In this article I examine the perceptions of third grade minoritized emergent bilinguals (Spanish/English) in a US classroom as they articulate how family members serve as a source of jocularity. By taking a sociocultural perspective on humor as a resource, I seek to render visible the relational and linguistic connections between these students…

In Spanish language curricula, it is essential that we teach about "afrodescendientes" in Latin America and the Caribbean to present an inclusive representation of the diverse people, practices, and cultural products. Their perspectives and cultural products must be integrated in the curricula of Spanish undergraduate programs beyond the…

By reclaiming the power of self-definition and the use of the term "travesti" to designate their unique experience within the Latin American cultural, economic, and political context, "travesti" intellectuals have fought the dehumanization of their personhood. In her novel "Las malas," the Argentine author Camila Sosa…

This article is a reflection as a teaching scholar of Latin American art in London, Ontario, a city, as many others in Canada, where there is no major Latin American collection for students to visit. The experiences narrated are related to a specific course taught in the Fall of 2016 at Western University and to two exhibitions that took place…

In times of crisis when literature and world languages are threatened by economic hardship, they should draw closer to African diaspora studies. The African diaspora is so vast, longstanding, and diverse that it must be studied using a comparative, multilingual, interdisciplinary, and international approach that includes study in French,…

The poem "Ritmos negros del Perú" by Afro-Peruvian writer Nicomedes Santa Cruz recovers Afro-Peruvian history and agency through the retelling of the journey of a mythical grandmother. Through the retelling of her story, the poet claims blackness and African roots as pillars of Peruvian culture. In so doing, Santa Cruz opens the door not…

Cognates are words that are the same or nearly the same orthographically and semantically in English and Spanish. The majority of the more than 20,000 cognates are academic vocabulary words comprised of Latin and Greek roots and affixes. Several thousand cognates can be found in the picture books that have earned the Américas Book Award, which was…

For decades, language and literacy scholars working within a sociocultural framework have laboured to bring attention to the strengths of marginalized students in an effort to create more inclusive and equitable learning environments (e.g., Cummins, 2000; Dyson, 1997; González et al., 2005; Heath, 1983). While this work has moved the field forward…

A growing number of scholars invested in Iberian Studies are asking how peninsular literary and cultural studies might be reimagined, and reinvigorated, by placing the Spanish and Portuguese canons into critical dialogue with each other, and with Galician, Catalan, Basque/Euskadi, and Latin American and North African immigrant writers, cultural…

Linguists are an increasing presence not only in graduate programs but at undergraduate institutions as well, and this could lead to positive interdisciplinary changes in curricula. Literary/cultural texts contain masterful examples of how linguistic features are used to communicate meaning, and learners need to notice these features in order to…

Alberto Fuguet, one of the leaders of the McOndo writers who seek cultural direction from the United States and exploit mass-media formulas, is a polarizing figure in contemporary Latin American culture. His most recent full-length novel, the semi-autobiographical "Las peliculas de mi vida" (2003), has led many to conclude that Fuguet is simply a…

This paper presents the results of a case study that was conducted to investigate the perceived effectiveness of a blended (online and face-to-face) Latin American Civilization Spanish class offered at a mid-sized Midwestern university. Students (N = 23) completed pre and post-course surveys in which they indicated their perceived comfort levels…

In the past two years, several Latin American nations have begun celebrating their bicentennials of independence, turning attention to questions of national identity and the legacy of independence in the twenty-first century. This reflection is sure to continue into the coming decade. This article offers a few practical suggestions for bringing…

While it is generally accepted that literature fosters (inter)cultural learning, few qualitative studies have sought to understand in what ways interculturality is developed. This article investigates the development of Spanish L2 students' intercultural awareness through the reading of a short story entitled "Norma y Ester" by Argentine…

"Biblionoticias" is a series of brief bibliographies, usually less than 5 pages each, on Latin American topics. The bibliographies describe materials in English, Spanish, and Portuguese held by the Benson Latin American Collection of the University of Texas at Austin. Selected topics are periodically updated. The titles of numbers 35-67…