the Department of Latin American Literature until her retirement in 1970. At the time of her death while visiting her native Dominican Republic, Camila Henríquez Ureña held the title of professor emerita from the University of Havana, as well as Vassar College, a rare if not unique accomplishment, worthy of note. The breadth of knowledge to be found in Camila Henríquez Ureña’s writings gives evidence of her erudition and lifelong commitment to learning. Henríquez Ureña was a woman of many and varied interests. Pedro Henríquez Ureña’s letters, collected in the family’s Epistolarlo, record his own amazement at his sister’s capacity for learning and her curious intellect. In several testimonios provided by Mirta Yanez in her “Camila y Camila” one finds how truly diverse Henríquez Ureña’s interests were: her knowledge of, participation in, and even singing of operas in various languages; her ability with music and her fine, distinguished, but very Caribbean way of dancing; her work as an educator and in women’s movements; and her ability to learn foreign languages, ostensibly so that she might read works in the original by some of her favorite authors-Dante, Ibsen, Racine, Shake speare, and others. Furthermore, a selection of her essays, collected posthumously and edited by Mirta Aguirre, one of her most distinguished students and later her colleague at the University of Havana, gives evidence of a sound liberal education and a serious intellect. In brief, her intellectual capacity is evident in the subject matters she chose: her doctoral dissertation on Hostos, her introduction to a Spanish version of Dante’s Inferno published in Cuba in 1935, her collaboration with the Spanish poet laureate Juan Ramón Jiménez in the now-classic La poesia en Cuba in 1936, and her studies of the pastoral genre in Spain and on the theater of Lope de Vega, to name just some of her known works. Camila Henríquez Ureña’s most significant contribution to the genre of the essay, however, is her now classic collection of essays on the condition of women, her formidable trilogy: “Feminismo” (1939), “La mujer y la cultura” (1949), and “La carta como forma de expresi6n literaria femenina” (1951). Mirta Yanez, Daisy Cocco De Filippis, and Chiqui Vicioso, among others, have pointed out the importance of these essays to the history of the feminist essay in the Spanish Caribbean. In “Feminismo” 9 Dedicated to Camila Henríquez Ureña and Tito Cánepa The 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos antes de 1970 Camila Henríquez Ureña traces the history of the role women have played in societies from prehistoric time to her day. In this essay Henríquez Ureña takes to task the male creation of “exceptional women” to justify denying women’s rights. It is not in these examples or “exceptions” that women are to find the road to moral, spiritual, intellectual, and economic independence. In “La mujer y la cultura,” an essay she first wrote in 1939 but did not publish until 1949, she explains that true change comes about as a result of collective efforts: Las mujeres de excepción de los pasados siglos representaron aisladamente un progreso en sentido vertical. Fueron precursoras, a veces, sembraron ejemplo fructífero. Pero un movimiento cultural importante es siempre de conjunto, y necesita propagarse en sentido horizontal. La mujer necesita desarrollar su carácter, en el aspecto colectivo, para llevar a término una lucha que está ahora en sus comienzos. Necesita hacer labor de propagación de la cultura que ha podido alcanzar para seguir progresando. (Exceptional women in past centuries represented isolated cases of progress in the vertical sense. They were precursors, at times, they planted fruitful examples. But an important cultural movement is always a group effort, and it needs to be propagated in a horizontal sense. A woman needs to develop character, in a collective sense, to bring to fruition a struggle that is now in its inception. She needs to work on propagating the culture that she has acquired in order to be able to continue to make progress.) In a certain sense, in reading “La mujer y la cultura,” one finds understanding of why Camila Henríquez Ureña returned years later to Cuba to help out, as she would say, putting in practice the theories expounded in her cited essay. Indeed, this fine intellectual and teacher approached many of her studies and writings as a woman. In her essay “La carta como forma de ex presion literaria femenina” she chooses four authors whose correspondence served as barometer, expression, and answer to the historical moment they lived. Among them are two writers whose names ought to head any history of the essay written in Spanish: Santa Teresa de Jesus (1515-1582) and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1648-1695). Henríquez Ureña’s essay is a tour de force in the art of reading and the importance of the reader’s response to giving meaning to the literature written by women. Tellingly, today, having gone through various stages of readings as women and as feminists, many people find themselves back where Camila Henríquez Ureña was fifty years ago: understanding more than ever the importance of reader’s response, de leer con la sensibilidad de las mujeres las obras de ]as mujeres (to read with a woman’s sensibility other women’s writings), to the creation of a feminine and feminist aesthetic. Camila Henríquez Ureña earns a place in the history of Latinas in the United States as a pioneer educator, essayist, and thinker who was able to transcend borders and whose work continues to have resonance in the development of new generations of readers, as evidenced by the publication in 2000 of Julia Alvarez’s In the Name of Salomé, a fictionalized retelling of Camila’s and Salomé’s lives. SOURCES: Alvarez, Julia. 2000. In the Name of Salomé: A Novel. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books. Cocco De Filippis, Daisy, ed. 2000. Documents of Dissidence: Selected Writings by Dominican Women. New York: CUNY Dominican Studies Institute; 2001. “La mujer y la cultura.” In Madres, maestras y militantes dominicanas, 116-126. Santo Domingo: Buho. ---. 