The Anthropology Museum at Cal State San Bernardino will host “Developing Afro-Latinx Infused Curriculum,” a bilingual teaching symposium for educators, focused on infusing Afro-Latinx content into K-12 teaching, from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 24, in-person and virtually.

The event is a partnership with the museum, the CSUSB Ethnic Studies Program, San Bernardino High School and San Bernardino City Unified School District Multilingual Programs. It is sponsored by the CSUSB Office of Community Engagement and inspired by the Fulbright Hays Seminar Abroad Program 2021 “Exploring African Heritage in Mexico” hosted by Comisión México Estados Unidos para el Intercambio Educativo y Cultural (COMEXUS).

While the in-person venue at the CSUSB Pfau Library is by invitation only, the virtual presentation via Zoom webinar is free and open to the public. Registration can be done online.  

Also, the Zoom webinar will offer Spanish/English simultaneous translation, making the event bilingual. Those attending the event in person and who desire translation services will be asked to bring headphones for an internet-ready device (cell phone, tablet or laptop computer) and register for the webinar.

“I believe this event is an exciting opportunity to demonstrate to our students the vast diversity and intersectionality of people,” Antoinette Gutierrez, principal of San Bernardino High School, said. “We tend to want to classify people into very narrow descriptions of who they are, and don’t spend time exploring the cultural exchanges that occur throughout the world. I love that our students can also see similarities in each other’s cultural influences, especially in San Bernardino.”

The symposium “is part of a larger project to prepare an exhibit focused on Afro-Mexico and Afro-Latinx experiences in the Inland Empire,” said Arianna Huhn, associate professor of anthropology and director of the museum. “The CSUSB Anthropology Museum has been working on this project for almost a year, including 16 students preparing exhibition content through a service-learning course, and three students who will be conducting interviews this summer for the Inland Empire portion of the exhibit. There are four communities in Mexico who are also curating their own components. We anticipate an opening date of September 2023.”

Following welcome remarks will be keynote addresses by Lillie Padilla and Rosti Vana of Sam Houston State University, “The ‘Other’ Latinx: Rethinking Afro-Latinx Representation in the Educational Curriculum”; followed by María Elisa Velázquez, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), Mexico, “Afro-descendants in Mexico: Past and Present.”

The afternoon session will feature a panel discussion that will feature a vibrant panel of individuals who will share their diverse experiences, ideas and insights on developing an Afro-Latinx infused curriculum.

To close out the day, five curriculum sessions will be held:

  • “Manumission, Race and the History of Slavery in Colonial Mexico, 16th to 18th centuries,” presented by Timothy “Mac” James (University of South Carolina Beaufort);
  • “Juan Francisco Manzano’s ‘Autobiography of a Slave,’” presented by Chantell Limerick (Centre College);
  • “‘Para bailar la Bamba:’ Sounds of Subversion and Survival in el Son Jarocho,” presented by Anne María Connor (Southern Oregon University);
  • “Afro-Mexican Identities: Narratives of Resistance, Liberation, and Joy,” presented by L. J. Randolph Jr. (University of North Carolina, Wilmington); and
  • “Incorporating Afro-Descendants in the Lesson: Mis Sueños/My Dreams,” presented by Jenniffer Whyte (The Donoho School, Anniston, Ala.).

A question-and-answer session with the speakers will follow the last presentation.

The full conference program can be found online at “Teaching Symposium: Developing Afro-Latinx Infused Curriculum.”

Developing Afro-Latinx Infused Curriculum” event flier