PAST EVENTS
PAST EVENTS
Grounded Engagements in American Studies
Thursday, November 14th
Time: 10:00 AM EST
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
This session convened emerging scholars to discuss Black Feminist approaches in Dominican Studies. Expanding on Afro-Latinx Studies directives that called on us to affirm “negro in its transnational translation” as Black, the conversation asked how panelists use Black Feminist methods and theories in their respective Dominican diasporan projects. Panelists discussed the challenges and triumphs of expanding orthodox Latin American and Latinx Studies scholarship that often centers on mestizaje and white supremacy. Panelists collectively reflected on their work from the respective fields of Food Studies, Caribbean Intellectual History, Literary Studies, and Urban Education.
We Choose Freedom: African American Migrations to Hispaniola Symposium
Wednesday, November 13th
Time: 8:30 AM- 5:00 PM
Location: The University of Texas at Austin RI.P 1.302B West Conference
The symposium discussed scholarly trends in African American history, anthropology, and Black and Latino Studies. Animated by the histories and legacies of Black immigration to Hispaniola, the symposium program traced the ‘search for freedom’ and its afterlives across histories, cultural analyses, artistic expressions, material preservation initiatives, ecological changes and communities.
Jornada de Visibilización del Cimarronaje (Maroon Awareness Tour)
Thursday, October 31st
Time: 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM EST
Location: La Zona Colonial, Santo Domingo
The University of Santo Domingo and Afro-Dominican activist groups like Afros RD and Reconodi.do, organize the Jornada de Visibilización del Cimarronaje, or a “Maroon Awareness Tour” – referring to escaped African slaves who established free communities in secluded areas throughout the Caribbean. This was a two-day events, where the tour stopped at historical locations across Santo Domingo, revealing the contribution of Africans and their descendants Dominican history.
Annual Harvest Celebration
Sunday, October 27, 2024
Time: All day
Location: Samaná, Dominican Republic
The Annual Harvest celebration has been held since the arrival of the African American emigrants in Samana in 1824. The Harvest Celebration occurs every October at the local AME churches, to welcome the new crop season and celebrate the end of the hurricane season.
Contact: Wilfredo Benjamin Kelly
on WhatsApp +1(809)865-4712
Historias Por Contar
Saturday, August 31st & September 7
Time: 11:00am- 12:00pm EST
Location: La Zona Colonial, Santo Domingo
AfrohistoriaRD partnered with CCESantoDomingo to host a series of workshops. Where they taught locals in La Zona Colonial how to uncover Santo Domingo’s untold Black histories.
I supported the series by hosting a workshop on conducting digital research in El Archivo General de la Nación and El Archivo General de las Indias. I also participated on Saturday, September 7, as we commemorate the lives and legacies of Black people in “la zona” by visiting this historic series.
Samaná Bicentennial 2024
July 14- July 21, 2024
Location: Samaná, Dominican Republic
2024 marks the 200th anniversary of African American immigration to Samaná in the Dominican Republic. We are an organizing collective facilitating the transnational celebration of this migration's bicentennial. We worked with local community leaders to organize and support events in the Dominican Republic and various locations in the United States to honor the legacy of Black freedom seekers.
During the week of July 14th, various events were hosted such as: history workshops, roundtables with scholars and African American descendants, oral histories and artifacts collections, a gastronomy fair, folklore performances, and a festival.
El legado de los Afroestadounidenses en Samaná
June 18, 2024
Location: Webinar hosted by the U.S.A embassy in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Join Matt Radoph and me as we discuss the history and arrival of African Americans in Samaná, Dominican Republic, 200 years ago.
Gender & History Colloquium
April 25-27,2024
Location: Bonn, Germany
Gender & History Colloquium on Gendered Segregation and Gendering Segregation at the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies in Bonn, Germany.
Presenting Article: “Manuela Aybar o Rodríguez’s Anti-Colonial Epistemology: Gender Segregation in Education within Colonial Dominican Society, 1790 – 1850”
Pensadoras Dominicanas Writing Retreat
April 11- 15,2024
Location: Las Terrenas, Samana, Dominican Republic
This writing retreat brought together Black Dominican Studies scholars across disciplines to craft a generative, joyous, and productive writing sanctuary.
MECA Art Fair RD 2024
March 22nd, 2024
Time: 3:30 pm
Location: La Cafeterfa
El Conde #253 Zona Colonial, Dominican Republic
La Investigación del Imaginario Racial Dominicano presenta: Soraya Aracena, Sophia Monegro y Lizania Cruz en un conversatorio sobre sus trabajos sobre la herencia Afrodescendiente en Samaná.
Soraya Aracena se dedica al estudio y difusión del Patrimonio Cultural Inmaterial y de otros pueblos del Caribe. Realizó estudios de maestría en Estudios del Caribe en el Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe que para ese entonces (1993) , era dirigido por el destacado antropólogo Ricardo E. Alegría de quien fue alumna y colaboradora.
Ha investigado el culto al Barón del Cementerio, los cuentos tradicionales de origen negro, los cuales fueron publicados por la editora Letra Gráfica del sociólogo Orlando Inoa.
También ha investigado varias fiestas tradicionales y el grupo de los afromericanos en Samaná, sobre el cual realizó el libro : Los Inmigrantes Norteamericanos en Samaná y que actualmente se encuentra en proceso de segunda edición.
Lizania Cruz es una artista participativa y diseñadora dominicana interesada en cómo la migración afecta las formas de ser y pertenecer. Su cuerpo de trabajo La Investigación del Imaginario Racial Dominicano es un proyecto artístico que a través del uso de archivos históricos, historia oral, acciones, e intervenciones participativas en espacios públicos e institucionales recontextualiza el imaginario racial dominicano. La investigación, al igual que la investigación de un crimen, busca generar preguntas sobre cómo, cuándo, y dónde nuestra identidad afrodescendiente fue reprimida del consciente dominicano.