Latino Cultural Center Department within the Division of Diversity and Inclusion

2022 NHHM Events

Be Heard: Latino Experiences in Indiana

Thursday, September 1st-Thursday, September 29th |8AM-12AM  Hicks Undergraduate Library, 504 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47906

Free and Open to the Public

“Be Heard: Latino Experiences in Indiana” offers a glimpse into the stories of individuals of varying cultural backgrounds who recall what it has been like to be Latino in the Hoosier State throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. The stories reflect on the Latinos’ cultures as well as on their contributions to local communities or to the state of Indiana.

“Be Heard: Latino Experiences in Indiana” is made possible by a generous grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.

Co-Sponsored with Hicks Undergraduate Library or Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies

National Hispanic Heritage Month Reception 

Thursday, September 15th| 5:30PM-7:00 PM | HICKS Undergraduate Library, 504 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47906

Free and Open to the Public

Celebrate the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month with the Latino Cultural Center and view the Be Heard: Latino Experiences in Indiana exhibit. Join us to hear from Nicole Martinez-LeGrand, curator at the Indiana Historical Society. 

Food and beverages will be served. 

Co-sponsored with HICKS Undergraduate Libraries and Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies

An Evening with Katya Echazarreta, First Mexican Born Female Astronaut 

Monday, September 26th| 6:00PM-7:00PM | Loeb Playhouse, Stewart Center, 128 Memorial Mall Dr, West Lafayette, IN 47907

Free and Open to the Public

REGISTER HERE

Katya was born in Mexico and her family moved to the US when she was about 7 years old. Growing up in the US was difficult at first due to the language barrier, but she worked hard and was a fluent English speaker within two years. Her mother instilled a strong work ethic in her since childhood and always encouraged her to follow her passions.

She graduated high school and enrolled in a Community College to study Electrical Engineering. After three years, she transferred to UCLA where she obtained her B.S. in Electrical Engineering. During her time at UCLA, she earned an internship at NASA JPL. Eventually, she transitioned to a full-time engineer and worked on 5 NASA missions including Perseverance and Europa Clipper. Currently, she is pursuing a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University and has been featured in the Netflix Film Club YouTube series "Netflix IRL".
Throughout her journey in engineering school, she was very conscious about the lack of women in the field. This was difficult for her because she did not have many people that she could ask for advice regarding several topics such as the implicit biases that women and people of color face daily. She recognizes that she has been given the opportunity to help guide those girls and women who are looking for someone with experience in what they are going through.
Through honesty about difficulties and encouragement, she hopes to be able to help women be better prepared for their experience as a woman in STEM.
In June 2022, Katya was selected as part of ‘Space for Humanity’s’ launch, and she became the first Mexican-born female to fly to space aboard Blue Origin’s NS-21 flight.
Co-sponsored with the Purdue University Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging

Bridges Not Borders: Belonging & Acceptance for Latinos in the Midwest with Dr. Sujey Vega

Monday, October 3rd | 6:15PM-7:15PM | Krannert Auditorium

National immigration debates have thrust both opponents of immigration and immigrant rights supporters into the news. But what happens once the rallies end and the banners come down? What is daily life like for Latinos who have been presented nationally as ‘terrorists, drug smugglers, alien gangs, and violent criminals’? Latino Heartland offers an ethnography of the Latino and non-Latino residents of a small Indiana town, showing how the national debate pitted neighbor against neighbor—and the strategies used to combat such animosity.

Sujey Vega is a daughter of immigrant parents. As the first in her family to earn a PhD, Dr. Vega's always wanted to honor the lives of immigrant Latina/o communities by exploring how they navigate living and belonging in the United States while still committed to ethnic cultural identities. As director of the Community Collaborative Initiatives (CCI) program at ASU, Dr. Vega is also committed to working with community organizations to co-construct meaningful change. Trained in applied anthropology and American Studies, Sujey has carried a strong sense of advocacy throughout her personal and professional life. She has one book published, several chapters in notable edited volumes,  articles in respected academic journals, and is working on her second book on Latino Mormons.

Co-sponsored with Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies and American Studies

Chinese Mexicans and Mexicanidad with Dr. Freddy Gonzalez

Thursday, October 6th | 6PM-7:15PM | Lawson Room 1142, 305 N. University St., West Lafayettte, IN 47906

Free and Open to the Public

In this talk, Dr. Freddy González (University of Illinois at Chicago) will give a brief history of Chinese immigration to Mexico during the twentieth century and illustrate some of the ways the Chinese contributed to and claimed belonging to the Mexican nation. Despite experiencing consistent hate and harassment from anti-Chinese activists who claimed that the Chinese would never fit in to the Mexican nation, some migrants found ways to survive and set down roots in their new country.
Co-Sponsored with Asian American & Asian Resource and Cultural Center

Art Workshop with Eitlejorg Museum Visiting Artist Emily Guerrero

Thursday, October 13th| 3:00PM-5:00PM | NAECC, 903 Fifth Street

Free and Open to the Public

Emily Guerrero (Mexica Indigenous) is a storyteller and folk artist who embodies her ancestral traditions and encourages and inspires audiences to expand their knowledge of diverse cultures. Her performances, installation arts, and workshops of various age audiences offer insights to the diverse montage of the multicultural communities. As founder of “Mexica-Arts”, Guerrero is a dedicated and passionate advocate of cultural arts.

Join us as Guerrero leads an interactive workshop focused on folk art. She is the Eiteljorg Museum’s featured Artist-in-Residence for October.

Co-sponsored with the Native American Eduacational Cultural Center in collaboration with the Eitlejorg Museum

 

An Evening of Poetry and Reflection with Julian Randall

Thursday, October 13th| 6:00PM-7:00PM | Fowler Hall, Stuart Hall

Julian Randall is a Living Queer Black poet from Chicago. He has received fellowships from Cave Canem, CantoMundo, Callaloo, BOAAT and the Watering Hole. Julian is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize. Julian is the winner of the 2019 Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award from the Publishing Triangle.

His writing has been published in New York Times Magazine, Ploughshares, and POETRY, and anthologized in Black Boy Joy (which debuted at #1 on the NYT Best Seller list), Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed and Furious Flower.

He has essays in The Atlantic, Vibe Magazine, Los Angeles Review of Books, and other venues. He holds an MFA in Poetry from Ole Miss.

He is the author of Refuse (Pitt, 2018), winner of the 2017 Cave Canem Poetry Prize and a finalist for a 2019 NAACP Image Award, as well as the middle grade novel Pilar Ramirez And The Escape from Zafa (Holt, Winter 2022), and The Dead Don’t Need Reminding: Essays (Bold Type Books, Spring 2023).

Co-sponsored with Black Cultural Center & Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Center