Host of Open BXRx, Sonyi Lopez, is joined by Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Interim President of Hostos CUNY, to discuss Hostos Community College's programs and the DSA Conference.
By ESENDOM
December 3, 2020
The list of participants includes renowned scholars, writers, artists, cultural producers, medical doctors, judges, and other intellectuals including Rhina Espaillat, Dagoberto Tejeda Ortíz, Scherezada “Chiqui” Vicioso, President Daisy Cocco DeFililipis, Elizabeth Acevedo, Dr. Silvio Torres-Saillant, Dr. Lorgia García Peña, Dr. Paul Austerlitz, Julia Álvarez, Scherezade García, and many more.
This year ESENDOM is among the sponsors of the DSA Conference
The 9th Biennial Dominican Studies Association Conference—DSA2020Virtually@Hostos— is almost underway. Titled, “Crisis of Truth, State of Emergency, and Social Responses: The Urgency of Dominican and Ethnic Studies in the Present Hour,” DSA2020Virtually@Hostos is hosted by Hostos Community College of The City University of New York (CUNY) and will take place Friday, December 4 through Saturday, December 5. Registration is open to the public and the conference is free, although donations are welcome to offset the cost of the 2020 and 2022 conferences. Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, this is the first time the DSA conference goes virtual.
“Dominicans have produced a collective body of knowledge, covering all disciplines, amplified throughout the world. DSA2020 Virtually@Hostos secured the participation of artists, academics, award-winning authors, renowned intellectuals, and other experts in the field of Dominican studies. The DSA board of directors, Professor Torres-Saillant and I look forward to you joining us for this historical virtual gathering.”
Several scholars who have been featured in ESENDOM or written for this digital medium will participate in this year’s biennial. These scholars include Lorgia García Peña, Elizabeth Manley, and Lissette Acosta-Corniel, all interviewed by ESENDOM. Librarian scholar Jhensen Ortiz will also participate in the conference. ESENDOM co-founder Nelson Santana will also present his preliminary research on a COVID-19 oral history project. Other conference participants include sociologist Dagoberto Tejeda Ortíz, poets and novelists like Carnegie medal winner Elizabeth Acevedo and National Medal of Arts recipient Julia Álvarez, as well as many more renowned intellectuals.
The Biennial will bring together US-based panelists and others based in the Dominican Republic. As in past gatherings, the panels offer students, researchers and the general public a wide range of themes on Dominican studies and beyond.
“Cultural and educational figures from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Cuba, England, Germany, Norway, the United States, and Spain have said presente and that tells me that people want to connect and learn from one another to contribute to society.”
Looking through the prism of ethnic studies, participants in Dr. García Peña’s panel, titled “Ethnic Studies in the Ivy League: A Roundtable Discussion,” will reflect on their respective fields, their history, the current state, the challenges they face and the future they envision. The panel comprises of seasoned scholars such as Dr. García Peña, Dr. Ana Ramos-Zayas, Dr. Jonathan Rosa, and Dr. Frances Negrón-Muntaner. Student activists Aracely Alicia García and Alondra Ponce will also participate in the roundtable.
Dr. Acosta-Corniel will perform double duties as a moderator for one session and panelist for the other. Her panel, “Interdisciplinary Approaches to the 1521 Santo Domingo Slave Revolt,” includes panel chair Dr. Seth Jacobowitz, doctoral candidate Allison Guess, and Dr. Pauline Kulstad-González. Looking to build upon the paleographic scholarship of Professor Anthony Stevens Acevedo, the panel aims to “contextualize and expand on the critical understanding of the legacies of slavery, resistance, and freedom struggles in the sixteenth century La Española.”
Dr. Manley’s presentation is part of a two-part panel. Both panels focus on los doce años of Joaquín Balaguer’s presidency (1966-1978). Panelists include Dr. Manley, doctoral student René Cordero, Dr. April Mayes, Dr. Pauline Kulstad-González, Dr. Sharina Maillo-Pozo, Dr. Maya Horn, Dr. Ana Liberato, and Dr. Ramón Victoriano-Martínez.
Panelists will also discuss literature. From the Dominican Republic, Lauristely Peña from the Anticanon project will host a panel on women writers, and St. John University English professor Raj Chetty will delve into the work of anti-trujillist poet Carmen Natalia Martínez Bonilla.
Host of Open BXRx Tuesday, Sonyi Lopez, is joined by DSA board members, Executive Director Evelyn Fernandez-Ketcham (Hostos Community College) and Assistant Professor Nelson Santana (Bronx Community College).
Conference Theme
This year’s conference focuses on ethnic studies, COVID-19, and other major socio-political themes. “On this 9th iteration of its biennial conference, the Dominican Studies Association (DSA) seeks to stimulate dialogue among scholars, artists, and cultural activists working on Dominican subjects across the world on the contributions which their distinct field has made toward greater awareness of the complex issues of social relations in countries across the Western hemisphere to this day. Has the field shed further light on the inequity prevailing in the Americas in connection with class, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexualities, politics, disability, claims to national belonging, citizenship, and cultural heritage, among other sites of injustice and exclusion?”
Participants from Different Parts of the World
This year’s DSA2020Virtually@Hostos call-for-proposals drew artists, writers, scholars, and intellectual from all walks of life, representing 13 countries, 92 universities, and 28 non-academic institutions. The two-day event includes more than 40 panels a plenary, and discussions on themes that have dominated headlines this year such as the COVID-19 pandemic and ethnic studies. According to Hostos Community College Interim President Daisy Cocco De Filippis, “Numerous influential Dominican leaders from New York and elsewhere are expected at the conference.” She continued, “Cultural and educational figures from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Cuba, England, Germany, Norway, the United States, and Spain have said presente and that tells me that people want to connect and learn from one another to contribute to society.”
Co-chaired by Dr. Silvio Torres-Saillant of Syracuse University and Hostos Associate Dean of Community Relations Ana I. García Reyes, DSA2020 Virtually@Hostos hosts the most brilliant minds in the field of Dominican studies. "Dominicans have produced a collective body of knowledge, covering all disciplines, amplified throughout the world. DSA2020 Virtually@Hostos secured the participation of artists, academics, award-winning authors, renowned intellectuals, and other experts in the field of Dominican studies. The DSA board of directors, Professor Torres-Saillant and I look forward to you joining us for this historical virtual gathering,” said Dean García Reyes.
To register please visit: https://hostos-cuny-edu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wJHseIuHR6yfFIuUYUA88A
To learn more about the conference please visit: http://dominicanstudiesassociation.org
For more information please email: dominicanstudiesassociation@gmail.com
This year, the DSA waves the conference fees for both participants and panelists and asks instead to consider a $30 donation to help offset the technological costs of the DSA2020 Virtually@Hostos Biennial Conference.
About the Dominican Studies Association
The Dominican Studies Association supports the diffusion of intellectual production by providing Dominican Studies scholars the opportunity to create supportive networks, cultivate alternative agendas beyond their respective institutions and address polemic issues impacting the homeland, local, and global Dominican diasporic communities.
Check out the Preliminary Program | Lea el programa preliminar
Read Official Press Release | Lea el comunicado de prensa
DSA2020VIRTUALLY@HOSTOS BIENNIAL CONFERENCE
REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN
“Crisis of Truth, State of Emergency, and Social Responses:
The Urgency of Dominican and Ethnic Studies
in the Present Hour”
13 Countries | 92 Universities | 28 Cultural Centers and Other Professional Organizations
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