Even before the devastation of Hurricane Maria, contemporary Puerto Rico was confronting unprecedented challenges. A spiraling debt crisis, record-breaking population exodus to the mainland, and draconian cuts to public services and education led to mass protests in the streets, higher taxes, … [Read more...] about Eduardo Lalo: Words in Austin
Arte/Letras
Living in a Material World: Art and Otherworldly Understanding in Colonial Latin America
BY BRITTANY ERWIN It was a bustling scene. Excited crowds of people had gathered along the processional route in the city center, which had been elaborately decorated for the occasion. Dressed in their finest wares, a group of civic officials and the religious elite solemnly proceeded along a … [Read more...] about Living in a Material World: Art and Otherworldly Understanding in Colonial Latin America
Up All Night: A Librarian and Two Truckers Travel Cross-Country with 16th-Century Goods
BY BROOKE WOMACK and SUSANNA SHARPE A librarian and two truckers are on a mission. They will travel for 27 hours, through four states, and at least one of them won’t get much sleep. Their journey involves high-security cargo, a climate-controlled 18-wheeler, and some rare documents from the 16th … [Read more...] about Up All Night: A Librarian and Two Truckers Travel Cross-Country with 16th-Century Goods
Una vida en 327 cuadernos: el archivo literario de María Luisa Puga
BY JOSÉ MONTELONGO Para algunos, un diario es una excursión hacia adentro, confrontación con uno mismo que se emprende en momentos de crisis y de transformación. Para otros no es un proyecto pasajero —que acompaña un rito de pasaje— sino una necesidad vital y cotidiana, una respiración. Eso fue … [Read more...] about Una vida en 327 cuadernos: el archivo literario de María Luisa Puga
Cardenal en tiempos difíciles
POR LUIS CÁRCAMO-HUECHANTE Leer en inglés Fue un invierno de 1979. Ya cursaba mi cuarto año de educación secundaria en el liceo de la ciudad de Valdivia, sur de Chile. En una de mis clases, la profesora de castellano sorprendió al curso y llegó al aula con un tocadiscos. Lo prendió y puso en … [Read more...] about Cardenal en tiempos difíciles
Anzaldúa across Borders: A Traveling Thought Gallery
BY SUSANNA SHARPE An image is a bridge between evoked emotion and conscious knowledge; words are cables that hold up the bridge. —Gloria Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, 1987 When Chicana author, cultural theorist, and feminist Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa died in 2004, she … [Read more...] about Anzaldúa across Borders: A Traveling Thought Gallery
Faculty and Staff Profiles, Fall 2017
BY SUSANNA SHARPE Pilar Zazueta In 2012, Mexico attained the dubious distinction of becoming the world’s number one consumer of soft drinks, passing previous first-place holder the United States. And although Mexico is no longer in first place (Argentina now claims that title), the increasing … [Read more...] about Faculty and Staff Profiles, Fall 2017
Cardenal in Hard Times
BY LUIS E. CÁRCAMO-HUECHANTE Leer en español It was the winter of 1979. I was already in my fourth year of high school in Valdivia, in southern Chile, when my literature teacher surprised my class by bringing in a record player. As she turned it on, a singular voice came out, with an accent … [Read more...] about Cardenal in Hard Times
Reading the First Books: Colonial Mexican Documents in the Digital Age
BY HANNAH ALPERT-ABRAMS AND MARIA VICTORIA FERNANDEZ In 1595, in Mexico City, the Jesuit priest Antonio del Rincón (1555–1601) published a grammatical description of the Nahuatl language. Though other grammars of Nahuatl existed, Rincón’s Arte mexicana was the first to describe the indigenous … [Read more...] about Reading the First Books: Colonial Mexican Documents in the Digital Age
Love, Cacao, and Chocolate’s Mesoamerican Origins
By PILAR ZAZUETA No other Western holiday is more closely identified with chocolate than Valentine’s Day. The seasonal aisles in stores and supermarkets are filled with chocolate, and food companies spend vast sums of advertising dollars trying to persuade us to celebrate by consuming it in large … [Read more...] about Love, Cacao, and Chocolate’s Mesoamerican Origins
