Upcoming Events

EL MONTE: Narratives, Aesthetics, and Afrodiasporic Spirituality in the Contemporary Caribbean

November 9 - 10, 2023 | Rutgers University

Registration is open; space is limited.

On the 70th anniversary of the publication of El Monte (1954) by Cuban author and ethnologist Lydia Cabrera, Rutgers University, Baruch College (CUNY), and the Cuban Heritage Collection at the University of Miami, invite scholars, graduate students, and social and religious activists to discuss pressing issues around Afrodiasporic spirituality and ethnomedicinal technologies in the cultures of the Hispanic Caribbean.

Often taken as a reference text for those initiated into Santeria and other spiritual traditions, El Monte has become not a book but a guiding concept or code to read the evolution of Afrodiasporic culture in the Hispanic Caribbean. The 70th anniversary of this seminal book and the publication of its first translation into English (Duke University Press, May 2023) demands a fresh look at its contributions and the fields it seeded. This conference will offer a unique opportunity to reflect, from multidisciplinary perspectives, on the complexities and challenging power of Afro-Caribbean agency.

Keynote Speakers)

Mabel Cuesta

University of Houston

Emily Maguire

Northwestern University

Stephan Palmié

The University of Chicago