2007. Hija de Camila / Camila’s Line. Santo Dominigo: Editiora Nacional. Familia Henríquez Ureña. 1995. Epistolario. Santo Domingo: Publication de la Secretaria de Education, Bellas Artes y Cultos. Henríquez Ureña, Camila. 1971. Estudios y conferencias. Havana: Instituto Cubano del Libro Yanez, Mirta. 2003. Camila y Camila. La Habana: Ediciones La Memoria, Centro Cultural Pablo de la Torriente Brau. From: Figueredo, D.H., ed. 2006. Encyclopedia of Caribbean Literature. Westport: Greenwood. 10 Dedicated to Camila Henríquez Ureña and Tito Cánepa The 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos antes de 1970 Tito Enrique Cánepa Jiménez, (1916 - ) By Anthony Stevens-Acevedo Tito Enrique Cánepa Jiménez is a unique case of a Dominican migrant who traveled to New York as a young man in the late 1930s, became a consummate painter, and remained in New York City for the rest of his life without ever losing his sense of Dominicanness. He was born in 1916 in San Pedro de Macorís, a port-town on the southeastern Caribbean coast of the Dominican Republic. During Mr. Cánepa’s childhood, San Pedro was undergoing rapid growth associated with an expanding sugar-cane industry oriented to foreign markets, and the Dominican country Republic was undergoing its first military occupation by U.S. marines, who came to back up the U.S. government’s eight-year long take-over of Dominican customs to collect the debt owed to the U.S. by prior Dominican governments. Soon Mr. Cánepa’s family would migrate to the Capital City of Santo Domingo, and when a few years later the Dominican Republic fell under the grip of the Trujillo dictatorship, adolescent Tito began to engage in acts of defiance against the ruthless regime, which led his family to put him out of harm’s way by sending him to Puerto Rico and then New York City. Once in New York, the memory of his childhood hometown and homeland would become a decades-long source of inspiration for a young man who, in New York, would discover his call for painting and become a fully committed artist with a humanistic curiosity, absorbing the multitude of twentieth-century aesthetic and intellectual currents vibrating in the City while learning intensely about the classics of Western art. Immediately upon arrival in New York Mr. Cánepa was given a post in the Experimental Workshop led by Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros, and then with Bolivian-born painter Roberto Berdecio, after Siqueiros left for Spain. A key influence at the time came also from fellow-Dominican and art historian Américo Lugo Romero, who while in New York shared with Tito months of visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art during which they studied the Italian Renaissance classics (Rodríguez de León 1998). Simultaneously, what had begun in Mr. Cánepa as an adolescent rebelliousness against a dictatorship in his country of origin, transformed itself into a commitment to social justice, international solidarity and a defense of freedom as principles of life. In New York, Tito Enrique Cánepa evolved. He explored painting as a vehicle to produce aesthetic and emotional responses in others. He also engaged passionately in the main global political struggles of his day, including the support for the republican Popular Front in Spain in the late 1930s, the anti-fascist movement of the 1940s, and the anti-Vietnam War movement of the 1960s. And he remained actively involved in the expatriate Dominican resistance against the Trujillo regime. In doing so he became an unparalleled example of a Dominican artist whose aesthetic concerns went hand-in-hand with very deep civic commitments, both patriotic as well as universal. Throughout his six decades living in New York –which make him the senior of all Dominican painters in the City by far--, Mr. Cánepa had an artistic trajectory in which experts note, alongside his own distinct personality, a strong connection with the Latin America where Mr. Cánepa first saw light, colors, and human drama. Mr. Cánepa’s work received early recognition when his works were exhibited in New York City in the early 1940s, but even in his own dictatorship-dominated Dominican Republic. In 1943 Dominican critic Rafael Díaz Niese ‘named Tito Cánepa, Jaime Colson, and Darío Suro the three most accomplished Dominican painters’ (Pelligrini 1996). Art historian and critic Edward J. Sullivan locates Mr. Cánepa within ‘the second generation of Latin American modernists’ who came to the artistic fore in the 1930s and 1940s. ‘While they incorporated the achievements of the radical modernists of the previous decades, they also imbued their own art with a renewed interest in classicism and, at times, a personal and political concern for the social realities of the day’ (Sullivan 1992). According to Sullivan, what distinguishes Mr. Cánepa’s art is ‘the manifestation of the benevolence of divinity expressed in uniquely human terms.’ 11 Dedicated to Camila Henríquez Ureña and Tito Cánepa The 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos antes de 1970 Bibliography: De los Santos, Danilo. Memoria de la pintura dominicana. Vol. 2. Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic: Grupo León Jiménes, 2003. León David. Cánepa. Santo Domingo: Galería de Arte Moderno, 1988. Pelligrini, Elena. “Artist Biographies” In Modern and Contemporary Art of the Dominican Republic. Elizabeth Ferrer and Edward J. Sullivan, curators. Suzanne Stratton, ed. New York: Americas Society and the Spanish Institute, 1996. p. 114. Rodríguez de León, Francisco. El furioso merengue del norte: una historia de la comunidad dominicana en los Estados Unidos. New York: s.n., 1998. Tito Cánepa: an Exhibition of Early and Recent Paintings: September 3-September 30, 1992, Step Gallery, New York. New York: Step Gallery, 1992. Torres-Saillant, Silvio and Ramona Hernández. The Dominican Americans. