Jorge Antonio Sanchez (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
There is one literary genre that always functions as a tool of empowerment to diverse communities around the world: poetry. As Tracy K. Smith proposes, written and spoken poetry empowers us, readers and listeners, to “move closer and closer to that which [we] do not love,” allowing us to imagine, recognize, and better understand communities that are under attack. Fear of different ethnics, fear of cultures, fear other languages, fear of different identities is often at the root of these attacks. Poetry empowers communities and encourages us to protect and honor ourselves by honoring and protecting our neighbors—including plants, animals, and other-than-human entities. Poetry amplifies our perspective of the world and creates possibilities for unity by rejecting borders, walls, or limits. When it comes to immigration and diaspora, the waters of the Caribbean Sea and the desert of the Southern Cone have much in common. When we read and listen to what immigrant experience, write, or express, we find that we are intertwined more than we think. With networks built and sustained by poetry we encounter new pathways to support one another in exile, across difference.
This panel invite proposals that examine the effects of Latin American poetry in contemporary global contexts. Accordingly, we encourage submissions that explore poetry written by Latin American and/or Latino/a/e poets and emphasize how poetry is used as a powerful tool to empower, connect, and strengthen communities around the world. What is Latin American poetry communicating across time and space? How does poetry go beyond the page to build networks of solidarity? Especially in times of division and uncertainty, we invite scholars to consider how poetry sustains and transforms our communities.
This panel explores how contemporary Latin American and Latino poetry serves as a powerful catalyst for global community-building, solidarity, and empowerment across geographic and cultural borders. Scholars are invited to submit proposals that examine how these poetic networks cross time and space to amplify marginalized voices, resist division, and foster deep interconnectedness.