USC’s Latino Student Assembly (LSA) will host Centroamerica Vive Aquí this upcoming Tuesday, September 29, bringing four Central American professors together for a panel discussion on culture, and their experiences as Central Americans in academia.
The event will take place from 5 to 6 p.m. in TCC 227 and will feature food and activities for students. According to the organizers, the event is intended to highlight the Central American communities and encourage students to learn more about cultures beyond their own.
Yaretzi Hurtado, a junior majoring in anthropology and Co–Advocacy Chair of Cultural Affairs, pitched the idea for Centroamerica Vive Aquí as part of her efforts to create programming that highlights Central American communities.
“My role is to plan events, but also to make sure that people are represented,” Hurtado said. “I want to work on getting people to be more comfortable with learning about other cultures, because I know that sometimes it’s a little intimidating to be presented face to face with something that you don’t know.”
The panel will feature four professors from different universities, all of whom are Central American. They will discuss their experiences as academics and what it means to maintain their cultural identity while living in a different environment.
Fernanda Morales Soto, a junior majoring in political science and LSA’s Co–Executive Director, began her journey with LSA her second semester of freshman year as a programming assistant, and worked her way up from there.
“It’s very much just a celebration of the culture,” Said Morales Soto about the event, “I would say we feel like there just needs to be more representation for [the Central American] regions. They’re often overlooked in American society.”
According to Morales Soto, LSA held a census over the summer to learn more about students’ backgrounds and what they wanted to see from the organization.
“We were able to see that there [were] a lot of different students [who have] never seen Salvadoran tradition,” said Morales Soto, “Somebody mentioned that they’ve never seen their homelands festival.”
Centroamerica Vive Aquí is part of a broader effort by LSA leadership to diversify its programming and create more events focused on different Latine communities. Yarely Martinez, LSA’s assistant director, said that Morales Soto, and her co-executive director Ben Nava, ran on a campaign of expanding the organization’s programming to include a greater focus on Central American communities.
“Our school is predominantly a specific region,” said Martinez, a junior majoring in legal studies, “I still think it’s important for everyone to be heard and seen and know that the school still appreciates them. [...] [To] have an event specifically for Central Americans just kind of opens that up and makes them feel more welcomed.”
Hurtado said she hopes the event will encourage students who are not Central American to learn about the culture and connect with other members of the Latine community.
“I think that culture becomes richer when we take time to learn about each other’s stories,” Hurtado said, “This event just invites everybody, whether you’re Central American or not, to become curious about Central American culture and leave more connected to other Latinos.”
“I just think it’s important to expand our vision of Latinidad.” She continued, “A lot of us are immigrants, whatever country we came from, a lot of us speak Spanish, a lot of us are first gen, and I think this is a great opportunity to just connect on our similarities.”