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998. GFDD, FUNGLODE and the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Pay Special Homage to Dominican Painter Tito Cánepa Exhibition: April 16-May 20, 2008 Place: FUNGLODE Art Gallery Contact: (809) 685-9966, ext. 2447 More information at FUNGLODE.ORG 12 Dedicated to Camila Henríquez Ureña and Tito Cánepa The 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos antes de 1970 The Dominican Studies Association The Organization The Dominican Studies Association (DSA) is a not-for-profit organization which, among other things, organizes and sponsors activities in support of Dominican communities found within the United States, the Caribbean and its island nation-states, and elsewhere. The purpose of the DSA is to provide an academic instrument and a vehicle for research, promotion, and dissemination of scholarship. These purposes and aims are achieved, in part, by sponsorship of events, lectures, conferences, and seminars, as well as grants’ writing activities and fund raising in support of research and scholarship about the Dominican people. Membership Information All members of this organization shall be individuals who have earned at least a baccalaureate degree and/or who have demonstrated a commitment to the advancement of research and scholarship concerning Dominicans. The DSA does not discriminate due to race, color, religious belief or non-belief, sexual preference, or national origin, in accordance with the nondiscrimination act. Any person desiring membership shall apply and be admitted upon a majority vote from the Administrative Council. Students not holding a baccalaureate degree but who are majoring in Dominican, Caribbean, Latin American Studies shall be eligible for membership provided their membership is sponsored by a member of the Dominican Studies Association. For more information visit the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute at The City University of New York, CUNY website homepage: http://www1.ccny.cuny.edu/ci/dsi/. Executive Board of Directors Daisy Cocco De Filippis, President Ramona Hernández, Vice President - Treasurer Franklin Gutiérrez, Secretary Ana García Reyes, Public Relations Maritelma Costa, At Large Sonia Rivera-Valdés, At Large Silvio Torres-Saillant, At Large Managing Board Sarah Aponte, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute at The City College Sarah Brennan, Hostos Community College, CUNY Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Hostos Community College, CUNY Franklin Gutiérrez, El Comisionado de Cultura Dominicano en los Estados Unidos Ramona Hernández, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute at The City College DSA Conference Planning at Hostos Julie Bencosme, Allied Health Sciences Vladimir Ovtcharenko, Natural Sciences Amy Ramson, Behavioral and Social Sciences Carlos Sanabria, Humanities 13 Dedicated to Camila Henríquez Ureña and Tito Cánepa The 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos antes de 1970 Featured Speaker Arcadio Díaz Quiñones Es Catedrático de Literatura Latinoamericana y del Caribe en la Universidad de Princeton, en la que ocupa la Cátedra Emory L. Ford. Fue también Director del Programa Latinoamericano de Princeton. Durante más de diez años fue profesor en la Universidad de Puerto Rico, en el recinto de Río Piedras, universidad donde obtuvo su bachillerato y su Maestría. Se doctoró en la Universidad Central de Madrid. Díaz Quiñones ha sido, además, profesor invitado en las siguientes universidades: la Universidad de Washington (Seattle), Middlebury College, la Universidad de Buenos Aires, la Universidad de Rutgers, la Universidad de Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, la Universidad del Turabo, y en la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. Fue miembro del Centro de Estudios de la Realidad Puertorriqueña (CEREP) y Presidente de la Asociación Puertorriqueña de Profesores Universitarios (APPU). Crítico literario e historiador cultural, ha publicado trabajos sobre Luis Palés Matos, Tomás Blanco, Lorenzo Homar, Luis Lloréns Torres, José Martí, Pedro Henríquez Ureña, Fernando Ortiz, Antonio S. Pedreira, René Marqués, César Andreu Iglesias, Salvador Brau, Ricardo Piglia, y Juan José Saer. Sus libros son los siguientes: Conversación con José Luis González (1976), El almuerzo en la hierba (1982), Cintio Vitier: la memoria integradora (1987), La memoria rota: ensayos de cultura y política (1993) y El arte de bregar (2000). Además, preparó la edición de Tomás Blanco, El prejuicio racial en Puerto Rico (1985); de Luis Lloréns Torres, Poesía y prosa (1986); editó el volumen El Caribe entre imperios (1997), y co-editó Ricardo Piglia: Conversación en Princeton (1998). Fue miembro de la Junta de las revistas puertorriqueña Sin Nombre y La Torre. En el año 2000 publicó la edición Cátedra de La guaracha del Macho Camacho, de Luis Rafael Sánchez. Su libro más reciente, Sobre los principios: los intelectuales caribeños y la tradición, fue publicado en la Argentina en 2006. About the Conference Participants Sarah Aponte is the Head Librarian of the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Library at The City College of New York and the author of Dominican Migration to the United States 1970-1997: An Annotated Bibliography (New York: CUNY Dominican Studies Institute, 1999). Aponte is responsible for developing the infrastructure of the Dominican Studies Institute Library. She organizes library exhibits displaying the Dominican-American and Dominican cultural traditions, participates in conferences relating to Dominicans in the United States and the Dominican Republic, and conducts workshops and presentations on Dominican-related issues at different public and private schools throughout the city. Her recent publications include contributions in Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States and the Encyclopedia Latina: History, Culture, and Society. Aponte holds a M.L.S. in Library and Information Sciences from Queens College; a M.S.Ed. in Higher Education Administration from Baruch College; a B.A. in International Studies from The City College of New York; and an A.A. in Liberal Arts from Hostos Community College. She is a member of the Seminar on the Acquisitions of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM) and the Library Association of the City University of New