Lecture at Housatonic Museum of Art
The Island Adrift: National, Racial and Gender Identity in Contemporary Cuban Art
OCT. 4, 2011
CONTACT: ROBBIN ZELLA, 203-332-5052
Bridgeport, CT—On October 11, 2011 at 11am, in the Burt Chernow Galleries at Housatonic Community College, Odette Casamayor-Cisneros, Assistant Professor at The University of Connecticut-Storrs, will offer a lecture exploring issues of identity as well as the political and socio-economic crisis affecting the island of Cuba since the collapse of the socialist system in the 1990s.
Casamayor will discuss the current state of the arts in present-day Cuban society. This talk is in conjunction with the current exhibit at the HMA, Polaridad Complementaria: Recent Works from Cuba. This event is free and open to the public.
Having concentrated her research on Contemporary Latin American and Caribbean Cultures, Odette Casamayor was also the recipient of a 2005 Rockefeller Foundation Post-doctoral fellowship, which sponsored her as a Visiting Research Scholar at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies in the State University of New York at Stony Brook. In 2003, her paper titled “Negros de papel. Algunas apariciones del negro en la narrativa cubana después de 1959” received the Juan Rulfo literary essay award, which is granted by Radio France Internationale. She is currently writing a book about Post-Soviet Cuban Literature and conducting a research project on racial inequalities in Contemporary Caribbean Societies. She received her doctorate in Language Arts and Literature from the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS), in Paris.
Housatonic Community College provides an affordable and accessible education through two-year degrees, transfer preparation, and certificate programs, as well as a wide variety of continuing education and personal/professional enrichment seminars and workshops. In addition, HCC offers employee and occupational training for businesses, municipalities, government agencies, and professional associations to help develop the educated and skilled workforce required to meet regional business and industry needs. HCC is nationally recognized as an “Achieving the Dream” institution. To learn more, visit the college’s website at: www.hcc.commnet.edu <http://www.hcc.commnet.edu> .
HCC is located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in downtown Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 (Exit 27) and Rte. 8 (Exit 1), a block from the Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard. Free parking is available in the Housatonic garage.