Speakers

7:00 pm Afro Caribbean Cosmology is rooted in understanding how the ashé, the underlying power in all living things, manifests and connects to human beings.  For souls to live in balance, it is essential to learn how to read nature’s inherent powers.  It is by identifying with nature that one develops conscience, as well as the iwa pele, the “good character” that guarantees joy, a full life, and an ability to “see” and to understand the connection between all living things. Free community event “Divinations” are photosculpture (more...)

7:00 pm Free community event This Spanish w/English subtitles film takes an intimate look at racial issues within a Puerto Rican family and brings taboo discussions of racial politics to the foreground.  “People talk about racism and sexism in the U.S.,” Film Director Gómez-Mouakad explains. “They may not do much, but in talking about it they are at least addressing the problem. In Puerto Rico — and across the Caribbean and Latin America — there is a lot of denial. If you do talk about the issues, (more...)

7:00 pm This Spanish w/English subtitles documentary explores Afro-Mexican identities via multiple perspectives.  Panelists include Film Director Ebony Marie Bailey, Dr. Dora Careaga Coleman, Heather Smith, and Naomi Ambriz. Free community event AfroMundo Festival Shared Roots: A Celebration of Afro-Latinx Culture AfroMundo was born of a desire to counter alienation and marginalization by fostering civic engagement. It was therefore founded on the principles of convite—an age-old collaborative tradition that enables community members to pool their talents and scarce resources for rituals of life, socialization and mutual support, (more...)

7:00 pm This Spanish/w English subtitles documentary explores Spain’s slave owning & slave trafficking past that links its ports to one in Vera Cruz.  It also depicts the influence of that shared slave past on Spanish and Mexican culture, particularly on Flamenco and Son Jarocho. Panelists Carolina “Caro” Acuña-Olvera, Rosalinda Rojas, and Yvonne B. Hamilton Gutierrez are members of the Black Flamenco Network, also known as FUAAD—Flamencos Unidos Africanos y Afro Descendientes. Free community event AfroMundo Festival Shared Roots: A Celebration of Afro-Latinx Culture AfroMundo was born (more...)