York (LACUNY). Daisy Cocco De Filippis was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. In the nineteen-sixties she moved to New York City with her family. She is a graduate of The City University of New York where she received a B.A. summa cum laude in Hispanic and English literatures and an M.A. in Hispanic literature from Queens College, and a Ph.D. in Hispanic literatura from The Graduate and University Center. She has taught language and literature at CUNY for the past three decades. Since 2002 she has been the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Eugenio María de Hostos Community College in the South Bronx. She has either written or edited more than eighteen volumes designed to study and to disseminate Dominican, Caribbean and Latino literatures in the United States. Her work has been acknowledged with a number of important awards and proclamations both in New York City and in Santo Domingo. She has also received significant grants to support her literary and educational undertakings. 14 Dedicated to Camila Henríquez Ureña and Tito Cánepa The 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos antes de 1970 Dinorah Coronado, escritora dominicana. Fundadora del Teatro Coronado. Primer Premio en Narrativa, Asoc. Latinoam. de Cultura en NY, Primer Premio en Literatura Infantil y Juvenil en RD, Ediciones SM, 2007 (Juanito y su robot); Mención de Honor con la novela Entre dos mundos. Premio Letras de Ultramar, novela “A la sombra del flamboyán” 2008. Autora de varias obras de teatro (Gabriela Mistral, Minerva y Manolo y Las gemelas de Bonanza); poesía (Interioridades), “Rebeca al bate y dos cuentos más” (Alfaguara) y coautora de “Homeless en NY”. Ha recibido reconocimiento por su labor en el teatro de parte de la Casa de la Cultura Dominicana (2004), Museo Cándido Bidó (2006), UASD, Ateneo Minerva Mirabal, Gobernación Provincial de Moca, Concejal Miguel Martínez. Dinorah ha actuado en las obras “Gabriela Mistral” “Abuelas de boda”, Secretos de Mujeres, Amor en tiempo de guerra, Minerva y Manolo Mujeres de Febrero con Duarte, psicóloga indocumentada. En septiembre 2008, Germana Quintana dirigirá “Las Inmigrantes” en la RD, obra de la autoría de Dinorah. Carlos Ulises Decena obtained his Ph.D. in American Studies from New York University and currently teaches in the Departments of Women’s and Gender Studies and Latino and Hispanic Caribbean Studies at Rutgers University. His areas of specialization are immigration studies, science and technology, and gender and sexuality. His book, Tacit Subjects: Dominican Transnational Identities and Male Homosexuality in New York City, is under contract with Duke University Press. Past publications include the co-edited special issue of the journal Social Text titled “The Border Next Door: New York Migraciones.” Margarita Drago is originally from Argentina, and has been living in the United States since 1980. As an ex-political prisoner she has represented Argentina in congresses in the United States, Mexico, Peru, and France. She has published articles in newspapers and literary, educational, and human rights magazines. Ms. Drago has taught at the preschool, elementary, secondary and adult levels, and is currently a professor of Spanish Language and Literature and of Bilingual Education at York College, City University of New York, where she has worked since 1995. She is currently vice president of the Latino Artists Round Table, a nonprofit cultural organization that was founded in 1999. Ms. Drago has been an active participant in organizing congresses, conferences, and LART literary evenings, and has represented LART by holding lectures, presentations, and conferences at universities and cultural centers. Excerpts from Memory Tracks: Fragments from Prison (1975-1980) have appeared in anthologies and literary magazines. Ángel Luis Estévez es oriundo de Santiago de los Caballeros y hace 27 años que reside en la ciudad de Nueva York. En 1990 recibe su B.A. de Hunter College, CUNY. En el 2002 recibe su Ph.D. de The Graduate Center, también de CUNY. Su tesis doctoral titulada La modalidad fantástica del cuento dominicano en el siglo XX fue publicada por la editorial Edwin Mellen Press, New York, en el 2005. Como docente ha trabajado en el Lehman College, Fordham University at Lincoln Center. Actualmente es profesor asistente de The City College, donde también funge como Director del Programa de Maestría de esa institución. Dolores M. Fernández, a nationally recognized professional in bilingual education, teacher training, and curriculum development, was named Interim President of Eugenio María de Hostos Community College of CUNY on March 1, 1998. On June 28, 1999, she was appointed to the position of President effective July 1, 1999. Prior to becoming President of Hostos, Dr. Fernández was a Professor of Curriculum and Teaching at Hunter College of CUNY. Previously, she was a Deputy Chancellor of Instruction and Development for the New York City Board of Education, as well as a Deputy Director for Program Services and a Director of Education with the New York State Division for Youth. After graduating cum laude from Nassau Community College, Fernández earned a B.S. in Education from SUNY Old Westbury, an M.S. in Education as well as a Professional Diploma in Supervision and Administration from C.W. Post College of L.I.U.; and a Ph.D. in Language and Cognition from Hofstra University. Venecia Fernández is currently responsible for intergovernmental and community affairs for the Bronx and part of Manhattan for State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. She is also Comptroller DiNapoli’s Latina representative for the entire state. Before joining the office of the comptroller, she served as the office manager and community liaison to United States Senator Charles Schumer for four years. Venecia has been involved in New York City politics for over a decade, as a volunteer in the election and re-election campaigns of State Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat and Councilmember Miguel Martinez, a democratic district leader for the 72nd Assembly District and as legislative