Hemispheric Institute on the Americas

The Latin American Studies Conscortium of Northern California (LASC-NorCal), comprised of San José State University (SJSU), the Hemispheric Institute on the Americas (HIA) at the University of California, Davis, and the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) at Stanford University, invites you to the LiterNatura: Environmental Humanities in the Americas Conference.

This one-day conference at San José State University will bringing together writers, scholars, activists and artists from across the Americas to share how the environmental humanities are being employed in their regions to express new realities and propose new visions for our future. Additionally, SJSU students and local high school students will share creative projects related to local and hemispheric environmental concerns. 

May 10th

San José State University

MLK Library Conference Space: Room 255 (capacity 48 persons)
 

Program: 

9:15am: Inauguration

Damian Bacich: Chair of World Languages and Literatures

Cheyla Samuelson, Alberto Díaz-Cayeros, Juan Diego Díaz

9:30am: LiterNatura: Mexican Ecologies and a New Genre 

(Moderator: Alberto Diaz, Stanford University)

9:30am - 9:55am: Andrés Cota Hiriart (Zoologist, Naturalist, Author, Public Science Educator, Mexico City) 

“Axolotl, el anfibio más sobresaliente del mundo (ciencia, leyenda y literatura de los monstruos hermosos)”

9:55am - 10:20am: Emily Celeste Vasquez (Assistant Professor of Spanish, UC Davis) 

“Border Biomes and Multispecies Migration in La nostalgia no se marcha como el agua de los ríos / Xilase qui rié di’ sicasi rié nisa guiigu’ by Irma Pineda”

10:20am - 10:35am: Conversation 

10:40am: Environmental Humanities, Hemispheric Visions 

(Moderator: Juan Diego Diaz)

10:40 am - 11:05am: Santiago Acosta (Author and Assistant Professor, Yale University) 

“The Climate of Poetry: Interdisciplinary Perspectives from the Environmental Humanities”

11:05am - 11:30am: Carlos Torres-Astocóndor and Leigh Marlene Houck (Doctoral Students, UC Davis) 

“Las Humanidades Medioambientales: la Relación entre lo Humano y lo no Humano en la Producción Cultural Hispanoamericana”

11:30am - 11:45am: Conversation 

11:50 am Environmental Activism: Global Realities and Local Organizers. (Moderator: Cheyla Samuelson) 

11:50am - 12:15pm: Kike Arnal: Photographer 

“AMAZONAS: Landscapes and People” 

12:15pm - 12:40pm: Yanely Martinez: Safe Ag Safe Schools 

"Justicia Ambiental y la Juventud en acción en el Valle de Salinas" 

12:40pm - 12:55pm: Conversation 

Lunch Break: 1:00pm - 2:00pm

MLK Library Conference Space: Room 225 (98)

2:00pm - 4:30pm: Sustainable Futures/Futuros Sostenibles: Writing Ourselves into Environmental Research Locally and Globally. 

(College of Humanities and Arts Artistic Excellence in Programing Grant Sponsored Event)

2:00pm - 2:05pm: Introduction: Dr Cheyla Samuelson

2:05pm - 3:15pm: SJSU Students: Presentation of Environmental Humanities Projects

3:15pm - 3:45pm: Creative Writing Prize for High School Students: “Yo y mi Medio Ambiente /Me and my Environment”

3:45pm - 4:30pm: Reading and Conversation with Andrés Cota Hiriart