The arts, languages and philosophy department invites the Spanish-speaking community at S&T to participate in the next “El Conversatorio” event at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, via Zoom.
Guest speaker María Aguilar Velásquez will present a talk titled “Pensar en la historia de América Latina desde una mirada indígena transnacional,” which means “Thinking Latin American History through an Indigenous Transnational Lens.”
María Aguilar Velásquez is a Maya-K’iche’ historian from Guatemala and is finishing her Ph.D. at Tulane University. Her work focuses on state violence, security forces and social movements in Latin America during the 20th century. Her current research project focuses on the Guatemalan National Police and its function during the country’s 36-year civil war. She has also worked in projects on historical memory in Guatemala, collecting testimony from indigenous communities and war survivors. Aguilar has a weekly column in Guatemala’s leading newspaper El Periódico, in which she writes about the country’s current social and political issues and denounces repressive policies that affect the Maya population.
El Conversatorio is a one-hour informal virtual talk in which guest speakers from different areas of the Spanish-speaking world share their thoughts on current events and issues. After a brief presentation of 15-20 minutes, followed by a question-and-answer session, participants can join fun activities using breakout rooms in Zoom and practice their Spanish.
The fall 2020 series of El Conversatorio will be held every three weeks. A Zoom link and password will be provided and all meetings begin promptly at 5:30 p.m.
For more information, please contact Dr. M. Emilia Barbosa, assistant professor of Spanish, at ebarbosa@mst.edu.