assistant to the chairperson of the Assembly Ways & Means Committee Chair, Assemblyman Herman D. Farrell. In addition to her strong communication and interpersonal skills, Ms. Fernández is a trained professional stylist and has worked with a number of well-recognized cosmetic companies, 15 Dedicated to Camila Henríquez Ureña and Tito Cánepa The 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos antes de 1970 including Lancôme, Christian Dior, Elizabeth Arden and Clarins. In her spare time, she is a freelance makeup artist. A native of the Dominican Republic, Ms. Fernández was a life long resident of Washington Heights until last year when she relocated to the Bronx. She is active with a number of community based organizations. Scherezade García was born and raised in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic where she was involved in the arts as long as she can remember. In her native land, she graduated from Altos de Chavón in La Romana (summa cum laude) and in her new hometown of New York City she is a graduate (cum laude) of Parsons School of Design. Her pieces have been exhibited at El Museo del Barrio, NYC; Jersey City Museum, NJ; Newark Museum, NJ; Queens Museum, Queens; Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx NY; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT; The Museum of Modern Art, Santo Domingo; and in other galleries and institutions as well. Scherezade has her studio in Brooklyn, NYC where she also lives with her husband and two daughters. Ana García Reyes has been with Eugenio María de Hostos Community College since March 1996 as Special Assistant to the President. Beginning in March 1998, Ms. García Reyes assumed additional duties and responsibilities under the new title of Special Assistant to the President for Community Relations and Director of International Programs. Ms. García Reyes serves as Principal Investigator of research projects linked with international academic exchanges. For 20 years she has received grant awards for academic exchange/study abroad programs, including: The State Department of Education, CUNY Caribbean Exchange, and the CUNY Study/Travel Opportunities for CUNY Students Grants. She has experience in evaluating and training personnel, and has established procedures for the development, progress, evaluation and reporting mechanism of grant funded projects. Ms. García Reyes has served on numerous boards at the city, state, and national level. From September 2001-September 2002, she served as President of the Dominican American National Roundtable (DANR), the first and only national Dominican American organization in the U.S. Her active membership in external and professional organizations also includes: The CUNY Dominican Studies Institute; Hunts Point Economic Development Corporation; New York City Youth Board; and the New York State Committee on Dominican Heritage Celebrations, among others. Ramona Hernández is currently the Director of the CUNY-Dominican Studies Institute, Professor of Sociology at The City College of New York, and a member of the doctoral faculty at the City University of New York Graduate Center. Dr. Hernández is the author of several seminal works including The Mobility of Workers Under Advanced Capitalism: Dominican Migration to the United States (Columbia University Press, 2002), which received the title of Outstanding Academic Title from Choice in 2003. Her research and publication interests include the socioeconomic conditions of Dominicans in the diaspora, particularly in the United States and the restructuring of the world economy and its effects on the working poor. A native of the Dominican Republic, Dr. Ramona Hernández attended Lehman College until 1979, obtaining a B.A. with honors in Latin American History, with a minor in Puerto Rican Studies. She then pursued graduate work at New York University, earning an M.A. in 1982 in Latin American and Caribbean Studies, an M.Phil. in 1995 and a Ph.D. in 1997, both in the Department of Sociology at the Graduate School of The City University of New York. Héctor López currently chairs the Business Department and College Senate. He is an associate professor and has been with Hostos Community College since 1986, starting his career in academia as an adjunct instructor teaching business and accounting courses. He received his M.B.A. in Management and his M.S. in Higher Education Administration from Baruch College, CUNY. He holds a doctor of Business Administration from the University of Sarasota, Florida. In 2004, he received the Educator-of-the-Year Award from the Eastern Business Education Association (EBEA), and served as its President from 2005-2007. He recently published, “Rethinking Online and Distance Education in Business Education – Is it Worth it?” in Texas Business and Technology Educators Association (TBTEA) Journal (2007). He worked for 22 years with Verizon Corporation and has been actively involved in business education since 1978 at the post-secondary level. He is a member of the International Society of Business Educators (ISBE) and Delta Pi Epsilon – Graduate Honorary Business Educators Society. He is very active in academic, cultural and social activities within and outside the Hostos community, and represents Hostos Community College at the CUNY Council of Faculty Governance Leaders – University Faculty Senate. Andreina Martínez-Hiraldo was born on the island of St. Croix in 1983, raised in the Dominican Republic and is now living and thriving in the United States of America in the most artistically infused city in the entire world. She spent much of 16 Dedicated to Camila Henríquez Ureña and Tito Cánepa The 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos antes de 1970 her early life in the pursuit of artistic endeavors. At the age of 15, she formed a rock band, Horizontes Verticales, and then a second band, called Azul Raiz. From that moment on she started to be a very active studio singer, recording many jingles for radio and television. At the age of 16, she became an active member of Teatro Estudio La 37 and also started to sing with Felle Vega and La Orquesta de las Danzas