AMERICAN STUDIES

El Retorno Al Valle: Symposium on Gloria Anzaldua & Literary Landmark Unveiling

March 28, 2022

UTRGV Center for Mexican American Studies (CMAS) and partners invite the campus and community to attend “El Retorno Al Valle,” an inperson symposium (with Webinar option) and literary landmark unveiling in honor of Gloria Anzaldúa’s work at the UTRGV Edinburg campus. Scholars, poets, activists, and visual artists from the Rio Grande Valley and from beyond the region will gather to consider the impacts of Anzaldúa’sworkwithalooktothefuture

Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa (1942-2004) was a queerChicanapoet,writer,andscholar.Shewas born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley and was a farmworker. She was valedictorian of Edinburg High School in 1962, graduated from UTRGV legacy institution Pan American College in 1968, and taught in the PSJA school district from 1967-1973 Anzaldúa attended graduate schoolatUTAustinandatUCSantaCruz,where sheobtainedaPhDposthumously.

Anzaldúa wrote and published numerous texts including Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza and Luz en lo Oscuro/Light in the Dark: Rewriting Identity, Spirituality, Reality Anzaldúa served as editor/co-editor of several anthologies, including "This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color" and "this bridge we call home: radical visions for transformation."

Her work is also collected in "Interviews/Entrevistas"and"TheGloriaAnzaldúa Reader" edited by AnaLouise Keating. Anzaldúa is also the author of two children’s books: "Friends from the Other Side/Amigos del Otro Lado" and "Prietita and the Ghost Woman/PrietitayLaLlorona."

Of those times on campus in the 1960's, Anzaldúa writes: "At Pan American University, I, and all Chicano students were required to take two speech classes. Their purpose: to get rid of our accents" (Borderlands/La Frontera p 54, AuntLuteBooks)

EventSponsors:

UTRGV CMAS: Center for Mexican American Studies

UTRGVInternationalPrograms

UTRGVSchoolofArtandDesign

HumanitiesTexas

UTRGVCenterforLatinAmericanArts

UTRGVUniversityLibrary

UTRGVCreativeWritingProgram

UTRGVCenterforBilingualStudies

UTRGV Department of Writing and Language Studies

UTRGVDepartmentofCurriculum&Instruction

UTRGVCollegeofEducation&P-16Initiatives

UTRGVCollegeofLiberalArts

TrinityUniversity,SanAntonio,TX

UTRGV Center for Diversity & Inclusion & DREAM ResourceCenter

South Texas College History/Mexican American StudiesDepartment

UTRGVGraduateCollege