Latin America and the United States: Cross-Cultural Perceptions, Tourism, and Modern Migrations
February 20-21, 2015
The complex history of U.S.-Latin American cross-cultural perceptions and exchanges continues to shape contemporary politics, cultures, and social relations. How have these interactions evolved over time and also influenced present-day identities, tourism, and migrations in the Americas? We’ll explore such questions from multiple perspectives, beginning with Miguel La Serna’s discussion of Peruvian nationhood and the transnational dialogues that have created Latin America’s national identities. Cultural assumptions also develop through travel experiences that challenge the expectations of both tourists and local populations, as Florence Babb will explain by looking at how notions of tradition and modernity often collide in cross-cultural travel encounters. Other cultural misperceptions have also shaped the relations between Cubans and North Americans, thus contributing to political problems that Louis Pérez will examine in a broad historical framework. But the different perceptions of cultural identities also affect present experiences as well as historical memories. Ariana Vigil will thus help us understand the diverse lives of recent Central American immigrants who have defined their own identities through artistic self-representations.
Topics & Speakers
Peruvian Nationhood: Cultural Identities and Perceptions of the United States
Miguel La Serna, Assistant Professor of History
Latin American Travel: The Two Sides of Tourism Encounters
Florence Babb, Harrington Distinguished Professor of Anthropology
Cuba in the American Imagination: American and Cuban Views of the Other
Louis A. Pérez, Jr., J. Carlyle Sitterson Professor of History
Central Americans and the North Americans: Art, Identity, and Self-Representation
Ariana Vigil, Assistant Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies
U.S.-Latin American Perceptions and Exchanges, Then and Now
A panel discussion with our speakers
Time & Cost
4:30 p.m. Friday, February 20 through 1:00 p.m. Saturday, February 21, 2015. The tuition is $125 ($110 by January 22). Tuition for teachers is $62.50 ($55 by January 22). Teachers can also receive a $75 stipend after attending (click here for more information) and 10 contact hours for 1 unit of renewal credit. The optional dinner Friday evening is $20.00.
For information about lodging click here.
Co-Sponsored by the General Alumni Association.
For information about GAA discounts and other scholarships available to Humanities Program participants, click here.