Mezcladas as the lead singer of the jazz ensemble, with whom she performed in concerts like Musica para Mis Oidos, and the Heineken Jazz Festival of the Dominican Republic 2002. With Rafael Mirabal and Sistema Temperado, Andreina participated in The Dominican Jazz Festival, Palafitos Jazz Festival and did backup voices for the Dominican singers Xiomara Fortuna and Patricia Pereyra with whom she sang at an ensemble concert “Rosa Y Fuego.” Ms. Martínez-Hiraldo also worked in conjunction with the Alliance Françoise and participated in the performance tribute to the French writer Bernard-Marie Koltes under the direction of Moise Toure. Marianela Medrano. Estudió Derecho y Educación en la Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra. Graduada de Artes Liberales en Norwalk Community College de Connecticut, Estados Unidos (1999). Tiene una licenciatura en Ciencias de State University of New York (2000) y una maestría en consejería de Western Connecticut State University (2003). En el 2007 se graduó con un doctorado en psicología del Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, CA. Poemas suyos aparecen en las revistas Poesía, Callaloo Magazine, Conversación entre mujeres del Caribe Hispano, Sister of Caliban: Contemporary woman poets of the Caribbean and Central America, Compás Literary Journal, Punto 7 Review, Letras Femeninas, Compost Magazine y Brooklyn Review. Obtuvo el primer lugar en el concurso de poesía de la Comisión de Artes de New Milford (2001) y el tercer lugar en el concurso anual de poesía de Urban Artists Iniciative (2001). Ha publicado los poemarios “Oficio de vivir” (1986), “Los alegres ojos de la tristeza” (1987), “Regando esencias”/“The Scent of Waiting” (1998) y “Curada de espantos” (2002). Danny Méndez earned his Ph.D. in Caribbean literature from the University of Texas at Austin this semester, and will begin his assistant professorship of Caribbean Literatures and Cultures at Michigan State University this fall. His dissertation project focuses on contemporary narrative representations of Dominican migrations to the United States and Puerto Rico, analyzing the particular ways in which these narratives challenge conceptions of Latin American literature and Latino Studies. In his work he argues that the space of immigration, encountered in the United States and Puerto Rico, allows for multiple ethnic and racial interactions (contacts) that in turn affect the ways in which Dominicans negotiate their national, racial, sexual and ethnic identities. Michelle Marie Néstor was born and raised in New York. As a young girl, she fell in love with music and traveling. Her mother Carmen Severino from Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, was a major Spanish recording and performance artist. Through traveling to many countries with her mother, Michelle developed a strong connection to music. After several attempts to convince her parents to buy her a drum set , Michelle, decided to try the guitar, which became an instant bond. She taught herself to play. Dreaming of a musical career, her musical abilities were limited when it came to writing ideas or simply understanding what she was composing. She felt that she needed more knowledge, so Michelle entered Queens College to meet and learn from the legendary Roland Hanna. She states, “I will always be indebted.” Without seeking a specific degree, Michelle Marie graduated with a B.A., double-major in Music and Media Communications, with minors in Journalism and French. She obtained an M.F.A. in Jazz Performance, and often still remarks that she learns more from exceptional musicians, beyond the elements of music that are taught in school. Vladimir Ovtcharenko, an assistant professor at Hostos Community College, is an expert in spider taxonomy. He started his scientific career while in high school, at the age of 16, when he took part in his first scientific expedition with a local University and made his first regular spider collection. Later, Vladimir used these spiders in his Ph.D. thesis. He has visited different foreign museums to study their spider collections. He has worked in all the major European museums, as well as in museums in Australia, South Africa, India, Brazil, Kenya, and the United States. Vladimir has published more than 50 scientific articles about spiders. He has collected spiders on all continents, though the Dominican Republic is his favorite place to visit and study them. Lilliam A. Pérez is a native of the city of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic and grew up in the Bronx in New York City She currently works as Senior Policy Advisor and District Office Director in the Office of State Senator Eric T. Schneiderman located in Northern Manhattan. Lilliam’s devotion to the improvement of her community began during 17 Dedicated to Camila Henríquez Ureña and Tito Cánepa The 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos antes de 1970 her teenage years when she volunteered as a tutor for high school students at the Pre-University Program coordinated by Dominicans2000. In more recent years, she has helped organize the Dominicans 2000 conference, and worked on political campaigns. As the District Office Director for Senator Schneiderman, she has collaborated with numerous organizations dealing with social justice issues such as education and immigration reform, political empowerment and women’s rights. She is a founder and former board member of the Latina Political Action Committee, board member and Treasurer of the Dominican Women’s Development Center, the Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subject at Eugenio María de Hostos Community College and recently became a member of DMI Scholars Advisory Council. Lilliam earned a B.A. in Political Science and International Economics with a minor in Latin American Literature from Long Island University. Sonia Rivera-Valdés (Cuba). Profesora de York College (CUNY). Sus cuentos y artículos han sido publicados nacional e internacionalmente. Las historias prohibidas de Marta Veneranda obtuvo el premio de Casa de las Américas (La Habana), en 1997. Ha sido publicado en