Spring 2026 - "In-Betweenness"
April 16th - 17th
This two-day symposium, organized by our graduate students, seeks to explore the concept of “in-betweenness” as a space of transition, negotiation, and possibility across linguistic, cultural, medial, and disciplinary boundaries. Bringing together scholars from diverse fields, panelists will examine how these liminal positions challenge and reshape dominant frameworks of knowledge.
In line with this year’s theme, we are also excited to welcome Abel Cruz (Hispanic Linguistics and Bilingualism, Santa Clara University) and Héctor Hoyos (Modern Latin American and Comparative Literature, Stanford University) as our keynote speakers.
All panels and keynote lectures will be held at the Spanish and Portuguese Library, 5125 Dwinelle Hall, on Thursday, April 16, from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., and on Friday, April 17, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. A full schedule is attached below.
This event has been graciously supported by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the Department of Comparative Literature, the Department of Linguistics, the Latinx Research Center, and the Berkeley Center for New Media (BCNM).
Spring 2026 - "VARIAR, DEVISAR, QUEBRAR"
This two-day symposium April 11-12, organized by our graduate students, looks to convene folks from various universities thinking and working from and beyond the areas and fields of Spanish and Portuguese Languages, Cultures, Literatures, and Linguistics. Panels will explore an array of themes, including linguistic variation and pedagogy, visual archives, postcolonial narratives, authorship and fiction, and questions around identity and belonging.
The conference will conclude its first day with a keynote lecture by Prof. Justin Perez (UC Santa Cruz) – “Excess and the Ontological Politics of Queer and Trans Worlds in Amazonian Peru” – followed by a reception. Food will be provided.
This event is co-sponsored by the Townsend Center for the Humanities.
Friday, April 11th
Panel 1 - Language Variation and Pedagogies
- Angélica González & Ana Orega (UC Davis, virtual) - Linguistic Rights Empowerment and Social Justice: Integrating Plain Language, Legal Design and Critical Language Awareness in Spanish Heritage Language Teaching
- Luis Solorzano Sosa (Southern Illinois University, virtual) - Navigating Linguistic Variation: K’iche’-L1 Learners Acquiring English as a Third Language
Panel 2 - Práticas de vivência
- Carlos Torres Astocondor (UC Davis) - Otros mundos son posibles: antagonismos ontológicos en “Yaimanco” (1934) de Fernando Romero
- Camila Campos Costa (George Mason University) - The Brazilian Social Fabric in Rosana Paulino’s The Sewing of Memory Exhibition
- Rebeca Ponce Ochoa (University of Kentucky) - Las mujeres afroperuanas y la brujería como símbolo del material cultural de Lima
Panel 3 - Stones, Horses, and Other Beings
- Paulette Rosales (SUNY Stony Brook) - El espectáculo del simulacro. Corporalidades desgarradas, corporalidades fisuradas
- Chloe Mauvis (UC Berkeley) - Legs of Stone, Arms of Flesh: Tired Stone in Latin American Perspective
- Leigh Houck (UC Davis) - Making-kin and Making-man: The Human-Equine Relationship in Graciliano Ramos’ Vidas secas (1938)
Keynote
Prof. Justin Perez, UC Santa Cruz - “Excess and the Ontological Politics of Queer and Trans Worlds in Amazonian Peru,” followed by reception.
Saturday, April 12th
Panel 1 - The Visual Archive
- Camila A. Micán Rondón (University of Kansas, virtual) - Consumo colonial: historias de exterminio y resistencia
- Varun Biddanda (Georgetown, virtual) - Bollywood in Lima: A Case Study
- Daniela Calvache (University of Kentucky) - Mexican ex-votos and abjection
Panel 2 - Peninsular ‘Complexes’
- Anita Rescia (SUNY Stony Brook) - El sueño del hijo perfecto en La tía Tula (1964) y Mi hija Hildegart (1977)
- Diego Puente Juarez (University of Kentucky) - La psiquiatría española decimonónica en La desheredada (1881) de Benito Pérez Galdós
- Javier Cataño G. (University of Maryland College Park) - Narrative Multiplicities in Matilde Cherner’s María Magdalena (1880): A Case of Naturalist Deviation
- Lydia Carrascal Cuadrado (University of Kentucky) - Resistiendo el silencio: la danza como voz y memoria en rojos de Miquel Barcelona
Panel 3 - The Author’s Fictions - Saturday 1:00-2:30pm
- Jesús Ponte Bernal (University of Kentucky) - Alteración de la realidad colonial ecuatoguineana a través de la visión peninsular de Luz Gabás en Palmeras en la nieve.
- Eddy Rafael Santiago Huamani (Indiana Bloomington) - Vida y muerte: Los ideales colectivos frente a la corrupción individualista en La Muerte de Artemio Cruz
Panel 4 - Bodies’ In/sight - Saturday 2:30-4:00pm
- Ana Ponce Castañeda (Michigan State University) - Entre Locas y Brujas: Monstruosidad, Transgresión y Resistencia en El Lugar sin Límites (1966) y Temporada de Huracanes (2017).
- Alejandro Múnera (UC Berkeley) - %#;@!*$:#;.@!: Censorship, Pornography, and the Movimento de Arte Pornô during Brazil’s Democratic Opening
- Ryan Kachnowski (Michigan State University) - Breaking Heteronormative Structures: Queer Urbanism Through Pedro Lemebel
