BY LENA WONG

In print | September 21, 2006

On Sept. 15, Swarthmore students gathered together over taquitos and tacos to commemorate the beginning of national Latino Heritage Month, a series of events aimed at shedding light on the complexities of both Latino and Latino-American cultures.

Designated as the start of a national Hispanic Heritage Month by the United States government in 1988, Sept. 15 marks the independence days of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The independence days of Mexico and Chile follow closely behind on the 16th and 18th, respectively. However, ENLACE, Swarthmore’s Hispanic and Latino Organization, made a conscious choice to categorize the celebrations as Latino Heritage Month because of the implications of the word “Hispanic.”

The United States Census Bureau states that the term “Hispanic” refers to a Spanish-speaking individual of any race. Assistant Dean and Director of the Intercultural Center Rafael Zapata said the term “Hispanic emphasizes Spanish heritage to the neglect of indigenous, African, or even Asian histories. ‘Latino’ tends to be more acceptable.”

ENLACE Social Coordinator Tatiana Cozzarelli ’09 said that she preferred the term “Latino” because, as someone of Brazilian descent, it enabled her to pay homage to her Portuguese roots. Fostering this sense of cultural pride is an important focus of Latino Heritage Month, and ENLACE hopes to promote it through various events highlighting aspects of individual Latin American countries as well as bringing attention to the unique experience of growing up as a Latino in America.

About the importance of Latino Heritage Month to the Swarthmore campus, Intercultural Center General Intern José Alemán ’09 said that he hoped the month would help both Latino and non-Latino students realize that “culture is not only music or food, but also [includes] poetry or political debates.” This notion manifests itself in the effort made by ENLACE members to spark student interest in relevant topics affecting the Latino community, like current national debates about immigration laws.

The official kick-off event for Swarthmore’s Latino Heritage Month occurred on the 14th with presentation of the documentary Farmingville, a film that depicted the investigation of the attempted murders of two Mexican day-laborers. Following the show was a discussion featuring Director of Philadelphia Jobs with Justice Fabricio Rodriguez, Assistant Professor of Spanish Luciano Martinez, student Linda Corchado ’08, and panel facilitator Professor of Political Science Jeffrey Murer.

Future events lending to the idea that culture isn’t solely based on art include a lecture titled “Latinos, Public Policy, and Election Year Politics” by Angelo Falcón, President of the National Institute for Latino Policy and Adjunct Professor at the School for International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. Falcón will be speaking at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 21 in the Intercultural Center about the meaning of a “Latino vote,” the impact the 2008 presidential election will have on the Latino community and current immigration issues in the United States. Additionally, Swarthmore alumnus Emiliano Rodriguez ’05 will be presenting on the topic of youth migration from Central and South America on Oct. 9 from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the Scheuer room.

While ENLACE, as an organization, is exclusively for members of Latin American descent, all of the events sponsored within Latino Heritage Month are open to all members of the Swarthmore student body. To emphasize this, ENLACE has also joined forces with other on-campus organizations like Students of Caribbean Ancestry (SOCA), COLORS and the Swarthmore African-American Student Society (SASS) to hold discussions in which students from different groups can talk about pertinent issues together. In hope of sparking interest about Latino issues, ENLACE will also be showing movies such as “City of God” and “Fear and Learning at Hoover Academy” on Sunday nights in the Lang Performing Arts Center. The group plans on publicizing all Latino Heritage Events through the Reserved Students Digest and poster calendars around campus.

Though the planning committee worked for months to jam-pack so many different events into a single fun-filled month, ENLACE stresses that it will continue to promote Latino pride and culture well past the end of Latino Heritage Month. “This is only a point of departure,” Zapata said.

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