Cuba, España, los Estados Unidos y Turquía, en español, inglés y turco. The Forbidden Stories of Marta Veneranda (Seven Stories Press). Su último libro es Historias de mujeres grandes y chiquitas (2003, Editorial Campana), y la versión en inglés del mismo apareció en el 2007 bajo el título Stories of Little Women and Grown Up Girls (Editorial Campana). Freddy Rodríguez was born in Santiago, Dominican Republic in 1945 and moved to New York City in 1963. He studied painting at the Art Student League and the New School for Social Research, and textile design at the Fashion Institute of Technology, SUNY. Rodríguez has exhibited and lectured throughout the U.S. and Latin America. He has served the New York State Council on the Arts as an advisory panelist on the Special Arts Services Program and on Percent for Art. He has also served the Joan Mitchell Foundation. Rodríguez was named “Gregory Millard Fellow in Painting” in 1991 by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and a NYSCA Artist-in-Residence at El Museo del Barrio the following year. His most recent solo exhibition, “America’s Pastime: Portrait of the Dominican Dream,” was shown at the Newark Museum in 2005-06. In 2006, he completed his commission for the Flight 587 Memorial in Belle Harbor, Queens. For this project, he received an Art Commission Award for Excellence in Design in July 2006. This year, both The Newark Museum and El Museo del Barrio have purchased his work for their permanent collections. Rodríguez will be profiled in UCLA’s Chicano Studies Research Center’s upcoming monograph “A Ver: Revisioning Art History,” a project devoted to cultural, aesthetic, and historical contributions of U.S. Latino artists. Gabriela Rosa was born, raised and educated in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. On 1986 graduated of Marketing at UNPHU, and on 1990 completed a BA in Economics at Instituto Tecnólogico de Santo Domingo (INTEC). In 1994, she decided to explore new horizons and traveled to the city of New York. During the first years, she worked in different areas, such as clothing retail and for money transfer companies. In 1998, Ms. Rosa started working at the Trade Office of the Dominican Consulate in New York. Her public service career in New York started in 2000, when she worked as legislative assistant for the office of State Assemblyman Herman D. Farrell, Jr. In 2002, she accepted position of chief of staff for City Councilmember Miguel Martínez, and in 2005, she came back to work at the office of Assemblyman Farrell. Carlos Sanabria. Place of Birth: San Juan, Puerto Rico. Educational History: B.A. 1980 from Columbia College in New York with a major in American History; M.A. 1985 from Hunter College, CUNY with a major in British History; Ph.D. 2000 from the Graduate Center, CUNY with a major in American History. Current position: Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Unit in the Humanities Department at Hostos Community College, CUNY. Research project: history and influence of the American Federation of Labor on the organized labor movement in Puerto Rico between 1900 and the early 1930s. Recent Publications: “Samuel Gompers and the American Federation of Labor in Puerto Rico” in CENTRO, the Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Volume XVII Number 1, Spring 2005; two entries in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States, New York: Oxford University Press, 2005; six entries in Latinas in the United States, A Historical Encyclopedia, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2006; and with Kim Sanabria, Academic Listening Encounters, American Studies, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Scholarly interests: Puerto Rican labor history and Hispanic migrations to the United States. Rubén Sánchez Féliz. Poeta y narrador. Tiene un Asociado en Artes Liberales y Ciencias de Hostos Community College y una licenciatura en Pedagogía de Steinhardt School of Education, New York University. Es miembro de la tertulia literaria 18 Dedicated to Camila Henríquez Ureña and Tito Cánepa The 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos antes de 1970 Aguafuerte. Recibió Mención Honorífica en el concurso de cuento Virgilio Díaz Grullón 2002. Resultó finalista en el concurso de poesía Abrace, 2001, en Uruguay. Cuatro de sus poemas aparecen en el libro Letras derramadas entre ellas una traducida al portugués. Forma parte de la antología de nuevos cuentistas hispanos Los magos del cuento. Es fundador y director del grupo cultural Textura Mixta. Ha organizado eventos literarios en el Bowery Poetry Club del Village. Actualmente es codirector de la tertulia literaria Nosotros Contamos. Tiene publicada la novela El décimo día (2005) y La colección de cuentos dominicanos Viajeros del Rocío (2008). Yrene Santos López. Poeta y educadora. Licenciada en Educación, Filosofía y Letras por la Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (1989). Tiene, además, una maestría en literatura hispanoamericana y peninsular de The City University of New York (1999). Es profesora de Lengua Española en York College. Algunos de sus poemas han sido incluidos en las colecciones Tertutliando/Hanging Out (1997), Conversación entre mujeres del Caribe Hispano (1999) y Para que no se olviden. En 1997 obtuvo el tercer lugar en el concurso de poesía de The National Library of Poetry de Maryland. Ha publicado los poemarios “Desnudez del silencio” (1987), “Reencuentro” (1997), y “El incansable juego” (2003). Seny Taveras was born in Brooklyn. She was purposely exposed to a bi-cultural childhood in Washington Heights and the Dominican Republic to ensure a life of opportunities and awareness of her roots. With 9 siblings in the Dominican Republic and the only one born in America, Taveras was always well aware of the opportunities available to her and the expectations her family had of her. With the help of teachers and mentors who provided encouragement and guidance, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Legal Studies from CUNY John Jay College. She then enrolled in the New York State Police Academy, where her training as a state police