Invisibility and Influence: A Literary History of AfroLatinidades

Описание: The Spanish Department and Latin American Studies Program at Villanova University invite you to our Spring 2026 “Blacktinidades/Negratinidades Series” with a public lecture on Invisibility and Influence: A Literary History of AfroLatinidades (2024) by Regina M. Mills, PhD, Associate Professor of Latina/o/x Studies at University of Michigan. The event will take place on Thursday, Feb. 5, 5-6:30 p.m. in Falvey’s Speakers’ Corner.

Invisibility and Influence demonstrates how a century of AfroLatinx writers in the United States shaped life writing, including memoir, collective autobiography, and other formats, through depictions of a wide range of “Afro-Latinidades.” Using a woman-of-color feminist approach, Regina Marie Mills examines the work of writers and creators often excluded from Latinx literary criticism. She explores the tensions writers experienced in being viewed by others as only either Latinx or Black, rather than as part of their own distinctive communities. Dr. Mills traces how these writers confront the distorted visions of AfroLatinxs in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean, and how they created and expressed AfroLatinx spirituality, politics, and self-identity, often amidst violence. Mapping how AfroLatinx writers create their own literary history, Mills reveals how AfroLatinx life writing shapes and complicates discourses on race and colorism in the Western Hemisphere.

This event is co-sponsored by UNITAS: Office of Community Engagement and Falvey Library.