Apr
1
4:00pm
The Dissidence of Reinaldo Arenas: Queering Literature, Politics, and the Activist Curriculum
By Charis Books and More/Charis Circle
Charis and Agnes Scott College welcome Rafael Ocasio, Angela L. Willis, and Sandro R. Barros for a discussion of The Dissidence of Reinaldo Arenas: Queering Literature, Politics, and the Activist Curriculum. Focusing on the didactic nature of the work of Reinaldo Arenas, this book demonstrates the Cuban writer's influence as public pedagogue, mentor, and social activist whose teaching on resistance to normative ideologies resonates in societies past, present, and future.
Through a multidisciplinary approach bridging educational, historiographic, and literary perspectives, The Dissidence of Reinaldo Arenas illuminates how Arenas's work remains a cutting-edge source of inspiration for today's audiences, particularly LGBTQI readers. It shows how Arenas's aesthetics contain powerful insights for exploring dissensus whether in the context of Cuba, broader Pan-American and Latinx-U.S. queer movements of social justice, or transnational citizenship politics.
Carefully dissecting Arenas's themes against the backdrop of his political activity, this book presents the writer's poetry, novels, and plays as a curriculum of dissidence that provides models for socially engaged intellectual activism.
Rafael Ocasio, Charles A. Dana Professor of Spanish at Agnes Scott College, is the author of two books on dissident writer Reinaldo Arenas: Cuba’s Political and Sexual Outlaw (University Press of Florida, 2003) and The Making of a Gay Activist (University Press of Florida, 2007). His other books include Latin American Culture and Literature (Greenwood Press, 2004), Afro-Cuban Costumbrismo: From Plantations to the Slums (University Press of Florida, 2012), and The Bristol, Rhode Island and Matanzas, Cuba Slavery Connection: The Diary of George Howe (Lexington Books/ Rowman & Littlefield, 2020). Recently published are his books: Race and Nation in Puerto Rican Folklore: Franz Boas and John Alden Mason in Porto Rico (Rutgers University Press, 2020) and Folk Stories from the Hills of Puerto Rico/Cuentos folklóricos de las montañas de Puerto Rico (Rutgers University Press, 2021).
Angela (Angie) L. Willis is Professor of Hispanic Studies and Latin American Studies at Davidson College. Her scholarship centers on transatlantic, transtemporal intertextualities, specifically between Inquisitorial Spain and Revolutionary Cuba. She is especially fascinated by transgressive texts, by the underdogs and rebels of literature, and by the notion of writing as a means of escape and survival.
Angie is the author of several articles on Cuban literature. She is co-author of a forthcoming book about Reinaldo Arenas, The Dissidence of Reinaldo Arenas: Queering Literature, Politics and the Activist Curriculum (University Press of Florida, 2021) with Rafael Ocasio and Sandro Barros. She is also currently completing a second monograph centered on the notion of (homo)sexual re-writing of canonical texts from the Hispanic cultural tradition in Reinaldo Arenas’ narrative. She was awarded the “Sturgis Leavitt Award of SECOLAS” (Southeastern Council on Latin American Studies) for Best Article Published by Members in 2005. Additionally, she is the past president of SECOLAS, an organization in which she has also served in many other leadership capacities.
Sandro Barros's research interests focus on broad issues connected with multilingual development, culture, and language politics in K-16 curricula. He is interested in how the study of languages other than English (LOTE) shapes the public's perception of citizenship and belonging within the context of the nation-state. He analyzes the connections between ideologies of language learning and how they support truth regimes that influence multilingual pedagogy discourse. How do intellectuals and policymakers exercise their institutional power to influence public thought in the name of the common good? How do second language pedagogy discourses reinforce monolingual ideologies and how do they assist us in cultivating linguistic diversity?
This event is free and open to all people, especially to those who have no income or low income right now, but we encourage and appreciate a solidarity donation in support of the work of Charis Circle, our programming non-profit. Charis Circle's mission is to foster sustainable feminist communities, work for social justice, and encourage the expression of diverse and marginalized voices. https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/CharisCircle?code=chariscirclepage
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