Conference to examine future of Hispanic studies

Conference to examine future of Hispanic studies

BY MISTY CORNELIUS
Rice News staff

Spanish, Hispanic, Latin American, Latino — what do these terms represent in today’s society? This question will be the focus of an all-day symposium Saturday, Feb. 26, titled “Reinventing Hispanism in the Age of Globalization.”

The symposium will host seven leading Hispanic studies scholars who will present papers and engage in a roundtable discussion on the status, orientation and future of the field and study of Hispanism.

“Today’s Hispanic studies are in need of reflection and re-orientation due to the sheer scope and heterogeneity of the field, including the many nations, languages and cultures actually involved,” explained Lane Kauffmann, associate professor of Spanish and coordinator of the Global Hispanism Workshop. “The symposium will provide a cross-disciplinary forum for participants to explore the complex, changing reality of the Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian cultures in both the Americas and Europe.”

According to Beatriz González-Stephan, the Lee Hage Jamail Chair of Latin American Literatures in Hispanic Studies, revision and updating of what might be called “Hispanic-Latino-Americanism” is urgent, particularly in this region. “An unprecedented growth rate in the Hispanic/Latino population within the United States has dramatically challenged the traditional perceptions of a monolingual and homogeneous nation,” González-Stephan said. “These changes oblige us politically, socially and culturally to explore ways to revise past paradigms and even reconsider the names ‘Hispanism’ and ‘Hispanic studies.’”

Participants in the symposium will include scholars from around the country, as well as from Rice and the University of Houston, who are doing research on the Spanish language and on Hispanic and Latino literatures and/or cultural studies.
“It is our hope that the symposium will not only heighten awareness of these issues, but will also bring an exchange of proposals and perspectives that will enable us to contribute significantly to the field re-definition that is already under way in leading academic institutions across the Americas and Europe,” said Maarten van Delden, associate professor of Spanish and Hispanic studies department chair.

González-Stephan said, “As the Hispanic population continues to grow in Houston and around the United States, this symposium serves as a crucial step toward improving the historical understanding and appreciation of the Hispanic cultures in both academics and society, and toward dispelling residual cultural prejudices.”

The latest survey by the Modern Language Association finds that since 1995 between 53 and 55 percent of all foreign language enrollments in U.S. institutions of higher education have been in Spanish. Houston’s connection to Hispanic studies and culture is also growing in importance.

As of the year 2000, the Harris County census reported that 33 percent of the county’s 3.4 million residents were Hispanic, with the population growing by 74 percent between 1990 and 2000. By the end of 2005, the census predicts that the Hispanic population will rise to 39 percent, surpassing every other ethnic community in the county.

“If this trend continues, census projections for the year 2040 show that Hispanics will represent approximately 73 percent of the Harris County population,” noted Stephen Klineberg, sociology professor and founder of the annual Houston Area Survey.
Van Delden said, “Houston is a gateway city between the Americas, and it is only appropriate that scholars at Rice and the University of Houston participate in the reconfiguration of Hispanic studies.”

“Reinventing Hispanism in the Age of Globalization” is sponsored by the Center for the Study of Cultures, the Department of Hispanic Studies, the Institute of Hispanic Culture, Houston and the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at the University of Houston.

The symposium will run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Kyle Morrow Room of Fondren Library. It is free and open to the public; however, advance registration is requested. To register or for more information, visit <http://hispanicstudies.rice.edu/>.