Cafecito con… Milagros Denis-Rosario: Race and Racism in Puerto Rico
Event Organizer: Center for Puerto Rican Studies
Cost: Free
February 15, 2023 @ 3:00 pm – 3:45 pm EST
Drops of Inclusivity examines race and racism on the island of Puerto Rico by combining a wide-angle historical narrative with the individual stories of Black Puerto Ricans. While some of these Afro-Boricuas, such as Roberto Clemente and Ruth Fernández, are well known, others, such as Cecilia Orta and Juan Falú Zarzuela, have been largely forgotten, if remembered at all. Individually and collectively, their words and lives speak to the persistent power of racial hierarchies. Join Ramon Bulerín along with the books’ author, Milagros Denis Rosario, in discussing the island’s racialized history, the stories we tell, and the ones we omit.
About the Panelists
Dr. Milagros Denis-Rosario is an Associate Professor in the Department of Africana, Puerto Rican and Latino Studies at Hunter College-CUNY. She is the Director of the Puerto Rican/Latino sequence. She holds a Ph.D. in Latin America and Caribbean history from Howard University, a MA in Africana Studies from Cornell University, and a BA in Art History from the University of Puerto Rico. She has published in the Journal of Pan-African Studies, Latino Studies, Centro Journal, Hispanófila, and Memorias among others. She also has served as a guest editor with the International Journal of Africana Studies and Memorias (Colombia). Her book “Drops of Inclusivity: Racial Formation and Meanings in Puerto Rican Society, 1898- 1965,” examines the racial discourse in Puerto Rican society in the context of modernity and US ruling. Professor Denis-Rosario has participated in conferences at the Association of the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), Latin American Studies Association (LASA), the Puerto Rican Studies Association (PRSA), and other international conferences. Her research interest includes Afro-Latinos, African Diaspora in Latin America, Latinos, gender, Puerto Ricans, Afro-diasporic coalitions, and politics of cultural representation.
Ramon Bulerín is a Puerto Rican painter. In 1985 he obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting from Escuela de Artes Plásticas de Puerto Rico and in 2000 obtained a Master’s in Arts Management from Universidad del Turabo in Gurabo, Puerto Rico. In recent years he has worked as an art teacher and conservation assistant, which has allowed him to be part of major conservation projects such as the intervention to the Rufino Tamayo mural Prometeo, located at the José M. Lázaro Library at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. He has participated in exhibitions, both solo and collectively, amongst them Mi Viejo San Juan, in 2007.
Image courtesy of Ramon Bulerín
This event is part of the CENTRO 50th Anniversary Celebration! Join us all of 2023 in celebrating 50 years of CENTRO’s work to strengthen, diversify, and reimagine the field of Puerto Rican Studies!