Continuing Education Event Announcement
Sandra Cisneros and the New US Latina
Speaker: Prof. Gwendolyn Díaz-Ridgeway
Thursday, September 24, 2:00pm
Zoom videoconferencing platform
RSVP for Zoom meeting details to u.w.c.cont.ed@gmail.com
What is a US Latina and what roles does she play in the United States? Americans of Latin American descent have lived in the south west since before it was part of the United States. Yet, they have been considered second class citizens since the beginning of the nation. However, in the 1980’s an interesting phenomenon took place, it became cool be to a Latina. Actresses like Cameron Díaz and Jennifer López became hot items in the box office and authors such as Sandra Cisneros were being published and recognized by the major New York publishing houses. In this talk, Prof. Gwendolyn Díaz-Ridgeway will speak about the phenomenon of the US Latina, one of her areas of academic interest which she has observed first-hand through the years. She will focus primarily on the work of the most famous US Latina author, Sandra Cisneros. We will post two short stories as background material for the talk and to launch us into discussion.
Speaker biography: Prof. Gwendolyn Díaz-Ridgeway specializes in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory. Her Ph.D. is from the University of Texas in Austin. She chairs the Women Writers Committee of the Argentine chapter of PEN International (world-wide writers organization). Author of several books, both academic and fiction, she has received both the Fulbright and Carnegie Mellon awards.
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