officer was put towards a brief career as an investigator for the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance’s Petroleum, Alcohol & Tobacco Bureau. Determined to earn a law degree as prophesized by friends and family since childhood, she returned to school and graduated with her J.D. from the Hofstra University School of Law. Silvio Torres-Saillant is Professor of English and Director of the Latino/Latin American Studies Program at Syracuse University. He has published An Intellectual History of the Caribbean (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), The Challenges of Public Higher Education in the Hispanic Caribbean (Markus Wiener, 2004 [co-edited]), Desde la Orilla: hacia una nacionalidad sin desalojos (Editora Manati & Ediciones Libreria La Trinitaria, 2004 [co-edited]), Caribbean Poetics (Cambridge University Press, 1997), The Dominican Americans (Greenwood Press, 1998 [co-authored]), El retorno de las yolas (Manati & La Trinitaria, 1999), and Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage, Vol. 4 (Arte Publico Press, 2002 [co-edited]). A senior editor for The Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States and Associate Editor of Latino Studies, Torres-Saillant has sat on the Board of Directors of the New York Council for the Humanities, the Delegate Assembly of the Modern Language Association, and the University of Houston’s Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project. Torres-Saillant was the 2005-2006 Wilbur Marvin Visiting Scholar in the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University. Additional Conference Participants Aneiry Batista Karina Cabrera Marcos Charles Lorgia García-Peña Rafael Lantigua Ángel Miranda Néstor E. Rodríguez *No biographical information was received for the above listed conference participants. Program Design & Layout: Pearl Shavzin 19 Las mujeres de excepción de los pasados siglos representaron aisladamente un progreso en sentido vertical. Fueron precursoras, a veces, sembraron ejemplo fructífero. Pero un movimiento cultural importante es siempre de conjunto, y necesita propagarse en sentido horizontal. La mujer necesita desarrollar su carácter, en el aspecto colectivo, para llevar a término una lucha que está ahora en sus comienzos. Necesita hacer labor de propagación de la cultura que ha podido alcanzar para seguir progresando. Exceptional women in past centuries represented isolated instances of progress in the vertical sense. They were precursors, at times, they planted fruitful examples. But an important cultural movement is always a team effort, and needs to spread out in a horizontal sense. Women need to develop character, in a collective sense, to bring to fruition a struggle that is now in its inception. Women need to work on the propagation of the culture they have been able to acquire in order to continue making progress. Henríquez Ureña, Camila. “Women and Culture.” In Hija de Camila, Camila’s Line. Prologue and trans. Daisy Cocco De Filippis. Santo Domingo: Editora Nacional, 2007. Dedicated to Camila Henríquez Ureña and Tito Cánepa The 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos antes de 1970 Additional Program Information Thursday, May 1, 2008 10:00am-10:45am Roundtable Discussion—A Status Report on Dominican Women in Government: Legacy & Vision Additional PanelistsAnnamaria Jones, Office of Council Member Miguel Martínez Elizabeth De León, Office of the New York State Attorney General Elizabeth De León is an Assistant Attorney General in the New York State Attorney General’s office. Among her various duties at the Attorney General’s Office, Ms. De León has spearheaded initiatives concerning protections for survivors of human trafficking and the preservation of affordable housing. In 2003, she graduated from the University at Buffalo School of Law. While in law school, Ms. De León was exposed to all three branches of government: the legislative branch - as a legislative intern to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton; the judicial branch – as judicial intern for the Honorable Sonia Sotomayor of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the executive branch – as a law clerk in the United States Attorney’s Office, Southern District. After law school, Ms. De León was awarded a Coro Public Policy Fellowship. Dedicated to Camila Henríquez Ureña and Tito Cánepa The 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Dominican Studies Dominicans in the U.S. Prior to 1970: Recovering an Earlier Dominican Presence Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos antes de 1970 Additional Program Information Thursday, May 1, 2008 11:00am-12:45pm Tribute and Panel Discussion on Tito Cánepa’s Legacy Freddy Rodríguez is not able to serve as a panelist, as indicated in the program. Karina Cabrera is special assistant to New York City Comptroller William Thompson, where she advises the Comptroller on speaking opportunities, meetings, and invitations. She drafts briefings, letters, notes and correspondence. In addition, Karina manages various in-house projects and serves as stand-in for the Comptroller when he is unable to participate in meetings, at his direction. Karina is also chairwoman of Latina PAC, the first Latina-focused political action committee in the New York metro area. Prior to the Comptroller's office, Karina was Regional district organizer for Kerry for President 2004 and has worked on numerous state and city political campaigns. She also currently serves on numerous boards, including the Women's Leadership Forum Network, a children's foundation and the Association of Hispanics in Arts, Inc. In 2007, Karina graduated from the Coro Leadership New York program. Néstor E. Rodríguez (La Romana, 1971) is assistant professor of Spanish and Caribbean Studies at the University of Toronto and holds a Ph.D. in Latin American literature from Emory University. He is author of Escrituras de desencuentro en la República Dominicana (México: Siglo XXI, 2005) and La isla y su envés: representaciones de lo nacional en el ensayo dominicano (San Juan: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 2003).
